'Ground Zero' flag to fly at Games opening

The "tattered and torn" U.S. flag that flew over New York's World Trade Center will be raised at the opening ceremony at the 2002 Winter Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee said on Tuesday.

But it will not be carried into the Olympic stadium behind the U.S. athletes and officials as team delegates had hoped.

"This is the one that's been to Afghanistan... This is the one that is tattered and torn and has been a symbol of a lot of things since that time," USOC spokesman Mike Moran said in a telephone interview. "It's the Ground Zero flag."

Moran said the U.S. team had been considering how to honour the memory of victims of the September 11 attacks and had originally suggested having six Olympic athletes carry the flag into Rice-Eccles Stadium after the U.S. delegation had entered during Friday's official opening.

As hosts, the United States will be the last team to enter, so the flag would have been the final entry into the ceremony.

However, Moran said the International Olympic Committee's co-ordinating commission had rejected the idea, maintaining that it could set a precedent.

"If we were to do this here, there would be nations at every Olympics that would want to do something special about their country," Moran said.

'SACRED FLAG'

IOC director general Francois Carrard said he was unaware of a formal request for U.S. athletes to carry the flag but added that the IOC had always intended to show "a big tribute to the American people, including at the opening ceremony".

He told a briefing: "It's a misunderstanding that the IOC objected to the presence of a very sacred flag, the Ground Zero flag.

"Our president agreed to the hoisting of the U.S. Ground Zero flag as the official U.S. flag in the stadium."

The IOC said in a statement that the raising of the Ground Zero flag at the opening ceremony would follow modern Olympic protocol for the procession of athletes.

"The Olympic movement around the world has expressed its sympathy for the victims of September 11 in many ways since that tragic day," said senior U.S. IOC member Anita DeFrantz in the statement. "Showing the flag this respect is just one more way."

The flag's delicate condition meant it was unlikely to fly throughout the Games, Moran said.

"It can be raised, gently," he added.

When he first heard reports that the U.S. team's proposal to carry the flag into the stadium had been rejected, Moran said he had been "pretty deflated".

But after understanding the IOC's alternative, he said: "This is going to be riveting. I think we're very pleased that it'll be displayed in this manner and I think America will feel the same way, and I think our athletes will too."

Moran said the USOC would take possession of the flag on Wednesday.