Retiring soccer star Mia Hamm was elected by her fellow U.S. athletes to carry the nation’s flag in Sunday’s Closing Ceremony. “This is emotional, and I’m truly speechless,” Hamm said. “I was expecting to be a follower [Sunday] night, just to go wherever I was pointed, and now I’m carrying the flag. It’s a tremendous honor, and I thank my fellow Olympians for thinking of me.” Hamm and the U.S. team won their second Olympic gold medal Thursday.
Goodbye time
So what will be in the Closing Ceremony? Expect it to resemble a big party, according to choreographer-director Dimitris Papaioannou, who also planned the elaborate, history-themed Opening Ceremony. “In the beginning, we introduced ourselves,” he said. “At the end, we want to get everyone up to dance to Greek rhythms.”
Cost still up
The Olympics will leave Greeks with wonderful memories, a greatly improved infrastructure –and a mountain of public debt. Greece has spent about $9.6 billion, said Stefanos Anagnostou, an adviser to the country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance. But the full cost will not be known until October, he said. Outside observers say the cost could rise to $12 billion.
Getting better
An athlete from the Central African Republic was released from the hospital one day after he was briefly knocked unconscious in a taekwondo bout. Bertrand Gbongou Liango was hospitalized for precautionary tests after he was kicked in the left side of the head by Tuncay Caliskan of Austria. He suffered a concussion.
Doping update
Puerto Rican women’s wrestler Mabel Fonseca was expelled from the Games for testing positive for the steroid stanozolol. She finished fifth in the 121-pound category. . . . Hungarian weightlifter Ferenc Gyurkovics was stripped of his silver medal and kicked out of the Olympics for using steroids.
On deck: Turin
As soon as the flame is extinguished in Athens, the clock starts ticking in the Italian Alps. Just 17 1/2 months from now–530 days, to be exact–the Olympic flame will be ignited at the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Games in Turin.
