James Connolly's Accomplishments

Athens. Ever since he had heard about the new Olympic games, James Connolly had been dreaming about Athens. He imagined the architecture there was both far older, far more advanced, and far more beautiful than anything he had seen in his meager little life. He could not stop thinking about every national monument he would run into on the way to that great city. He would pass under the Pillars of Hercules that guarded the Strait of Gibraltar, and land at the port of Piraeus – which was rumored to have once been the place of landing for the great poet Homer. Indeed, Connolly had already made up his mind to go – he knew from the moment he heard about it on the radio. Not only was the thought of adventure sucking him in like a magnet, he
He tried to improve his technique on the hop, skip, jump, but his mind was almost always elsewhere. In his head, Connolly was already touring the new marble stadium, walking the banks of the Ilissus, and making conversation with a blind Homer. Never-mind that Homer was dead. He did not care so much if he won the games- he only wanted to be able to go to that fabled place. Of course, that was his biggest issue. How was he going to get Harvard to allow him to leave. Despite his accomplishments in Track and Field, his grades were only average- and he was positively struggling through his days in the machine
After a light lunch everyone got into cabs to make their way to the stadium. The streets were crowded and lined with colorful flags and streamers. Soldiers lined them, holding back vehicles and letting the athletes through. The pure white marble of the stadium was graceful, awe inspiring, and packed solid with nearly eighty-thousand people. Thousands more lined the hill that rose behind it. The athletes were led down a long tunnel to the dressing rooms. Two Germans saluted them from a large food court with a cry of “Hoch!” as they walked by. A large bathroom was nearby, fitted with silver plumbing and huge, twelve foot long towels. Too soon the bugle call for the start of the Olympics sounded, followed by the one for the 100- meter trials. All three of the American athletes – Burke, Curtis, and Lane – qualified. After that was the triple-saute. Connolly was the last on the queue, and as he watched the men going before him, he noticed that all but three did two hops and a jump, rather than his own preferred style of hop, step,