Word: baron
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...delegation). The parade lasted far longer than expected, but finally the U.S. delegation came out, led by 286-lb. wrestler Bruce Baumgartner, who made flag carrying look ridiculously easy, and trailed by Shaquille O'Neal, whose new $121 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers wasn't exactly what Baron de Coubertin had in mind...
...Baron Pierre De Coubertin, the French nobleman who revived the Olympic Games, was a firm believer in the ancient Greek ideal of exercising mind and body in harmony. The role of sport is "at once physical, moral and social," he wrote. "I have often noticed that those who find themselves first in physical exercises are also first in their studies. The serious commitment in one area promotes the desire to be first throughout...
Still, in Olympic City you can get a chill from something other than a giant Coke bottle. In the Coliseum Tent there is an exhibit of "priceless artifacts" from the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Whether it be Baron Pierre de Coubertin's saber or Jesse Owens' track shoe or a medal from the first Games in Athens, the artifacts can do a better job of transporting you to the Olympics than, say, the mountain-biking simulation. The museum pieces are not only keepsakes of the Games' history, but also reminders that this city has been handed a glorious legacy...
...baron was eventually honored as the father of the modern Olympics. And despite some fitful starts, his dream grew by (pardon the expression) leaps and bounds. The Games have survived two World Wars and a cold one, not to mention mismanagement, terrorism, professionalism and overcommercialization. The Olympics have of course changed--the tug of war and the 200-m obstacle swim are no longer events--and the Games today may not be exactly what Coubertin, who disliked the idea of team sports, had in mind. But the baton of his athletic ideal has been passed from Athens to Paris...
Aileen made the Olympic diving and swimming teams for the '24 Games in Paris, and she came away with two more medals, a silver medal in the springboard and a bronze in the 100-m backstroke. (She still has medal certificates signed personally by Baron Pierre de Coubertin.) Those were the Games later dramatized in Chariots of Fire, a movie to which Aileen takes great exception. "They did a grave injustice to Charley Paddock, the sprinter who became a dear friend. They portrayed him as a skinny fellow of few words. Why, he was powerfully built, and he could talk...