“Flat Randy” a London Olympics tribute to late reporter Randy Starkman

On a day when the Canadian Olympic Committee announced it was honouring Randy Starkman by naming its media centre "The Randy Starkman Press Room," another no less heartfelt tribute started to emerge.

Flat Randy will take up his position at the Olympics in London. In fact, he will take up many positions in London. And he is sure to elicit a large number of tears as well as a large number of smiles. And photos. Many, many photos.

Flat Randy celebrates the life of the late Toronto Star reporter, an immensely popular and respected friend of amateur athletics, an award-winning columnist who was loved by his peers in media and athletes alike. Mr. Starkman passed away this past spring, after he contracted pneumonia. He was just 51 years old.

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So it was that very cruel twist of fate that prevented him from attending and reporting on his 13th Olympic Games. However, he will be thought of often, and Flat Randy, a cardboard cut out featuring a caricature of Mr. Starkman, will be present all over the Olympic Games. There are 25 Flat Randy cut outs in the hands of the Canadian Olympic Committee and they are about to pop up at venues throughout London. A Flat Randy has already been photographed and posted to the twitter account of Toronto Star reporter Cathal Kelly and many, many more are sure to follow.

Flat Randy's appearance in the media zone of the Olympic swimming facility is an exceptionally lofty honour. Martin Richard, Director Of Communications for Swimming Canada, explains:

"The swim team was very close to Randy and he was a personal friend of mine. We put a photo of him in our media guide to honour him. And instead of flying the Canadian flag and displaying it in the media zone, as we normally would do, we thought we'd bring Flat Randy."

For Richard, the tribute paid is one of professional respect, as well as personal admiration. He'd seen Starkman in Montreal last April. It was shortly after that when Starkman took ill.

"Randy's last (job, before he became ill) was at our Olympic trials," said Richard. "He did a day of interviews with the athletes on the Monday after the trial. He ended up using my hotel room. My wife and daughter were in there, and between interviews Randy would sit and read books to my nine-month-old."

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The Flat Randy invasion at the 2012 Olympics has just begun. Starkman's brother, Laurie, says they are legion, and that number will only grow.

"The 25 Flat Randys that the COC has is just a fraction of the Flat Randys that have been produced. I'm in possession of another 50 of them that we'll be bringing when we come to London," he said.

You may wonder why a cardboard cut out Randy Starkman is an appropriate tribute to him. As Laurie explains, it was his brother's devotion for another cardboard cut out, "Flat Stanley" that makes it so.

"If you google Randy's name and Flat Stanley you're going to see a lot of pictures where Flat Stanley is with athletes and colleagues in different adventures," said Starkman.

Sure enough, you do. Flat Stanleys all over, at Olympic Games in Torino, Beijing and Vancouver.

A friend of Randy Starkman's daughter, Ella, asked him if he might consider taking a Flat Stanley to the Olympics in 2006, to have it photographed. The Flat Stanley Project, begun in 1995, endeavours to have youngsters send these little characters on adventures and then share their written stories about them, in an effort to encourage literacy among kids.

"Olympians would win their medals and what Randy would do is give them Flat Stanley and take pictures with them and give the story behind Flat Stanley," Starkman explained.

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While his brother was known for so much more than just that, the Flat Stanley connection became so telling, Laurie Starkman originally decided he'd be taking an army of them to London. But that changed.

"I thought 'wouldn't it be great if we take some Flat Stanleys to commemorate Randy because that was something he was so well known for, during the Olympics.' Randy's wife, Mary, said 'why don't you take a Flat Randy?' which I thought was brilliant. Our sister, Fern, being very artistically inclined, I gave her the assignment."

The Flat Randy was born and it wasn't long before Randy Starkman's friends at the Canadian Olympic Committee got wind of the idea and asked the Starkmans to provide them with "25 or 30" Flat Randys. Each one has a photograph of Randy Starkman on the back, with the words "Remembering Randy."

Now that the Flat Randy craze is taking root in London, Laurie Starkman couldn't be more pleased.

"I'm actually thrilled as to how the Flat Randy is taking off. The outpouring of warmth that came from people when Randy passed away was amazing in itself. Anything we can do to continue his legacy is so meaningful. I can't put it into words what this means to me. I've got goosebumps that this thing is getting some traction there. That people felt that strongly about my brother, that they're taking these steps to honour my brother... it's huge."

[More: Canadians patriotism at odds with Summer Olympics interest]

As he gets ready to embark on his own trip to London, Laurie Starkman can't help but be struck by what may have been. After all, this trip was originally supposed to be one he would take to meet up with his brother for an Olympic adventure.

As far as what Randy Starkman would make of all these Flat Randys making the rounds at the world's biggest sporting event, Laurie gives two answers.

"One thing that was amazing about my brother that was he never sought the spotlight. It was always the athletes, in his mind, who deserved the spotlight. So, some of the stuff that will transpire out of this, he would probably be a little embarrassed about. But I think the one thing that my brother would be thrilled about, is to know how strongly people felt about him. How well he was liked, respected and thought of. That would mean the world to my brother."

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