Closing ceremony Vancouver Olympics: Bill Demong leads the most successful US Winter Olympic team in history
In the closing ceremony at the Vancouver Olympics tonight, Bill Demong, who won America's first gold medal in Nordic Combined, will head the most successful US Winter Olympic team in history. NBC-TV coverage of the closing ceremony starts at 8 pm EST.
Bill Demong of the U.S. displays his gold medal during the medal ceremony for the men's Nordic Combined individual large hill event. Bill Demong will attend the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Closing Ceremonies which are being held on Sunday.
Leonhard Foeger/Reuters
Whistler and Vancouver, British Columbia
At the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics tonight, Nordic combined skier Bill Demong will carry the flag in front of the most successful US Winter Olympic team in history.
Demong showed real sportsmanship early on in the Games when he put aside his own disappointing performance to cheer teammate Johnny Spillane鈥檚 silver medal 鈥� America鈥檚 first in 86 years of Olympic Nordic combined events. Then in a stunning performance last week, Demong became the first American to win Olympic gold with a surge on the final climb that left Austria鈥檚 Bernhard Gruber in his dust.
But asked what his most enduring memories would be of these Games, Demong pointed not to his own historic achievements but 鈥� characteristically 鈥� looked beyond himself.
鈥淏eing here the last couple of years, training and seeing it all come together and everything done ahead of time, I think these Olympics were a real success in Canada鈥檚 attempt to really show the world they could put on a best-ever kind of Games,鈥� said Demong, a four-time Olympian who capped his gold-medal day by proposing to his girlfriend. (She said yes.) 鈥淭he memory I will take from this was that it was a fantastic Games in a beautiful setting put on by a really proud city.鈥�
Lindsay Vonn, whose gold and bronze added to a historic eight-medal haul for US alpine skiing, agreed that the atmosphere was special.
鈥淭he fans were definitely in full force in all the events. Canadians and Americans alike cheering not only us on and Canadians on, but the entire world,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get that from every Olympics. I definitely didn鈥檛 feel the same energy and the same atmosphere in Torino as I did here in Whistler.鈥�
Rough start for Vancouver 2010
While the US got off to a roaring start with Hannah Kearney鈥檚 gold in the ladies鈥� mogul competition on Feb. 13, Vancouver鈥檚 party didn鈥檛. There was the fatal luge crash, dump trucks and helicopters rushing to pile enough snow on Cypress Mountain to hold the snowboard and freestyle skiing events, and a lack of organization as bus drivers and volunteers from around Canada struggled to figure out exactly what they were doing and where they were going. The British press called the Games 鈥渢he worst in history.鈥�
鈥淲hen I look at the first four or five days, I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 anybody here and anyone in the city that would have been prepared to say, 'I could have predicted this鈥� 鈥� some of the things that Vancouver 2010 had to deal with,鈥� said John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver organizing committee, who quipped that he鈥檇 rather have done the job with a paper bag over his head.
But the lack of snow was not new, and if warm spells in cold places becomes the new norm, future Olympic committees may want to take note of Vancouver鈥檚 tactics.
鈥淚n [the 2006 Games in] Italy, we literally skied on a pile of snow on a dirt road, so this is a big improvement,鈥� said Kearney, the moguls gold medalist.
Golden sunshine, and medals to match for Canada
But even for the cynics, the atmosphere seemed to change with a spell of sunny weather in the second week, and Canadians鈥� unfailing cheer 鈥� whether in the stands or the 鈥渟murf suits鈥� as the volunteers鈥� turquoise uniforms came to be called. And for all the criticism Canada got for its uncharacteristically bold plan to 鈥�Own the Podium,鈥� its athletes came through strong in the final days to win the overall gold medal count 鈥� if not matching America鈥檚 historic haul of 37, including the men's hockey game.
鈥淥ur athletes have done a phenomenal job here,鈥� said Scott Blackmun, CEO of the US Olympic committee.
But even before the final day of competition, the USOC was already looking ahead to the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
鈥淲e start sending [leadership] teams to Sochi 鈥� this coming year, so they start looking at venues and certainly the geography, the area,鈥� said US Olympic team chef de mission Mike Plant, who said the US has spent $55 million on winter sports over the past four years. 鈥淭hey start to understand it years in advance so that when we do get to the Games we鈥檙e probably the best-prepared team.鈥�