TIME International

August 12, 1996 Volume 148, No. 7

TO OUR READERS

No matter how prime their seats for beach volleyball, journalists who cover the Olympics know the assignment falls far short of a dream vacation. Covering the hundreds of events that compete for attention during a frenzied two-week Games requires TIME staff members, like the Olympians, to be "faster, higher, stronger." This year's Games in Atlanta, however, asked of them something even more. After the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park, TIME's 17-member Olympic team turned into a dual-purpose brigade, covering not only a continuing round of sports events but also the reverberations of the attack.

Staff members were busy tending to last-minute editing chores when the bomb exploded at 1:21 a.m. on Saturday, July 27, just one block from the main press center. Senior writer Steve Wulf, who was heading our Olympic coverage in Atlanta, quickly dispatched the troops. Having had experience covering I.R.A. bombings in London, correspondent Barry Hillenbrand immediately dashed to Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital to gauge the severity of the attack. Senior writer Richard Zoglin and reporter Larry Mondi took off for the blast area. Hotels in the area had all been sealed off, forcing Zoglin, Mondi and others to wander the streets until 8 a.m. Staff members remaining in the press center were advised to evacuate but refused and kept monitoring the unfolding story.

With little or no rest, many TIME staff members went right back to covering the Games as Atlanta bureau chief Adam Cohen worked around the clock tracking the progress of the police investigation into the bombing. But there were moments of joy during the trying two-week period. Hillenbrand delighted in running into an old colleague, Tom Fox. A Saigon-based reporter for TIME in the '70s, Fox was at the Olympics without pen and paper in hand. His daughter Catherine, a U.S. swimmer, took home a gold. And so did TIME's own Olympic team.

When TIME international deputy editor Charles Alexander proposed a major story on the world's most acclaimed pop divas, the suspicions of our staff members were immediately aroused. They rightly assumed that he wanted to use the story as a vehicle to feature his favorite chanteuse, Canada's Celine Dion. But he made a strong, objective case by pointing out that her latest album had risen to No. 1 in countries all over the globe. And when she was invited to sing at the Olympics opening ceremonies, that clinched the argument.

Alexander was more than willing, however, to have Dion share the spotlight with other singers from around the world. The global reach of Cuban-American pop star Gloria Estefan earned her a gig at the closing ceremonies of the Olympics--and a place in our story. Correspondent Tammerlin Drummond and reporter Aixa Pascual spent an afternoon with Estefan at her mansion on Miami's Star Island. Beneath all the trappings, says Pascual, "she was sweet, down to earth, inspiring and passionate about her music."

Tina Arena was found in relatively more modest surroundings, the singer's newly rented Hollywood apartment. Though a bona fide pop goddess in her native Australia, Arena--and her single Chains--had just arrived in the U.S. But she was more confident than nervous. During an interview she described a diva as "a woman who is in control of her own destiny"--an apt self-description.

Faye Wong's Canto-Pop is ubiquitous in Asia, but the singer was apparently in hiding mode when stringer Lulu Yu tried to set up an interview. Even her manager claimed not to know her whereabouts. Through a personal contact, Yu finally tracked down the elusive diva--she was working on a new album and didn't want to be distracted--and spent two hours chatting with her in a Beijing coffee shop.

When Tokyo correspondent Irene Kunii joined Miwa Yoshida at the photo shoot for the story, the Japanese pop star's appeal was immediately clear. Dressed in black leather, Yoshida sang and twirled to her own CD in front of the camera. During the interview that followed, most of the people involved in the photo session lingered nearby, riveted by her account of her life story. "A born performer," says Kunii.

As for Celine Dion, there was no doubt who would reserve the lion's share of the reporting for himself. Alexander took in concerts in Montreal and New York City and met her for a two-hour dinner at a Manhattan restaurant, a tete-a-tete that provoked much amused commentary along our corridors. "It was a tough job," says Alexander, "but somebody had to do it." Yeah, right.