SEA Games Tid Bits

SEA Games Tid Bits

London blitz

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AFP): The main venue for the games is a brand new sports complex just outside this northern Thai city that has been getting rave reviews from athletes and the press.

But lately it has begun to look a little like London during the blitz, with more than a dozen balloons floating overhead.

The balloons -- some round, some shaped like tiny blimps -- bear the names and colors of the games' main sponsors.

But the "barrage balloons" haven't deterred the SEA Games Air Force from routinely buzzing the sports complex.

Two large hot air balloons and a big, engine-driven dirigible -- all of which also carrying the names of big sponsors -- routinely fly low over the venue, particularly when there are major events at the main stadium.

Diarrhea-scapegoat ?

Indonesia's national team, which has dominated eight of the last nine SEA Games but currently has fewer than half as many as the host Thais, has complained that many of its athletes have come down with diarrhea.

The reason, they say, is because the Thai food they have been served is too spicy and too greasy.

The games' Organizing Committee has taken note and has promised, in writing, that the Indonesian athletes and coaches will be provided with food that is less spicy and greasy and more like the Moslem fare they are used to eating.

Trouble

Six days into the games, the international press corps covering the 10-nation sporting contest seems to be having trouble hanging on to things.

Notices on the door of the main work room at the press center plead for the return of two wallets.

A Thai photographer would like to have his 300mm lens back. One reporter lost his expensive sunglasses.

Another misplaced a printer card, and someone else lost his computer's voltage adaptor.

Lost the battle

The press corps also has lost its battle for greater access to the athletes and to the venues.

Last Sunday, for example, games officials were stunned when a horde of reporters and photographers covering the first athletics events descended onto the field of the main stadium, roamed the sidelines at will and ambushed athletes immediately after they won their events.

Officials pointed out that a special section in the stands had been reserved for the press. Reporters pointed out that the press section was completely filled with spectators. The officials demurred.

On Monday, however, iron gates blocked all entrances to the field except the one used by the competitors, and it was heavily patrolled.

So reporters and photographers took over the special box reserved for officials.

Actual interviews with most athletes were denied, and a few select winners were produced later via "teleconferencing."

On Thursday, members of the press were denied entrance to the stadium via the main gate.

"Too many people using this entrance," one official solemnly explained.

The gate reporters were allowed to use led to the press section of the stands, which had been roped off.

On Friday, however, the ropes were down and the press seats were again filled with spectators, and reporters were forced to cover the events off television.