Citius, Altius, Fortius, Horrendius

Published on February 24, 2010

The recurring piece in the pre-race part is “Team” by Bon Iver. The part where the Olympic organizers go to the World’s Fair is the Main Title to the movie version of Meet Me In St. Louis (which is about the 1904 World’s Fair). There’s “Divino Maravillhoso” by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil in there, briefly. We also hear a song called “Anma Arkadas” by a Turkish psychedlic rock guy named Erkin Koray. Then we’ve got two from Moondog: “Theme” and “Symphonique #6”.

I’ve read a lot about the ’04 Olympics (in order to write this article for Slate). I’ll recommend two things: a book about the anthropological exhibits called Anthropology Goes to the Fair. But most fun is a first hand account by one of Hick’s coaches that’s available in all of its absurdity here .