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Before the Games, an organizer rallied his troops by reminding
them, "We should regard even a slice of meat and a piece of
tomato as representative of Japan." In fact, though, the Winter
Games opened out into a new postnational order in which an
athlete named Kyoko skated for the U.S. and a Dusty tended goal
for Japan (while Sweden's Ulf Samuelsson was forced off the team
when it was found he carried a U.S. passport too and so was no
longer technically Swedish). Dutchmen turned the M-Wave
speed-skating arena into a province of Holland with their jolly,
orange-clad fans--the Brazilians of winter--and their nine
medals (out of 15). Gianni Romme, after winning the first of his
two world-record golds, said there was nothing special about his
country's program: "We are Dutch, but we could be Norwegian or
German."
Next to him, Bart Veldkamp, who'd managed to break the Dutch
monopoly only by switching nationality to become the Belgian
team, said, "I was born in Holland, I skate for Belgium. But if
you are looking at the moon and ask, 'Where do you come from?' I
come from Earth."
Good words for the Titanic as it sails toward another continent.
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