9601250069
DETROIT FREE PRESS
960805
Monday, August 05, 1996
METRO FINAL
1A
Photo MICHAEL PROBST/Associated Press
Fireworks light up the sky Sunday during closing ceremonies of
the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
MITCH ALBOM
ATLANTA '96
Copyright (c) 1996, Detroit Free Press
PASSING THE TORCH
THE GAMES WERE DEFINED BY EMOTIONS
ATLANTA -- That sound you heard was a bomb. The explosion at Centennial
Park that claimed one life and affected thousands of others may be your first
memory when someone says, "Olympics, 1996."
But not your last.
That sound you heard was also the roar of aston ish ment. Michael Johnson
blazed into another world in the 200-meter final, and even Johnson, so
control-happy he irons his track suits, let out a scream and threw his hands
to the sky. A few nights earlier, Canada's Donovan Bailey did the same thing
at the same spot on the Olympic track, screaming as he smashed the world
record in the 100.
Astonishment? A freckle-faced swimmer named Amy Van Dyken won four gold
medals, including one in the butterfly, which she later acknowledged: "I
hadn't even practiced!" Astonishment? The United States won a gold medal in
women's gymnastics, the Chinese swimmers disappeared, and Nigeria -- Nigeria?
-- won the soccer gold medal.
That sound you heard was the drip of tears. A Greco-Roman wrestler, Matt
Ghaffari, wept on the medal stand after losing to his Russian nemesis for the
21st straight time. And later, on those same mats, a wrestler named Kurt Angle
also cried, on his knees, hands together in prayer. He was weeping for the
joy of his new gold medal, and for the grief he could not share it with an old
friend, Dave Schultz, who had been shot dead.
The women's softball team cried in each other's arms, the women's soccer
team cried in each other's arms, Romanian gymnasts cried when they fell, and
Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie cried on the medal stand, having
fought off a trio of conspiring Kenyans to capture the gold for his ravaged
nation. There were tears of relief, tears of grief, tears of ripped muscles
and tears of broken hearts. That sound you heard was emotion bubbling over.
Moments best forgotten
That sound you heard was also the gag of embarrassment. Atlanta's Olympic
bus drivers were so pressured and ill- prepared that some walked off the job
in the middle of a trip, leaving their vehicles on the highway. NBC's TV
coverage was painfully jingoistic -- when it wasn't a miniseries -- and the
moments it overlooked, particularly those of foreign athletes, would have
made an interesting Olympics all by themselves.
Embarrassment? There was Shaquille O'Neal, at party after party, until 2
or 3 a.m., even on nights before games. There was gymnastics Svengali Bela
Karolyi, soaking in the limelight, while his star pupil, Kerri Strug, was
being taken to a hospital. There was the British Olympian who proposed
marriage to a female teammate during the opening ceremonies -- a cute story,
except the guy was already married. Now that's embarrassing.
That sound you heard was also the howl of disbelief: Linford Christie
refusing to leave the track after double- faulting away his title defense in
the 100 meters, and boxer Floyd Mayweather, who had his hand raised in victory
by the referee, only to hear the announcer declare that his opponent, a
Bulgarian, was the winner.
That sound you heard was the creep of age, which left Janet Evans no
better than sixth place in the pool, Mary Decker Slaney a nonfactor on the
track and Brazil's Oscar Schmidt throwing in his last Olympic basket.
But that sound you heard was also the holler of youth, a 16-year-old water
bug named Brooke Bennett, who stole gold in Evans' former specialty, the
800-meter freestyle, and 20-year- old Lindsay Davenport, who stunned the
more-decorated Arantxa Sanchez Vicario for the gold medal in tennis.
Greed and selflessness
That sound you heard was the jingle of money. From the endless souvenir
stands that turned downtown Atlanta into the world's largest flea market, to
the sudden appearance of football shark-agent Leigh Steinberg, who now has a
new client, Strug. The U.S. Olympic Committee actually complained that
Livonia swimmer Sheila Taormina gave an interview while wearing a sweat suit
not made by Champion, a $40-million sponsor. That sound you heard was greed,
greed, greed.
It was also the sound of arrogance. Carl Lewis using the TV media to push
himself onto a relay team, and that same TV media questioning Lewis' absence
when the United States lost -- instead of recognizing that Canada had the
superior squad. Arrogance? How about Reggie Miller complaining about his
hotel, or the IOC, which happily chose Atlanta's money over Greece's history,
now complaining that these games were too commercial?
But that sound you heard was also the ring of courage and selflessness.
From the bronze medal that swimmer Angel Martino handed over to a friend who
was dying of cancer, to the final jump of injured Jackie Joyner-Kersee's
Olympics, to South Africa's Hezekiel Sepeng, the first black from his country
to win a medal. He ran a terrible race, then bolted outside in the final 30
meters and passed all but one runner in a mad gasp for the silver.
"I give the medal to my country, black and white," he said.
That sound you heard was joy, grief, pain, ecstasy, music, cheers, sirens
and ambulances, things that go boom and light up the sky, things that go boom
and leave us bleeding and broken. It was party, convention, chaos,
inspiration, the biggest thing in a world of big things. In the end, it is
obvious. That sound you heard was America.
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
OLYMPIC; COLUMN