Ignore the medals, hail the heroes

Even the men’s 100m sprint final will not pull in as many viewers as the parade of athletes that allowed every nation to take the biggest stage of all. Every flag bearer had an equal spot in the limelight whether for sporting superpower the United States, 1.2 billion-populated China or tiny Palau, Belize or Saint Kitts and Nevis. And bearing the national colours is for many Olympians the defining achievement of a lifetime.

Traditionally, the flag bearer is elected by fellow team-mates. Sometimes the chosen athlete is a world figure Savon and Boldon are perhaps the best-known of the 199 that took part in Sydney. But many teams opted for a relatively unknown figure a canoeist, a mountainbiker or a sailer to project their nation’s image to the world. Some countries even choose an official rather than a competitor.Tonga, for instance, plumped for their chef-de-mission Ana Siukolo Liku while team doctor Charif Mohamed was the man for the Comoros Islands. But one flag had a significance that went way beyond the Olympics following the historic decision by North and South Korea to march together under a unified flag featuring the map of the entire peninsula.

The flag was born by two people with female basketball star Chung Eun-Soon representing South Korea and judo coach Pak Chon-Chul the North. The historic nature of the move was not lost on the crowd who cheered roundly while International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch rose to applaud. Another politically symbolic moment was when East Timorese boxer Victor Ramos came in bearing the flag of the Olympic movement and the Timorese delegation milked the moment for all their worth with some outlandish celebrations.

The United States are cast-iron certainties to top the medal table again but they overlooked the likes of Marion Jones, Michael Johnson and Gail Devers when making their chose of standard bearer. Sprint kayaker Cliff Meidl was the unexpected choice for an event which by the laws of nature he should not have been attending. Fourteen years ago, aged 20, while working as an apprentice plumber, an accident sent 30,000 volts 15 times the charge of the electric chair shooting through his body. His knees were so badly damaged that doctors wanted to amputate both legs but were talked out of it by his parents. But miraculously he fought back. He was moved when he found out he would be carrying the Stars and Stripes at the opening ceremony.

(AFP)