Flying the coop on the last night of track and field

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

BEIJING -- This has been the Olympics of order and regimentation, with brilliant organization but such a concern for doing things just so, for making sure security was airtight, that the Chinese success as 2008 Olympic host has sometimes made the Games seem soulless.

So I was a little hesitant about even trying to relive a moment that always had provided me with a wonderful last memory.

Since the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, a few U.S. reporters have taken what now is a traditional lap around the Olympic Stadium track late on the night the track and field competition ends.

When I sized up the situation for taking the lap Saturday night at the Bird’s Nest, I saw Chinese police approaching a few people who were posing at the finish line. But the police let the photo session continue, so my colleague Tim Layden (in photo, center) of Sports Illustrated and I (at left) walked out of the stands onto the track and began walking around.

No one stopped us, so Tim went back to get another colleague, Jere Longman (right) of the New York Times, who had joined us for the lap in previous Olympics.

Tim and Jere had jogged one lap around the track, with volunteers jogging bemusedly alongside, before I joined them for a second lap. By the time we finished, the police were taking pictures for others who were doing the same thing.

From the track, the Bird’s Nest was even more stunning and imposing than it seemed from our seats only a few rows up in the stands. I wondered if any of the runners who had toured the track considerably faster had found the time to be as overwhelmed and appreciative of the grandiose beauty as I was.

It had been a long, hot trudge at times during nine days of work at the Bird’s Nest.

In the 400 meters on the night before the closing ceremony, all that faded away, replaced by the exhilaration of being on the track where Usain Bolt had run faster than any man before him.

It was even better because the Chinese volunteers, police and Games workers had let us do it, smiling at what clearly seemed a little goofy to them, leaving us to drip with sweat and feel warmer about the 2008 Olympics.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune, left, Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated and Jere Longman of the New York Times take a victory lap at the Bird’s Nest.