RIO DE JANEIRO -- "We are not London. We are only what we are."
Those were the words one month ago of Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, and they were voiced without apology, without regret.
Which, magnificently, is how the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ended Sunday night.
Without apology. Without regret. With righteous pride.
There never will be a universal way to evaluate an Olympics, and I'll argue, now more than ever after my two weeks in Rio at the fifth Games I've covered, that there never should be. Every setting is different. Every security challenge is different. Every economic scenario is different. Even in pure athletics, every scope is different.
On the latter count, of course, the Brazilans got big-time lucky.
One after the other, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt bade fantastic farewells to the Olympics as arguably the greatest participants in history. The 1-2 order makes for fun debate, but it ultimately isn't nearly as important as the fact we all got to see them show us, one final time, what's made both who they are. And that includes away from competition. Phelps had been a bit immature in previous Games, but I was blown away by his poise and class throughout. In the huddle after his final gold, he told his fellow relay swimmers, "It's an honor to have been part of this team for my last race." On the deck, he held a sign that read, "THANK YOU RIO!" while others panned the place. And Bolt, naturally, was Bolt, ever the beloved braggart. He'd boast that he'd win the race, but then when he'd do precisely that, he'd follow up by racing further around the track to pose for pictures with fans, particularly children. As if each victory were not his last, but his first.
Those two alone would have carried these Olympics, but there was more.
There was Katie Ledecky lapping the pool by Phelps-ian distances. There was Simone Biles performing at a bar higher than any gymnast has known. There was Neymar burying the penalty in the only event that, to hear them tell it, really mattered to the Brazilians. There were superpowers achieving or exceeding the most ambitious goals with the U.S. men's and women's basketball, U.S. women's rowing and, in a shamefully personal favorite founded on heritage, Serbia reclaiming its rightful throne atop water polo.
Yeah, I went there, Croatia. I did.
From the perspective of the only place I've ever lived, the Pittsburgh region produced five Olympians, all women, and three of them flew home clutching gold: Ginny Thrasher in shooting, Leah Smith in swimming, Amanda Polk in rowing. Some folks say the Olympics aren't local. These were as local as it gets. By my count, that's four local championships covered in a single summer.
The athletics were brilliant across the board.
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Shots from the Rio Olympics. - DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS and GETTY[/caption]
The broader environment wasn't ideal, but it was never going to be. Not in a city of 4 million with one of the highest crime rates on the planet. Not with the highest echelon of government in turmoil. Not with the financial gap between rich and poor as large as it's ever been.
But the response was superb. As were the results: Two Olympic officials who ventured into one of Rio's infamous favelas -- or slums -- were assaulted. A media bus was hit by either a rock or a bullet driving past one of those, blowing out a couple windows. A bullet shot into the air near equestrian landed without incident inside a tent.
Am I missing anything?
In the fuller context of what Rio is when it isn't flooded by 85,000 extra military and security forces, that might have been the best possible outcome as far as safety.
Anyone remember Zika?
Oh, right. There were zero reported cases of the virus being contracted by anyone associated with the Olympics, and that shouldn't have surprised anyone, given that it's winter in South America and the mosquitoes aren't out. But then, everyone knew that, including the bug-spray companies that drummed up fears to sell more cans.
How about the venues?
There had been such a panic over the readiness of venues, to the point some were publicly calling for the Games to be postponed. But that's how these things go at any Olympics other than Beijing, where the Chinese get stuff built two years in advance, then fold their arms. Everything was up and ready in Rio. And though these places lacked the color of London or the opulence of Sochi, they were plenty good enough. The biggest blemish was a chemical discoloration that turned the water green in the diving pool, but that was drained, replaced and diving went off without a hitch.
My goodness, the ugliest event of the entire Games would prove to be one numbskull swimmer embarrassing himself, the U.S. Olympic Committee and, to an extent, all of us as Americans.
I could go deeper, comparing strengths and shortcomings to previous Olympics covered, but that just doesn't seem right this time.
Maybe the longstanding critics are right. Maybe this place shouldn't have had an Olympics at this time. Maybe the outrage should never have abated over 22,000 people being booted from their homes to clear space for the Olympic Park, even if 30,000 were similarly booted in Atlanta leading up to 1996. Maybe all Games should be held only in the handful of cities that can comfortably afford them, as we're now about to witness with the next three all coming in the Far East: PyeongChang, Tokyo and Beijing Part II.
But Rio didn't pretend to be London or Sochi. It stayed humble, even portraying its darker points of history in a stirring Opening Ceremony. It spent less than half as much as the British. It was blunt and candid about it problems, unlike the Russians.
And in the end, the Brazilians got the job done. In a way only they could have pulled off.
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