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February 6, 2002
Olympic Balancing Act Over Symbolic Flag
By KATE ZERNIKE and SELENA ROBERTS
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/06/olympics/06FLAG.html?pagewanted=print
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 5 ‹ The Super Bowl and Emmy productions gushed
patriotism after the events of Sept. 11. But today, the United States
team discovered how complicated even the smallest act of patriotism can
be at the Olympics, the consummate international sports event.
The United States Olympic Committee wanted its athletes in the opening
ceremony on Friday to carry a tattered flag that has become a traveling
symbol of the terrorist attacks. The International Olympic Committee,
which oversees the Games, rejected that request, saying it would seem too
political.
United States and international officials compromised, agreeing that the
flag from the World Trade Center, signed by relatives of the victims of
the attacks, will fly in the place reserved for the host country's flag
on the night of the ceremony. But the daylong debate marked the fine line
the Olympic organizers are treading as they try to honor the host
nation's still-fresh pain over the terrorist attacks but prevent any
appearance of political favoritism or demonstrations of outright jingoism.
The International Olympic Committee fiercely protects the global spirit
of its events, billing the Games as a chance for countries at different
political poles to come together on the same playing field. It calls for
a cease-fire during each Games, a request denied by the Bush
administration this year. Committee members envision the opening ceremony
in particular as a dignified parade, free from commercialism and politics.
The I.O.C. reasoned that if Americans were allowed to carry the trade
center flag, athletes from other countries might start asking to carry
symbols of their own particular national tragedies in this or future
Olympics.
The creative minds behind the ceremony, too, are sensitive about how
their production will be perceived by a worldwide audience. The executive
producer, Don Mischer, remembers being uplifted and mesmerized by the
extravaganza at the start of the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Years
later, he met one I.O.C. official who referred to the Los Angeles Games
as "second only to Hitler's Games in '36" for jingoism.
"Everyone sees things differently," Mischer said Monday at a rehearsal
for the opening ceremony. "We have to be concerned about not focusing too
much on America. We have to emphasize the rest of the world. The world
expects an international event."
Other Olympics in this country have been criticized for American
boosterism. The political climate stoked that then as now. During the
1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the 1984 Summer Games, the
cold war provided a backdrop.
Announcers for ABC Sports were accused of going overboard, as when Jim
McKay proclaimed, "We are a great people," at the close of the Lake
Placid Games, taking in the afterglow of the American hockey team's upset
of the Soviet Union in a game labeled the Miracle on Ice.
The rowdy chants of "U.S.A.!" rang out again as the United States
dominated the 1984 Games, which were boycotted by many Eastern bloc
countries in response to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow
Games. Upset over the ubiquitous overtones of red, white and blue in
1984, the I.O.C. president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, protested ABC's
coverage of the Olympics.
While the cold war is over, the war on terrorism has put the United
States in a patriotic mood once again. Gov. Mike Leavitt of Utah reacted
to the Sept. 11 attacks by referring to the Olympics as a chance to "host
an event where the world can come together and heal."
I.O.C. officials recognize that, too.
"The world at large, as in America, felt that holding the Games in Salt
Lake City ‹ and successful Games ‹ is a fundamental answer to violence
and terrorism," said François Carrard, director general of the
International Olympic Committee. "The tragedy has created a special
sense, a feeling all over the world. We also feel it."
The war and its accompanying emotions lend themselves to such
introspection. It is a difficult balance to strike, but instead of
spotlighting an American tragedy, the Olympic organizers are mindful
against wrapping the opening ceremony in American colors when there will
be almost 3,000 athletes from all nations and various political
backgrounds inside Rice-Eccles Stadium on Friday.
There is talk of having the 1980 men's Olympic hockey team light the
cauldron.
In a nod to balance, perhaps, there is also talk of as assist from a
Russian member of the team the United States so memorably defeated in the
semifinals that year.
The theme of the opening ceremony will be "Light the Fire Within." The
slogan is everywhere, from the stadium facade to the street banners.
"We wanted to celebrate the power to inspire," said Scott Givens,
creative director for the opening ceremony. "That message is the Olympic
story. At the core, the Olympics inspires us and allows us to believe."
Close to 3,500 cast members will convey this theme over the two-hour
production. Ninety-eight percent of the cast is from Utah, but the
opening ceremony will not only include local entertainment like that from
from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but will also feature international
recording artists like Sting.
The audience will also participate, using flashlights to illuminate the
backdrop for a show that organizers say will be about unity. Some opening
ceremonies in past Olympics have been budget-busting, but Salt Lake
officials say a premium has been put on taste, not garishness.
Mike Moran, chief spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee, said
the athletes themselves thought of having four teammates stretch the
trade center flag wide at the rear of the marching delegation. The flag,
which has traveled to Kandahar and to the World Series, was most recently
displayed at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
"They felt the U.S. team should say something," Moran said. Individual
athletes, he said, may be planning their own tributes. Tristan Gale, who
competes in skeleton, dyed her ringlets red, white and blue.
To those behind the scenes of the opening ceremony, however, there is no
need to turn the event into melodrama.
"There are few small things to address Sept. 11, but first and foremost
this is a worldwide event," Mischer said. "The main show has not changed,
but I think the attitudes of those who will see it have changed. I think
people will naturally feel more emotional about what they see in the
opening ceremony.
"I think now something as simple as raising a flag or seeing the athletes
come into the stadium together will have more meaning than ever before."
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
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