*Behind the scenes a number of Greek officials are bummed that their less-than-affluent country is stuck with a $1.5 billion security bill, because the IOC mandated extraordinary measures. By comparison, that’s 15 times what was spent on the 1996 Games in Atlanta. It was Athens’ lot to be saddled with the first post-9/11 Summer Games. Athenians also are chagrined that some clown was still able to jump out of the crowd to assault a Brazilian marathoner. Apparently NATO hadn’t thought of that one.
*For those nostalgic for the old USA-CCCP Olympic battles — that ostensibly said so much about our competing socio-economic systems — this note of interest: The U.S. topped all competition and finished with 103 medals at the Athens Games. Russia was second with 92.
But the total of all countries that were once part of the Soviet Union came to 162.
But we still won the Cold War, the ultimate mettle victory.