When Business and Travel Combine

Even though my Paris Olympics experience is over, so many of the things I experienced there will stay with me for the rest of my life. Especially this story, as it truly combines my business life with my love of travel. You can’t make this stuff up!

My friends, Pat and Todd and I had just been to the top of the Eiffel Tower and were making our way down. To do so, you have to change elevators at the midway point of the tower. Effectively there are two sets of lifts. We had gotten off the upper set and got in the queue for the lower set. If front of us was a couple with their two adult children. We struck up a conversation, and they told us they had walked up to the mid level and were now making their way down. We encouraged them to go to the top if they never had, but they hadn’t bought a ticket for the upper level, so it wasn’t an option. They then asked where we came from and what we were doing in Paris. I told them the back story of how I had worked for The Coca-Cola Company helping with the creation of pin trading centers all the way back to the Nagano Games. That is when the husband told us they were on a pilgrimage to see the city where his grandfather had competed in the 1924 Olympics. He gave me the picture and the replica pin which his grandfather wore on his uniform. It was absolutely incredible to learn that the men’s javelin throw event was part of the track and field athletics program at the 1924 Summer Olympics. On July 6, 1924, 29 javelin throwers from 15 nations competed at the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir. The throwers were broken into two groups. This man’s grandfather, Bill Neufeld, finished first in Group 2. The top six went from each group competed in the final round. While Jonni Myyrä from Finland ultimately won the gold that day, their grandfather finished an incredible fifth in the competition with a throw of 56.96 meters!

There are a lot of lessons to be had in this single story. One of them is: never miss an opportunity to hear someone’s story. You never know what you might learn! And in this case, not only did I learn an incredible piece of Olympics history, but I also had a very real connection to it. There was a pin involved, and pin trading was an instrumental part of my work with Coca-Cola during the Nagano and Salt Lake Olympics. And, finally, I connected with people I likely never would have met otherwise, and it expanded my view of the world, of history and of people. Oh yes, and I also got to see the Eiffel Tower!

What amazing experiences have you had that fuse your personal and professional lives and have made you a better person?

📸 Photo credits: These are photos of the man’s grandfather, Bill Neufeld, throwing the javelin in the 1924 Paris Olympics and the pin, which is a replica of the one he wore on his uniform.