THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996                  TAG: 9607060084
SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: Tom Robinson 
                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

SOME WORK TO GO, BUT HE IS GOING TO WORK [LOOK WHO'S GOING: SUMMER OLYMPICS]

FOR MONTHS, Chris Brumm's answering machine message chirped that nothing beats a summer in Atlanta, ``Gee-Ay.'' Brumm was Dixie-bound and you better believe he was psyched.

Not to attend Olympic events but to work endless hours for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, for no pay, little glory and who knows how much sweat.

Brumm will intern at the Georgia World Congress Center weightlifting venue to fulfill requirements for his master's degree in sports management from Old Dominion. Even before he began work June 24, though, Brumm, a teacher and coach at Chesapeake's Crestwood Middle School, earned credit for never taking ``No'' for an answer.

For 18 months, Brumm was turned down repeatedly for one of ACOG's limited internships. He pestered the office with a phone call every few months anyway. Last winter, he hit pay dirt - 17 internships had opened up.

Brumm fired off a resume and flew down to interview for a spot with fencing, team handball, judo or internal processing. The weightlifting director had to get him later on the phone, and Brumm won him over.

``He said he wanted me, and I was excited as I could be,'' says Brumm, 28, who grew up in Vienna, Va. ``I really tried to be personable, but you never know on the phone. I don't know what it was. But I know the competition was pretty fierce.''

Maybe this was it: Brumm swears to ``eat, breathe and sleep ACOG. I'm ready to work 18, 20 hours a day.''

It'll cost Brumm more than sleep. The ODU credits are about $1,100. Brumm gave up his Virginia Beach apartment but had to rent storage space for his stuff. He caught a break, however, when a friend of one of his Virginia Tech frat brothers let him move in for $300 plus utilities for the entire seven weeks.

Even though he draws his teacher's salary in the summer, ``it's still gonna be tight, but I'm not doing too bad,'' Brumm says. His larger battle might be fending off everybody who thinks he can get them tickets. He has disappointed ``boatloads'' already.

``They have to understand I'm just an intern,'' Brumm says. But a prouder one might be hard to find.

``In my past, I've felt like in some cases maybe I've lived in the shadows of others,'' Brumm says. ``This is sort of my moment in the sunshine.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by L. Todd Spencer

[Chris Brumm]

KEYWORDS: SUMMER OLYMPICS by CNB