Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A little kindness goes a long way at Olympics
Daily Herald ^ | Saturday, February 16 2002 | Tad Walch

Posted on 02/22/2002 2:25:44 PM PST by UnsinkableMollyBrown

The Olympic ideal played out in real life here over the past week as a small group of Utahns embraced the struggling women's hockey team from Kazakhstan.

When the team showed up in grubby gear for a practice at The Peaks Ice Arena on Feb. 8, Orem's Shannon Arnoldsen and other volunteers couldn't help but notice.

"Sweden gets off the bus with matching berets and Versace outfits," said Matthew Hemmert, a volunteer who supervises team transportation. "Then Kazakhstan gets off in hospital scrubs or sweat pants with holes in them."

The bus driver told Arnoldsen a sobering tale. He had taken the team shopping for souvenirs at a local mall, but the players had returned to the bus after 10 minutes.

"Too expensive," the players told the driver.

He next took them to Wal-Mart. A few players made purchases, but most said the same thing: "Still too expensive."

Finally, the bus arrived at a dollar store.

"Not exactly where you want Olympians to pick up Olympic souvenirs," Hemmert said.

The story gnawed at Arnoldsen, who took three years of Russian at BYU and felt a kinship with the women from this impoverished former Soviet Republic. She went shopping that night in search of souvenirs for the team. She thought about Olympic pins, but wanted the gift to be from Provo. It didn't go well at first.

"We just couldn't afford anything because there's 25 players and coaches," she said.

At the Olympic Spirit store, fittingly, she backed into one of her neighbors in northeast Orem, and told him the story.

Arnoldsen turned the project over to another neighbor, Susan Randall, and returned to work at The Peaks. Before she knew it, Roger Utley and Gordon Brown at the bookstore agreed not to a discount, but to a donation of 25 hooded BYU sweatshirts worth $750. Friends raised $400. The man with the $100 bill arranged for a gift of 25 button-down dress shirts from the Utah Homebuilders Association.

There was more: Randall's daughter created Valentine's Day cards for each team member. A Provo official provided the city's Olympic pins and colorful magazines with beautiful pictures of the area. Children wrote letters of friendship.

Arnoldsen found the players' names on the Internet and personalized the Valentine's cards, then placed $20 in each.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan had lost 7-0 to Canada on Monday. While they lost another 7-0 game Wednesday at The Peaks, Arnoldsen and Hemmert laid out the gifts on each seat of the team bus. Arnoldsen happened upon a young man who had served a two-year LDS church mission in Russia and he agreed to translate her letter to the team:

"We were impressed and inspired by the obstacles you overcame to come to the Olympics," Arnoldsen wrote. "We wanted you to have something to remember your time here."

It was signed, "From your American friends."

The first player onto the bus was goalie Natalya Trunova. Her face was blotchy from crying over the team's second lopsided loss. She found Arnoldsen's letter and read it, then began to sob and shake. She went back into the building to bring out her teammates, who were overwhelmed.

"We were very grateful to get the gifts," Trunova said through a translator Friday after making 48 saves in a 4-1 loss to Russia. "We've been grateful for the cheering of the crowds. It made our day to get those gifts, to know there were people happy to see us and have us here."

The team's coach, Alexandr Maltsev, confirmed that the women's program, making its first Olympic appearance, has a limited budget and no corporate sponsors. Trunova, who managed to bring just $30 to the Olympics, mentioned that the team's Olympic uniforms had barely arrived in time.

Arnoldsen's concern for 25 people from the other side of the world struck a chord of international goodwill, said Natalya Yakovchuk, who scored Kazakhstan's only Olympic goal on Friday.

"I'm glad to have this opportunity to thank the citizens of America for the exceedingly warm reception, excellent hospitality, the way they treat our team, which is especially wonderful because we're not known as the best team," Yakovchuk said. "Thank you on behalf of our entire team."

Said Maltsev, "I'm honored the team touched the heart of the people here."

Randall, like Arnoldsen, was uncomfortable with the idea that a reporter knew about the good deed.

"We wanted to extend our friendship because we thought they were young and poor and beat up and needed friends," Randall said. "We have a lot here, so it's kind of nice to share. And we're grateful BYU came through."

Hemmert is grateful to have worked as a volunteer with Arnoldsen.

"This is what the Olympics are all about," he said. "Shannon is just incredible. She deserves a gold medal."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: olympicslist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 next last

1 posted on 02/22/2002 2:25:44 PM PST by UnsinkableMollyBrown
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown;Utah Girl
What a great article. Thanks for posting it.
2 posted on 02/22/2002 2:34:23 PM PST by LarryLied
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown
Very cool.
3 posted on 02/22/2002 2:35:26 PM PST by DoughtyOne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Utah Girl
Ping
4 posted on 02/22/2002 2:44:23 PM PST by JRandomFreeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown
I know that all who come to the Olympic games have as a dream to win a medal....and after these days of watching some of the Olympic shenanigans, with people bellyaching about the outcomes, people lodging protests, judges perhaps cheating, and some of the Olympians themselves, being very ungracious, its great to read a good, heart warming story...

Here we see a team, poor in money and in things, but rich in their wish to compete...they probably knew they had no chance to medal, but still came in the hopes of at least making a good showing, and competing to their very best ability...

This reminds me of the man from Thailand, who competed in I think cross country skiing, and had no real chance, yet he competed...or the young man from Nepal, who also competed in these winter Olymics, with no real chance of a medal, yet fulfilled a dream to just complete...and he did, coming in I think 82nd out of 83 in his particular sport, which I do not remember...

For all the unfortunate wrangling, and greed, and cheating and poor sportsmanship we always wind up seeing at any given Olympics, a story like this one, and stories of lesser known athletes who compete out of love of sport, these are the stories, which more than the others give a true reflection of what the Olympics should be, rather than what they have become...

5 posted on 02/22/2002 2:49:47 PM PST by andysandmikesmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown
In Utah, it's a common occurence to meet a person with a good heart. That's because they're isolated from the rest of our society by the high desert plateau.

I'm 25% Scotch, but I've tried to teach myself the value of generosity.

6 posted on 02/22/2002 2:51:42 PM PST by Crowcreek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown, Utah Girl
What a great article. Thanks for posting it. Course, I suppose this will just put another bee in the Russians bonnet!

While I understand that this deed was done, not seeking exposure, I'm glad that a reporter did catch wind and report it. There are 'good' people out there, and its a lifting article after so many negative articles lately, and not just olympic articles.

7 posted on 02/22/2002 2:51:43 PM PST by ET(end tyranny)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown
bump

From the most cynical man on the planet, who got a little teary off this.

8 posted on 02/22/2002 2:57:05 PM PST by don-o
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Utah Girl
More evil yet from robotic members of a non-Christian, satanic cult... /sarcasm>
9 posted on 02/22/2002 2:59:26 PM PST by tracer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown; LarryLied; DoughtyOne; kd5cts; All
Here is some more detail on this story. I read this story yesterday on my lunch and started crying, had to close my office door... This comes from the Deseret News, a SLC newspaper.



PROVO — The women's hockey team from Kazakhstan may have attended the 2002 Winter Games on a shoestring, but they received an outpouring of the Olympic spirit from Utah County residents and the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

Image
Dominique Moe, 12, Hillcrest, waves two flags the whole time his class sings

Jennifer Grigg, Deseret News

The hospital held a reception on Wednesday at its west lobby and presented gifts from around the valley to the struggling team that came to the Winter Olympics without a corporate sponsor.

Team captain Olga Kryukova described her country as a developing, growing nation. Kazakhstan, just south of Russia, became independent in 1991 after about 70 years as part of the Soviet Union.

Their hardships in attending the Games were only a part of their training, Kryukova said through a translator. One team member came with just $50 for her 17-day stay, hospital spokesman Anton Garrity said.

Each team member received a bag from Brigham Young University filled with gifts, including clothing, CDs of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing in the opening ceremonies to the Olympics, caps knitted by a Provo ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and even a box of green Jell-O. Residents also donated some $3,000 to be shared equally among team members to purchase souvenirs.

Dozens of residents, hospital staff and even a patient hooked to an IV warmly greeted the team. As media and residents' strobe lights flashed, and some hockey members photographed them back.

Patient Melissa Flygare of Orem, hospitalized with pneumonia, climbed out of bed and with her husband, Mike, made her way to the reception hooked to an IV. They wanted to take the opportunity to see the team, her husband said.

A hastily assembled school choir from Timpanogos and Hillcrest elementary schools performed two songs to welcome the team.

Image
Natalya Trunova, 20, is the goalie for the Kazazhstan women's hockey team.

Jennifer Grigg, Deseret News

"We heard about it at the end of school, yesterday," Hillcrest student and choir member Gary Houskeeper said. "It was really fun singing and watching the people talk in Russian," he said.

"It was really cool," chimed in Hillcrest student Steve Price.

"It was a good feeling and a nice experience," added student Tanner Williams.

Luckily, the students already knew their songs and had performed them before.

Team members made personal sacrifices to attend the Games, IHC Administrator Mary Ann Young said. Hospital doctors working with the team became aware of its financial strife — "they came with limited resources to participate in these games," Young said.

As word spread residents pitched in to help the team, she said.

"They may not go home with gold, but they will go home with the hearts of this community," Young said. The hockey team has lost every game it's played, so far.

IHC, a media sponsor of the Games, had each department pick a country to learn about and to use as a theme to decorate around, Young said. Labor and Delivery department had earlier picked Kazakhstan and received a personal visit from the team.

10 posted on 02/22/2002 2:59:45 PM PST by Utah Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kd5cts; LarryLied
Thanks for the ping to this article. So nice to read of good people in this world today...
11 posted on 02/22/2002 3:00:33 PM PST by Utah Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: tracer
Oh yeah, that would be us, LOL. I just found this story to be so heart-warming. I'm going to post an article about friendly Utahns in a moment, I'll ping you to it, the comments should be way fun this evening...
12 posted on 02/22/2002 3:02:07 PM PST by Utah Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: olympics list; Tis The Time''s Plague; Pete-R-Bilt; Excuse_My_Bellicosity; Technocrat; Lokibob...
To find all articles indexed using "Olympics List"
  click here >>> SL 2002 Olympics <<< click here  
SL 2002 home page...(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)


13 posted on 02/22/2002 3:03:01 PM PST by Utah Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Utah Girl
It is important to remember that we surely don't have the market cornered on good deeds. At them same time, however, "By their fruits shall ye know them."

Those who bash us here and other "well-wishers" would be surprised someday to receive the unexpected help in many forms that would be forecoming from us if possible, individually and as a group, when the chips are really down.......

14 posted on 02/22/2002 3:10:27 PM PST by tracer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown
Great story, thanks for posting. Passed this one along via email.
15 posted on 02/22/2002 3:14:42 PM PST by agrace
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown
bump
16 posted on 02/22/2002 3:15:11 PM PST by Red Jones
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnsinkableMollyBrown; OLDWORD
Phil,

You GOTTA see this story. I only have five minutes on Monday, and this story shouldn't wait.

Why don't you tell this beautiful story to the audience on Monday. They'll love it.

Congressman Billybob

Phil & Billybob in the mornings.

Billybob on the Net; new column on Mondays.

17 posted on 02/22/2002 3:15:36 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tracer
Oh, I totally agree. There are many good people out in the world who do very selfless things for others.
18 posted on 02/22/2002 3:17:31 PM PST by Utah Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: All
I am glad there are still news stories that share kindness. They are not to common. There is hope for humanity after all.
19 posted on 02/22/2002 3:26:19 PM PST by UnsinkableMollyBrown
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: tracer
You took the words right out of Costas' mouth!!!
20 posted on 02/22/2002 3:28:42 PM PST by OldFriend
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson