The NCAA News - News & Features

Drug-testing crew chiefs enjoy Olympic experience

By Marty Benson
EDITOR

Elite NCAA student-athletes were not the only representatives of the Association at the Atlanta Olympics.

A group of 16 NCAA drug-testing crew chiefs volunteered their time.

During their 12 to 14 hours a day at the various venues, this group's members found themselves adequately prepared to deal with what few differences they found between the college and Olympic procedure.

"In comparison of what I saw of volunteers from other organizations, our training is excellent," said Ellen Farnsworth, an NCAA crew chief for 10 years, and a full-time nurse practitioner at Southern Maine Technical College's student health center. "Our background made the transition to Olympic testing very easy."

The biggest difference between the NCAA and Olympic process turned out to be sheer numbers. Whereas at Association sites, the crew chiefs deal with only one sport, at the Olympics, obviously, many sports happen simultaneously -- day after day. All of the athletes -- even the equestrian riders -- get tested. (So do the horses, by the way, but veteranarians do that). In addition, the entourage that follows any athlete to the test also causes some stress in what is often a cramped room. In the NCAA, only a courier, the student-athlete and a crew chief are present.

"(Besides the athlete), at the Olympics, you have a coach, often a translator, and a representative from the particular sport's federation," said Joyce Swinnea, a retired nurse from Vienna, Virginia. "No testing could be done until a doctor from the International Olympic Committee was present, so you had five people in a rather cozy area."

Morris Ware, who works full time as a hospital administrator at the small animal clinic at Auburn University, also noticed subtle differences.

"Everything was about the same (as at NCAA Championships), it was just done on a much larger scale," he said . "There may have been a little more pressure because there were so many people jockeying for position. A lot of the bigger names had interviews and other things to do, so we had to get them in and out quickly."

Though many newspaper articles bemoaned the Atlanta transportation, Swinnea, no stranger to traffic having lived in Washington, DC, area, said the negative publicity was blown out of proportion, at least from her perspective.

"It wasn't perfect, but it was efficient," she said. "They moved millions of people on MARTA. We rode it every day and never had to wait more than two minutes for a train."

Shari Glaskin, a critical care nurse from North Wales, Pennsylvania, echoed the positive thoughts of all the volunteers.

"It was absolutely fantastic," she said. "It was a lot of hard work, but it was well worth it."

This was the fourth Olympics for former Princeton wrestling coach John Johnston, but the first at which he had worked. He said he had ordered tickets to many events well before the deadlines but did not receive any. When the opportunity to volunteer to do drug testing presented itself, he took it.

He joked that the only negative about the whole experience turned out to be the food.

"We had turkey sandwiches for every single meal. Luckily, I like turkey."