Official Live Thread - The Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics

The Daily Herald; Vanity ^ | 2/24/2002 | John Branch

[GraniteStateConservative]

I thought Cheney was going to be a part of it, too.

[Utah Girl]

VP Cheney will be there this evening, I saw him on TV at the Canada-US hockey game this afternoon.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Bon Jovi was a Gore supporter-- it'll take me a while to forget that.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

You didnt enjoy the flasher in the mens locker room when the idiot NBC camera man followed someone in there?

[codebreaker]

Will Gene Simmons be spewing blood at the athletes or worshipping Satan?

It would be appropriate for the I.O.C. - our commentaries are better than the events themselves..

[alisasny]

In recalling these Olympics from my armchair, my most poignant moment was when President Bush entered the stadium to open the games. He appeared to have tears in his eyes as the tattered World Trade Center 9/11 flag was brought into the Olympic Stadium 17 days ago.

The ground zero flag, carried by American Olympians selected by their teammates, followed by the beautiful Choir had me in tears.

The applause from NY felt huge and the overwhelming pride in my home country was immense.

Utah is absolutely beautiful and I hope to travel their someday so my son can try the halfpipe!!!!!!..

[codebreaker]

Will Big Time close the games?

[B4Ranch]

When I think of the corruption in Salt Lake BEFORE the Olympics and corruption amongst the judges DURING the games, I am glad it's over and done with. Now you can get ready for the international corruption as the games move to CHINA.

[codebreaker]

Male or female flasher in the locker room?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Male, I guess he stripped and the camera guy didnt notice it until (apparently) too late and then shot the ceiling.

No, it wasn't the Australian ski jumper (DANGIT)

[Utah Girl]

Be sure to watch Sixty Minutes this evening, they'll have a hard hitting piece about the SL bid scandal for the Winter Olympics. Former head of SLOC, Tom Welch, calls Utah Gov Mike Leavitt a liar. CBS is running this piece directly opposite the closing ceremonies.

[Amore]

If no one has mentioned it, wanted to remind that right now on the East Coast Dateline is spotlighting Dorothy Hammill and Peggy Fleming.

And the "flasher" was the gold-medal winner, Yagudin! Whooo Hoooo!

[Libertina]

Thanks Utah Girl for posting a great article. I was amazed by the opening ceremonies - the heartwrenching scenes of the Twin Towers flag being carried in, the historical review of the US move westward in song and dance - so moving. And the athletes from other countries who also carried American flags out of sympathy? unity? with what happened to us gave me hope for a better world. Though I didn't agree with forcing race into the games with "the first African American to...," I was touched my Miss Flowers' pride and patriotism while on the medals podium. I was engaged by charismatic stars Apolo Anton Ohno, Sasha Cohen and Sara Hughes, and outraged by judging scandals. The stories of atjhletes coming alone to represent their people was also inspiring.

While I did not watch it all, what I did see of the Olympics was impressive. 3 Cheers for a job well done.

[rwfromkansas]

17 days!!!! Yikes....time has just flown! I thought they just opened last week.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Hahahaha. So you saw it? Why couldn't it have been the freestyle skier?

[xp38]

Thank you and congratulations to Salt Lake City, Utah and the United States of America in putting on a well run games with lots of wonderful memories. Well done. May the closing ceremonies tonight be equally great.

[Amore]

And, no we really didn't see anything. He still had his black briefs on, and the cameraman quickly tightened up the shot to show only his upper torso. It was just more fun for those of us on the thread, than it was salacious.

[Timeout]

1) Sarah's squeal of delight upon landing her last jump!
2)President Bush and the cell phone
3)The cross country skier (Italian?) who thanked "Prezeedent Boosh" for these wonderful Olympics...ooooo, smart and cute!
4)The joint spiral with the Canadian and Russian pairs at exhibition night.
BEST OF ALL...the NBC cameraman whispering to Sarah and her coach "You won!"....huh?...."You won the GOLD!". They fall to the ice in excitement and the rest, as they say, is history!

[Molly Pitcher]

Thanks UG! It's been fun, thrilling and surprising lots of times. Sure went by fast.

[Amore]

Why couldn't it have been the freestyle skier?

Because:
(a) You're a dirty old man, and
(b) God is good.