| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Bush: Olympics celebrate American ideals of discipline, courage
By Ron Fournier
Associated Press
DENVER — President Bush, casting the Olympics as a patriotic tribute to U.S. virtues, said Friday the competition in Salt Lake City will celebrate the same ideals displayed by firefighters, police and other heroes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We believe that these ideals — liberty and freedom — make it possible for people to live together in peace, and the Olympics give the world a chance in the middle of a difficult struggle to celebrate international peace and cooperation," Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery at an Olympic reception.
The president, who stopped in Denver for a farm speech before flying to Utah, was formally opening the Winter Games in a ceremony broadcast worldwide from the chilly Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium.
He also was meeting U.S. athletes in a session attended by four members of the New York Port Authority, the two-state agency that suffered losses in the World Trade Center collapse.
A tattered American flag found at the World Trade Center was being displayed for Bush in a wooden case during the athletes' meeting. The flag will be carried into the stadium by eight athletes and New York police and firefighters at the opening ceremony. It will not be raised, as originally planned, because it is too delicate.
Aides said the president hoped to use the games as a metaphor for the ideals that helped America recover from the attacks and launch a global war against terrorism.
"You will see throughout the president's remarks a metaphor of the heroism that was shown by New Yorkers, and the people in Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, and all Americans in fighting for our ideals since our country was attacked," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
The president, in remarks released by the White House in advance of the speech, said: "All people appreciate the discipline that produces excellence, the courage that overcomes difficult odds and the character the creates champions."
At the opening ceremony, Bush planned to be on the field for the singing of the national anthem and was opening the games with remarks traditionally delivered by the host nation's leader. According to the White House, Bush was saying: "I declare open the games of Salt Lake City, celebrating the Winter Olympic Games."
For the bulk of the opening ceremonies, Bush planned to sit in an open air sky box with political and Olympic VIPs.
Afterward, he was flying to Jackson, Wyo., to spend a wintry weekend at the home of Roland Betts. Betts and Bush were classmates at Yale University and partners in the Texas Rangers major league baseball team.
A Democrat, Betts was a major donor to Bush's presidential campaign.
Bush planned to discuss health care during a trip Monday to Wisconsin, the White House announced Friday.
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February 8, 2002
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