Fever Pitch

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The one American who truly prospered in these meek and mild Games was Michael Phelps. The eight-medal poster boy swam like a perfect machine, but then so did his Australian rival Ian Thorpe. Both seemed less vexed by their competition than in mutual awe. When they glanced at each other across the pool, their expressions seemed to say, You can do that too? Phelps was impeccably smooth, as were most of the Americans, who won most of the events. The BALCO scandal was supposed to have crippled the U.S. goal of 100 medals, which was met late Saturday night. The medals came in a torrent, and the young legs of Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford were almost as dominant as — although suspiciously a step slower than — those of their possibly drug-tainted predecessors. (It was their coach, Trevor Graham, who sent in a syringe of human growth hormone to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, saying he hoped to save the sport for clean athletes.) Even when Americans weren't supposed to win, they won, like Paul Hamm, the gold-medal gymnast who prospered by a judging error. Gifts from judges don't tend to win hyperpowers many friends.

On the whole, the Americans were wisely swagger free, though the beach-volleyball duo Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs celebrated their bronze medal as if they had just liberated France. In fact, their win came over an Australian team whose top player reinjured her shoulder during the match, forcing her to serve underhand. But the most egregious celebration of the Games was by Swedish triple jumper Christian Olsson, whose oblivious victory lap was so lengthy that it interrupted the medal ceremony for the 1,500-m wheelchair race. Thanks for taking the pressure off, Christian.