July 28, 1996
Medal hunt just isn't the same
TRAGEDY HITS HOME
By CHRIS STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
JONESBORO, Ga. -- The emotions, at first, were the ones that course through any Olympic athlete in the moments after a difficult loss: disappointment, self-directed anger, a feeling of opportunity wasted.
But this was not just another loss, and this was not just another day at the Olympics.
Canadians John Child and Mark Heese lost their beach volleyball semi-final 15-11 to the American tandem of legendary Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes yesterday at Atlanta Beach.
Gone were the Canadians' chances of playing for gold today, replaced instead with a match against Portugal and a chance to dig for bronze.
Unlike most days when wins and losses are treated as life and death, the events of the previous 12 hours reminded Heese that a scoreboard, a cheering crowd and the final result does not deserve that distinction.
The bomb that shook the Centennial Olympic Park and the confidence and security of everyone at these Games reverberated on the sand where the hard bodies cavort.
"What happened is way more important than a semi-final," said Heese, a 27-year-old from Toronto. "I realize that."
He had gone to bed early last night when yesterday's match had loomed so big, only to awake yesterday morning and find it had been reduced.
"I was shocked," he said. "My first thought was about my friends and family who are here in Atlanta. I feel very bad for the people who got hurt. I hope they're not hurt too badly and my condolences go out to the (families of the two people who died).
"It's something the Olympics doesn't need. I wish it wouldn't follow the Olympics around like that."
The first thing that crossed Child's mind when he heard the news was how he had walked close to where the tragedy had occurred.
"You start to worry, worry that somebody you knew was close or nearby," Child said.
These Games won't be the same for Heese.
His Olympics will end today, perhaps with a bronze if he and Child can overcome the Portuguese team of Barbosa Maia and Pereira Brenha Alves. They lost yesterday's other semi-final to Americans Mike Dodd and Mike Whitemarsh.
Heese was hoping after the wrapup of his event to celebrate the Olympic experience, but now he won't permit himself that pleasure, in the wake of the bombing early yesterday morning.
"I'm not going to go out in Atlanta," he said.
