It's More Than Flag Waving

The meeting of team captains to select the U.S. standard-bearer was held in a cramped conference room. Voices were raised, and those waiting outside could hear snatches of the nominating speeches. The archers, modern pentathletes and shooters joined in a plea for Margaret Murdock, the phenomenal shooter. Her selection would repudiate the anti-gun forces in the U.S., who, they said, have conspired to keep shooting from achieving proper recognition. Yachting nominated Conn Findlay; wrestling, Ben Peterson; track and field offered discus thrower Jay Silvester and high hurdler Willie Davenport, both four-time Olympians. And swimming put forward Gary Hall, 24, the three-time Olympian and now a medical student at Cincinnati.

"A swimmer has never carried the flag in the opening ceremonies," said teammate Steve Furniss, who briefly traced Hall's career through world records, the frustrations of Munich—where he was highly favored in the 200 and 400 individual medley but didn't win—and periodic retirements because medical studies prevented him from training. Then Hall said a few words about his love of swimming and the honor of carrying the flag.

"The instant I touched the wall in the Olympic Trials and knew I'd made the team, the chance of doing this popped into my mind," he said. He was prescient, because he won on the second ballot. There was applause when the result was announced, and Hall was surrounded by happy supporters.

A mild, gracious man with soft gray eyes and the swimmer's luminous hair, Hall said, "This is an indescribable feeling of honor. I'll be leading the greatest group of athletes in the world, the U.S. team."

He was asked if he would dip the flag at the reviewing stand.

"Have we ever dipped it?" he asked. "Does anybody else not dip it?"

"I don't think so," a fellow Olympian said.

In a low voice Hall said, "Well, I wouldn't change things."

Later Hall carefully discussed the fine balance between his commitment to his nation and his Olympian's sense of the Games transcending nationality. "There has been a lot of talk of how nationalism has been overplayed and how that has hurt the Olympics," he said. "I don't agree, for the reason that competition is a natural phenomenon. We can't change that. We should count our medals. We should know how the U.S. is doing in relation to the others.

"At the same time, athletes seem to me to serve as examples for the rest of the world. The feeling of a common bond across national barriers through sport—it's so exciting it's almost detrimental to performance. Yet at each of the Olympics I've attended, some political event has altered the feeling, the atmosphere. All the peace, the things the Olympics stand for, are forgotten when someone is not allowed to compete. I'd rather take part in a game where what you call yourself, the flag you carry, what you object to in other countries, could all be set aside. If there was any way the deciders, the politicians, could weigh the years of sweat and effort that they wipe out in one decision, how many dreams. It's unmerciful. It's wrong."