Word: holderness
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...make a clean break with the past imperfect begins next week in Atlanta on July 31, the first of the decathlon's grueling two days. It is an irony of Olympic fever that one can be, like O'Brien, a three-time world champion and the world record holder in an event and yet, minus that gold, still be only an athlete-in-waiting. But while it is unwise to be too cocksure, O'Brien, who turned 30 last week, is primed. He not only expects the gold but says, "I want to do it right. I want...
...medical degree at Johns Hopkins and a doctorate at Harvard simultaneously. Or triple jumper Mike Conley, who happens to be a deputy sheriff in Washington County, Arkansas. And Americans aren't the only Olympic athletes with uncommon pursuits. Conley's rival in the triple jump, Britain's world-record holder Jonathan Edwards, worked in a genetics lab in Newcastle until recently...
...used to want to be a door holder for a living. In third grade we had to sign up for weekly tasks, and mine was always the door holder. First I would hold the door open for all my shrieking eight-year-old classmates and then I would run as quickly as I could to get to the front of the line...and I would repeat the process all the way to the lunch room. It wasn't the most glamorous of jobs, but I liked...
...fourth grade we didn't have weekly tasks anymore. I could no longer serve as door holder, so I found a similar calling--as elevator operator. I got the idea on a visit to a London hotel over the summer. I don't know what constituted its tremendous appeal--the brass buttons, double breasted suit, or just the image of spending all day riding the elevator and getting to talk to many different kinds of people...
Actually, Johnson did try some half-hearted showmanship last June, waving during the last few strides of his 400 victory in the U.S. nationals. Some say it cost him the world record (43.29); the actual world-record holder, Butch Reynolds, finished an angry second because he thought Johnson was trying to show him up. Damned if you do, damned...