| Salt Lake City |
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| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
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| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
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| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
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| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
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| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
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| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
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| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
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| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
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| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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Ceremonies festive, somber
By Lucinda Dillon Kinkead
Deseret News staff writer
After calling Utah the perfect site of the Olympic Winter Games, President Bush ended his day in opening ceremonies that were a mixture of soberness and celebration.
Bush himself reflected those emotions as he officially opened the competition for the 2002 Games with a short statement to a respectful but exuberant crowd.
"On behalf of a proud, determined and grateful nation, I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City, celebrating the Olympic Winter Games," Bush said to the cheering crowd.
Although the ceremony was filled with thoughtful and teary moments, after his declaration Bush spent several minutes hob-nobbing and chatting with American athletes. Yet even the ceremony could not keep him separated from world events, as he was whisked away to his presidential motorcade just as the ceremony ended. He left Salt Lake just before 10 p.m. on Air Force One, skipping a planned meeting with reporters at the airport.
Bush spent all day in Utah, meeting with LDS church officials, lawmakers and other officials. (See story on A1.) At the opening ceremony, Bush joined Gov. Mike Leavitt and a roomful of other dignitaries in a suite at Rice-Eccles Olympic stadium.
As the group sat together, Leavitt talked with Bush and noted the contrast in Friday night's ceremony to the president's real work on the international stage.
"This is a man who has borne the burden of war, and tonight — if only for tonight — he found a unified world focused on peace," Leavitt said. "It was a momentary sense of exuberance."
Bush was clearly emotional when introduced early in the ceremony.
One of the evening's most touching moments came when police and firemen carried the tattered flag from the World Trade Center into the arena. Bush stood at attention, somber, with Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge as the officials brought the flag in while the Tabernacle Choir sang the national anthem.
Bush seemed to carry that proudness into the crowds with him, although high security was evident. While he waved to the crowd and smiled, snipers on rooftops and in the stadium's portals watched closely. Also, several security helicopters hovered over the stadium and everything from local police to Secret Service agents were scattered throughout.
Utah's top officials couldn't have been more proud of their home state. "It was Utah's proudest moment," Leavitt said, after the nearly three-hour ceremony.
Leavitt noted that the appearance of the flag was especially sentimental for everyone.
Utah Senate President Al Mansell, R-Sandy, agreed. "To see it ripped and battered like that, it was a mighty proud moment," Mansell said.
Mansell and others said that the ceremony should put to rest the concerns that Utah's pioneer heritage would dominate the 2002 Olympic opening ceremonies. Although heavy on Western Americana themes, the ceremony had very little direct reference to the Mormon pioneers or the settling of the Salt Lake valley.
Top officials said the western pioneer scenes combined with presentations of Native American dancing and culture and the depictions of indigenous animals presented all of Utah's best.
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson joined Bush, Leavitt, Romney and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the dignitaries suite. He called it a real honor to sit with the president and share sentimental moments from the ceremonies.
Whatever anyone expected, he said, "this ceremony was absolutely beautiful and presented with enormous class."
E-mail: lucy@desnews.com
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February 9, 2002
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