Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
September 29, 2000, Washington Post

An Olympics to Remember

The highs (and lows) of the Sydney Games.

Like everybody else, I have been watching the Olympics on TV. All this TV watching has got me thinking . Some great thoughts, some, well . . . not so great.

I know you have to be a fabulous athlete to be a gymnast. The moves are breathtaking and beautiful. But I don't think of gymnastics as a sport. The winners are decided by the opinion of the judges. I mean, really, can anyone explain what is the difference
between a score of 9.712 and one of 9.725?

Man, that tall blonde Russian gymnast, Svetlana Khorkina, has the meanest
stare I have seen since Sister Frances, my seventh-grade teacher.

Those newfangled swimsuits were a big hit. But some guys looked like they were swimming in their blue jeans. The swimmers set a lot of records. But I wonder: Was it the suits? Was it the pool? Or was it the training?

The best nickname in the Olympics: Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, "The Thorpedo."

I've got to think that 17-year-old United States weightlifter Cheryl Haworth could play tackle for just about any high school football team in America. That young woman is seriously strong.

Is it harder to score in soccer, field hockey or softball? Seems like every game in those Olympic sports is 1-0 or 2-1.

I know it is not cool to say, but whatever happened to boxing? In 1976, boxing was the biggest American sport in the Olympics. I don't think NBC showed a minute of the fights on regular network TV.

Come to think of it, I wish NBC had shown more water polo, badminton, table tennis, team handball, mountain biking, soccer and fencing. The only fencing I ever saw was that great IBM ad about the guy from Harlem.

But I wish NBC had shown less swimming and less gymnastics and not a single second of Bela Karolyi or any of the other gymnastics coaches. And boy, I wish I had seen a whole lot less of Bad Andy in those dumb pizza commercials.

The Olympics always have some upsets. This year, the U.S. women's softball team lost three in a row, then won the gold medal. American Laura Wilkinson beat the Chinese platform divers despite a broken foot. And the Netherlands beat Cuba in baseball. Maybe the Orioles should be looking for new pitchers in Amsterdam.

Marion Jones ran the 100 meters in 10.75 seconds. That means she is faster than most NFL running backs.

And how about Australia's Cathy Freeman? All she did was run the race of her life in front of 110,000 screaming people and her entire country watching. Wow, talk about pressure.

Is it me, or are the men in track and field wearing bigger earrings than the women?

Finally, the official Olympic motto is "Swifter, higher, stronger." But there's an unofficial motto too: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle."

Sometimes, amid all the talk of medal standings, drug tests and endorsement money, it is important to remember that.

FRED BOWEN is the author of sports novels for kids. Write to him at KidsPost,
1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Or e-mail: kidspost@washpost.com.

© 2000 The Washington Post Company