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CNN Live Saturday

Many Olympic Memories Have Little to do With Sports

Aired February 16, 2002 - 14:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Scenes now from the sidelines of the winter Olympics. And apparently not all the hot-dogging is done on the Park City slopes. Workers at a Milwaukee sausage company kicked production into high gear to cure a wiener shortage at the Salt Lake City games. They were working to put out -- I'm sorry, that's too funny. Let's move on to the next story.

Not all of the Olympic moments are caught on camera for TV audiences. There are memories that spectators take home with them after the game. And here's CNN's Jason Bellini.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The best Olympic moments for people who come to the Olympics for the most part have nothing to do with the games themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've just been excited to be here with the grandkids. We stood in line for an hour and a half to do this (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BELLINI: This is Olympic Square. Thousands gather here each day. It's like a carnival, an excellent place to go hunting for people's moments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think probably her most wonderful opening ceremony moment was -- or the Olympic moment was when she found the hand warmers. She was freezing so much.

BELLINI (on camera): That's right, because you're both from Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. We never knew about hand warmers.

MATT ANDERSON: Just driving here from New York, seeing a pickup truck on the side of the road all bashed in, and about 10 miles up a guy kicking a dead moose. And that was my best moment so far.

BELLINI: I just had an Olympic moment of my own a minute ago. I captured what is perhaps the best soundbite of my career.

DEBBIE REAM: My Olympic moment is when you go through the metal detectors. Of course, with these coats and these hats, we set them off all the time. And the National Guard guys are very thorough. And since it's close to Valentine's Day, I just thought it was really nice that he took his time trying to find all the pins that are all over our jacket and coat.

BELLINI: What are you trying to say?

REAM: I got frisked.

BELLINI: And you liked it?

REAM: Well, you know, he was cute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nick (ph) here ran up and he met the Hungary curling team. The girls got their e-mail address and their phone number.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that dancer doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "You know, you know, the munchy team." And I go, "Munchies, there is no munchy team." And he goes -- and I go, "Hungary?" And he goes, "Yeah, not the munchies."

BELLINI (voice-over): And then some moments transform themselves into fantasies.

(on camera): What are people going to think when the woman from Jesus Ministries is talking about how she enjoyed being frisked by the security guards?

REAM: Hey, we're humans just like anybody else is.

BELLINI: You got girls' phone numbers?

(voice-over): It is human to have a moment and not want to let it go.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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