Olympians rest on their laurels at closing ceremony of Summer Games (08/11/96)

Olympians rest on their laurels at closing ceremony of Summer Games

Ukraine makes top 10 in medal count

by Roman Woronowycz

ATLANTA - At the opening ceremonies and in the 16 days since, they were the center of attention. On August 4 the athletes of the XXVI Summer Games could sit on their laurels, for one night at least, and enjoy the closing ceremonies.

Many of the Ukrainian athletes, those who had completed their competitions by the previous Wednesday, had left by chartered jet on Thursday, ostensibly because the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine is trying to keep costs down. The ones who remained had the chance to bask in the appreciation of the 84,000-plus fans who jammed Olympic Stadium one last time, to relax and enjoy the party, which it was.

For Ukraine, the Games were a success by all stretches of the imagination. Ukraine cracked the top 10 in total medal count, placing in that position with 23 medals, ahead of nations like Canada, Britain, Poland and Brazil. Ukraine took nine gold medals, highest over all. Minister of Youth and Sports Valeriy Borzov almost hit the mark when he, albeit reluctantly, predicted during an interview at The Weekly in February that Ukraine would take 10 gold medals.

Sure, Ukraine experienced some failures - Sergey Bubka's withdrawal from the pole vault competition because of problems with his Achilles' heel (had he not been injured that might have been the 10th gold that Mr. Borzov predicted) - but in general, Ukraine exceeded most everyone's expectations. Heck, the Ukrainian men's yachting team won a gold in the 470 class. And nobody soon is going to forget the seven medals Ukraine took in gymnastics (artistic and rhythmic). If anything, Ukraine must today be considered the Mount Olympus of the gymnastics world

The athletes were in the highest of spirits, for the most apparent of reasons - the pressure was finally off. Sitting on the north side of the stadium, the various delegations engaged in heated paper wad fights before the celebrations began. Ultimately, bored by that, they began the wave, which circled the stadium an amazing six times before dying out. Then they turned to singing songs and chants in their native languages.

The ceremonies began with the presentation of medals for the marathon, traditionally the last event of the Games. Most years the marathoners enter the stadium minutes before the closing ceremonies and complete the final 400 meters of the race on the stadium's oval track. This year, because of the hot Atlanta climate, the runners raced in the morning.

The closing ceremonies themselves were a visual delight, similar to the opening festivities. The athletes, sitting in their own section, were honored with a barrage of fireworks and encircled with a wreath of laurel, done with cards that were passed out to the audience sitting in the sections immediately surrounding the athletes. They were serenaded by pop star Gloria Estefan, who has overcome her own adversities having been in a critical bus crash several years ago that left her with a broken back.

The flags of the 197 countries participating in this year's Olympics, the largest assemblage of nations ever for such an event, again entered the stadium as was done during the opening ceremonies, but this time minus the teams. Volodymyr Klichko, who only hours earlier had won the gold medal in super heavyweight boxing, carried the Ukrainian banner.

Perhaps the most moving of several such moments during the festivities came at a point in the program when the youth of the United States, represented by scores of youngsters dressed in white roaming the field, sang an accolade to the athletes and of the hopes of those who will follow them. In the stands, strangers joined hands and gently swayed to the melody.

After three weeks of controversy and tragedy, it was clear that all anybody wanted to do, finally, was to remember the competitions, the feats and the heroes. If anything, these Olympics were about overcoming obstacles and adversity - for the athletes, the organizers and the people too.

In his closing speech, Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Chairman William "Billy" Payne referred to just that. He mentioned the tragic bombing that killed an innocent bystander in Olympic Centennial Park at the close of the first week of the Games and said, "Called to action when our celebration was interrupted, the people have themselves chosen to reclaim that which is theirs - their city, and their beloved Olympic movement."

Then International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch opened his speech with the words, "Well done, Atlanta," and tempered his acclamation by not making the statement he has at past Olympics, that the current Games were the best ever (which caused a tiny uproar in Atlanta's press the next day). He asked for a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the bombing and then closed the XXVI Olympiad with the words, "I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now at Sydney, Australia, to celebrate with us the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, the first Games of the new millennium."

With the formal part of the celebration over, the party atmosphere went up a notch further as the athletes, unable to contain themselves, streamed onto the field to dance to the music of live performances by such well-known artists as Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, the Pointer Sisters, Wynton Marsalis, Tito Puente, Little Richard, Faith Hill, Al Green and B.B. King.

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