A class of 30 GW students was able to experience world-class athletics and tour one of the world’s most historic landscapes when they traveled to Athens, Greece, last month for the 2004 Olympic Games.
Their course, called International Experience: The Olympic Games Behind the Scenes, has been taught biannually by Lisa Delpy Neirotti, assistant professor of tourism and sports management. This year’s 10-day trip to the site of the 28th summer Olympics grew out of the professor’s first Olympic trip with a class to Barcelona in 1992.
“I started going in 1984 to Sarajevo and I realized what a great opportunity it would be for students to be at the Olympic Games,” she said.
At the site of the world’s first Olympics, students learned about the corporate, competitive and global aspects of the games, Neirotti said. Robert Chernak, senior vice president of Student and Academic Support Service, accompanied the students on the trip.
The students’ schedule was filled with several lectures from senior level executives of top Olympics sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Visa, Reebok, Nike and Kodak. Students also heard from members of the event’s spectator services, venue management and a Washington Post reporter who gave a tour of the International Broadcast Center and the press center at the games.
“They are busy starting at 8:30 in the morning,” she said. “I have lectures lined up for them where they meet with different people involved such as local volunteers and Olympic athletes.”
Neirotti added, “I try to give them a good perspective on the Olympic games and the Olympic movement.”
While the course’s primary focus is not on the athletic performances, after lectures, students were able to spend their free time watching competitors from around the world, exploring Athens and immersing themselves in Greek culture.
“Whenever they had extra time they went sightseeing,” Neirotti said. “I think almost all of the students made it to the Acropolis and the Parthenon.”
Lara Toscani, a first-year graduate student who made the trip, said sightseeing was only one of the aspects of the trip she enjoyed.
“There are just so many different parts to the trip,” she said. “During the day you meet incredible CEOs of companies and then at night you can go watch a swim meet where the United States wins all three medals.”
She added, “You really can’t top a day like that.”
To take part in the trip, Toscani and her 29 classmates had to pay for some expenses, including airfare, hotel cost and spending money, as well as GW tuition and housing prior to the trip.
“It was expensive, I’m not going to lie, but it was worth it,” Toscani said.
While in Athens, the students had various assignments and had to write a research paper and conduct several surveys measuring consumerism or tourism at the games. Prior to the trip, the class met six times to learn background information about the event and to take a final exam to prove their basic understanding of the Olympics.
In advance of the students’ departure to Athens, the University did not publicly release plans of the trip because of security concerns.
“It was a profile international competition that every major security agency declared a security risk,” said Tracy Schario, GW’s director of Media Relations. “So it wasn’t advisable to advertise that we had students traveling there.”
However, Schario pointed out that the University decided to release the names of current students and alumni who were competing in the Olympic Games.
Toscani said that despite security concerns, she and her classmates had no hesitation about attending the Olympic festivities.
“I was never worried about safety,” she said. “I figure you can’t (pass up) this incredible experience.”
Neirotti said there was a feeling of safety among students and that security issues did have an impact on the games.
“It’s unfortunate that there was so much hype about the security issues because it did affect the attendance of the games,” she said. “And this year’s Olympics were incredible.”
