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Show NAT'L SPORTS Olympic farewell looks to 2002 For the Americans, a slow start melted into a By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS second-straight winter's best 13 medals - led by U.S. women with eight, six of them golds - and The Olympic flame went dark last night on a some unforgettable triumphs. The U.S. women's hockey team, in their Olympic Winter Games that brought the world to a Japanese mountain town's doorstep, gave it two weeks' worth debut, took the gold and lent an unparalleled level of respect and name recognition - and a David of unforgettable images and moved on with a burst of unrestrained exuberance. The hearty thank-you Letterman appearance - to Karyn Bye, Cammi Granato and their teammates. Tara Lipinski and message: "Arigato Nagano!" But lights shone on: the relentless fireworks that Michelle Kwan put on a one-two combo in women's illuminated the night sky and the Japanese Alps figure skating. And Picabo Street's super-G gold ensured her crackbeyond, the handheld lanterns of 50,000 skier reputation spectators at the before she put safety dosing ceremony, the over another medal flickering stadium The U.S. men in video that recounted hockey slouched to a the most memorable more ignominious moments of men, end. Denied a shot at a medal by mediocre women and nations. play and, some said, For Nagano, the 1998 Winter too many late nights, Olympics - "the best they finished their :ee 1 · ~ tour in Nagano by organization in the ,. If . history of the ~ doing an estimated ;JI. Olympic Games," @$3,000 in damage to accordfog to · ::s Olympic Village • I International 8 furniture and Olympic Committee ~property. President Juan "" Japan found ....__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _....;__ _.;.;.._ _ _ _ _;a..;;;;=-.;a;...;.J · i: Olympic glory with Antonio Samaranch American athletes enter the stadium carrying a Salt Lake speedskater Hiroyasu - wound up with a City sign during the X:Vlll Winter Olympics closing Shimizu, who set an pocketful of ceremony at Minami Nagano Sports Park yesterday. Olympic record by experiences and an skating 500 meters important verdict: in 35. 76 seconds and bested himself a day later with Perhaps they weren't the most exciting games ever, but they came out much more than OK. a 35.59. And Masahiko Harada, coming back from a Bookending the openjng ceremony's sumo-wrestler dismal jump, tied teammate Takanobu Okabe for the longest jump on skis in Olympic hist0ry- 137 extravaganza with an intense, dazzling show of light and music, Nagano's Olympic organizers offered up meters. a slickly packaged closing that began with solemnity The Czechs, behind goaltender Dominik Hasek, stole Canada's chance for Olympic gold in men's and tradition but quickly unfolded into a carnival of hockey, winning 2-1 in a thrilling post overtime exuberant goodbyes. The most visual moment: Thousands of Japanese semifinal shootout. The Czechs won the gold on swaying handheld flashlight-lanterns in the yesterday, 1-0, over Russia. mountain night, showing their affections for their In the end, when it came time to say goodbye, hometown and for traditions. Nagano danced. "Sayonara! Sayonara!" shouted the Next up in 2002: Salt Lake City, whose vanguard exuberant master of ceremonies, comedian Kin'ichi - a stagecoach and horses that circled Minami Hagimoto, bedecked in a cartoonish white-and-red top hat. Nagano Sports Park - offered a sneak preview and an invitation. " It is my particular hope that our The American team marched in with equal exuberance, carrying a banner inviting everyone to mends in Salt Lake City ... will keep our torch of peace burning," Goro Yoshimura, vice president of Salt Lake City, home of the 2002 Winter Olympics. the Nagano organizing committee, said at the "Thank you, Nagano," it said; Bye held up the right closing. comer. Some Americans rode on others' shoulders. ;v,, (. I,.'\: rrr y · Czech Republic slides past Russia By THE ASSOCIATEO PRESS Dominik Hasek's thoughts drifted through a lifetime on ice, the little boy who grew up to be the Dominator, the best goaltender in the world. Petr Svoboda listened closely to the majestic strains of the Czech Republic's anthem, a song he hadn't heard in so long, and his eyes glistened. The Czechs - always second, third, or off the podium - picked the perfect time to win their first gold medal. They became the best of the best yesterday, beating Russia 1-0 to win the fust NHLfortified Olympic hockey tournament. "When I saw the flag go up, I saw my whole career flash before my eyes, from the first time my parents t0ok me to a hockey game until now," said Hasek, who allowed only six goals in six Olympic games. Svoboda, who scored the game's only goal with 11:52 remaining, no longer lives in the Czech Republic, but his heart swelled with pride as the anthem played. " I haven't heard that song in many years," he said. " I was so happy. It was the nicest dream you can have." Not an impossible dream, but certainly an improbable one. The Czechs have 11 players on NHL teams. The Russians have twice as many, and the American and Canadian teams, which the Czechs beat along the way, had more than that. "I told everyone: 'If we play as a group, we can win it all,"' said Jiri Slegr, a defenseman who helped limit Russia's talented offensive players to 20 shots on Hasek. "Everyone laughed. Now we're laughing." All the way back to Prague for a huge celebration. " I heard that there were 50,000 or 100,000 people on the Wenceslas Square in Prague at 6 o'clock in the morning watching on TV, " Hasek said. "We will go home by charter plane, stay for a couple of hours and then the guys will go back to the U.S.A. or Canada" to resume the NHL season Wednesday. Czech officials estimated t hat 1.5 million people would attend a celebration today. And why not party after finally winning gold in the Czechs' 17th try? DIGEST DAHLIE MAKES CROSSCOUNTRY SKI IllSTORY: In his hardest race on his toughest course, Bjorn Dahlie battled his doubting mind and aching body and won. Again. With victory in the 50 kilometers, Dahlie capped two weeks of cross-country excellence in which he became history's ~.-=..::i.~.:., winningest Winter Olympian. The Bjorn Dahlie longest, toughest event at the games was no match for the Norwegian superstar, who now has eight gold medals and 12 of all colors. Just as the Snow Harp course, a cedar-outlined collection of hills and treacherous curves, could not keep Dahlie down. ''It think it's my hardest race ever," Dahlie said. "Before the race, I didn't believe in a medal at all. Mentally, I was finished with these Olympics. l was quite tired. "But then, in the second stage of the race I saw that my time was good and I thought that perhaps l could get a medal. In the last 2 or 3 kilometers I was completely exhausted." Dahlie added three gold medals in the Nagano Games to the three he won at Albertville in 1992 and two at Lillehammer in '94. GOLD AGAIN FOR THE GERMANS, HOPE FINALLY FOR THE AMERICANS: On a track ~ed Spiral, Americans finally made inroads in luge, while the U.S. bobsledders came oh-so-close to an Olympic medal that has eluded them for 42 years. The gold medals? Oh, they went to Germany again and its sizzling "racing sausage." Georg Hackl won his third straight Olympic gold medal in men's luge and his countrywomen - Silke Kraushaar and Bavarian neighbor Barbara Niedembuber - swept the top two spots among the women. Though Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt also won the doubles gold for Gennany, two U.S. teams stood on an Olympic podium for the first time ever. Gordy Sheer and Chris Thorpe won silver. Their teammates, Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, won bronze. GORDON RALLIES T O WIN GOODWRENCH 400: Jeff Gordon overcame early handling problems yesterday to surge past the field and win the Goodwrench 400 for the second straight time. The defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion started fourth but slipped far back into the 43-car field as he struggled with the chassis on his No. 24 Chevy. PHILIPPOUSSIS WINS ST. JUDE: Mark Philippoussis spoiled Michael Chang's 26th birthday, beating the defending champion 6-3, 6-2 yesterday to capture the St. Jude indoor tennis tournament. "It was his birthday, and l didn't want to be the first to give him a birthday present," said Philippoussis, Mark who hadn't beaten Chang in four Phili poussis previous matches. Philippoussis, seeded P fourth and ranked 16th on the ATP Tour, kept the second seed scrambling as he mixed powerful groundstrokes with a big serve. SHAQ'S ORLANDO RETURN A BUST FOR LAKERS: Nick Anderson's 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds remaining capped a 30-point performance yesterday and gave the Orlando Magic a 96-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. The most outspoken of Orlando's players in his criticism of Shaquille O'Neal's decision to leave the Magic for Los Angeles in 1996, Anderson scored his team's final six points to ruin the All-Star center s return to Orlando Arena. A crowd of 17,238 booed virtually every time O'Neal touched the ball and cheered wildly each time he missed a shot and committed a foul en route to 20 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes. It was actually O'Neal second trip back to the 0-rena since his departure, but he did not play in the Lakers' only appearance here last season because of a knee injury. 1 |