» On 7/01/2024 12:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
My Olympian Goddess Infatuation. 

Since NBC will soon cover the 2024 Paris Olympics, I decided to write down my brush with an Olympics that took place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

After serving my stint on the NBC NY Page staff, I married a Page colleague and moved to the Los Angeles area - North Hollywood, to be exact. We lived in a crappy little one-bedroom apartment with a headstrong schnauzer named Gracie. But we were happy. For a while, anyway.

During the 1984 L.A. Olympics, I worked on a security team in the Olympic Village at the University of Southern California campus. Activity on the USC practice track followed a very regimented schedule, so all the teams could get some workout time. And my security station was right next to that track. The U.S. had boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, so the Russians and their allies wanted to return the favor. Romania was the only Soviet Bloc country that opted to attend the L.A. Games. Which meant the Romanian team got a lot of positive attention.

But I was interested in only one Romanian. Doina Melinte was a real beauty. She moved like a gazelle and had a derrière like a Georgia peach. She specialized in the middle distances which I had run in high school and college. So whenever the Romanian team arrived at the practice track near my post, I couldn't resist the urge to stare at her. All the Olympic athletes were like gods to us mere mortals, but Doina was my own private goddess, and I put her on a very special pedestal. While she was working out, my gaze never wandered.

When the track & field events started a week later, over at the Coliseum, I got myself transferred to the stadium floor, so I could watch my goddess compete from trackside. Doina advanced easily through the qualifying heats, and ended up winning a silver in the 1500-meters and a gold in the 800. She never knew I existed, but I was so proud of her. I still have a Romanian Olympic team pin to commemorate my unrequited infatuation with an Olympian goddess.

Doina's 800m victory (3:19 video)

Romanian team pin:


Doina in high school:


28Jul1984 to 12Aug1984: providing airtight security, in the Olympic Village and on the track, for 8 bucks an hour.
(A cute little blue beret topped off that khaki outfit.)

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