OSU gold medalist recalls first Olympic opening ceremony

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - Olympic gold and silver medalist Harry "Butch" Reynolds raced into international stardom in 1988. He set the World Record about a month before the Olympic Games by running a 43.29 in the 400-meter race in Zurich, Switzerland.

He went on to win the silver medal in the 400 meters at the Seoul, Korea Olympic Games in 1988, suffering a narrow defeat to fellow American Steve Lewis. Reynolds now lives in central Ohio and looks back on that year fondly, especially the World Record sprint in Zurich.

"I didn't approach the race as I want to break the world record; I approached the race more as I got to do my best and I want to win,” Reynolds said. “And when a gun went off, you know, the guy ahead of us time you call him a rabbit. But he was trying to win that race. I was just watching him. I thought, my God, he's not going to come back. So I started my kick a lot earlier than I ever did before. And that Zurich, Switzerland crowd was amazing. It was like 50,000, and they were screaming, yelling. And it was just amazing. The atmosphere, the environment was very incredible for a world record.”

Reynolds’ first Olympic Trial was in 1984 in Los Angeles. He didn't make the finals in that trial, but that was when he knew he had what it would take to get to the Olympics.

"Just to focus, to commit to be the best,” he said. “That's all it was when I figured out what being the best is about -- the dedication, the commitment, the sacrifice to that. Know, I was able to handle my business and win some races.”

The journey to the Olympic Games is a grueling one.

"That's a part of the being the best,” Reynolds said. “You've got to travel. You got to go in a different environment. And it's like being away of being home. You're going to play the same intensity as an elite athlete.”

Reynolds trained for years to earn a spot on the team. Then, training schedules and workouts are interrupted by travel. But it also offered an opportunity to unite as a team, Team USA.

"We spent about two weeks in Japan, the Olympic team, and then we bonded as a team,” he said. “We really bonded as a team at that time. We got some of the best athletes in the 1988 team Joe, Evan Moses, Carl Lewis, but you know, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Gwen, the list goes on, the names that we had. So, when we bonded and then Japan, when we got to the Olympics in South Korea, we were ready to go. We thought the opening ceremonies we were ready for the opening ceremony. We came out too loud. We came out too excited. We were always young. And I think that was that was a very fun opening ceremony. I can remember correctly, we had a ball, we enjoyed it. That's why I remember walking in like, Yeah, we are here. We were ready to compete.”

Walking into that very first Opening Ceremony was an emotional experience for Reynolds.

"When you represent USA across a chest were for everybody you want to for your country,” he said. “I'm running against Germany, I'm running against Russia, running against those countries and representing my country. That's to me, I was the first name. How will I represent it being the world record holder? To me, it gave me even more responsibility in that arena and I was able to embrace that responsibility.”

Thankfully, it was an experience he earned twice in his career. He marched with Team USA in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, an Olympic Games that didn't go his way on the track, but he still remembers the incredible moment witnessing history at the Opening Ceremony.

"The opening ceremony was awesome for me,” Reynolds said. “That opening ceremony was I didn't expect it was a surprise to me when I watched the opening ceremony to see Muhammad Ali like the torch. That was the moment that was my Olympics. I didn't know it, but that was my Olympics because we had some of the same like going to the Supreme Court, and for me to get to that point after all of that and I went through that was it.”

He's referring to the 1990 false-positive test for banned substances. He was suspended wrongfully from competition and didn't know if he would ever get the opportunity to run in the Olympics again. NBC4's Kerry Charles sat down with Reynolds before a new documentary was released by ESPN that chronicles his journey from world record holder to wrongfully suspended runner.

For the 2024 Team USA, Reynolds has high hopes and can't wait to see his race, the 400 M.

"Enjoy the moment. To enjoy the moment. That's a gold medal within itself. Everybody who walks through there with all those flags, you know, representing your country, one is calling out every one of Japanese won a gold medal. That's how I look at it,” he said.

The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France begins this week on NBC4. The Opening Ceremony will be aired LIVE beginning at 1 p.m. and a recorded version at 7:30 p.m. in Prime Time.