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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Arigato, Olympians! The Closing Ceremony
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18:00 -
After 16 excitement-filled days, the 18th Olympic Winter Games bids farewell to Nagano and its 360,000 residents Sunday.
The largest-ever Winter Games, the Nagano Olympics has brought 2,339 athletes -- 1,512 men and 827 women -- from 72 countries and regions together in a symbol of peace and goodwill.
Through 16 days of sunshine, rain and snow, these "best of the best" athletes on ice and snow have thrilled and moved the world, etching the human pathos of triumph and defeat in the minds of more than 1 million spectators and more than 2 billion TV viewers around the globe.
With the last cross-country skiing race run Sunday and the gold medal of the men's ice-hockey tournament decided, Nagano will surely leave a big legacy in the annals of the Olympic movement.
For the first time, thousands of school children have become part and parcel of the Olympics through the novel "one school, one country" hospitality program, cheering and entertaining athletes of their "adopted" country.
And in a show of human nature at its most noble, more than 32,000 volunteers -- from high school students to retirees -- have contributed time and labor to add a big dose of warmth to the Winter Games.
In addition, the Nagano Olympics has witnessed Japan's state-of-the-art technology at work, offering athletes and spectators alike a taste of things to come in the 21st century.
As the last Winter Games this century, the Nagano Olympics closes one Olympic chapter as humanity faces a new millennium.
So, to all athletes and others in the Olympic family, a warm good-bye from Nagano. See you again in Salt Lake City in 2002. (Kyodo News)
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Copyright 1999 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun