C I N C I N N A T IP O S TS P O R T S A Down-under Olympics Column by The Post's Bill Koch SYDNEY, Australia - For the past 16 days, this country has immersed itself in a sometimes embarrassing display of self-congratulation over its beautiful city, its magnificent staging of the Olympics Games and the gold medal won by Our Cathy. Who can blame them? They have a right to be proud of what they've accomplished, even if the barrage of conceit blaring forth from the pages of the Sydney newspapers makes you want to run and hide, much as you would from a guy who corners you to show you pictures of his kids every time you see him. There's no denying that the Games of the XXVII Olympiad were executed without a major glitch. Sydneysiders couldn't have dreamed of a more satisfying fortnight. Presented with the opportunity to place their city in the world's spotlight, they stood up to the pressure and performed like their national darling Cathy Freeman breezing home with the gold medal in the 400 meters. These will always be known in Australia as the Cathy Freeman Olympics in Australia. Nothing else matched the overwhelming emotion that these people showered upon Freeman, who became a symbol of reconciliation between white Australia and its Aboriginal minority. It was one more reinforcement of the transcendent power of sports, not just in America, but all over the world. But there were other enduring moments, too: Cameroon winning the gold medal in soccer, its first Olympic medal of any kind; the U.S. women's softball team rallying to win the gold medal after three consecutive losses ended a 112-game winning streak; Ian Thorpe's three gold medals in swimming that whet the Australians' appetite for Freeman's race; U.S. wrestler Rulon Gardner's upset of Russian superstar Alexandre Karelin; the unexpected victory by Greece's Konstantinos Kenteris in the 200 meters; and the U.S. shutout of Cuba in the gold medal baseball game. Personally, I'll remember Mike Neill's first-inning home run that staked the U.S. to a 1-0 lead over the Cubans in that gold medal baseball game; teenage weightlifter Cheryl Haworth carefully turning her precious bronze medal over and over in her fingers; Cincinnati's Ricardo Williams Jr. slugging it out with his Cuban opponent, the electricity inside the stadium as 110,000 people watched track and field. There were also some 60 cases of positive tests for doping, the only significant blemish on these Games and a matter for which the International Olympic Committee must find a solution if the Olympics are to retain their integrity. Let's hope they do, because there's no denying the value of this athletic ritual, a coming-together of the world, not to deliberate over matters of state or issues of war, but to party and compete peacefully in sports. What's not to like about that? Covering these Games reinforced the doubts I had about Cincinnati's ability to host such a huge undertaking in 2012, but it also made me understand why Nick Vehr is so hell-bent to bring them to his hometown. Sydney, on the other hand, is so well-suited for the Olympics that you would hear few complaints if the IOC decided to come back here in the event that Athens can't get its act together in time to host in 2004. There has even been talk about making Sydney the permanent host for the Olympics. That talk, as you might expect, emanated primarily from Sydney. Late Sunday night, while America was waking up to begin its Sunday morning, Sydney concluded the Cathy Freeman Games with another spectacular show at Olympic Stadium, a final pat on the back for a job well done. An F-111 jet streaked across the sky above the stadium, the Olympic flame was extinguished. Athletes from all over the world danced and laughed together inside the stadium and the city lit up with a dazzling display of fireworks to celebrate one last time what transpired here during the past two weeks for the whole world to see. Naturally, it was the greatest fireworks show the world has ever seen. -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
