Since covering my first Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, I have covered nine of them for the Deseret Morning News, counting Athens.

At an average of 20 days per assignment, that means I've spent half a year just covering the Olympics (talk about your wasted life). I did L.A. in 1984, Calgary and Seoul in 1988, Albertville and Barcelona in 1992, Lillehammer in 1994, Sydney in 2000, Salt Lake City in 2002 and now Athens 2004. I have also written five books about the Olympic Games, one each on the history of the Summer and Winter Games, respectively; one about LDS Olympians (with Doug Robinson); one a collection of inspirational Olympic stories; and "Inside Guide to the Games," which I wrote for the Salt Lake City Olympics. In addition to that, I have written two motivational-type business books with athletes I first met at the Olympics — "The Breakthrough Factor" with steeplechase runner Henry Marsh and "Risk, Originality and Virtuosity" with gymnast Peter Vidmar.

In short, the Olympics, and my Deseret Morning News assignments to cover them, have been very, very good to me. My favorite moment, with all due respect to Salt Lake's great Games, was in Sydney one evening when the torch was on its way and about a million Aussies sang "Waltzing Matilda" in unison and everybody was on key.