WASHINGTON — Media analyst George Reed-Dellinger has a passion for the Olympics. One look at his office reveals it, as posters and memorabilia cover every surface. He’s been to 12 Olympic games and plans to go to Sochi.
Reed-Dellinger got the Olympic bug when he tried to compete in the 1968 games. However, his first Olympics were in Montreal in 1976.
“Bruce Jenner was there before he became a Kardashian, the Spinks Brothers, Mick Jagger, and Montreal is a wonderful city,” he says reminiscing about his first games.
After enduring frigid temperatures on a ski slope in Lake Placid, Reed-Dellinger decided he preferred the summer games. His favorite so far was in London where his daughter and wife joined him.
“The tickets are so expensive. They’ve both been to five Olympics. And they know if it’s raining, we’re going. If it’s snowing and freezing, we’re going,” Reed-Dellinger says.
His favorite events usually revolve around the best competition offered at each particular games.
“I go for the 100-meter men’s final,” Reed-Dellinger says of the even he’d pick as his favorite to watch. “The world’s fastest man — a bunch of buffed studs waiting to break out of a starting gate and it’s all over in seconds. I’ve been to eight of those.”
Political controversy has never stopped him from attending the Olympics, Reed-Dellinger says. He plans to go to Sochi regardless of the equal rights criticism facing Russian President Vladamir Putin ahead of the games.
And with enough practice as an Olympic spectator under his belt, he knows how to experience the games without spending too much.
“All you need to go to is one or two or three events. You’ll be surrounded by the cache of the Olympic events and thousands of people from different backgrounds. It’s just being there. You don’t have to spend that much money,” he says.
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