It was incredible. I marched in with the American athletes tonight.
Roddy Gaines, one of the swimmers, loaned me his USA uniform so I could march in with all the others. It was great.
It was just one of the great experiences covering the Olympics, really one of the greatest experiences of my life covering the 23rd Olympics.
And for the millions of people who are part of it, I think they feel the same way.
The competition, of course, ended tonight with a marathon 26 miles from Santa Monica City College to the Coliseum.
It was close until about 10 miles were left. At that point, world cross-country champion Carlos Lopez raced ahead of the pack,
and the 37-year-old Lopez beat the heat and humidity to set a new Olympic best of two hours, nine minutes, and 21 seconds.
Americans Alberto Salazar and Pete Pitzinger finished far back in the marathon pack.
I think the heat really made it rather unpredictable. I ran as well as I figured that I would run today.
Probably a similar effort to the trials, I'd say, not the kind of an effort that gets the medal in the Olympics, though.
I feel like I did everything I possibly could. I'm obviously disappointed in my finish, my performance,
but looking back 20 years from now, I'm never going to be able to say that I didn't do everything I possibly could,
that I wasn't as careful as I could be. I just did everything as smart as I thought I could do.
The only thing I can say is that maybe I'm just not good in the heat.
The first winner, of course, is Pete Pitzinger, the second Alberto Salazar.
If Americans were disappointed in the marathon, it was the only disappointing thing of the day.
Mission Viejo's Greg Louganis was the most spectacular of his distinguished career on the 10-meter platform.
Watch him here. This is one of his perfect tens. Incredible.
Meanwhile, Greg's American teammate, Bruce Kimball, watch him here, because Bruce's father coaches the U.S. team.
He also is spectacular. Bruce comes from behind to take the silver medal with dives like this.
But it was all Greg's show. His second gold after the springboard competition earlier.
This is final dive, another perfect ten. Gave him a new world record in points of 710.8.
This is like a dream come true. You want your best performance to be in the Olympic Games.
And that is a dream come true. It's not, you know, you're out there to win, but if you break a record, then that's fantastic.
I mean, that's icing on the cake.
There was another double gold medal winner today. This is Seattle's Tracy Ruiz, who had won the pair's synchronized swimming title.
She came back with this routine today to win the individual competition.
Meanwhile, out at Santa Anita, watch here as American Joe Fargas rode his horse touch of class to a perfect round and a right off of fellow American Conrad Holmfeld.
The 36-year-old Fargas downed only one rail over five rounds. Today's win came in the individual show jumping, as the United States ended up with an all-time record of 83 incredible gold medals.
And then came tonight, the fabulous closing ceremonies that you all watched.
But you didn't see this. I went with my camera crew into the Coliseum tonight, as we mentioned, with all the athletes.
There were only supposed to be six from each country, but someone forgot to count.
And no, the Russians didn't decide to come to the end. This was a New Zealander with a sense of humor.
You can't believe the enthusiasm that I saw tonight, as these great athletes let it all out to celebrate the end of the Olympics.
I thought they were great. It was just amazing. I enjoyed every minute. It was indescribable. I just enjoyed every minute of it.
No matter what happens, win, lose, or draw, they're fantastic. And I enjoy the experience, and we're enjoying it tonight, too.
It was fun. It was worth it.
With all the problems, all the years of waiting and working, huh?
Well, most of them, anyway.
Glad it's over?
Yes.
Real glad it's over.
Real glad.
It was a great experience. You know, it was two weeks playing, getting to meet everybody in the village, and winning the gold.
It was fabulous. It's really hard to even describe. It was the best experience of my life. Absolutely unreal.
I thought it was over, but I'm kind of sad in a way, too. But I'm just really excited.
Great. What a relief, huh? Too big. It's been good, though. We had a great meet. It was perfect, fantastic, and exciting, and everything.
How do you feel now that it's all over?
I feel great. Everything is great.
Very relieved. We're having a good time out here, and we're just glad it's over. It was great while it happened. We still feel the same thing, but we're very relieved it's over. Having a good time.
Can anything ever equal this?
No. Oh, I don't know. Not in our sport, I'll tell you. This is the highlight of it all, and I don't know where to take it from here, so I'm not going to decide. I'm just going to enjoy my vacation.
And I'm not free! And the home of the brave!
That's how the athletes celebrate tonight. That's what was going on behind the scenes. One last note, though. I'd like to share my personal feelings about these games with the help of singer Lee Greenwood.
From the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee, across the plains of Texas, from the sea to shining sea, from Detroit down to Houston, and New York to L.A.,
I'm proud to be an American for a reason, though I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me. And I'm glad we stand up next to you when it's been her still today.
Because there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA!
And I'm proud to be an American for a reason, though I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me. And I'm glad we stand up next to you when it's been her still today.
Because there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA!
I think we're all proud to be American. We'll have a lot more sports.