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OUT OF LEFT FIELD |
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Part Three: The Finale  Know this flag? Stan thinks we all should be saluting it now that the Olympics are history. |
By STAN ISAACS
of TheColumnists.com
In the wake of Greece: some tidbits and morsels for those who didn’t show slavish attention to NBC’s feel-good Olympic programming:
Never mind what you heard elsewhere. The winner of the 28th Olympic Games concluded in Greece Sunday was The Bahamas. Based on the Isaacs Index of Olympic results--the fairest measure known to man of scoring the Olympics--The Bahamas team accumulated 2,120 points and was followed by Australia with 745 points. Cuba earned third with 669 points.
The Isaacs Index adds up
a country’s medal count (scoring five points for gold, three
for silver and one for bronze) and measures that total in proportion
to its population. The Bahamas rode its six points (one gold
and one bronze medal) from a tiny population of 283,700 to victory.
The powerhouse United States, Russian and Chinese teams won the
most medals but, with their populations, didn’t finish in
the "I.Ix." top 10.
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A pleasing aspect of the American women’s soccer team’s gold medal victory was the sight and sound of them singing the words of the “Star Spangled Banner” during the medal ceremonies. More athletes should do this; and of course it would be easier for one and all if we had a singable and more inspirational national anthem. “America the Beautiful” anyone? Russian president Vladimir Putin was so disgusted by the nonchalant attitude of one of his Russian teams at a national championship that he ordered them to straighten up and stand right-and learn the words to the Russian anthem so they could sing it. “Volga Boatmen” anyone?…And I enjoyed the Hungarian fans serenading their handball team with spirited renditions of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
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I don’t want to say there was too much swimming
and diving in the NBC prime time Olympics coverage, but I noted
a pool of water on the floor at my TV set every morning….I
am sorry I missed the splash made by the interloper, Canadian,
Ron Bensimhon, who jumped off a springboard wearing a blue tutu
and white tights with polka dots He had donned a tutu and skated
during the recent world figure skating championship. So he should
be a man to look out for at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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It’s time the Olympic potentates dutifully recognized
the significance and importance of the American TV networks in
funding the Games. The more than 1000 members of the NBC announcing,
producing and administrative team should march as a group carrying
a NBC peacock logo flag at the opening ceremonies at the next
Olympics. I envision NBC sports head Dick Ebersol as the flag
bearer at the head of the largest group in Beijing.
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By my lights Paul Hamm, the winner of the controversial all-around gymnastics competition, blew a chance for Olympic immortality as the ultimate good sport. That would have been more valuable in the long run than the controversial gold medal he clung to as a result of some royal screw-ups by incompetent gymnastic judges. Hamm won the competition when the judges short-changed the start value of the South Korean Yang Tae-young, placing him third instead of first. . When the mistake was uncovered, too late for a proper protest by the South Koreans, Hamm had his chance for all time Good Sportsman honors by saying he would give up his gold medal or, at the least, agree to Tae-young also getting a gold medal.
As it turned out, a replay of Tae-young’s performance showed he had made a mistake that the judges missed. Hamm and his people, ever anxious to justify his victory, kept pointing that out. They showed no sympathy for the South Korean. It falls out this way: Hamm is remembered as the winner of a controversial gold medal, one of thousands who have won gold medals. Compare that to the lasting Ultimate Sportsmanship glory he would have achieved as the great guy who volunteered to give up or share a gold medal.
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For me the outstanding achievement by an announcer at the Olympics was the interviewing by NBC newsman Richard Engel. He spoke Arabic interviewing the Iraqui soccer coach, Adnan Hamad. He told viewers the question he would ask, turned to the coach, asked the question in Arabic, then translated the response for viewers. He broke down the Iraqi’s answers in segments, going back and forth between Arabic and English.
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The Iraquis turned out to have some political smarts in condemning President George W. Bush’s TV commercial which tried to use their presence in the Olympics to hype his political agenda. Some comments from the Iraquis:
“Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign,”
“He can find another way to advertise himself.”
“We don’t wish for the presence of Americans in our country.”
“How will he [Bush] meet his God having slaughtered so many men and women. He has committed so many crimes.”
And coach Hamad said, “My problems are not with the American people. They are with what America has done in Iraq; destroy everything.”
The antipathy to Bush around
the world accentuated the usual anti-top-dog-American rooting
at the Olympics. This moved American Olympic officials to urge
athletes to be on their best behavior, eschewing their boasting
and boorish behavior of past Olympics. This prompted four-time
discus gold winning immortal Al Oerter to write a defense of
the “majority of American athletes,’’ adding,
“No American competitor had anything to do with our invasion
of Iraq or the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.”
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This was Washington Post reporter Peter Carlson describing the attempts of reporters assembled in a pack trying to interview track athletes in 90-degree heat: “In the mixed zone the unruly battle the unwashed for a chance to hear the inarticulate utter the inaudible.”
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I began to think our athletes represented The United
States of Nike because it seemed that most Americans wore duds
sporting the Nike swoosh as well as the American flag. Nike dominated
on the uniforms of other countries as well, followed by Addidas.
I wasn’t alert enough to spot a third-place winner in the
sporting goods class…And if I heard track announcer Tom
Hammond correctly, U.S. decathlete Tom Pappas wore a different
type shoe for almost all the 10 decathlon events. I wonder what
happened to my own all-purpose Keds sneakers of yore.
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For some the symbol of the Olympics might be five interlocking
$$$$$. After the man known as the Iranian
Hercules won the super heavyweight weight-lifting gold medal
in Sydney in 2000, Turkey reportedly offered him $10 million,
luxury housing, cars and bonuses to change citizenship and represent
Turkey in these Games. Iran reportedly counter-offered a car,
a plot of land on an island, the honorary title of Champions
of Champions, and free medical insurance for life for him and
his family…A woman table tennis ace from Singapore lost
her finals match to a North Korean, thereby missing out on the
$500,000 she would have earned had she won a gold medal….Australia
will issue a postage stamp honoring each gold medal-winning Aussie…And
Thailand will stage an elephant parade for its gold medal weight-lifter
Pawina Thongsuk.
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The Olympics provide some geographical enlightenment
for those who paid attention. The weight-lifting competition
included three competitors from Nauru, the world’s smallest
independent republic. It occupies eight square miles in the South
Pacific with a population of 12,000. Yukic Peter finished 8th;
Reanna Soilomon, 11th and Itte Detenamo 14th….Mongolia provided
this mouthful of a name in the women’s marathon: Lousan
Khondeg Olgonbayer. She hobbled home last, 30 minutes after the
previous finisiher.
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Laugh at synchronized swimming and diving if you will,
but at our house we are going into training for a synchronized
husband and wife competition in medal stand sobbing.
©2004 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001
by Jim Hummel. The illustrations are from IMSI's Master Clips
Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506,
USA.
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