Word: medal
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...records and storybook upsets in their wake, 21,000 reporters began trying to set this Olympiad in amber - to identify what made it different from all those that have gone before. But the Summer Games are designed to resist the imposition of narrative. Two hundred and two countries, 301 medal events, 10,500 competitors - one story line? Not likely. And so the teams of Athens 2004 head home telling very different tales. For the Chinese, with their best-ever haul of gold medals, this was the year when the global balance of athletic power shifted east - just in time...
...Europe no longer has the prestige that once came from its hefty medal tallies, it can still take delight in outstanding individual performances - smaller stories, perhaps, but precious because of their rarity. Britain, shocked by Paula Radcliffe's twin flameouts in the marathon and 10,000 m, was lifted by 34-year-old Kelly Holmes' double gold success in the 800 m and 1,500 m. Russia celebrated a memorable 1-2-3 sweep in the women's long jump, while Germany rejoiced with canoeist Birgit Fischer, 42, who earned a gold and a silver, becoming the first woman ever...
...race in Italy; Crawford was disqualified after the disguise blocked his sight, causing him to stray from his lane. In early 2003 he appeared on Fox's Man Vs. Beast TV special, losing to a zebra. And last week, after coming within .04 seconds of a 100-metres gold medal, and .01 seconds of a bronze, the 26-year-old Crawford didn't prostrate himself across the track in dismay. He didn't bury his face in his hands. He bounced off track into the press area, smiling like he had won an olive wreath. "I wasn't disappointed...
...Better yet, BALCO didn't make the trip to Greece. Sure, Marion Jones was in Athens, but she came home without a medal. And plenty of track athletes cheated - Greece's two big-name sprinters failed to show up for a drug test, while the Russian winner of the women's shot-put and the Hungarian gold medalist in the men's discus event lost their medals after drug tests. But the Americans escaped unscathed. "The sport was going to remain under a dark cloud until we did phenomenal things," says long-jump champ Dwight Phillips, who as a teenager...
...race was delayed six minutes. Although the sprinters admitted the delay irked them, after Crawford, Bernard Williams and Gatlin placed 1-2-3, the American's didn't seek revenge on the jingoistic fans. There was no chest thumping, no taunting. Says Williams, who ran on the gold-medal 4X100 team in Sydney that embarrassed itself after an excessive celebration: "I've learned from my mistakes...