'THE GREATEST GAMES'

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 30, 2004 | by MERI-JO BORZILLERI THE GAZETTE

ATHENS, Greece - After 17 days of proving the world wrong, Athens bid farewell to the 2004 Olympic Games with a touch that seemed just right.

In a Closing Ceremony that in part broke with tradition, athletes from 202 nations streamed into Olympic Stadium in informal groups, separate from their country's flags as the Games ended Sunday.

Athens pulled it off. Criticized for delays and ineptitude in the years before the Olympics -- at one point, the International Olympic Committee threatened to move the Games to another city -- Athens hosted an Olympics deemed a success by athletes and officials.

"The citizens of Greece have proven the doomsayers wrong," said Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee and former head of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. "For four to five years before the Games, every day they woke up to criticism: 'You won't be ready. You can't do it. This is a silly folly.'

"Once again, the Olympic family learned a lesson from the people of Greece.... History will record these Games as great Games, if not the greatest Games of all time."

Earlier in the day, however, a startling incident in the Games' final event, the men's marathon, put a damper on the celebration.

A spectator grabbed Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima as he led the marathon with about three miles to go. He wound up re-entering the race but getting passed by eventual winner Stefeno Baldini of Italy and surprise silver-medalist Meb Keflezighi of the United States.

"It was very difficult because I didn't know what he had with him," de Lima said. "I was very afraid."

It was a reminder that these Olympics, the first Summer Games after the Sept. 11 attacks, came with an unprecedented $1.5 billion price tag for security.

Still, Athens was free of major incidents in and around the Olympic venues.

Mia Hamm, three-time Olympic medalist and star soccer player, carried the U.S. flag into the stadium Sunday. She said security issues -- players were asked about them on an almost daily basis -- forged a deeper appreciation for the Games.

"This is a great time to share that different countries, and different nationalities... can come together for a month and celebrate sports and celebrate humanity," said Hamm, who is retiring from international play. "That's what you saw here, and it was really apparent in the (Olympic) village, the athletes wanted that to be first and foremost. It was about celebrating what we all love to do."

At the ceremony, Athens 2004 President Gianna Angelopoulos- Daskalaki deemed the Games worthy of a gold medal.

"This gold medal belongs to all Greeks," she said. Shortly after, dueling chants of "Hellas! Hellas!" -- the Olympics' unofficial cheer with the Greek name for Greece -- from both sides of the stadium drowned her out.

"These Games were held in peace and brotherhood," said IOC President Jacques Rogge, before declaring the 2004 Olympics closed. "These Games were unforgettable dream Games."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0259 or merijo@gazette.com