BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 9 : SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : HAMMER & SICKLE WILL BE MISSED

An oft-repeated question here has been posed to athletes from the former Soviet Union: Are you sad to see your former country break up?

Often, the answer is yes.

Valentina Yegorova, a Russian who won the women’s marathon Saturday, grew wistful when asked the question.

“Of course, I regret it,” she said. “When we leave here, all the athletes will be going their separate ways, to their new countries. The bad thing is that the athletes won’t be able to meet each other at home anymore. I will miss them.”

* This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.