A Spin Around the Village

Posted: Fri February 13, 1998

What do Olympic athletes do when they are not competing? Plenty, if they stay at the athlete village. The village is like a college dorm and shopping mall rolled into one, except there are no exams and everything is free.

We asked two-time U.S. aerial skiing champion Eric Bergoust to give us a tour of the village. Bergoust, who doesn't compete until Feb. 16, was happy to show us how he spent his Thursday afternoon.

4:35 p.m. Bergoust stops by the Surf Shack to check his e-mail. He has one message from a friend and two from fans. "The fans usually say, Congratulations on making the Olympics and I hope you win the gold," he says. "It's nice, but I wish more people said, I hope you do your best. Everyone focuses on success and being Number One. I think that everyone fails and everyone succeeds. It's just a matter of degrees."

4:50 p.m. Bergoust picks up his laundry. Yoko Miyasaka, a volunteer at the athletes' laundromat, hands over two blue bags filled with clean clothes: mostly socks and underwear (Bergoust is a boxers guy). Also included is a Team USA travel shirt that Bergoust says he doesn't like much. Olympic athletes are given enough team jackets, shirts, pants and hats to fill a small department store. The stars and stripes motif is not subtle. "I wouldn't wear this stuff to the mall," Bergoust says.

5:10 p.m. Bergoust checks out the athletes' "disco." This Japanese disco is not to be confused with the discos of Saturday Night Fever. In these discos, a different aspect of Japanese culture is acted out each evening. Tonight, a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony will be staged. "I came in yesterday and heard some of the best Japanese drummers," Bergoust says. "I sat front and center. It was awesome."

5:35 p.m. Bergoust walks across the hall to one of his favorite spots in the village: the arcade. "I come in here every day and play a game called Top Skater for about an hour," he says.

The game is a simulated ride through a skateboard park. Players stand on a board and guide a computer-generated rider through a course of ramps and jumps. The games are free. "I haven't spent a dime since I've been here," Bergoust says. "I'm trying to go the whole way without spending any money, just so I can say I did it."

5:55 p.m. Bergoust goes to the athletes' barbershop for a haircut. He looks through a series of cards with photos of different styles. This is helpful since the barber, Kiyoshi Aoki, doesn't speak much English. "I like to do different things with my hair," Bergoust says. "I've had dreadlocks, shaved it all off, dyed it black, dyed it red like a clown's nose. I've bleached it." Today, he only wants a trim.

After the haircut, Bergoust is taken to a state-of-the-art auto shampoo machine. The top of his head is sealed inside the machine and mini jets shampoo and rinse his hair. "It's like a thousand little fingers massaging my scalp. Now I know what a car feels like at the carwash."

6:20 p.m. Bergoust grabs some french fries at the village McDonald's. Not only is it free, it's open 24 hours a day.

Bergoust's next stop is the video room. There he will study tape of his practice jumps from the afternoon. Tomorrow the aerial team will move to a hotel closer to Iizuna Kogen ski area, the venue for the aerials competition.

"We try to get away from the distractions," he says. "The night before my event will be just like any other night. If I have stuff to do, I'll do it. If I have to wax my skis, I will. If I have phone calls to make, I will make them. I'll eat, relax and sleep.

"But I hope we don't have to stay at the hotel after the competition. That would be miserable. I would take the bus back here every day. I've got to play the video games."

photographs by Erin Egan

Bob Der and Erin Egan, senior editors at SI For Kids, will be filing daily from Nagano. For a kid-friendly version of these reports, check out SI For Kids Online.

Anything you want to know about life in Nagano during the Games? Click here to send your question to Bob and Erin, or e-mail siwriters@cnnsi.com. Be sure to include your name and hometown. Selected questions will be answered in upcoming columns. You can also send questions for specific athletes, and our fearless correspondents will do their best to get a reply.

PREVIOUS EDITIONS
February 12: Rockin' the Halfpipe
February 11: African skiers making strides
February 10: Surf's up for wired athletes
February 9: Heart of Nagano
February 8: Be careful what you wish for...
February 7: The Olympic spirit