JMU professor knows nuts and bolts of Olympics construction

A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of impossible deadlines, a lot of incredible achievements. 

Linda Thomas, head of the James Madison University School of Integrated Sciences, has a pretty good idea of what the people in charge of venues for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are going through. She’s been there. 

“I would have dreams at night that I’d wake up the next day and something would totally change,” she said, recounting her experience as head of construction for the athletes’ village for the 1996 summer games in Atlanta. 

A lawyer living in Atlanta at the time, Thomas began her experience with the U.S. Olympic Committee as a volunteer and was put in charge of constructing a small city on the campus of Georgia Tech after some personnel changes. 

“The athlete’s village is a city and the Olympic Committee gives you a book, these are the things that athletes must have access to,” said Thomas, who has a background in civil engineering in addition to law. 

Among the achievements were constructing a dining tent that could seat almost 4,000 people and the kitchen to prepare the food — 14 tractor-trailers with the sides removed. “It was much more than an army field kitchen because we had some of the world’s best chefs,” she said. Along with their chefs, many teams also shipped their food to the games, fearing they could not get authentic food from their countries in the U.S. 

Most of the construction took place 24 hours a day in the final weeks leading up to the games so it wouldn’t interfere with Georgia Tech operations. In addition to the food tent, the private side of the village — where athletes could “let their hair down” away from the press — had a dance hall, a coffee house, laser tag and an internet café. On the public side, construction included a tent for welcoming dignitaries such as the King and Queen of Sweden; Muhammad Ali, the torchbearer that year; and President Clinton. Thomas also oversaw construction of the studio for NBC Sports. 

Thomas had tickets to attend the gold medal men’s basketball game, the first featuring the U.S. Dream Team, but didn’t go. “I was dead on my feet,” she said. She did go to the closing ceremony. 

And following the games, Thomas had two weeks to take everything away and put the campus back together. 

To arrange an interview with Thomas, contact Eric Gorton at gortonej@jmu.edu or 540-908-1760.

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