Faculty member receives invitation to officiate OlympicsBy César G. Rodriguez
The University Star
San Marcos, TX
September 4, 2008 star.txstate.edu/content/faculty-member-receives-invitation-officiate-olympicsJohn Moreau received an e-mail from the Secretary General of Modern Pentathlon asking him to be a sports official at the 2008 Olympics, then he began packing for the 20-hour flight to Beijing.
Moreau, senior lecturer of the department of health, physical education and recreation, was a member of the U.S. fencing team in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. Moreau said he was excited after being selected to compete.
“Of course I was pleased,” Moreau said. “One of the goals of every athletic official is to perform, compete at the highest level — and it doesn’t get any higher than the Olympics.”
Lisa Lloyd, interim chair of the department of health physical education and recreation, said Moreau’s participation in the Olympics is indicative of the activities with which the faculty members are involved.
“(Moreau) brought recognition to the department,” Lloyd said. “Often times, people think that the faculty in our department are coaches and P.E. teachers. I do not think that people realize all of the different things that our faculty does.”
Natalia Moreau said she admires her husband’s devotion to his career.
“I feel I’m blessed by God to have a husband like John,” Moreau said. “Besides being a good husband, he puts all his heart into whatever he is doing.”
Natalia Moreau said she waits at home with one request while her husband travels to oversee events.
“I ask him to contact me to let me know he arrived safely,” she said. “Then, I don’t bother him so he can concentrate on the tasks at hand. Whenever he is not traveling, we try to spend time together. It’s not the quantity of time, but the quality.”
Moreau’s officiating experience goes back to when he was at the test event for the Olympics, the World Cup Final, to which the top 36 male and female international competitors were invited.
Eight officials were selected for the competition, and Moreau was the only one from the Western Hemisphere. “I’m not sure of the exact criteria or process of selection,” Moreau said. “All I know is that I was selected from all the certified international judges based on my past performances at competitions.”
He said judges must take steps to prepare for each of the five events.
“All international judges have to take extensive exams on the rules of the sport,” Moreau said. “But, I suspect that I demonstrated an ability to work under pressure and function as a cohesive part of the judging crew.”
The pentathlon includes five events: swimming, pistol shooting, fencing, horseback riding and running. Moreau is certified to officiate and judge each of the five events.
Moreau said competing in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics gave him the satisfaction of meeting people from other countries.
“The interaction with athletes of other sports, to me, was the most exciting aspect of the Olympic Games,” Moreau said.
Moreau said he attempted to watch events in which the United States participated while in Beijing.
“Unfortunately, I passed on watching the last baseball game in the Olympics,” Moreau said. “Tickets were available after the (United States) was eliminated. Tickets just weren’t available for the finals in basketball. Besides, my event had me busy from 6 a.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. almost every day.”
Moreau said he did not have problems with the predominate language, Mandarin, during the competition. “It wasn’t necessary to utilize any of my inadequate language skills,” Moreau said. “The official language of my sport, modern pentathlon, is English, and the Chinese had passable interpreters when we needed to converse with the event workers.”
However, watching the Olympics on Chinese television was a dilemma.
“I watched the other sports on Chinese television,” he said. “The funny thing was that I found myself turning up the volume even though I didn’t understand what the heck they were saying.”
Moreau said having a close seat in the stadium was an advantage over the millions of people who watched the closing ceremonies on television.
“The closing ceremonies were fantastic, almost too much,” Moreau said. “It was quite warm, and they were handing out free food and beer. They had a half hour practice as to what the audience was to do at certain times, all explained in English, French and Chinese. What you didn’t see on TV was the warm up act to get the audience in the mood.”
Lloyd said opportunities like the one Moreau received are rare.
“I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Lloyd said. “I was very proud of him and very happy for him.”