SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 16 : IN CLOSING, A FINE CEREMONY

After 16 days under the glow of the Olympic flame and the glare of the world’s sports fans, Barcelona bid adios to the Summer Games with a spectacle unseen since . . . the opening ceremony.

The closing ceremony featured King Juan Carlos, mimes, Carthusian horses, magicians, music, Placido Domingo, the Olympic anthem, a volcano, some devils, a huge dragon, Cobi, Andrew Lloyd Webber, fireworks and a rumba to wrap it all up.

The highlight of the night wasn’t the pyrotechnics or pomp, but Barcelona Mayor Pasqual Maragall’s heartfelt call for a Games that don’t sell out.

“We ask . . . that sport will not be the victim of the arrogance of culture, nor culture the victim of arrogance of money, nor cities the victims of arrogance of commercialism,” Maragall said.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch congratulated his hosts for a magnificent Games.

“These have been, without doubt, the best Games in Olympic history,” Samaranch told an obviously receptive audience of 65,000 in the Olympic Stadium. “Once again, we have demonstrated the strength given by our union.”

The enthusiastic live crowd paled in comparison to the international television audience: an estimated 3.2 billion. There were 1,400 reporters, 540 photographers and 159 television and radio stations on hand along with the king and queen of Sweden, the grand duke and duchess of Luxembourg, the president of Lithuania, or the prime ministers of Latvia and Bulgaria.

President Bush sent “a special envoy”: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Games may be going, but their legacy will live on for years in this Mediterranean city that missed out on hosting the Olympics four times previously. In 1924, 1936, 1940 and 1972, Barcelona’s bid for the Games was passed over.

The city’s gorgeous renovated waterfront--at a cost of $1.8 billion--will be a constant reminder. The $8 billion spent on sprucing up the rest of the city will bring back warm memories.

And then there are those medals--13 gold, 22 overall--more than even the most ardent Spaniard could have hoped for.

“We have aimed to transmit a powerful message of peace and respect for humanism and civility all over the world,” Maragall told the crowd before the torch was extinguished.

“Barcelona has accomplished its goals, and the patrimony of the Games will remain for all mankind.”

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