Word: guerrouj
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...went 5-3 on its way to becoming the first NBA-stocked bunch not to win gold. For the most part, America's athletes were treated courteously, though geopolitics probably kept retiring medalists Rulon Gardner and Mia Hamm from getting the stadium-size love that enveloped Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj. When El Guerrouj, perhaps the greatest middle-distance runner ever, hauled in the 1,500-m gold medal that had eluded him in the past two Olympics, he fell to the track and bawled. His fellow runners hugged him and laughed as he performed a victory dance to the Zorba...
...losers. But the jubilant performances of many of these athletes reminded us that the Olympics draw their greatest glory from the dignity of competing and finishing?even if it's in last place. Naturally, the Games' most exceptional winners will remain etched in our minds. Take Hicham El Guerrouj, Morocco's rendition of a Giacometti stick figure, who stayed ahead of Kenya's Bernard Lagat seemingly by dint of facial contortion alone to capture a long-elusive Olympic win in the 1,500-m race. Or Birgit Fischer, Germany's 42-year-old kayaker who won her eighth gold...
...came from Brunei's Jimmy Anak Ahar, the Southeast Asian nation's sole Olympic athlete, who straggled far behind the pack in the 1,500 m, erasing his country's dreams of Olympic respectability. Still sucking wind after his 4:14.11 time, 40 seconds slower than gold medalist El Guerrouj, Ahar swept past reporters, his head downcast. Yet the Bruneian's performance was surely more honorable than that of Uzbekistan's Olga Shchukina, who not only finished last in her qualifying group in the shot put but later tested positive for an anabolic steroid, or Iranian flag bearer Arash Miresmaeili...
...scarves - were treated with special reverence by the crowds. So was windsurfer Gal Fridman, who sailed Israel to its first gold medal in 52 years of competition, and whose victory seemed all the more appropriate given that his first name means wave in Hebrew. And when Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, perhaps the greatest middle-distance runner of all time, finally hauled in the 1,500-m gold medal that had eluded him in two previous Olympics, he fell to the track and bawled. His fellow runners picked him up and hugged him, then laughed as he performed a victory dance...
...water, in which American Michael Phelps will try to rekindle memories of Mark Spitz. And unlike Montreal's unfinished structure, the Athens Olympic stadium does, as of June, have a roof, though seats are another issue. No matter: the track is down, and on Aug. 24, Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, perhaps the greatest middle-distance runner of all time, will chase the 1,500-m gold medal that keeps eluding him. In the nearby Indoor Hall, tiny Brazilian gymnast Daiane dos Santos will spring all 4-ft. 7-in. of herself into impossible flips and twists...