You might go to helpmefind.com to get some other opinions and observations on Olympiad.

I'm not in your zone, but will share my experience with the bush. I had to look on my chart to see if I have it because I pay so little attention to it because it's basically trouble-free, always looks pretty good. I went outside to look at it to give you a report.

We have trouble with mildew May-June here, and I did notice a touch of mildew on the bush, but no other problems. It currently is getting ready for its second flush of bloom and has 17 buds on it. The stems are strong to hold up the flowers, they don't droop over. The bush has been in the garden many years and is 3-4' high, maybe a little wider. The red rose is beautiful.

Thanks for bringing this bush to my attention!

I don't particularly like my Olympiad. The rose form is not the greatest and the canes are all scrawny. I have a friend that is a master Rosarian and after I already had it in the ground, she said she didn't like it for the same reasons.

My newest batch of HTs (7) includes one red that she and other nursery friends have said that they like a lot, Fireffighter. I just looked at it again this morning, (my new 7 aren't even in the ground yet) It has one big bloom and some large pointy buds. The shape of the bloom is superior to Olympiad, as are the wonderful canes and leaves. The color is similar. It does smell a bit like Ponds Cold Cream, however. This is a great looking and vigorous rose.

andrea

My Olympiad gave normal repeat bloom. Possibly the Oklahoma heat slowed yours down, but you would need to hear from those with extremely hot summers. My plant was also fairly tall, bushy by HT standards, and vigorous. It was susceptible to blackspot, of course.

The big pluses are unusually long vase life and unchanging bright scarlet color, if you want that.

I guess I got bored with it because it produced a hundred identical non-fragrant blooms every year..

I have one Olympiad in my garden for two years and I think it's great. It has many blooms on the bush and they last for as long as any other bloom in my garden. The Red is a true Red. However like you said it doesn't have any fragrance. The bush is very vigorous and bushy.
Jack

All my hybrid teas were wiped out over 20 years ago by the deer. I decided to try again and planted three. Two of my favorites; Olympiad for the quantity of cut flowers and Double Delight for fragrance. My favorite yelllow was sunsprite which is a floribunda and I wanted a hybrid tea so St. Patrick was recommended to me.
The new Olympiad is doing fine, except the bareroot I received seemed to be young (smaller canes, all three were ). It has a bout 10 buds on it's second bloom (the deer got the first). Flowers and stems are smaller than what I am use to but I think that will change as the bush matures.

I have an Olympiad and it is one of my absolute favorites. It's true that it doesn't have any scent, but the quality of the flowers more than makes up for it. It lasts for such a long time in a vase and produces large florist quality roses on very long stems. Here are a few pics of mine in a vase with Barbra Streisands mixed in.
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Maude - Your arrangements are lovely, what pleasure they must bring. Yes, Oklahoma does have some horrendously hot summers, especially the past couple of years. The Tulsa Rose Society's website has different varieties listed that do good in their area and Olympiad is on that. I live approximately 60 miles west and a little north of Tulsa. Andrea, I did plant a Firefighter this year, hasn't bloomed yet, can't wait to see it. Seems like some of you really think it's a good rose and others not so much, I'll just have to decide whether I want to take another chance with it. I'm posting a picture of how it looked in June of 2005, the Jan. 2002 on the picture doesn't mean a thing, obviously roses don't bloom in January in Oklahoma.

Although I took my Olympiad out I wish I had it back. I just got bored with it. It took the dry heat and all day sun (already 99 today) and the color always remained bright red. The edges never fried. Rebloom was average for a HT and it had a tall and narrow bush form. It got a little mildew occasionally. It lasted a long time in a vase. My Firefighter in even less sun crunches on the edges, and blues. I have a new Crimson Bouquet that I'm hoping will fill the gap and my three Kardinal HT's do pretty well in the heat. I don't have Olympiad to fall back on throughout the hottest days. The only red I have that takes the heat as well as Olympiad and doesn't blue is LavaGlut.

Tuggy3 - For me Kardinal always had perfect blooms, but they were a little on the small side, not as prolific for me as some. Actually, my most dependable red HT is Royal William, it blooms consistently every year, not overly prolific, but steady and the color is lovely.

I agree about Kardinal. The blooms are not large and it's not hugely prolific. I like it because the blooms last pretty well in the heat and Kordes roses tend to be so healthy here. I'll check out Royal William. I'm looking for another good red.

I live in south florida and olympiad has been one of my best bloomers. Her flowers have a tendency to deform sometimes in the extreme het and rain here but she is very vigorous and a quick rebloomer for me. She also lasts forever in the vase which is why I grow her.

First bloom.

Lovely picture Steve!

Third cycle for the young plant was about 10 blooms. I'm pleased.

I always liked Olympiad -- still do. If I had room for an HT, I'd have it again. And, not to be contrary, but for me, it had a light, sweet fragrance.

It was disease-free here, as well.

Jeri

Grand Amore. Try it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grand Amore

Thanks for sharing another lovely picture, Steve. Seems like Olympiad stays pretty a long time. Jeri - I don't think you are being contrary about it having a light fragrance, after all fragrance is subjective. The other evening my daughter took a whiff of a Midas Touch and acted like it was almost intoxicating, to me it has a very light fragrance. Grand Amore is another lovely red, I do like to try the different reds to compare them and there are several really good ones.

Also I noticed she seems to shoot out three branches where ever i cut a rose off (all my other HT only shoot out one, rarely two) which makes her a much bushier shape than normal HT roses. She also puts out flower on each of those three shoots, so she's very floriforous. Has anyone else noticed this about her? I wonder if this is her nature or if its the Rose Tone i gave her. I give all my roses rose tone but I accidentally gave her a very large helping of it and she seems to have loved it. (Luckily because we all know over fertilizing can be disastrous!)