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 And
the food… there was pasta with salmon, fresh fish
from the canals of Ghent simmered in grapes and plums
(scrutinized by the Chinese men; it obviously passed the
test!), various kinds of meat, vegetables with rice, Carpaccio,
ham with horse radish, and salads, salads, salads…
Surprisingly missing from the buffet line-up were both
chips and waffles. Taking into account that the tables
only fitted about 10 % of the people present, the art
of eating turned into something halfway between a rugby
match and playing musical tables. Stick your glass to
your plate, knife into your pocket (or, like Poland's
Skowronska down the front of your trousers) and off you
go!
 The Kazakh delegation
was among the most successful. They defended their table
space not only against the Chinese, but a host of other
nations as well. As the evening went on, they were even
able to expand their table space considerably. Just when
everybody was beginning to feel quite stuffed, the Belgian
cooks dished out an elaborate selection of cakes, chocolates
and other goodies. Not a good thing for the many coaches
present (or the scales that Germany's Stephan Zapf brings
to every competition).
 While the "Janssen
and Fritsen Bar Mechanics" got the crowd going with
their hilarious antics on the stage, the female gymnasts
from the USA and the Netherlands were stunning on the
floor. Tasha Schwikert looked fantastic in leather pants
and interesting piercings, and the Dutch girls were all
dressed in tasteful evening dresses. The Aussies were
a bit more casual, several of them wearing their tracksuits.
But who cares? The most important thing was to dance the
night away. Even Octavian Belu and Leonid Arkayev looked
good here. But the queen of the dance floor was definitely
Uzbekistan's Svetlana Kuznetsova.
 Meanwhile back at
the bar, Szilveszter Csollany was getting all philosophical
over a glass of white wine. The Cuban men were checking
out the girls (and women) passing by. The Indian delegation
was busy rocking round the dance floor. The Chinese men
turned out to be real party animals as well. The spirit
of international friendship and harmony even extended
to the queues in the toilets: "Where are you from?"
"Sri Lanka" "Oh, I want to go on holiday
there" "Hey, let's exchange addresses".
Svetlana Khorkina had finally got rid of the hideous make
up she wore in competition and turned out to be a Daniele
Hypolito fan. In the end everybody had had his or her
picture taken with everybody else - or so it seemed.
 But… One person
was missing from this friendly gathering, this successful
soirée. The man who had given it his all in his
relentless fight against superfluous journalists, professional
working conditions in the press centre, and -horror or
horrors- hordes of gymnasts roaming the press centre freely.
Head of Media Walther Kippers. He could have seen that
gymnasts, officials, fans and journalists don't attack
each other and that there is no need for metal barriers
and inflexible security regulations. Quite the opposite:
They all communicated which each other and danced the
night away quite happily, celebrating the fact that they
all had survived a week's gymnastics without any long-term
health problems. But then maybe that might have undermined
the rules. The real reason is probably quite different:
Walther would have liked to come to the party but had
to deny himself entry because their was a mistake in his
accreditation. After all, rules are rules. And they are
meant to be kept. Outside at least.
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If you wanna have some athmosphere download "Bongo
Song" of "Safri Duo" somewhere from the
net. That was the song, the "J&F Bar Mechanics"
were opening the party with and everybody started dancing
to it!
And here - it's MAGIC! Everytime you come back you will
get new pictures down here!
 
 
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