Word: goldings
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...squad--well, who doesn't? If nothing else, the scandal added some suspense to the opening ceremony, since word had already leaked out that Thanou was going to be one of the final torch bearers and Kenteris was going to light the Olympic flame. Instead, Nikos Kaklamanakis, a gold medalist in sailing, got the honor. He touched his small flame to a giant, deus ex machina contraption bent over the stadium as if it was getting a light for a cigarette. Very European, that...
Even before some of the late partygoers arrived home Saturday morning, athletes were taking the field. The Games' first gold was awarded to China's Du Li in the women's 10-m air-rifle competition. The People's Republic followed up Du's feat with another shooting gold, along with a pair of conquests in the men's synchronized platform and women's synchronized springboard diving events...
Over at the Aquatic Center there were no Chinese contenders in swimming. And no roof. The steaming Grecian sun that felt warm enough to boil water didn't seem to bother U.S. phenom Michael Phelps, who raised the temperature a few more degrees by winning his first Olympic gold in the 400-m individual medley in world-record time. It was the first gold for the U.S., and as impressively stoic as Phelps has been in pursuing Mark Spitz's cache of seven of them, the weight of the first medal brought on his own waterworks. "There were definitely tears...
...good ship prophetess is sailing the South Seas in the 1850s, bound for the gold fields of California, when she comes upon Bethlehem Bay, so renamed by missionaries who have ventured to the Society Islands to "civilize" the natives. When the shipmen and the emissaries of religion meet on the island,they naturally discuss (in perfect Melvillean cadences) the survival of the fittest and the plans of God. Yet all their talk of progress and a New Jerusalem has a slightly piquant air because we know what the future holds in store for them. An earlier section in Cloud Atlas...
Even if Phelps belly flops, he will still come home a millionaire, thanks to his many endorsement deals. But the same is far from true for the 300 or so athletes who will leave the Summer Games with a gold medal. Compete in one of the less popular sports--one-man flat-water canoe, anyone?--and the ultimate prize for athletic achievement could be worth little more than what you can hock it for on eBay. "It's not the gold medal where the value lies--it's the neck it hangs around," says Dean Bonham, a sports-marketing consultant...