Olympic Spirit

SALT LAKE CITY -- Take a walk along the broad avenues downtown these days and try asking for directions to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee office for the 2002 Olympics. Chances are you'll get a wisecrack instead."But they're not paying anything any more," quips one would-be Good Samaritan before offering up the requested information.For employees at the U.S. Olympic Spirit Stores scattered around the city, jokes inspired by Salt Lake's Olympic bribery scandal come pretty much nonstop. Customers refer to the shops as "the bribery store," and zing clerks about whether there will be an official Olympic pin to commemorate the scandal.

I cannot wait for that dramatic moment when the torch-carrying runner enters the stadium and, in a dramatic gesture symbolizing the essence of the Olympic spirit, buys a vowel.Recently I went to Atlanta to check up on the preparations for the 1996 Olympic Games (official motto: "Put Your Corporate Motto Here for $40 Million").As the organizers modestly point out at every opportunity, these will be the biggest Olympic Games in the history of the universe. They're going to be huge. Take a look at some of these numbers:Total budget: $1.6 billionNumber of athletes competing: Over 10,000Number of events: 271Number of events left once you eliminate all the mutant sports like synchronized kayaking: Maybe sixTV audience (counting everybody on Earth seven times)

"Plodding wins the race."-- AesopIn Olympia, Greece, the temptation is natural: To run past the judges' stand and imagine being crowned with the olive wreath of victory as spectators (including, perhaps, Plato or Diogenes or Herodotus) roar their approval.Children readily succumb to the urge, crouching at the stone starting line and then bolting down the track. Amid tumbled columns and roofless walls, in the ruins of the stadium where it all began, they are running literally in the footsteps of ancient Olympians.

ATLANTA -- The people came. The blood was gone. And as music played once again yesterday at Centennial Olympic Park, a lost piece of Olympic spirit was reborn.Moving through a legion of armed security, about 3,000 spectators flooded the park for a morning ceremony to honor victims of the Olympic bombing and to reopen the popular park.With some on edge, some laughing, some still angry, the crowd seemed bent on sending a message to the person who did this: You can attack us. You can bloody our sidewalks and send terror through our hearts.

Susan Clark, tired of commuting from Jarrettsville into the city every day, observes and inquires: "Every day I pass by the Warren Road park-and-ride in Cockeysville. Is it being used? I never see any cars; maybe one or two at most. I've never seen any buses, and I would like to know if I have any options of getting downtown other than driving."Susan, here's Christmas in April.Coming to this very site soon, you'll find a new light rail station.That's right, you'll never have to grind your teeth again on the JFX with this shiny new big-budget transportation improvement.

Is it just me, or is anyone else out there in Olympic-land secretly rooting for Tonya Harding?I won't tell if you won't.It isn't that there's anything much to like about Tonya. She isn't warm. She isn't fuzzy. She isn't admirable. She's Roseanne on skates. And, yeah, she was probably involved up to her sequins in the Nancy Kerrigan whacking.The only thing to like about Tonya is what she represents: the anti-Olympic-spirit movement.You see, there is no real Olympic spirit. The Olympic spirit is a made-for-TV production that we fall for every time it hits the airwaves.

THE reason the word Olympics is respected all over the world is that it is full of humanitarianism and represents the good and honest nature of mankind.But there are exceptions.Just as many malicious things are committed under the guise of good intentions, the Olympics, a magnificent thing itself, conceals many evil doings contrary to the Olympic spirit.One such case involves a Chinese citizen, Qin Yongmin, who was arrested and illegally put in a labor camp for opposing the government's bid to play host to the 2000 summer games.

ST. LOUIS -- It has been pushed into the shadow of the World Cup soccer tournament, but the 10-day U.S. Olympic Festival opened yesterday with a schedule of 37 events that will take place in and around the St. Louis metropolitan area.The pre-Olympic competition features more than 3,000 athletes from throughout the United States, including more than 60 from Maryland. Many have previous experience in international competition, but most will be getting their first taste of competition in an Olympic-style setting.

BARCELONA, Spain -- I can see the other side. The games were lopsided. The Dreamers stayed in $900-a-night hotel rooms and needed police-helicopter escorts. Is this the Olympics?And, yes, it seemed the players grew most emotional not when they were defending an opponent, but when they were defending a shoe contract.I get it. I understand.And I don't care.I love the Dream Team.I love the idea of it. I love the feel of it. I love, as Chuck Daly said, the majesty of it.This was the ultimate for anyone who's ever had a basketball jones.

BARCELONA, Spain -- I can see the other side. The games were lopsided. The Dreamers stayed in $900-a-night hotel rooms and needed police-helicopter escorts. Is this the Olympics?And, yes, it seemed the players grew most emotional not when they were defending an opponent, but when they were defending a shoe contract.I get it. I understand.And I don't care.I love the Dream Team.I love the idea of it. I love the feel of it. I love, as Chuck Daly said, the majesty of it.This was the ultimate for anyone who's ever had a basketball jones.

DUJIANGYAN, China - In a narrow alleyway, family and friends enjoyed a special dinner of fish, duck and pork, as they watched last night's Olympic opening ceremony on television. They'd been waiting years for this night, but truth be told, cast against a brutally trying few months, the celebration also serves as a welcome distraction. Ke Hong, clutching a bottle of wine tightly, had been enjoying the night enough for all of China. His Olympic spirit, in fact, might result in a headache in the morning.

Good morning --Joey Cheek -- Far beyond your gold, you displayed the Olympic spirit.

Cesana, Italy-- --Sometimes we have to look in the unexpected places. Olympic Spirit isn't tangible, doesn't have its own URL or Wikipedia entry. But it exists, and you want to see it. You flip off the television because you're pretty sure the sparkle on Katie Couric's front tooth isn't the Spirit's glimmer. Then you venture outside because that's what the Winter Games are all about. If you're not cold, you aren't doing this thing right. The Spirit is tricky. The organizers of the Games think that if they've bestowed the five-ring brand on something, it inherently has Spirit emanating off it like steam from a boiling pot of water.

You missed Salt Lake, and the weak dollar puts Turin, Italy, out of your price range next year. What's a Winter Olympics fan to do? Go to Lake Placid, N.Y., next month and relive the magic of 1980. The village of 2,600 tucked in the Adirondack Mountains is having a festival Feb. 12-27 to mark the silver anniversary of the 1980 Winter Games that includes activities at all of the original venues. Skate the outdoors rink where Eric Heiden won all five speed skating events. Cheer in the arena where a hockey "miracle" happened.

MUSINGS AND grumblings from a columnist in high dudgeon just returned from two weeks' hiatus. I had to get away, just had to. When the nonsense level gets too great, I just get away from it all. And foolishness abounded at the end of September, just as the marathon Olympic Games raced to a close. Sprinters Maurice Greene, Jonathan Drummond, Brian Lewis and Baltimore native Bernard Williams of the good old U.S. of A. won the 4x100-meter relay. They were criticized for what some considered an excessive and boorish celebration, for violating the Olympic spirit.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Take a walk along the broad avenues downtown these days and try asking for directions to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee office for the 2002 Olympics. Chances are you'll get a wisecrack instead."But they're not paying anything any more," quips one would-be Good Samaritan before offering up the requested information.For employees at the U.S. Olympic Spirit Stores scattered around the city, jokes inspired by Salt Lake's Olympic bribery scandal come pretty much nonstop. Customers refer to the shops as "the bribery store," and zing clerks about whether there will be an official Olympic pin to commemorate the scandal.

ATLANTA -- The people came. The blood was gone. And as music played once again yesterday at Centennial Olympic Park, a lost piece of Olympic spirit was reborn.Moving through a legion of armed security, about 3,000 spectators flooded the park for a morning ceremony to honor victims of the Olympic bombing and to reopen the popular park.With some on edge, some laughing, some still angry, the crowd seemed bent on sending a message to the person who did this: You can attack us. You can bloody our sidewalks and send terror through our hearts.

"Plodding wins the race."-- AesopIn Olympia, Greece, the temptation is natural: To run past the judges' stand and imagine being crowned with the olive wreath of victory as spectators (including, perhaps, Plato or Diogenes or Herodotus) roar their approval.Children readily succumb to the urge, crouching at the stone starting line and then bolting down the track. Amid tumbled columns and roofless walls, in the ruins of the stadium where it all began, they are running literally in the footsteps of ancient Olympians.

I cannot wait for that dramatic moment when the torch-carrying runner enters the stadium and, in a dramatic gesture symbolizing the essence of the Olympic spirit, buys a vowel.Recently I went to Atlanta to check up on the preparations for the 1996 Olympic Games (official motto: "Put Your Corporate Motto Here for $40 Million").As the organizers modestly point out at every opportunity, these will be the biggest Olympic Games in the history of the universe. They're going to be huge. Take a look at some of these numbers:Total budget: $1.6 billionNumber of athletes competing: Over 10,000Number of events: 271Number of events left once you eliminate all the mutant sports like synchronized kayaking: Maybe sixTV audience (counting everybody on Earth seven times)

Susan Clark, tired of commuting from Jarrettsville into the city every day, observes and inquires: "Every day I pass by the Warren Road park-and-ride in Cockeysville. Is it being used? I never see any cars; maybe one or two at most. I've never seen any buses, and I would like to know if I have any options of getting downtown other than driving."Susan, here's Christmas in April.Coming to this very site soon, you'll find a new light rail station.That's right, you'll never have to grind your teeth again on the JFX with this shiny new big-budget transportation improvement.