The Pressure Is Finally Off U.S. Team

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Olympic Closing Ceremonies

The 2008 Summer Olympics closed in a display of tightly scripted merriment and lavish fireworks, a final burst of pomp ending 17 days of sports and celebration that Chinese authorities organized with flawless precision and an unbending security clampdown.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

What makes the Olympics special, though, often has little to do with the biggest stars or the biggest names. There's almost always a story about someone or some team that will never get anywhere near a cereal box, a television commercial or a seven-figure book deal. Over the weekend, several media outlets ran stories about Iceland's performance in the team handball event.

The men's team had clinched the fourth medal in the history of the country -- for those of you counting at home, that's 12 medals fewer than Phelps has won -- by winning a semifinal against Spain. The entire country had come to a stop during the semifinal and would do the same for the championship match. Even after losing to France in the gold-medal match, the players on the team knew they would go home as national heroes. In this case, they did, in fact, "win" a silver medal.

That's the kind of story that makes the Olympics worthwhile.

The ship sailed long ago on the notion that these are athletes competing purely for the love of competition. The last truly great amateur story in the Olympics was the U.S. men's hockey team at Lake Placid in 1980.

That's not meant to demean Phelps or Bolt or any of the other athletes who understand that Olympic success will fill their bank accounts in the very near future. That's the way of the world right now. The good news is that the money allows athletes like Phelps and Bolt and many others to continue in their sports rather than having to retire or take money under the table. The team handball players from Iceland will probably do quite nicely financially when they get home because of their performance. More power to them.

What's bothersome is the self-righteousness of people like Rogge and the International Olympic Committee. They still try to sell the notion that the Olympics are somehow more pure or better than other sporting events. They certainly aren't any more pure. They're fun, they're thrilling at times, moving at others. But there are plenty of other events in sports that are fun and thrilling and moving.

They just aren't quite as political.

So let us leave these Olympics with a smile on our faces. The Chinese government managed not to torture anyone while the Games were going on; the air-quality held and the venues were superb.

Most important, we witnessed some truly wonderful performances and had some moments worth remembering forever. Years ago, someone said that, in the end, only the athletes save the Olympics.

Never was that more true than the past two weeks. From Iceland to the United States to China and Chinese Taipei, we should thank them all.