Courtside at a United States men's volleyball training session in Beijing last week, Kiwi Hugh McCutcheon pulled up a whiteboard and scrawled a message for his team.
"Are you prepared for the task at hand? (Physically, mentally, emotionally)," it read.
In light of the events at the weekend, a more
poignant thing he could not have written.
The murder of his father-in-law, Todd Bachman, in an attack that also left his mother-in-law, Barbara, fighting for her life has exploded like an emotional bomb in the Chinese capital. McCutcheon, head coach of the US team, was with his wife, Elisabeth (a former US women's Olympic volleyballer), at Barbara Bachman's hospital bedside yesterday.
Across town, his shell-shocked team were having to draw on all their emotional strength to beat Venezuela. They eventually pulled through, 3 sets to 2. It was a game they should have won easily but the events of the previous 24 hours must have been an awful distraction for this gold medal favourite team.
The feeling within the Olympic community yesterday was one of disbelief. Inside the Olympic bubble, the event itself is all-consuming and you are often unaware of what is going on outside. So when something like the attack on the Bachmans happens, it is all the more a jolt. The randomness of this savage attack is unbelievable - this is Beijing, not Mexico or Johannesburg.
Security is always an issue at the Games, but to have had somebody involved with the Olympics affected in this way just doesn't make sense.
When news of the killing filtered through on Saturday evening (Beijing time), the shockwaves rippled through the entire Olympic family.
I met McCutcheon last week and interviewed him for a profile story we ran on Saturday. He was a good bloke, and it struck me that he and his team were a close-knit, amiable bunch. Star player Lloy Ball told me how much he enjoyed his coach's company.
As McCutcheon and his wife face one of the toughest challenges of their lives, struggling to come to terms with what has happened, he will have to draw on the support of mates like Ball. And on all the physical, mental and emotional strength he can muster.
Eguene Bingham
Pictured above: Hugh McCutcheon offers advice to his team prior to the Games.. Photo / Kenny Rodger
