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MEETING GIAAN AT THE INDUCTION TO THE SYDNEY AQUATIC CENTRE'S PATHWAY OF CHAMPIONS
Contributed by: Rachel (me! - aged 16...! hee hee!)
It was a year since the Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony had been staged, and as a result, at the Olympic site there was to be a festival called 'Ignite' but it didn't start until later in the evening. My sister and I had read about the Induction to the Pathway of Champions at the Sydney Aquatic Centre (SAC) and having some time to spare decided to go and have a look.
The Pathway of Champions is a series of plaques surrounding the pavement and walls near the entrance to the SAC with greats like Keiren Perkins, Susie O'Neill, Dawn Fraser and many more. Induction requires the athlete to be "an Olympic Champion (gold medallist), a World Champion, or a World Record Holder in FINA recognised events. Short course events are not included" - (SAC website).As a result, some athletes who gained Gold at Sydney 2000 and the 2001 World Championships were inducted. This included 'updates' to those like Thorpe, O'Neill and Perkins, and induction for the likes of Petria Thomas, the Australian Women's water polo team, Leisel Jones, Giaan Rooney and more.
After the ceremony the athletes then 'mingled' where it was a chance for autograph 'hunters' (<--- just kidding!) to ask for an autograph and perhaps met some of the athletes.
Virtually straight away after the offical presentation was finished Giaan was signing autographs, and when my sister got Giaan's attention (because she was about to walk off and I didn't have the guts to say anything...!) she didn't mind stopping and signing for us and saying 'hi', & we thanked her. She was very nice about it and seemed genuine ... really friendly.
After that my sister had a photo with Susie O'Neill who was an out-and-out champion. It is not hard to see why she has so many fans in and out of the pool.
I then thought how good it would be to have a photo with Giaan, so after seeing 'not too many' people around her, I decided I might try my luck. When the group of people got smaller and we were closer to the front and asked Giaan if I could have a photo with her, she didn't mind - and after the camera 'wouldn't work' (always helps to have the lens cap open!! LOL! that bought a few laughs!) I said thankyou and off we went.
I have never actually met a lot of famous people/athletes, but the ones I have been lucky enough too ... well, 'star struck' is what comes to mind! :0)
I was a bit concious of the fact that these guys were putting themselves out, and with the amount of people that were there, I didn't really have the guts to be too over bearing in the hope of scoring an autograph.
Luckily my sister was with me, and she did all the 'hard' work. After meeting 2 world champion athletes that day I was plesantly surprised at how genuine and un affected they both were.
I espically admired the way Giaan made time for every single person that asked for and autograph or photo and seemed so unfazed or bothered with the large amount of people who approached her. Not only is she a great swimmer, she also seems like a great person.
PHOTOS
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Giaan chats with a young fan |
That's Petria Thomas in the background - the red shirt and with the crutchers |
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Posing for yet another photo |
Click for larger image |
