On the weekend of the finals, something about the boss.
As an Olympic reporter, on the one hand, that's always the next deadline.
In Tokyo, on the other hand, this is also a man you have to pass day after day.
He's waiting everywhere: in the basketball arena.
In the table tennis hall.
And of course in the media center.
You can recognize it by its trademark: the wooden stick.
Christopher Meltzer
Sports correspondent in Munich.
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There is a lot of control in Tokyo these days. You even have to drink a sip from your bottles in front of the watchdogs in the security gate - according to the accreditations they are on duty around their necks for the Ministry of Defense. To convince them that the water is really water.
The sip is rewarded with a smile. At least. Sometimes with a bow. They smile and bow a lot. Only one person doesn't do that: the man with the wooden stick. He's in his uniform - it's no different from that of other police officers - always a few meters behind the security gate. In case someone should break through this zone without a test swallow from the bottle? One could therefore perhaps call him a Libero. Or the Manuel Neuer of the Olympic defense. Only without a complaint arm, but with a complaint stick.
In his position, the man usually leans on the wooden stick with two hands. At first glance, it doesn't look any more stable than an ordinary broom. Now all that's missing is a photo to prove it. At the entrance to the media center you ask politely and also a little anxiously: A photo, is that possible? He just shakes his head. Then of course not. Better not risk being kicked out on the weekend of the finals - and accept the defeat. But there is still the Olympic archive of the departed colleague.