New Date Set for Eighth Chap Olympiad

I've not had the pleasure of reading a print copy of The Chap, but I very much enjoy their website, especially the section titled "Am I Chap?". Here is an update on their annual sporting event:

New Date Set for Eighth Chap Olympiad: The date for this year’s Chap Olympiad, which will take place over two days instead of one, has now been confirmed as Saturday 7th-Sunday 8th July 2012. Tickets will go on sale on Monday 26th March. This year’s Olympiad is competing with a rival organisation, calling itself simply “The Olympics”, which is attempting to steal [...]

 Having been involved behind the scenes [1] at a previous iteration of the better known quadrennial activity, I think personally I'd much rather attend the Chap Olympiad.

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[1] I had the great pleasure of serving as military security at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. I spent three weeks living in a classroom of McNair Middle School, my cot being in a coveted position beside the chalkboard (a chalkboard tray makes a great bar to hang clothes from).

The area I was assigned to was where the athletes were taken to be in-processed in after landing in Hotlanta. Most of the time I was watching baggage pass through an X-ray machine, and there were some interesting things to be seen via X-ray. There were competition rifles, scimitars, and most memorable: a pineapple hand grenade. Or at least what appeared to be one. When that bag was ran through the scanner and the "grenade" was detected, the bad was immediately set aside and the owner was called for. No one dared go near the bag. Some time passed before the athlete was found and brought to his bag. I recall him being eastern European, but he was a shot-putter, and the nefarious device in his bag was a hollowed out lead dummy grenade that he used for practice throws. Having had a similar dummy grenade as a child, I can understand his choice. At that location I got to see quite a few athletes, but the only ones I remember are the American baseball team and the American gymnastics team (who I might have missed had I not looked down...).

After the events started, I was assigned to various other details, but they were not so memorable. One of the other things I'll never forget from the experience was the night of the Olympic Park bombing. I was at the "barracks" that night and I recall everyone being called out to formation in the parking lots. None of us knew at that time what was going on. Then the murmur that there had been a bombing swept through the ranks. Several soldiers at that time were unaccounted for. We stayed in formation into the whereabouts of the missing troops were ascertained. Pretty soon, everyone was accounted for. That was a pretty sad event. I had walked past the park a couple days prior, and after the area was cleared I went back to make my survey of the damage. I hope that is as close as I ever get to personally experiencing a terrorist event.