Our first event -- the team fencing Bonze and Gold medal matches -- is a good example. It's what you would call a minor event. There was no chance it would show up on TV, it didn't feature highly paid athletes, and winning gold didn't mean a fat Nike contract. But watching those athletes march onto the stage and fight their hearts out, you realize that some of that original Olympic spirit is still alive.

Near the end of the match, France was down to China 37-39, with a score of 45 needed to win. The French athlete took a nasty shot to the head, which opened up a large gash above his ear. He dropped to the mat, bleeding profusely. His coaches and the medical staff rushed to help. They patched up his head and slowed the bleeding, but he still had 2 minutes left in his round before his teammate could take over. The French athlete stood up, put on his mask, and fenced his last 2 minutes. But what's most spectacular is that his Chinese opponent, knowing the French guy was hurt, decided not to attack. He could have closed out the match and won gold while France was at less than full strength, but he simply sat back and waited for the 2 minutes to expire, allowing a fresh French athlete to take over. It was a wonderful show up sportsmanship, even more so when France went on to win the gold medal, and China graciously congratulated them. This sentiment, that to win one should expend all effort winning the right way, was something we saw again and again, especially in these "lesser" sports.

Another great aspect of the Games is being part of the diverse audience. All around people, people are proudly displaying their national flags with banners, face paint, t-shirts, hats. They're chanting songs, cheering the athletes, playfully toying with their opponent's fans. It seems the smaller the country, the louder fans. At a wrestling match, three guys from Belarus who were stuck way up high near the back of the stands cheering so loudly that the rest of the crowd just had to join in. The Dutch, despite their small country, probably have the loudest fans (other than Australia, who wins by sheer numbers). The Dutch are always decked our in bright orange, all blonde and smiling. It seems to be a national passion. In fact, their National Beer -- Heinekin -- even erected a "Heinekin Holland House" complete with beer, food from home, live Dutch video feeds, and free e-mail home. The Heinekin House was such a hit that it became the hottest ticket in town; by the end of the game, only athletes (of any nation) and holders of Dutch passports were allowed in. It was definitely the place to be.

One advantage of being in the minority, of being one of only a few Americans in the crowd, is that the athletes really notice you when you cheer for them. In the smaller venues especially, you're close enough that they athletes make eye contact, give you a smile or say thanks. That doesn't happen when you're one of 65,000 fans all cheering for the same team. Even in the largest stadium of them all, Olympic Stadium, Michael Johnson gave Sarah and I a wave after he won the 200 that ended right in front of us, and we were the only American flag in the area.

The Australians are great at showing support for all athletes, big or small, winner or last place. At Taekwondo, a young man from the Ivory Coast was all alone. There weren't any Ivory Coast fans in the audience (or in all of Sydney, for all I know!). But he put up such a fight that -- even in defeat -- he won the crowd over and he got the largest cheers of night. Another great example was the discus final. It's not a glorious event. 300 lb guys hurl their disks without much fanfare, and their competition happens concurrent with the sexy track events so no one pays them much attention. But in the final round some guy from an eastern block country won and dropped to his knees in tears. After a short time he grabbed a flag and ran a loop around the stadium. Every fan -- all 112,000 of us -- stood up to give him a standing ovation as he came around. That's something you might see on TV, but to be there in person and feel the roar of the crowd acknowledging the atheletes' hard work is a very different experience.

In the US, the Olympics are all about gold medals. Silver and bronze winners barely get mentioned, and 4th place or below is seen as bitter failure. In a low voice, the announcer glumly tells you "And in other news, so-and-so failed to make the finals" and that's about it. Here, you get a real appreciation for the climb up, even into the top 10. For any event, you see 40 or 50 athletes, already the best in the world, competing through preliminary rounds, quarter finals, semifinals, all trying to get those 8 or 10 spots in the finals. You see how small the difference is between 1st place and 25th, and yet how much hard work went into both those placements. Some of the happiest athletes we've seen were those who just won bronze medals. You can tell the worked hard their entire lives towards this moment and were finally rewarded for that effort. It's amazing to see two competitors fight out a gold medal match with every ounce of their strength. At the end of the match one guy wins and one loses. But in most cases both a take victory lap, bursting with pride as they should be.

A final thing that surprised me about seeing the Olympics in person is all the pageantry that surrounds the events. The venues themselves are a majestic setting. Advertising is prohibited within the venues, so rather than billboards and neon beer ads, the walls and ceiling are draped with huge banners and Olympic flags. At the center of all the stands and TV cameras and focused under bright lights sit the competitors mat or field. Believe me, even a the ping-pong table looked awe-inspiring in this setting.

At the outdoor events there is usually a blimp hovering above. (These, too, aren't aloud to advertise, so at the Atlanta Olympics the blimps had their logos covered up, creating ominous looking black warships. It felt like a World War I battle was about to take place. Here they came up with a better solution -- the familiar blue and yellow "Goodyear" was replaced with "G'day" on one side and "Good Luck" on the other!)

We saw a dozen or so events, and I won't recount them all, but here are some hilights.

Mountain Biking - Fun to see, but not the best spectator sport. We stood a dusty hillside and every half hour a blur of color went by.

Track and Field - Great night. The Aussie crowd went absolutely crazy when Cathy Freeman (the woman who lit the torch at opening ceremonies) won the 400. Also saw the women's pole vault finals. One piece of advice. . . if luck should ever offer you the opportunity to date an Olympic athlete, skip the runners, skip the swimmers, skip the shot putters (definitely skip the shot putters), and go straight for the women's pole vaulters. Wow.

Synchronized Swimming - Yes they're talented, but it's way too similar to that classic Saturday Night Live skit with Martin Short and Harry Shearer. "Hey you, I know you, I know you."

Men's Cycling Road Race - Saw a lot of the Tour de France gang: Pantani, Armstrong, Ullrich, Hincapie. Ullrich took gold in a late breakaway. They had huge TV screens set up on the course, so we could follow the action even though they'd only race by about every 20 minutes.

Greco-Roman Wresting - A hilight of our time here. We saw American Rulon Gardner defeat Russian Alexadre Kareline in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history. We were sitting with Rulon's wife a small American crowd so we really felt like part of the home team. Kareline is such a scary wrester, that in one final a few years ago his opponent simply laid down an his back forfeiting the match rather than risk injury. Kareline hadn't lost in 14 years, and hadn't even given up a point in over 10 years!

Women's Soccer Gold Medal Game - Our favorite event in Atlanta was watching the US women win gold. It was an incredible night, sweating it out with 66,000 fans in Athens GA. Unfortunately, Sydney was a bit a of a disappointment, not just because they lost but because the stadium was only about 40% full. The game itself was spectacular, with the US scoring to tie late in injury time.

Rhythmic Gymnastics - For me, this was the surprise hit of the Olympics. It was absolutely spectacularly jaw-dropping. We saw the group competition in which teams of 5 gymnasts performed amazingly intricate dances with ribbons, hoops and pins. I used a lot of adjectives, but this sport deserves them and more.