THE OLYMPICS / WINTER GAMES AT ALBERTVILLE : DATELINE: Albertville

Well, that’s it, folks. With the exception of today’s gold-medal hockey game and the closing ceremony later, the XVI Olympic Winter Games are history.

They were good Games, well run and competitive, and set off magnificently by the towering French Alps. There were times, no doubt, when spectators here caught themselves looking past the competition at the scenery, humbling in its majesty, compelling in its beauty.

The Games, though, are what brought everyone together here, and that, in this day and age of convenience sports watching, is truly remarkable. For more than two weeks, thousands of people roamed snowy mountainsides, watching some skiers slide downhill very fast and some others pole wearily up. They stood outside for hours at the ski jumping site, necks craned, and sat even longer in cold and rain to watch speedskating races. Hockey and figure skating drew large and enthusiastic crowds, but if they were larger, they were no more enthusiastic than those crowds that made biathlon their sport of the day.

And joining the spectators here, no matter what the sport, were millions more watching on TV.

Hundreds of sportswriters spent days and nights in an immense room in La Lechere, chronicling the feats of young--and not so young--athletes, writing the stories of triumph and defeat, joy and sadness, glory and shame, whatever it was that these games produced. Hundreds more did the same from satellite press centers at the various venues, and hundreds of photographers sent thousands of photos.

And people engaged in what once were simple recreational pastimes commanded all this attention. The three S’s--skiing, skating and sledding--appear to have made it big, even if it is only once every four years--two years this next time around.

For all of that, these Games never did succeed in establishing an identity, at least from an American viewpoint, unless it was that the hockey team doesn’t know anything about graciousness in defeat. The united Germans and the Unified Team of what used to be the Soviet Union dominated here, just as the East Germans and Soviet Union usually did, although the Norwegians and Austrians got in their licks.

Still, Bonnie Blair, Donna Weinbrecht, Kristi Yamaguchi and Cathy Turner mined a little gold for the United States, and there were some nice surprises--silver medals for skiers Diann Roffe and Hilary Lindh. And the hockey team, when it wasn’t whining about the officiating, did perform admirably, even if it did fall short.

But never mind all that. The efforts were good, and that’s what competition is all about.

So now we say au revoir to the Winter Games, au revoir to the Savoy, au revoir to hockey goalie Ray LeBlanc of the U.S., au revoir to skier Alberto Tomba of Italy, au revoir to figure skater Attila Toth of Hungary. . . . Wait a minute. Attila? Hungary? Au revoir, Attila the Hun.