Ciao, Turin!

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This is always one of the more melancholy days for me: the Closing Ceremonies.

Naïve as I still may, I still believe in the goodness of people. There might be doping in sport. There might be rivalries. There might be glares, curses and riffs.

But tonight is one of the nights that I lose sight of all that is negative and I focus on all that is good. I love the Olympics and I love what they stand for.

I get sad when they extinguish the torch, the ultimate symbol of yearning, desire and hope. I love that each Organizing Committee try to create the most creative, most stunning, most meaningful and most memorable way to light the torch. And with its extinguishing, we realize that even the most powerful things sometimes will come to an end.

I love that they played Madonna’s Hung Up on the Stadio Olimpico floor for the athletes to dance to.

I still love Bode, but Joey Check has to get my praise. He donated his Olympic bonus to the charity, Right to Play, which uses sports and games as a tool for helping children in the most needy corners of the world. His donation is earmarked for children of the Darfur region in Sudan.



"For me, the Olympics has been the greatest blessing. If I retired yesterday, I'd have gotten everything in the world from speedskating and from competing in the Olympics. So for me, to walk away today with the gold medal is just amazing. And the best way I can say thanks that I can think of is to try and help somebody else."

Joey, have you thought about applying to Penn?

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