The maddening aspect is you get all the responsibility and none of the authority. It's very clear what you are supposed to do, which is to pay for the whole thing. But you are banned from using the word 'Olympic' and the Olympic rings.

We always found the right person at the right time for the right job. Of course, you need volunteers, and we had so many who contributed.

But we wouldn't do it unless the community wanted (the race).

There were 20 ingredients that made the race happen, and five were absolutely critical. The other 15 were important, but we could have gotten the bid without one or two of them.

Randy Covington (at WIS) leaned across the table and basically told them that this is an important news event in Columbia, South Carolina, that we're here to cover the news and we're going to cover the news. (Olympic officials) decided they had better play ball or lose control of the whole thing.

Only three would make the Olympics, and only a few could realistically expect to win. We wanted to make the Trials a memorable experience — their Olympics, if you will — for the others.