Why does muhammad ali touch the olympic flag

To have this unique torch at the IOC is something very special. I would like to thank Ecclestone from the bottom of my heart," Bach added. This donation comes just a few days after the th IOC Session, during which IOC president Bach recalled the attachment of "The Greatest" to the idea of solidarity by quoting the Olympic champion, who had the Olympic flag as one of just two flags flying at his funeral: "I have learned that whatever time we spend on earth should be spent helping others and creating justice and equality for all people, not out of pity or shame, but out of love for all people with the knowledge that we belong not to many races but to one race - the human race.

Facebook Twitter Linkedin EMail. Standing in a pool of water with a fountain in the backdrop, Freeman placed the torch in the pool as a circular platform carrying a ring of fire emerged from it. Carrying the torch on top and showering water underneath it, the platform then climbed to the top of the stadium toward the cauldron.

Chinese gymnast Li Ning was probably used to high-wire acts in his sport, but this took it to a historic level. The person chosen to light the cauldron at the Beijing Summer Games, Ning was hoisted to the top of the stadium via wires and pretended to walk on air as he circled the top of the stadium with the torch. As he went around the stadium, video highlights of the torch relay in China showed up behind him.

Ning eventually stopped and lit a metal rope that carried the torch to the cauldron. The actual cauldron lighting at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway was as basic as can be, with Norway Crown Prince Haakon Magnus stretching the torch above the cauldron, but it was the way it got there moments earlier that wowed the world.

Ski jumping is a passion in Norway, and they decided to deliver the torch near the cauldron through that method. Until the cauldron was lit, when much of the stadium and the 3 billion viewing at home began openly weeping, knowing we had just witnessed human majesty.

With many of his motor skills already gone at 54, he somehow moved us again. Twenty years ago, he brought hope, love and a soulful defiance against that awful disease to Atlanta, stunning spectators and athletes at three different venues after his indelible moment at the opening ceremonies.

Cassius Clay Jr. Furious over the racism he still faced at home, he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River. His inner circle questioned the validity of the story and Ali eventually admitted he lost the medal, probably during a move. Either way, Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee at the time, presented Ali with a duplicate gold medal at halftime of the gold medal basketball game between Team USA and Yugoslavia.

The crowd in the Georgia Dome, which had no advance warning of the presentation, began to stand and cheer. Muhammad Ali kisses the gold medal which replaces the gold medal he lost.

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