LORI JOHNSTON
Associated Press
August 9, 2004
ATHENS, Ga. - With the Georgia football team usually dominating local news and more than 30,000 students converging on this Southern college town each fall, the 18 Olympians who train in Athens can practice largely in anonymity.
"I don't think most people know who we are and what we're doing," said shot putter Adam Nelson, a medal contender who is now at the other Athens preparing for the start of the Olympics on Friday.
Overshadowed by college football, some of the world's top throwers and swimmers who will compete in this year's Olympics trained at the University of Georgia. They were lured to the much-smaller Athens by the opportunity to work with top coaches, the school's facilities, the weather and a low cost of living in a town known more for music than medals.
"There's a great coach here and great group of post-collegiate Olympians training here," Nelson said.
Nelson moved to Athens a year after winning the silver in the 2000 Olympics. He had heard from other track-and-field athletes that Athens was becoming a popular place to train and already knew Don Babbitt, Georgia's throwing coach.
"You probably wouldn't see throwing groups like this in other states," Babbitt said. "The fact that this is warm weather is crucial. The cost of living is very cheap here -- making 30 or 40 thousand dollars a year as a shot putter you can live pretty well here."
The athletes spend most of their time at the university's Spec Towns Track (named after 1936 Olympic gold medalist Forrest "Spec" Towns), located next to Georgia's football practice field, baseball field and Stegeman Coliseum, home of the school's basketball and gymnastics teams. Athletes also use the school's weight rooms and other facilities; in exchange, they mentor and assist Georgia's track team.
The training enclave was born in 2000 with Reese Hoffa, a shot putter for Georgia, javelin thrower Breaux Greer and shot putter Brad Snyder, who both moved to Athens to prepare for the 2000 Olympics with Babbitt.
"It's just kind of grown on its own," Babbitt said.
Nine United States and international throwers who train at the University of Georgia will compete in the Athens Olympics. Babbitt said 18 more athletes have requested in the past three years to relocate here but he hasn't been able to expand the group.
Babbitt said there's a sense of camaraderie with the throwers. "We like training in groups and being able to push each other," he said.
The group in Athens "makes throwing that much fun," Hoffa said.
When they're not training, the throwers often get together to play golf, cook out at each other's houses and play cards. Athens, named by Rolling Stone as the best college music town in the country, also allows athletes like Greer, a four-time national javelin champion, to explore his creative side as lead singer and guitarist in a band called Former Track Stars.
For others, paintball has become an enjoyable break from the track.
"A few people get together, we find the woods somewhere and play for a few hours until we run out of paintballs," said Hoffa, best known for competing with a mask and cape as the "Unknown Shot Putter" to emphasize his lack of recognition at a meet last year in California.
Some also live together. Nelson and Greer continue to be roommates - even after Nelson married wife Laci. Brad Snyder, competing for Canada, and Norway's Grete Etholm-Snyder are married. Canada's Jason Tunks is married to Lieja Tunks, who competes for the Netherlands.
Less than a mile away at the university's $40 million student physical activities center, which has been named the best recreational facility in the country by Sports Illustrated, nine Olympic swimmers train with coach Jack Bauerle.
They include former Georgia swimmers such as Maritza Correia, who last month became the first black woman to qualify for the U.S. Olympic swim team. Bauerle served as assistant coach for the U.S. team during the Sydney Olympics in which Georgians Courtney Shealy, Kristy Kowal, Julia Stowers and Kim Black won four gold medals and one silver.
Sheila Taormina, a 1996 Olympic swimming gold medalist who will compete in the triathlon at the Athens Olympics, is another success story out of Bauerle's program.
"It's nice to have a little anonymity there. You come and go and the kids aren't bothered much," said Bauerle, who has been at Georgia for 25 years. "As far as around the country and internationally it's quite well known that this is a very good spot for swimming."
As swimmers representing the United States and other countries have left for Greece and other training sites to begin final preparations for the Olympics, Bauerle has relied on text messaging and cell phones to keep in touch with them.
"This has been the most rewarding and most exhausting summers, in a fail swoop," he said. "There's never more than a half a day when you're away from communicating with one of the athletes about something."
Bauerle acknowledges that the sheer number of swimmers he and his staff - includes Brian Schrader, a coach on the Virgin Islands Olympic team - train can be draining.
"We're about near wit's end this summer," he said.
In this Athens, the lack of constant fanfare may not be a bad thing, Bauerle said, because the athletes are able to stay focused on preparing for competition.
Fans don't line the track seeking autographs or watch the beefy throwers, although a few high school coaches have come to view practice.
"Every four years, we become a little bit more important," Bauerle said.