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Ali=92s Olympic odyssey comes full circle
=91The Greatest=92 ATLANTA =97 Muhammad Ali, his left ha=
nd
still packs punch twitching from the ravages of Parkinson=92s
as he is chosen syndrome but his right hand steady with the
to light the torch, stood bathed in light at the top of
flame Olympic Stadium and dramatically lit the
flame to open the games early Saturday
By Paul Newberry (Eastern).
ASSOCIATED PRESS Ali was a boxing gold medalist at
Rome in 1960 as Cassius Clay, but he flung
his award in the river upon returning home to
Louisville, Ky., after being confronted by a
group of racist whites.
[Image] In the hometown of Martin Luther King
[Image] Jr., who dreamed of a day when all races
would live together without prejudice, Ali=92s
[Image] Olympic odyssey came full circle =97 a moment
[Oldest Olympic that packed all the punch of the archer
champion in firing an arrow to light the torch in
fine form Barcelona, Spain, four years ago.
[What they said Ali, perhaps the most famous athlete
about opening the world has ever known, took the flame from
four-time gold medal swimmer Janet Evans at
[MSNBC Olympics the top of the ramp where some 10,000
Preview: The athletes had just marched into the stadium.
Games in He held the torch in his right hand,
America his left hand shaking uncontrollably from the
[Dude! This is effects of a boxing career that took him to
America=92s the height of popularity =97 and three
Olympics heavyweight championships =97 but wound up
leaving him a shell of his former self.
[Image] Another former heavyweight champ,
[Image] Atlanta resident Evander Holyfield, brought
the torch into the stadium, then made a lap
[Image] around the track with Greek hurdler Voula
[Opening Patoulidou before handing it off to Evans.
Ceremonies Evans carried the torch to the base
montage of the cauldron and waited for Ali. Dressed
[Muhammad Ali in a white shirt and pants, he slowly walked
lights the up a ramp from the back of the stadium to
Olympic flame take his place as =93The Greatest=94 once again.
He took control of the torch and
[Scenes from looked out over the awestruck crowd of
Opening 83,000. After acknowledging the cheers for a
Ceremonies few seconds and steadying his left hand by
second number grasping the torch, Ali gingerly leaned over
to light a large wick that was lifted by a
[Image] wire to the cauldron above.
[Image] Afterward, President Clinton and Ali
[Image] had a brief moment together. They hugged and
[Official theme clasped hands.
of the 1996 =93He was great, wasn=92t he?=94 Clinton
Atlanta said.
Olympics What a moment it was for the man
known as =93The Louisville Lip=94 when he won the
[Image] light-heavyweight gold medal 36 years ago.
[Image] Ali was only 18 when he won a
unanimous decision over Zbigniew
[Image] Pietrzykowski of Poland, a three-time
[Image] European champion and the veteran of 231
[Muhammad Ali fights.
Page But boxing was only part of Ali=92s
appeal. He loved the Roman crowds and
[Guide to the bantered with them incessantly. He spouted
1996 Olympic poetry and always had a quote for reporters,
Games or anyone else. In the first Olympics on
[Olympic videotape, he was a hit on delayed highlights
oddities, back home.
trivia, and But when he returned, the
more. gold-medalist found a different world, filled
with racial hatred. In his autobiography,
[Quick Guide to =93The Greatest,=94 Ali wrote that he threw his
the Olympics in Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River after
Atlanta a fight with a white motorcycle gang, which
[Olympics Event started when he and a friend were refused
Locations Page service at a Louisville restaurant.
=93The medal was gone,=94 he said, =93but=
I
[1996 Olympics: felt calmly relaxed, confident. My holiday as
NBC a White Hope was over. I felt new, secret
[Encyclopedia strength.=94
Britannica
Olympics =A9 1996 Associated Press. All rights
Database reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
=A9 1996 MSNBC
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