Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 10, 1992 TAG: 9202100137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LES SAISIES, FRANCE LENGTH: Medium
GAMES REFLECT WORLD'S CHANGING FACE
Something was missing when Lyubov Egorova accepted her Olympic gold medal Sunday night.Her country.
"It was great to win the gold medal. It was something I didn't expect. But it's sad that we didn't have our own flag and anthem," the Russian skier said.
Olympic winners have traditionally been honored with their country's flag and anthem at the awards ceremony. But Egorova's old country, the Soviet Union, is gone and her new country, Russia, is represented by the new Unified Team, a band of five former Soviet republics.
As the team's first gold medalist - and first of the Albertville Games - Egorova was also first to be honored by a flag and anthem that were not hers.
"It was an unpleasant feeling, not being able to see your own country's flag and listen to your own national anthem," she said after accepting her gold medal in the women's 15-kilometer cross-country.
Egorova and third-placed Elena Valbe, a fellow Russian, had to watch the Olympic flag - a white flag with the five Olympic rings - and listen to the Olympic hymn.
"We have our own country now and I hope we'll have our own flag and anthem by the [1994] Olympics in Lillehammer," said Egorova.
During the ceremony, International Olympic Committee vice president Vitaly Smirnov, of Russia, presented the medals, and their home republic, Russia, was announced to the public.
It was a historic day in the Olympics, filled with sights and sounds to remind athletes and fans of the political changes of the last four years:
The Olympic hymn replaced the former Soviet anthem, Internationale, heard so many times since the Soviet Union made its Olympic debut in 1952 and became one of the world's leading sports powers.
Gunda Niemann, a member of the defunct East German team, won the women's 3,000-meter speed skating, making her the first Olympic gold medalist under the flag of reunited Germany.
"For all the German team, I'm very proud," said Niemann. "To carry the flag and listen to the anthem was very moving."
Countries that did not exist in the last Olympics - the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Estonia, and former Yugoslavic republics of Slovenia and Croatia - practiced and competed under their own flags.
It's been hard for the Olympics, like the world, to keep up with the changes. And there are still some old symbols around.
Egorova didn't have the CCCP letters on the back of her ski jacket, but someone forgot to remove the hammer-and-sickle emblem on her warmup pants.
Unifed Team speed skaters had the CCCP logo on their pants.
Valbe's ex-husband, Urmas Valbe, now represents independent Estonia. And Valbe herself kept calling her teammate Egorova's hometown of St. Petersburg by its old Soviet name, Leningrad, during a post-race news conference.
"I was brought up saying Leningrad," Valbe said. "It's a matter of tradition. But we will adapt."