As I watched the Opening Ceremonies the other night for the Games of the 30th Olympiad – aka the 2012 Summer Olympics or the London Olympics – and as I sampled some of the action throughout this weekend, I couldn’t help to think back to Olympic Games of the past.
Events like the Olympics, I think, serve as mile markers along the road of life.
Often, I associate the Olympics with where we are (where I am) at a certain point in our lives.
The Summer Olympics of 1976, The Games of the XXIst Olympiad, fell just after our Nation’s bicentennial, so we were all up for big events that year. I remember watching those games, featuring notable stars as Bruce Jenner, Edwin Moses and Nadia Comăneci among others. The U.S. (pre-Dream Team) Olympic basketball team won Gold, restoring order that had been ripped away during the controversial hoops finals of the ‘72 Games. Sugar Ray Leonard led a super talented U.S. boxing team that won 5 Gold medals.
I would say those are the first Olympics I really remember.
Ten years later, Lisa and I honeymooned in Montreal (the host city for the ’76 games). I think, in some ways, I was always intrigued by that city because of those games.
We also returned (with Holly and Paul as tiny tots) 10 years later for our 10th anniversary.
That was also the summer of the Atlanta games. Lisa and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend some of the events at the 1996 Summer Olympics. I had travelled to Atlanta quite a bit in the years leading up to the ’96 games, so I felt very familiar and comfortable moving around the town (even in the midst of very heavy foot traffic).
And the way I look at it, if you have the Olympics in your backyard, you owe it to yourself to go.
Lisa and I saw track and field events in the pre-cursor to Turner Field (then called Olympic Stadium). I vividly remember the cauldron being in the area that is now just beyond right field. We saw Carl Lewis win the final of his Olympic gold medals in the long jump and we saw Michael Johnson, wearing his gold shoes, win the 200 meter finals.
There was something electric about that night and there was a special kind of energy in the air as you walked the streets of downtown Atlanta elbow to elbow with citizens from nations around the world.
Those memories will stay with me forever.
Since then, we’ve watched summer games staged in Sydney, Athens and Beijing thanks to the great coverage of NBC and we’ve watched winter Olympic games hosted by Albertville, France; Lillehammer, Norway – you might recall I wrote recently about how those Olympics made a lasting impression on Holly as a toddler and, most recently, from Vancouver.
When we were at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 2010, Canadians were still rejoicing over their gold medal win four months earlier. I felt wistful about the Americans’ overtime loss in the Olympic finals as the Canadians celebrated their gold medal win.
What memories will be made in these games? For the athletes? And for those of us watching at home?
What stories will we tell years from now as we reflect on the London Olympics? The Opening Ceremonies were fantastic and, to be sure, the competition from the first weekend of the Games was spirited. I’m sure there will be many highlights to relive.
More importantly, on a personal note, what will we remember about this time in our lives from the unforgettable Summer of 2012?
JG
(Source: olympic.org)
Originally posted 7/29/2012
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