Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, August 07, 1996, Page 10, Image 10

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P age B2
OREGON ATHLETES BRING HOME THE GOLD
THE TOP
20 MEDAL
WINNERS
by
United States
44 Gold, 32 Silver, 25 Bronze
Total 101
Germany
20 Gold, 18 Silver, 27 Bronze
Total 65
Russia
26 Gold, 21 Silver, 16 Bronze
Total 63
China
16 Gold, 22 Silver, 12 Bronze
Total 50
Australia
9 Gold, 9 Silver, 23 Bronze
Total 41
France
15 Gold, 7 Silver, 15 Bronze
Total 37
Italy
3 Gold, 10 Silver, 12 Bronze)
Total 35
Korea
7 Gold, 15 Silver, 5 Bronze
Total 27
Cuba
9 Gold, 8 Silver, 8 Bronze
Total 25
Ukraine
9 Gold, 2 Silver, 12 Bronze
Total 23
Canada
S abrina S akata
Portland-born Dan O ’Brien and
former University o f Portland team­
m ates Shannon M acM illan and
Tiffeny Milbrett were among the
gold-studded stars at the Atlanta
Olympic Games last week.
M ilbrett and M acM illan both
scored one goal each to bring the
women’s U.S. soccer team to a pow­
erful victory over China 2-1.
The Sanford Stadium held an over­
joyed crowd o f 76,481, said to be the
largest audience to ever watch a wom­
en ’s sporting event.
Tiffany Roberts, a key element of
the team’s defense, spoke o f this
glorious triumph fulfilling childhood
dreams “ I drew a picture o f this
moment when I was in the second
grade, and this is exactly as I envi­
sioned it,” she said.
Milbrett, a 23-year-old Hillsboro
native, had different sentiments. “All
you could do is walk out there and
know you have one last game— this
is one last game. When this is your
The Atlanta Centennial Olympics
are over, and the Sum m er Games are
in bed until the year 2000, when
Sydney, Australia plays host.
The final event of the games was
Sunday night’s 111-87 win by the
United States w om en’s basketball
team over Brazil in the gold medal
game, and the closing ceremonies
capped the celebration o f athletics at
Olympic Stadium.
The Games were marred early in
the morning on Saturday, July 27th,
when a pipe bomb detonated in C en­
tennial O lym pic Park, killing a
woman and leading to the fatal heart
attack of a Turkish cameraman that
was rushing to the scene. In addi­
tion, more than 100 people were
injured.
The three-hour closing cerem o­
nies featured numerous pop stars,
including Stevie W onder and Gloria
Estefan, plus an array o f acrobatics
that resembled the X Games, ESPN ’s
Romania
4 Gold, 7 Silver, 9 Bronze
Total 20
Netherlands
4 Gold, 5 Silver, 10 Bronze
Total 19
Poland
7 Gold, 5 Silver, 5 Bronze
Total 17
Spain
5 Gold, 6 Silver, 6 Bronze
Total 17
Bulgaria
3 Gold, 7 Silver, 5 Bronze
Total 15
Brazil
3 Gold, 3 Silver, 9 Bronze
Total 15
Britain
1 Gold, 8 Silver, 6 Bronze
Total 15
Belarus
1 Gold, 6 Silver, 8 Bronze
Total 15
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alternative Olympic competition.
The O lym pic flag, carried by
record-setting A m erican sprinter
Michael Johnson, was passed from
A tlanta m ayor Bill Campbell to
Frank Sartor, the mayor of Sydney,
where there was a midday celebra­
tion going on.
Each nation had its Hag carried
out, and equestrian silver medalist
M ichael M atz bore the Stars and
Stripes.
International Olympic Com m it­
tee p r e s id e n t Ju an A n to n io
Samaranch acknowledged the bomb­
ing and had the crowd pause for a
moment of silence before the Olym ­
pic flag was passed on, signaling the
official end of A tlanta's Olympiad.
W hat followed was a tribute to
Australia, with imitation kangaroos
and Aboriginal music. There was
also a fireworks display.
The 16th and final day of com pe­
tition at the Centennial Games be­
gan th is m o rn in g w ith Jo sia
Thugwane of South Africa winning
the m en’s marathon.
After that, American boxer David
Reid gave the Atlanta Games an­
other memorable moment by pull­
ing off one of the most stunning
victories in Olympic history.
A total of 271 gold medals were
bestowed at the Atlanta Games.
The United States won 44 gold
medals and 101 overall, both highs
for the Atlanta Games. Russia was
second with 26 golds and 63 overall.
Germany was second in the overall
race with 65, including 20 gold.
S ev en ty -n in e o f th e 197 c o u n ­
tries tak in g part in the gam es won
a m edal, including R ussia and
eig h t o th e r form er rep u b lics of
the S oviet U nion.
W ith the help o f R u ssia ’s 63,
c o u n trie s from the form er S oviet
U nion co m bined for I 19 m edals,
in c lu d in g 39 gold.
CARL LEWIS' LAST JOURNAL
by C arl
7 Gold, 4 Silver, 10 Bronze
Total 21
“You have a tremendous pride
playing for college,” she said. "But
this is something you strive for as a
professional athlete. This is the best
ever—ever, ever, ever.”
Milbrett, though acknowledging
the impact ofthe victory on the future
o f women’s soccer, emphasized the
personal meaning that the gold med­
al bestowed upon her heart.
“All I see is this," she said, hold­
ing the medal. "It’s all that matters.
We came here. We put our hearts on
the line. We played as hard as we
could. And we kicked butt.”
In track and field, Dan O 'Brien
fell to his knee and cried after finish­
ing the 1,500 meters and winning the
decathlon gold medal.
The Portland native cleared the
14-foot, 9-inch bar in the pole vault,
Thursday, and continued rocketing
up to win the Olympic decathlon
with 8,824 points.
The victory was all sweet in con­
trast to the bitter experience at the
1992 Olympic trials at New Orleans
CEREMONIES
MARK END OF OLYM
PICS
■ ■ ■ —
I III I
3 Gold, 11 Silver, 8 Bronze
Total 22
Hungary
first Olympics, you have no idea
what this is like.”
Milbrett scored the second goal in
the 68"1 m inute o f the gam e.
MacMillan scored the firstgoal in
the first half, and almost sunk a sec­
ond, when she craftily outran a de­
fender, but shot wide Destiny sat in
the hands o f her longtime friend and
college roommate to make the tie­
breaking goal.
M acM illan, 21-year-old 1995
College Player o f the Year from
Escondido, California, walked off
the soccer field with a U.S. flag draped
around her neck while fans chanted,
“U.S.A.”
“Oh my gosh,” she cried. “This is
the best feeling in the world.
“ It took 90 minutes to wear them
down. Everybody has their little nicks
and scrapes, but we trained all year
for this. There was no way we were
going to let this team down.”
Milbrett said the gold medal made
up for the NCAA title she never won
at Portland
L ewis
A new spaper re p o rte r recen tly
asked me to w rite my ow n e p i­
taph. It was an in te re stin g w ay to
gath er m aterial for a story about
the end o f my O lym pic care e r.
But it was d iffic u lt for me to
com e up w ith a resp o n se. I t ’s not
like w alking aw ay from my final
O lym pics m eans my life is about
to end. At least I hope not.
First o f all, my track and field
career is not even o v er yet. I ’ll
still be com peting in a n u m ber o f
m eets next year, pro b ab ly c o n ­
c e n tra tin g on re la y s w ith my
Santa M onica T rack C lub te a m ­
m ates.
S e c o n d ly , I ’m very e x c ite d
about my days a fte r track and
field. I ’ve been in this sp o rt, this
b usiness, my entire adult life, so
I really look forw ard to new e x ­
periences. I look forw ard to the
days and w eeks and m onths when
I can do w hatever I w ant to do.
T here w ill be no m ore reason
to schedule e v ery th in g around
what is best for training and c o m ­
petition. That will b e e n tire ly new
for me, and d efin itely an a p p e a l­
ing prospect.
T here will be no m ore m edia
m icroscope on e v ery th in g I do.
T here will be so m uch m ore tim e
for friends and fam ily and fun, so
much more time to help in Lite
com m unity, so m uch m ore fre e ­
dom to pursue ju st about a n y ­
thing I w ant to do.
I ’ll increase my inv o lv em en t
with the sam e ch a ritie s I ’ve been
supporting for years: organ d o ­
nor aw areness, the U nited N egro
C ollege Fund, the Best B uddies
program for people w ith m ental
retard ation.
I ’ll also be m ore in v o lv ed in
politics. I d o n ’t w ant to be an
elected o fficial. I do w ant to o f­
fer my help both locally and n a ­
tio n ally on a w ide variety o f is­
sues.
My involvem ent w ith track and
field? I ’ll alw ays do w h atev er I
can to help w ith the U n iv ersity o f
H ouston program and the S anta
M onica club. T hose w ill be my
p rio ritie s.
So m uch has been m ade the
last w eek about the nine O lym pic
gold m edals I ’ve w on. E veryone
w anted to know if I ’d have a
chance to win num ber ten as a
m em ber o f the U.S. 4 x 100 relay
team . N um ber ten w ould have
put me at the top o f the all-tim e
list for golds.
Ultimately, my legacy will be de­
cided by others. But 1 do hope I’ll be
remembered for more than just med­
als and records and statistics.
I’d like to be remembered for
what I’ve done to move track and
field ou, o f the Dark Ages of am a­
teurism and into the enlightened
arena o f professionalism. I'd like to
be remembered for my fight against
the use of performance-enhancing
drugs. I’d like to be known as som e­
one who had an impact on redefin­
ing the limits o f longevity in track
and field.
I d o n ’, re m em b er the ex act r e ­
sp o n se I gave to that re p o rte r
w ho w anted the e p ita p h M aybe
I ’ll ju s t borrow the w ords o f Bud
G reenspan, the cin em ato g rap h er,
w ho ju s t produced a sum m ary o f
my career. I w atched it S aturday
m orning d u ring an a w ard s c e r­
em ony at w hich g y m nast K erri
Strug and I w ere h o n ored as r e ­
c ip ie n ts o f the O lym pic S pirit
A w ard.
In closing, Greenspan attributes
my success to the following ap­
proach: "Never look to the ground
for your next step. G reatness be­
longs to those who look to the hori­
zon.”
when he "no-heighted” in the pole
vault.
Exceed i ng a personal best by more
than five feet, O ’Brien encountered
vast success in the javelin, tossing
the spear just over 219 feet.
“As soon as it left my hand, I knew
it was a long one, so I just kept
yelling,” O ’Brien said
Frank Busemann, o f Germany,
needed 32 seconds over O ’Brien in
the 1,500 to win the gold medal but
fell short as his best effort gave a time
o f 4 :3 1.4 1 and O ’Brien managed to
come in at 4:45.89.
O 'B rien’s best time in the 1,500
this year was 5:12.01 and Busemann' s
was 4:28.15.
“It always comes down to the
1,500, whether you’re talking about
the gold, the world record or 9,000
(points),” O 'B rien said. "The 1,500
is a slow pain, but I enjoyed it out
there. I was hurting, I was numb, but
that’s what I m suppose to be.”
Busemann w asn’t predicted to be
a lead competitor in the games but he
shelled out several personal bests in
the long jum p, 400 meters and jave­
lin, and tied his best in the pole vault.
"Frank Busemann came out o f
nowhere,” O ’Brien said “He really
surprised me. When someone gets
on a roll like that, you just hope
they ’ll have a weak throw or a weak
jum p and give some points back. But
he kept having personal best after
personal best.
“He’s a specimen. He’s going to
get 9,000 points. If I don't do it first.”
Before leaving the medal stand,
O'Brien hugged Busemann and Czech
Tomas Dvorak (bronze medalist).
W ith T he V illa g e P e o p le ’s
“YMCA” blaring throughout the sta­
dium, he ran up the steps leading into
the tunnel that went beneath the sta­
dium, and then took a final moment
to do the arm signals o f the chorus
with the crowd before disappearing
from the grounds.
O 'B rien declared, “I’m never go­
ing to be a rock star, but this is as
close to it as I can get.”
interestsoarsafterolympicgames
living rooms
rooms across
across the
the country
country deluge
In In living
deluge alter
after the
the women’s
women’s team
team won
won
last week, 3-year-olds were practic­
ing somersaults, 12-year-olds were
vaulting over their fathers’ favorite
arm chairs, and 5-year-olds were
launching themselves off the backs
of couches.
The kids were inspired by the U.S.
W om en's Gymnastic T eam 's Olym­
pic success.
And their parents, frightened out
of their wits, began calling local gym­
nastics centers.
“Our phones have been just crazy
since the Olympics began,” said Patty
Eaton, co-owner of Desert Devi I Gy m
in Scottsdale.
Desert Devil gym and others in the
Valley have reported a surge of inter­
est in gymnastics classes since the
Olympics began, with a particular
the gold medal.
The gym had to bring in two addi­
tional staffers per day to help answer
phones, which ring constantly from 8
a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Eaton said.
Most callers are the parents of
girls ages 6 to 12, owners said, al­
though they've had calls from the
parents of every age group, from 2-
year-olds to 18-year-olds, and from
the parents of boys interested in the
sport. Nine-year-old Chris Pasanella
is one of them.
Chris said he signed up for gymnas­
tics last week because he watched the
Olympians on TV and “It looked fun.”
“I just wanted tocome out here and
spend a couple of years and get in the
Olympics," he said.
“I’m going to win the gold."
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