Seasoned soldier to brave Olympic media storm

SYDNEY - Should a freak snowstorm hit the Olympic Games, Captain Stephen Roberts of The Toronto Scottish Regiment will be the first out with his shovel.

In the meantime, the 54-year-old retired Ontario Hydro worker is quite content to put out small brush fires as a troubleshooter in the Main Press Centre in Olympic Park where reporters with faulty computers can be as ornery as enemy snipers.

To that end, Roberts has temporarily put aside his duties as one of Lieutenant-Governor Hilary Weston's aides-de-camp to join the army of volunteers hoping to make the Games of the 27th Olympiad the best ever.

Or at least the best of the modern era, given that athletes no longer compete in the nude as they did when the Greeks invented the Games. Back then the Greeks also naively believed all competitors would want to run faster, jump higher and get stronger without anabolic steroids. History of course keeps proving the Greeks wrong.

But neither the drug scandals nor the corruption among the Lords of the Rings who decide which country gets to stage this party every four years, has dampened Roberts' enthusiasm and military spirit to do the best job he can.

``I love challenges,'' said Roberts, whose military career has taken him to Rwanda and Bosnia to document the Canadian military presence in those hot spots.

DALE BRAZAO/TORONTO STAR

TROUBLESHOOTER: Captain Stephen Roberts will keep his eye on 5,000 computers at the Olympics.

``This was a once in a lifetime opportunity - too good to miss,'' said Roberts who will probably miss all of the Olympic events because he'll be swamped solving computer problems for the media hordes from around the world.

Roberts applied three years ago for the job, but it wasn't until six months ago that he learned he would be one of 57,000 volunteers working for food. But they do get to take home memories and the vibrant multicoloured uniforms.

The rigorous selection process included answering a telephone book-sized questionnaire that included some rather impertinent personal questions.

``They wanted to know just about everything about your personal life, but I can understand it given the security concerns.''

The single father of two boys paid his own way to get Down Under. He has been staying in the media village but is about to be moved out to make way for all the journalists who are coming to ensure, despite the horrific 15-hour time difference, sports fans in North America will get videotaped results within hours of the events ending.

Roberts notices many similarities between the Olympics and life in the military. The success of both organizations depends on how well people give and take orders, he says. Soldiers wear dog tags, volunteers have ID cards. Both have uniforms.

As a Captain and Unit Information Officer with The Toronto Scottish Regiment, his unit was one of the first to be called out when Mayor Mel Lastman panicked and asked the military to help dig Toronto out from under the storm of the century two winters ago.

Although it snowed in Australia two weeks ago and forced the van carrying the Olympic torch into a ditch, Roberts is not expecting such drastic events here. Filling sandbags may be more likely given the rainfall of the last few days.

And in keeping with his spirit of adventure, Roberts plans to travel to the Great Barrier Reef to scuba dive among the sharks when the Games are over.

After three weeks of catering to 5,000 journalists speaking 150 different languages, a leisurely swim with the sharks should be a relief.