2002 World Equestrian Games

The Press Room - page 2

There is a camaraderie here, that surpasses the competitiveness of being the first to file their on-line report, or to take the best photos of the day, as we all struggle with similar challenges: getting on-line through the country's network, Telephonica, sharing adaptors for the electrical connections, fear of computer crashes, and just information such as when is horse inspection, how to get to Garripolis (the site of Saturday's cross country) or where can we find food that will not upset our already stressed stomachs.

Charlie Mann, American photographer, while filing photos for several websites, and Dressage Today sits next to us, and has been cheerily helping ladies in distress, from reformatting Diana DeRosa's crashed computer, to providing his own time schedule of events, as the one in the program lacks the detail we need. Others share their laptops with DeRosa so she can file reports, and check e-mail. Photographers Dirk Caremans and Arnd Bronkhorst show me dials on my new Canon digital, which seems to require a doctorate in computer sciences (who has time to read the manual!).

Then there is the experienced event staff in the press center, tired, harried, with a case of stress flu going around, ever helpful in spite of the continuous demands of all of us. We are often one of the last to leave at night, as our economical apartment has no phone and our line to the world in this room.