Syracuse.com - Dating athletes at Sochi Olympics 'pretty simple process' says Syracuse graduate

[HuntingNY-News]

"So will I ever meet up with the Austrian snowboarder who keeps inviting me to his place?Only time will tell."

A 2013 graduate of Syracuse University who is pursuing a master's in Information Management, Brittany Legasey is currently working as a volunteer press assistant for the International Olympics Committee at the XXII Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

By Brittany Legasey | Contributing writer

What do you need to meet athletes during the Olympic Games? A smart phone, an internet connection and an attractive profile picture. Oh, and most importantly, a dating app like 'Tinder.'

It's a pretty simple process. You're shown the picture of someone of the gender that you are romantically interested in who is located within a predetermined distance from you, their name, and their age and you can either say that you're interested or that you pass. If someone that you said you were interested in also said that they were interested in you, the app gives you the ability to message them. And it goes from there.

I first started using applications like this after I arrived in the hopes of meeting other volunteers and staff. At the least, I figured that I would be able to save myself some money on drinks. But early last week I started to notice that there was a new variety to the selections provided to me by the app. They were athletes!

At first it didn't seem real. An Olympic athlete was messaging me? But after looking him up on the official Olympic website which provides a register of all the competing athletes by country, reality sunk in.

At the moment, I'm messaging with about 15 different athletes. Most of them are Austrian, some Dutch, Italian, French and a few smaller countries that I won't name because their teams are quite small. Lately, I seem to be the interest of the Austrian men's hockey team.

Last week I went on a date with a Dutch speed skater and got a behind-the-scenes tour of the athletes' Coastal Olympic Village.

Many other athletes have tried to make plans with me, but work, training and competition schedules make things somewhat complicated.

The snowboarders and skiers also live about an hour away from the coast in the mountain village, meaning if we were going to make plans it would take a certain amount of coordination. So will I ever meet up with the Austrian snowboarder who keeps inviting me to his place?

Only time will tell.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog