Light Moment Ends Games Satisfaction Reigns As Ceremony Wraps Up The Winter Olympics

The Olympic flame went dark Sunday night on a Winter Games that brought the world to a Japanese mountain town’s doorstep, gave it two weeks’ worth of unforgettable images and moved on with a burst of unrestrained exuberance. The hearty thank-you message: “Arigato Nagano!”

But lights shone on: the relentless fireworks that illuminated the night sky and the Japanese Alps beyond, the handheld lanterns of 50,000 spectators at the closing ceremony, the flickering stadium video that recounted the most memorable moments of men, women and nations.

For Nagano, the 1998 Winter Olympics - “the best organization in the history of the Olympic Games,” according to International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch - wound up with a pocketful of experiences and an important verdict: Perhaps they weren’t the most exciting games ever, but they came out much more than OK.

“I’m so sad to see them end,” said Tamayo Kimura, an office worker. “The games were a big success, I think.”

Bookending the opening ceremony’s sumo-wrestler extravaganza with an intense, dazzling show of light and music, Nagano’s Olympic organizers offered up a slickly packaged closing that began with solemnity and tradition but quickly unfolded into a carnival of exuberant goodbyes.

The most visual moment: Thousands of Japanese swaying handheld flashlight-lanterns in the mountain night, showing their affections for their hometown and for traditions they spent more than a millennium perfecting and could finally show a rapt world.

Next up in 2002: Salt Lake City, whose vanguard - a stagecoach and horses that circled Minami Nagano Sports Park - offered a sneak preview and an invitation.

“It is my particular hope that our friends in Salt Lake City … will keep our torch of peace burning,” Goro Yoshimura, vice president of the Nagano organizing committee, said at the closing. “I am convinced that the practice of sport contributes to a peaceful and better world.”

For the Americans, a slow start melted into a second-straight winter’s best 13 medals - led by U.S. women with eight, six of them golds - and some unforgettable triumphs.

The U.S. women’s hockey team, in their Olympic debut, took the gold and lent an unparalleled level of respect and name recognition - and a David Letterman appearance - to Karyn Bye, Cammi Granato and their teammates. Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan put on a one-two combo in women’s figure skating. And Picabo Street’s super-G gold ensured her crack-skier reputation before she put safety over another medal.

The U.S. men in hockey slouched to a more ignominious end. Denied a shot at a medal by mediocre play and, some said, too many late nights, they finished their tour in Nagano by doing an estimated $3,000 in damage to Olympic Village furniture and property.

Japan found Olympic glory with speedskater Hiroyasu Shimizu and ski jumper Masahiko Harada.

Bjorn Dahlie, the Norwegian cross-country skiing great, extended his Winter Olympics record by picking up his 12th medal in the last race of Nagano - a gold in the 50-kilometer. It was his record eighth gold medal, too.

Austria’s Hermann Maier careened through the air and the snow in a spectacular crash, then dragged his bruised body back to win two gold medals. The Czechs, behind goaltender Dominik Hasek, stole Canada’s chance for Olympic gold in men’s hockey, winning 2-1 in a thrilling semifinal shootout. The Czechs won the gold on Sunday, 1-0, over Russia.

And, of course, there was the weather. Sometimes miserable, sometimes picturesque, it added to the burden of schedulers.

Through it all, Nagano and its legions of Olympic volunteers performed like troupers. Of that, many agreed:

-“In Lillehammer, there were 16 days of blue skies, white snow and cold temperatures,” said IOC executive board member Kevan Gosper of Australia. “Here, Siberia sent them everything in the book.”“There’s no question that Nagano has been as classy as Lillehammer,” said David D’Alessandro, president of the Boston-based John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., an Olympics “Worldwide Partner.”

The “rank-and-file,” seemed to agree. A survey by the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun said that 95 percent of the 40 delegations that responded called the Olympics “good” or “excellent.” Hospitality was particularly highly rated. A total of 87.5 percent of the respondents gave “excellent” grades.

The people came - 1,358,207 of them at competitions and victory ceremonies by Sunday afternoon. Local Olympic organizers expected the total at competitions alone to reach 1.27 million when everything is counted.

In the end, when it came time to say goodbye, Nagano danced.