SPORTS: Sydney Olympics...Correction

I made a mistake ( or should I say "A mistake was made"?) when I described the final disappointment of Chile. I was misled by Chilean television, which ran a program so despondent that I thought its soccer team had been defeated. Today the tone had changed completely. Chile has defeated the United States and won a bronze medal, or really several, since each team member gets one. I have never seen a crowd so elated. They hugged each other, rolled on the ground, and danced and celebrated all night.

I understood why Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Aznar has used a cuss word when referring to the Olympics. The Chilean report said the Spanish team entered the final awards ceremony with long faces, not reconciled with its defeat by Cameroon. Meanwhile in Peru a soccer defeat led to demands that the coach be fired and broke up a meeting of a government commission, even though it seemed irrelevant to the agenda.

I conclude that soccer provides a splendid example of the manic-depressive behavior of crowds.

Ronald Hilton - 10/11/00