Olympics: The Memory Count

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A gaggle of hockey players was also about, including Mike Richter, 21, the American goalie. "These breakups are the worst," he said, chomping on an apple. "A rushed goodbye after being together so long: How do you do it?" The U.S. hockey team finished seventh and was even jeered by International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who roller-skates a little. "I feel hollow," Richter admitted, "but I'll remember the quality of the competition too, and the nod I got once from the Soviet goaltender Evgeni Belocheikine, going into the cafeteria. It was pretty nice. I liked it."

Canada's hockey team at least got to the medal round, but a 5-0 loss to the U.S.S.R. deflated much of the country. Backup Goalie Rick Kosti was worried: "Next time they may just grab a bunch of National Hockey League guys at the last minute and see what they can do. Even if they're a great deal better, I don't think it will mean half as much to them as it did to us." Over the entire 16 days, the nearest Canada came to a gold medal was Figure Skater Brian Orser's second-place finish to Brian Boitano of the U.S. Softly Orser said, "Apart from the competition, my memory will be of Americans even more than Canadians. I already knew the kindness of my countrymen, but so many people from the U.S. have come up to me to say they just wished there were two gold medals."

Men of less generous spirit, America's patchy playground directors were so dismayed by their meager share of the plunder (two gold, one silver and three bronze, in contrast to three gold medals for Finnish Ski Jumper Matti Nykanen alone) that they brought in New York Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner to help them harrumph. Promising importantly to look into it, he made noises about cost-effectiveness, dropped a few cold war phrases, filled a lot of newspaper columns and went home. Meanwhile, in front of the Village, one of the enemies of capitalism, G.D.R. Figure Skater Alexander Koenig, 21, politely priced a taxi and apologetically demurred. "Three dollars to the Chinook Center? I'll wait for the shuttle," he said. "Not much money. C'est la vie."

A bobsledder who looked as if he had the fare, Len Murrain of Britain, was questioned about the chances of romance these past two weeks in the Village. "Quite high," he replied Britishly, and sure enough speed skating's resilient sweethearts, American Dan Jansen and his Canadian fiancee, Natalie Grenier, have been seen strolling hand in hand. By Murrain's account, the mixing and matching of the different-colored warm-up jackets preceded by days the dousing of the flame, when the kids always go dancing, and the Canadian, French and Greek flags are raised like songs. It even snowed at the end. The next stop in 1992 is Albertville, France; Greece represents the start of the Olympics 2,700 years ago and the restart in 1896.