Athletes and coaches stay in touch with Motorola's Team USA(TM) OlymPager(TM); How the U.S. Olympic team has been using pagers at the 1996 Games to communicate with teammates, coaches, family and friends.ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 30, 1996--At the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The Olympics of Ancient Greece Although records cannot verify games earlier than 776 B.C. , Motorola has done something personal for the individual members of Team USA
Team USA (also known as Team NWA or Team TNA) is a wrestling faction brought together as part of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's X-Cup Tournaments, which (TM) by giving each U.S. Olympic Team member a specially-designed alphanumeric alphanumeric (ăl'fən  mĕr`ĭk) or alphameric (ăl'fəmĕr`ĭk), the set of letters and numbers. pager, named the OlymPager(TM) and licensed by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The following anecdotes are from members of Team USA(TM) who are using the OlymPager to stay in touch with family, friends, coaches and teammates in Atlanta: Matt Ghaffari/U.S. Olympic Silver Medalist/Greco-Roman Wrestling wrestling, sport in which two unarmed opponents grapple with one another. The object is to secure a fall, i.e., cause the opponent to lose balance and fall to the floor, and ultimately to pin the supine opponent's shoulders to the floor, through the use of body "My mother-in-law in Cleveland heard the entire wrestling team shaved shave v. shaved, shaved or shav·en , shav·ing, shaves v.tr. 1. a. To remove the beard or other body hair from, with a razor or shaver: their heads and paged me to ask me how bald bald adj. Lacking hair on the head. bald 1. loss of hair, see alopecia. 2. in cattle and horses used to describe an animal with a white face. Called also baldy. I really am!" "It's very important for all of us athletes to have pagers, especially since there are no family or coaches allowed in the Olympic Village Frequently, an Olympic Village is built within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials, trainers, etc. The idea of the Olympic Village comes from Pierre de Coubertin. . I arrived in Atlanta more than a week before the Games and have been in constant communications with my high school coach and three brothers who inspire me. I receive messages everyday from long-distance friends and relatives." "For my 12-member team, coaches included, the pagers keep us connected no matter where each one of us may be. It's easier than coming to look for me at McDonald's!" Majaahid Maynard/Greco-Roman Wrestling "On the day that I `made weight', a very important day, my wife and baby were on a flight due to arrive at 10 p.m. Fortunately, I found out from my pager that the flight was delayed until 4 a.m. Without this knowledge, I would have spent a sleepless sleep·less adj. 1. a. Marked by a lack of sleep: a sleepless night. b. Unable to sleep. 2. night worrying about them. It could have potentially been a great distraction Distraction Divination (See OMEN.) Porlock a “person from Porlock” interrupted Coleridge while he was recollecting the dream on which he based “Kubla Khan”. [Br. Lit.: Poems of Coleridge in Magill IV, 756] to my mental focus." Mark Henderson/Swimming "It's tough to keep in touch when I'm competing. At the Games, my pager has been helpful in getting information and well wishes from family and friends. Our coaches also have used the pagers to update schedules and the team has been staying amused a·muse tr.v. a·mused, a·mus·ing, a·mus·es 1. To occupy in an agreeable, pleasing, or entertaining fashion. 2. by sending joke pages back and forth." Nelson Vargas/Soccer "We athletes are always in so many different places that it's good to know we have the advantage of pagers helping us stay in close contact with friends and families. I have been mostly communicating with my family before and after my matches to make sure they get where they need to be -- and that we can meet up after the matches." Susan Teeter-Eggert/Swimming/Team Leader "The pagers have been very important to the team. Parents can easily reach their kids, which has made my staff's job easier because we have fewer messages to relay." "Many of the swimmers were wearing their pagers during the Opening Ceremony and received well wishes from family and friends as they marched through Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the big centrepiece stadium of the Summer Olympic Games. Traditionally, the opening and closing ceremonies and the track & field competitions are held in the Olympic Stadium. . Some parents have even sent congratulations right from the stands with cellular phones. It's been very satisfying for the kids." "Swimming is one of the biggest squads -- 63 people. Managing them and communicating with them is complicated and time-consuming. But this year, Motorola gave us a device called WordTrek Plus -- we programmed all of the kids' pager numbers into this device and could send them word messages directly from it. It saved us a lot of time -- and worry. After the unfortunate bombing incident, we used the WordTrek to page all of the swimmers to locate them and make sure they were alright Alright is an alternative spelling of "all right". It is usually used to indicate that something is good but not great (so-so): "The play was alright." It is also used as an expression of great pleasure: "We won the championship! Alright!" . We were able to get in touch with all 63 members of the swim team in just over an hour." Cliff Bayer/Fencing "Having the pager while I've been in Atlanta has been great. It's been cool getting messages from my friends. It helped me stay in touch with family and friends without having to go through the trouble of checking phone messages -- the pager messages were just there." Judi Adams/Archery "It helps me tremendously to have pagers to stay in touch. It's such a busy environment here in Atlanta -- even the press has been using my pager to reach me for comment." Mike King/Head Coach/Archery "It's an excellent communications tool for me and my team." Helen Broder/Athlete Representative/Advantage International "The fact that the athletes have the pagers has proved invaluable here in Atlanta. In Barcelona, it was impossible to get messages to athletes when they were in the athlete village or competing. With the pager, it has been easy to update their schedules and pass on information about appearances and interviews." CONTACT: Geltzer & Company Inc. Allison Kirstein/David Mann, 212/575-1976 |
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