BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 15 : This Task Is Easier on Hands : De La Hoya: Gold-medal lightweight obliges autograph seekers after victory.

“Hey! Little brother!” Larry Donald yelled.

Huffing and puffing, he caught up to Oscar De La Hoya on an overhead bridge crossing a street here.

“Got to see that thing!”

The heavyweight practically yanked the gold medal from the lightweight’s neck.

“Mmmm, mmmm,” Donald said. “Ain’t she pretty?”

“You like it?” De La Hoya asked.

“Oh, man. My eyes like to pop out of my head when they put that thing on you,” Donald said.

De La Hoya laughed and said: “Yeah. Me, too.”

They continued along the overpass, the 205-pounder’s arm around the 132-pounder’s shoulders.

“That’s so nice. You winning it for your mom and all,” Donald said.

De La Hoya turned and high-browed his head against Donald’s straw hat.

“Thank you, man.” he said. “This is hers.”

They reached the end of the bridge and began descending the stairs. The smaller man had a medallion flapping against his chest, a carton of keepsakes tucked under his tired left arm and a nosegay in his swollen and tender right hand.

“So, what you going to do now?” Donald asked.

America’s only gold-medal boxer gave it some thought.

And at the bottom of the staircase, De La Hoya said: “I don’t know. Go to the White House?”

They laughed and parted.

The Olympic Games were over for Oscar De La Hoya, the lightning-fisted Angeleno, who did more Sunday than make his country proud.

He made two countries proud.

In the ring, after his moment of triumph and revenge over Marco Rudolph of Germany--the only man to defeat him in five years--De La Hoya proudly waved not one but two flags, including Mexico’s in a final tribute to his late mother.

By then his hands were so sore, they hardly worked.

The right one was nearly useless for most of the fight. But the left one still had enough pop in it.

Afterward, when the autograph seekers flocked around, De La Hoya gladly obliged, apologizing for how long it took him to sign. He gripped a Magic Marker gingerly with his left hand.

“This is harder than the fight,” he joked.

He spoke of expectations and how much pressure there had been on him to win. He spoke of family obligations and how both a blessing and a burden that could be. He spoke of America’s disappointments in the boxing and how difficult it had been not to become one of them.

The only thing he didn’t really answer was Donald’s question, so someone gave it another try.

“What are you going to do now?” De La Hoya was asked.

This time, it only took a second.

“Get a hamburger,” he said.