Blind Item #7 - Reader Blind

At a recent film festival, during a Q and A after the showing of this action film that came out several decades ago and has had a number of sequels, a story was told that was one of the inspirations for the original novel. This story has bounced around for awhile but it was the first time it was confirmed publicly as true.

The decade before the film came out, there were a number of terrorist activities on this continent. This small tax haven had been spared so far but one day gunmen from this group with two names seized control of a luxury hotel which happened to be full at the time.

Staying at the hotel was this foreign born A+ athlete who at the time was the best in the world in his sport.  He was also responsible for a boom in his sport that would carry over to the next decade as he had become a bit of a sex symbol .He was there to compete in an annual event.

This athlete was known for his unemotional calm demeanor when competing which he showed as he opened the cover of the vent in his room and crawled through the ventilation system down to the ground floor where he escaped and alerted the police. A team was able to disarm the terrorists without anyone being hurt.  The athlete did not want any attention focused on this as he was very focused on event which he did end up winning that year.

A number of years later, the athlete, now retired, had financial troubles. He was helped with his debts by some of the other people who were staying in the hotel that day.