Entertaining Olympic dreams -
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Published on: 2/1/2002
Last Visited: 2/2/2002
Saugus resident Mike Gallant will head to Salt Lake City next week as part of the 2002 Winter Olympics sports entertainment team.
For as long as he can remember, Mike Gallant has always dreamed about basking in the Olympic spotlight.Next month, the Mountain Avenue resident's dream will finally come true, although perhaps it is not quite the way the former speed skater had always imagined.
On Feb. 5, Gallant will hop on a plane and head to Salt Lake City, Utah to begin work with the 2002 Winter Olympics.As part of the sports production team, he will spend the next 23 days handling most of the events at the speed skating oval, doing scoreboard announcing, videography, and overseeing some of the entertainment that is going to take place before and after the races.
For someone who spent 17 years as a speed skater himself and even tried out for three Olympics, Gallant said he is going to relish every moment he spends in Salt Lake City next month.
" I always knew I'd be going to the Olympics, I just never knew in what capacity, " Gallant laughed." I'm killing two birds with one stone.Just to be involved is great because I skated for so many years.My true passion now is in entertainment.I couldn't have asked for anything more, business-wise, because this is the type of stuff that we aspire to able to do."
The 25-year-old Gallant is also the founder of the entertainment company Perfect Parties, which specializes in interactive events.Since 1992, Gallant has overseen the growth of his company, which started with him working as a disc jockey at parties and providing dance routines, large inflatables, games and novelty entertainers for various events.When he first learned that the Olympics were going to be in the United States this year, Gallant immediately went to work to try to find some way to combine his love for athletics and his new-found passion for entertainment.
Gallant was persistent in his attempts to make a good impression on the 2002 Winter Olympic Committee.When he found out that one of the committee members would be in Boston, Gallant quickly set up a breakfast meeting to show off his portfolio and earned a tryout in Salt Lake City, where he unveiled many of his ideas from Perfect Parties.
After months of waiting by the phone on pins and needles, Gallant eventually heard back from the Olympic Committee and was told that he had been selected as part of the sports production team.Gallant even received a testimonial from the Olympic Committee which stated that " sports production wouldn't be the caliber it is without your impressive talents.We feel lucky to have the opportunity to work with you at the Olympics."
Gallant didn't underestimate the significance of his selection, saying that the Olympic Committee is prone to hiring from within the state where the Olympics are held.Instead, Gallant geared up to bring a little bit of Saugus to Salt Lake City.
" It was tough for me to be able to convince them and for them to want me and see what I could do and what I could bring to the table, " Gallant said." After the interviews, they said I scored very well and they offered me a position as part of the team.I'm very excited about it."
Although Gallant will not receive any kind of stipend for his work with the Olympics, he knows he will be receiving something even more valuable - the experience of a lifetime.In addition, he is currently studying business management at Merrimack College and will receive course credits for his work in Salt Lake City.Gallant will be taking two directed study courses with a pair of professors as he analyzes some of the marketing and human resources that go along with large event such as the Olympics.
Gallant said that being part of such a fantastic event will look impressive on a resume and that by the end of February, he will have tackled event planning on the grandest of scales.With that in mind, he said he cannot help but be excited about the future.
" I am in the event industry now so we do a lot of corporate events, fair, festivals and things like that, " Gallant said." But seeing something on this level is certainly much larger than what I'm used to, but something that I aspire to be able to do in the future."
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