Despite what one might think, providing security at the Olympics was actually quite simple, in that very few incidents occurred - I spent most of my time walking around and checking the various posts, and figuring out how many pizzas to order that night!

One of the funnier things I encountered during my rounds, however, was that some athletes kept leaving their keys in the doors!  Each time, I would debate whether to pull the key out, or if I was going to inconvenience someone who had just run to the bathroom or something… but I followed my common sense and would collect the key to take down to the security post, while writing a note to ask the room occupant why they left their keys in the door.

To make a long story short, eventually I discovered why certain people left their keys in the doors -  they turned out to all be in the German team - and it appears that leaving a key in the lock was a common German practice, apparently because many locks in Germany were very old and very difficult to manage - so people just left their keys in the lock. 

I had to explain to the athletes that the keys and locks we had in the Village dorms were modern and secure, but that they could not trust the other occupants and personnel in the Village like they might trust their neighbors back home, so they must either take their keys with them when they leave, or return them to the security post.

Another strange thing with the German team - one particular room seemed to be used for physiotherapy, with the door always open - and on more than one occasion I would pass by and there would be a naked female athlete on the table…  I never did ask about this but I assume that the door was being left open so that there could be no accusation of any improprieties taking place in that room.

But on the whole the Germans were really friendly and fun-loving - and often shared their own imported stock of beer with us :)  The Spanish also imported their own wine but I don’t recall that being shared with anyone!

On a couple of occasions, basketball great Detlef Schrempf, then playing for the Washington Huskies and a member of the German basketball squad, would forget his ID and be stopped at the entrance by one of my staff - fortunately I knew who he was and let him through with a half-hearted warning, and he always had a smile - really friendly guy.

On another occasion, a German doctor had somehow managed to gain entrance to the restricted area without the proper credentials - I’d guess it was on the shift before mine - when we discovered this, he ran like hell into the village and I got on the radio and a number of supervisors started in hot pursuit - but somehow we lost him, I assumed that he had gotten access to the Olympic Mayor’s office within the Village - fortunately nothing came of it and I was rewarded with a $5 bonus check for doing an “exceptional” job LOL… that was less than an hour’s pay…

The most incredible incident was when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) director Anita DeFrantz came to my area and wanted to bring someone in for dinner - and I stopped her at the gate and told her that she would need to take her guest back for proper credentials in order to access my area.

She said to me “Do you know who I am?” in a very irritable and authoritative voice - and I answered “Yes, Ms. DeFrantz, I know exactly who you are.  But I don’t report to you - I report to my supervisors and I must do my job - if you are not happy with that, you may contact my supervisors, else we will provide your guest with an escort out of the Village.”

You should have seen the look of shock on her face when she realized I knew who she was, so, at a loss for words, she turned around with her guest and stalked out of my area and didn’t come back, but her guest did eventually get credentials because I called the main entrance to make doubly sure.

Needless to say, I got another $5 check for doing an “exceptional” job

The Olympics finally ended and things got back to normal - while I never did make the Olympics as an athlete, I can tell my children and grandchildren that I was once “in” the Olympics!