The symbol

WTC flag will be carried in Games

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The tattered American flag recovered from the rubble at ground zero will be carried at the Winter Olympics' Opening Ceremonies Friday night in a compromise of patriotism and protocol.

A group of U.S. athletes, New York City firefighters and Port Authority police will be allowed to take the flag into the ceremony in a “solemn, dignified entrance,” the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday, reversing an earlier decision.

Barring bad weather, the delicate banner will then be raised beside the Olympic flame at Rice-Eccles Stadium while “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played.

The flag, which arrived in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night to cheers from hundreds of people at the airport, will not be part of the main parade of athletes during the Opening Ceremonies. Instead, it will be carried in after all teams have entered the stadium.

Still, it will be the official U.S. flag of the Winter Games, at the center of an event with an estimated 3 billion people watching worldwide.

“We had a great deal of discussion as to how to honor the flag as a symbol of the heroes of Sept. 11,” said Mitt Romney, president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, who criticized the IOC’s original decision.

“This is a way to honor the flag and honor the Olympians as a world event. We feel very connected with the athletes of the world.”

The International Olympic Committee originally said American athletes would not be allowed to carry the flag, but that it could be raised as the official U.S. flag at the Opening Ceremonies. The IOC said the plan proposed by the U.S. Olympic Committee violated rules barring political acts during the ceremony.

The decision brought quick criticism. Talk shows nationwide were filled with the topic. The USOC received 75-100 e-mails and dozens of telephone calls at its Colorado Springs, Colo., headquarters. And Romney issued a statement that he “respectfully disagreed” with the IOC's decision.

That's when the IOC relented.

Before a single chant of “USA, USA” rang out through the Wasatch Mountains, international Olympic officials seemed to botch their first attempt to quash what seems inevitable -- that these will be America's Games.

“There is always a question, what is the best way?” said Bob Ctvrtlik, a former Olympic volleyball player from the United States and now an IOC member. “I think the U.S. athletes will be very satisfied.”

Yes, indeed.

“I would be proud to see it flown and I would be proud to be a part of it,” luge racer Adam Heidt said. “I think most athletes would feel the way I do. It's a great way to honor those lost.”

Heidt, from New York City's Long Island suburbs, said that while none of his family or close friends was killed in the attacks, “just about everybody knew somebody indirectly.”

“I just think about them, about the people who were lost,” he said. “Hopefully, I can show a good performance and bring some pride back to New York.”

The ground-zero flag was brought to Salt Lake City by Port Authority police Sgt. Tony Scannella and Officer Frank Accardi. As they got off the airplane at the Salt Lake airport, hundreds of other passengers cheered.

Scannella carried the flag in a wooden triangular container that was wrapped in blue nylon cord.

“We're very happy the International Olympic Committee has made this decision,” Scannella said.

“I'm sure the Port Authority workers, all the families of the victims are happy and proud. We're all proud that the flag will be part of the Opening Ceremony. The Olympics mean a lot to all people.”

The eight athletes who will carry the flag at the ceremony are being picked by the U.S. team and will be announced Thursday.

The announcement of the new plan, made by IOC director general Francois Carrard, underscored the emotion attached to the flag and the difficulties of managing a sports event that also is one of the world's largest political stages.

The compromise was reached just before midnight, after a two-hour meeting of IOC, USOC and SLOC officials and their advisers.

“The ground zero flag will enter solemnly during the Opening Ceremony,” Carrard said. “It will be carried by an honor guard of American athletes and other heroes, policemen, firemen. This will be a solemn, dignified entrance.”

The 12-foot-by-8-foot flag was the only American flag flying at the World Trade Center the morning of Sept. 11.

It was buried in rubble for three days and was torn in two places. Rescuers turned it over to a National Guard colonel for a ceremonial destruction. The colonel gave the flag to the Port Authority Police Department. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owned the trade center.

The flag flew over a World Series game at Yankee Stadium last fall and was included in ceremonies at last Sunday's Super Bowl.

 

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