Olympics-Snowboarding-Powers leads U.S. halfpipe sweep
By Deborah Charles
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Ross Powers led the first American sweep of
the medals at a Winter Olympics since 1956 with a towering performance in the
men's snowboarding halfpipe on Monday.
The 1998 Olympic bronze medallist, who turned 23 on Sunday, was true to his
promise to "go big" in the final, soaring repeatedly at least 15 feet above the
lip of the course to win the event easily.
Fourth to start in the two-run final round, Powers did enough to bag the gold on
his first attempt, claiming 46.1 points out of 50 for his high-flying twists and
flips.
When Finnish favourite Heikki Sorsa failed to overtake Powers or his compatriots
Danny Kass and Jarret "J.J." Thomas for the top three spots, the three Americans
leapt up to congratulate each other.
"Having a sweep is huge especially after everything that happened on September
11 -- it's huge for sure," said Powers, who made his runs to music from the
Beastie Boys and Metallica.
Kass, at 19 the "bad boy" of American snowboarding, also got his best score of
42.5 on his first attempt.
Thomas was ninth before his second run -- to the strains of Madonna's "Material
Girl" -- earned him 42.1 points and kept Italian Giacomo Kratter off the medal
podium.
"We didn't want to talk about a possible sweep because we didn't want to jinx
ourselves," said Kass who rode down the halfpipe with AC/DC blasting in his
headphones.
Powers said the men's team was revved up after watching Kelly Clark win the
first gold medal for the United States on Sunday in the women's halfpipe.
"It kind of psyched us up," Powers said, although he admitted he had not
expected a sweep. "I think we were all really focused on the podium -- it's just
amazing we all rode as well as we did."
Powers, one of the highest flyers in the men's Olympic competition, had said
after the qualifying run that he planned to work to get even more air in the
finals.
He said the first air moves he made on his winning run were among the highest
he's ever done. Powers received a near-perfect score of 9.8 out of 10 points
from the judge who measures rotations for his manoeuvres.
Sorsa, a crowd favourite who sports a spiked Mohawk hairstyle, pushed himself to
the limits and got strong marks for "amplitude," or height, but failed to match
his No. 1 performance in qualifying and ended up in seventh place.
Five judges score the riders on different criteria and the marks are added
together for the final score.
The superpipe at Park City Mountain Resort is one of the longest on the
international circuit and its near 4.9-metre-high walls help the riders soar
high above the edge and do more difficult aerial acrobatic tricks.
"The superpipe has changed the riding, like people going for more amplitude and
people going for it a little more," Powers said.
19:44 02-11-02
Panther Kozlov Will Miss Olympics
.c The Associated Press
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Panthers center Viktor Kozlov will miss at least
two games with an abdominal strain.
Kozlov, a Russian Olympian, will also miss the Salt Lake City Games.
The Panthers play Tuesday at Nashville and Wednesday at Chicago before the
Olympic break.
Kozlov strained the muscle in a 4-1 loss to Boston on Saturday.
In 50 games this season, Kozlov has nine goals and 18 assists.
AP-NY-02-11-02 1913EST
Olympics-Ski jumping-Hannawald forced to miss training
By Adrian Warner
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - German Sven Hannawald, stunned by Swiss
youngster Simon Ammann in Sunday's dramatic Olympic normal hill ski jumping
competition, decided to skip Monday's official training for the large hill
because of injury.
Hannawald, who was expected to pick up the gold medal after making history last
month by winning all four of the prestigious Four Hills competition, has a knee
ailment.
But the German, who took the silver in the normal hill, said he expected to be
fit for the large hill event which opens with qualifying on Tuesday before the
final two rounds on Wednesday. He did not to make the injury any worse by
training.
"I want to jump but it is a bit annoying when you are not 100 percent at the
Olympics Games, " he said.
Hannawald does not have to qualify for Wednesday's first round since he is one
of the top ranked jumpers who automatically advance.
The 27-year-old German is still the favourite for the large hill competition
along with Pole Adam Malysz, who took the bronze in the normal hill. Everybody
is also watching out for 20-year-old Ammann who showed amazing composure to win
Sunday's event.
But Hannawald, who relaxed with a beer after Sunday's event at the German team's
hospitality house, said: "I am not thinking about people saying that I am going
to win the large hill."
Hannawald's compatriot Martin Schmitt, another serious contender, also missed
Monday morning's two training sessions to rest and have a massage but he should
also be ready for the competition.
Ammann did take part in the first session. He recorded the second longest jump
of 123.5 metres behind Malysz (130.0) in the first round before producing the
longest jump of the second round of 127.5 when the Pole could only manage 122.0.
Both both jumpers decided to skip the second session later in the morning.
19:08 02-11-02
Olympics-Snowboarding-Powers leads U.S. halfpipe sweep
By Deborah Charles
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Ross Powers led the first American sweep of
the medals at a Winter Olympics since 1956 with a soaring performance in the
men's snowboarding halfpipe on Monday.
The 1998 Olympic bronze medallist, who turned 23 on Sunday, was true to his
promise to "go big" in the final, soaring repeatedly 15 feet above the lip of
the course to win clearly.
Fourth to start in the two-run final round, Powers did enough to bag the gold on
his first attempt, claiming 46.1 points out of 50 for his high-flying twists and
flips.
When Finnish favourite Heikki Sorsa failed to overtake Powers or his compatriots
Danny Kass and Jarret "J.J." Thomas for the top three spots, the three Americans
leapt up to congratulate each other.
"Having a sweep is huge especially after everything that happened on September
11 -- it's huge for sure," said Powers.
Kass, at 19 the "bad boy" of American snowboarding, also got his best score of
42.5 on his first attempt.
Thomas was ninth before his second run -- to the strains of Madonna's "Material
Girl" -- earned him 42.1 points and kept Italian Giacomo Kratter out of the
medals.
"We didn't want to talk about a possible sweep because we didn't want to jinx
ourselves," said Kass who rode down the half pipe with AC/DC blasting in his
headphones.
Powers, one of the highest flyers in the men's Olympic competition, had said
after the qualifying run that he planned to work to get even more air and do
better turns in the finals.
He received a near-perfect score of 9.8 out of 10 points from the judge who
measures rotations for his manoeuvres.
Sorsa, a crowd favourite who was set apart with his spiked Mohawk hairstyle,
pushed himself to the limits and got strong marks for amplitude but failed to
match his number one performance in qualifying and ended up in seventh place.
Five judges score the riders on different criteria and the marks are added
together for the final score.
The superpipe at Park City Mountain Resort is one of the longest on the
international circuit and its near 4.9 metre-high walls help the riders soar
high above the edge and do more difficult aerial acrobatic tricks.
"The superpipe has changed the riding, like people going for more amplitude and
people going for it a little more," Powers said.
18:34 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Sport a family affair for medal winners
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Biathlon is very much a family affair
for women's 15 km medallists Liv Grete Poiree and Magdalena Forsberg.
Norway's Poiree, who took the silver behind Andrea Henkel of Germany on Monday,
is married to French former world champion biathlete Raphael Poiree.
Bronze medal winner Forsberg has been married for nearly six years to Swedish
team mate Henrik Forsberg, who was 47th on Monday in the men's 20 km event.
Poiree was keen to point out that she and her husband do not talk about biathlon
over the dinner table every night.
"We are together almost all the time. We go training but when we finish we speak
about other things like normal people," the 34-year-old told reporters.
She had hoped that her silver medal would provide a boost for her husband in the
men's race later on Monday.
"He was very happy for me," she said. "I think it's a big motivation for him now
just before his race. He said 'we already have one medal so now I can relax."'
Unfortunately, despite a good start, he was unable to relax enough during his
shooting rounds and missed two shots to finish a disappointing 10th.
Poiree has another family tie within her sport. She won a bronze medal in the
relay at the 1998 Olympics in the same team as her sister Ann Elen Skjelbreid,
who was 22nd in Monday's race.
18:20 02-11-02
Olympics-Ice hockey-Women's preliminary round results/standings
PROVO, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Results of the Olympic ice hockey women's
preliminary round group A on Monday:
Canada 3 2 2 - 7
Kazakhstan 0 0 0 - 0
Scorers: Hayley Wickenheiser (2:33, 35:18), Cherie Piper
(8:45), Vicky Sunohara (11:09, 57:23), Tammy Lee Shewchuk
(23:49), Danielle Goyette (47:27)
Sweden 2 1 0 - 3
Russia 0 2 0 - 2
Scorers:
Sweden - Ann-Louise Edstrand (8:14), Lotta Almblad (15:15),
Kristina Bergstrand (24:11)
Russia - Ekaterina Pachkevitch (25:07), Larisa Mishina
(36:04)
P W L T F A Pts
1. Canada 1 1 0 0 7 0 2
2. Sweden 1 1 0 0 3 2 2
3. Russia 1 0 1 0 2 3 0
4. Kazakhstan 1 0 1 0 0 7 0
18:27 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Factfile on Ole Einar Bjoerndalen
PARK CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Factfile on Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, winner of the
men's 20 km biathlon at the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Age: 28 (born Jan 27 1974, Drammen)
Country: Norway
If he's not first, he's usually second. The 1998 World Cup winner, he has
finished runner-up in the competition every year since. He won the 10 km Olympic
biathlon sprint title in 1998 -- he didn't miss any of his 10 targets that day
-- but has never managed to win a world individual title, despite 10 medals.
Ditched soccer to take up biathlon and cross-country skiing aged 10, focusing on
biathlon alone from 16. Has decided to double up again at Salt Lake City.
Often trains with France's three time world champion Raphael Poiree, who
finished 10th on Monday. A great fan of Formula One and world champion Michael
Schumacher.
Past Olympics: 1998 - biathlon 10 km sprint gold, relay silver. Failed to shine
on his debut four years earlier.
Other successes: 10 world championship medals, the only gold coming in the
biathlon relay in 1998.
Reaction: "I can't explain how I feel. This is the kind of race I have been
practising for -- finally it paid off."
18:14 02-11-02
Olympics-Ice hockey-Brooks hopes history will repeat
By Alan Crosby
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Only twice has gold dangled around the necks
of American hockey players, both times when the Olympics were staged on home ice
- at the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley and in 1980 at Lake Placid.
Herb Brooks, the coach of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice," is hoping history repeats
itself.
"Obviously, we want a medal, gold preferably," said Brooks, at his fifth
Olympics as either a player or coach.
Winning gold would be as far as the parallels go though when the Olympic
tournament begins in earnest on February 15 when the NHL stops play and Canada,
the U.S., Finland, Sweden, Russia and reigning champions the Czech Republic join
for the second round.
In 1980 Brooks took a bunch of anonymous college students to produce one of the
defining moments in American sporting history, when they beat the mighty Soviet
Union and then Finland to capture the gold medal.
This time around, he has 23 NHL stars, millionaires all of them, many with Hall
of Fame credentials. This time, a win by the United States would be less an
upset than atonement for 1998 when the team failed to qualify for the medal
round and a self-inflicted black eye by trashing an Olympic village room.
"I had to do a lot of teaching in 1980, they were a bunch of college students.
That was an effort that was a lot of fun," he said Monday, smiling when reminded
that some players groused continuously over the brutal training schedule.
"This time...there won't be a lot I can say to these guys that they don't
already know."
When it comes to the Olympics, the 64-year-old Brooks can say a lot.
He was the last player cut from the 1960 team that went on to strike gold in
Squaw Valley. He kept at it and played in 1964 and 1968 before coaching the 1980
team that captured the spirit of a nation.
That stunning victory, which became known as "The Miracle on Ice," has been
immortalised in books and a movie and still ranks among the biggest sporting
upsets of all time.
He returned to the Olympics in 1998 where he coached France before signing on as
U.S. coach for the Salt Lake Games.
While improving on a sixth-place finish in Nagano is unlikely to require another
miracle, Brooks must ask his players to put aside egos and adopt the team spirit
of two decades ago.
"If we play smart, hard and do it with class, we'll be able to sleep at night,"
he says.
Offensively the Americans match up with any team in the Olympic tournament.
Detroit Red Wings right winger Brett Hull, Dallas Stars center Mike Modano --
both likely to make the Hall of Fame for their offensive exploits will see to
that.
But in a short tournament where the quarterfinals are played under a one-game
knockout system, goaltending will be the key.
There will be no shortage of top-flight goaltenders on Olympic ice. There is
Dominik Hasek, who led the Czechs to gold in Nagano, and Canada's Curtis Joseph,
one of the hottest goalies in the NHL.
Still, Brooks says he has confidence in his two main netminders -- New York
Ranger Mike Richter and Tom Barasso of the Carolina Hurricanes -- though a
decision on who will be No. 1 has yet to be made.
"Richter has always been a big time goalie and Barasso will probably be in the
Hall of Fame so I am not going to sell these guys short," he said.
17:57 02-11-02
Olympic coverage off to gold-medal start for NBC
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - NBC's Winter Olympics coverage got off to a gold-medal
start, with all-time record ratings for the opening ceremonies and hefty gains
over the 1998 Winter Games on CBS for the first weekend of events, figures
showed Monday.
The robust U.S. viewership was clearly helped in part from the heightened sense
of patriotism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, themes very much on display
during the opening pageantry of the Salt Lake City Games on Friday night.
The results were a welcome reversal of fortune for NBC some 16 months after the
network's tape-delayed coverage of the Summer Games from Sydney, Australia,
limped across the finish line at a 32-year low in Olympics TV ratings.
Friday night's telecast from Utah's capital drew a household rating of 25.5, the
biggest percentage of U.S. homes that has ever tuned an Olympic opening
ceremony, summer or winter, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc.
Each rating point represents 1,055,000 homes, or 1 percent of U.S. households
with TV sets.
The previous record for an Olympics opening ceremony dates back to the
three-network world of 1960, when the Winter Olympics made their television
debut in Squaw Valley, Calif., with a household rating of 24.2. The Los Angeles
Summer Games of 1984 previously ranked as No. 2.
In terms of actual viewers, 72 million people tuned into Friday's opening
extravaganza at some point during the telecast, surpassing the 1994 Games in
Lillehammer, Norway, as the most watched in Winter Olympics history. The average
audience for any given minute of the broadcast, considered a more accurate gauge
of viewership, was a more modest 46 million people.
INCREASED LIVE COVERAGE
Ratings on Saturday and Sunday were less stratospheric but still marked strong
increases over the first two days of competition during the 1998 Winter Games in
Nagano, Japan, which aired on CBS.
Saturday night's prime-time NBC telecast, which included women's mogul skiing
and the short program of pairs figure skating, averaged about 30 million
viewers, about 10 million more than CBS' first day of events from Nagano. On
Sunday night, which featured men's downhill skiing and the U.S. team's first
gold-medal -- in women's snowboarding -- NBC drew 30.2 million viewers, down
about 2 million from Nagano's third day.
But for Friday-through-Sunday combined, NBC averaged a household rating of 20.3,
up 23 percent from the CBS' three-day average in Nagano.
As predicted, NBC benefited from increased live coverage from Utah compared with
both the Summer Games from Sydney in October 2000 and the Nagano Winter Games in
1998, when the huge time difference between the Olympic venues and the United
States forced tape delay coverage of all events.
Executives at NBC, which reportedly has spent $545 million for its U.S.
broadcast rights to the quadrennial sports spectacular, have predicted this
year's Winter Olympics could be as much as 25 percent more profitable than the
Summer Games from Sydney.
The network said before the Games began that it had surpassed its target of $720
million in advertising sales for the 375 hours of Olympic programming planned
for NBC and sister cable networks MSNBC and CNBC.
Reuters/Variety
17:54 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Ole misses target but still hits gold
By Judith Crosson
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen put
sheer skiing power ahead of crack marksmanship to win the gold on Monday in the
men's 20 km biathlon.
The 28-year-old, who won the individual 10 km sprint four years ago at Nagano,
missed two of his 20 targets to earn a two-minute penalty yet still came home
more than half a minute ahead of the flawless Frank Luck of Germany in 51
minutes 03.3 seconds.
Only three of the top 20 finishers produced a worse performance than the winner
in the shooting sections but Bjoerndalen was happy with both aspects of his
performance.
"I only made two mistakes today, which is good for me. I'm really satisfied. I
have good skis and I'm in really good form," he told reporters.
Russia's Viktor Maigurov, who missed a single shot, lost out in the race for
silver by just over a second, finishing in 51:40.6.
Bjoerndalen managed to punch the air weakly with his right hand as he crossed
the line before collapsing to his knees, his face drenched with sweat.
Pre-race favourite Bjoerndalen's victory came just two days after he gambled
with his stamina by taking part in the 30 km freestyle cross-country, leaving
his .22 calibre rifle behind to finish a commendable sixth.
"I was glad they didn't have a race yesterday because I was feeling a bit
tired," he said smiling. "But today I feel great."
AWESOME POWER
Luck, despite not missing a target at the four prone and standing shooting
ranges and thus avoiding any time penalty, simply could not live with
Bjoerndalen's awesome skiing power.
The silver was Luck's second at 20 km, repeating his result at Lillehammer eight
years ago.
"I knew it would be very tight. I knew I had one or two seconds advantage (over
Maigurov) on the final stretch and I gave it my all," Luck said.
Maigurov missed his one target at the third prone position shooting stop and
dropped from second to ninth. But a five-out-of-five perfect performance in the
final round got him back into the medals.
The Russian, who turned 33 last week, had no complaints. "l'm very satisfied
with the bronze medal. This is as good as gold for me," he said.
Both Luck and Maigurov, like so many biathletes, are soldiers.
Ricco Gross of Germany came in fourth and reigning champion Halvard Hanevold,
Bjoerndalen's team mate, finished fifth, despite also not missing a single
target.
Bjoerndalen, a 10 times World Championship medallist, is now in line for more
medals. His favourite 10 km biathlon event is to come and he is also in line to
feature in the biathlon pursuit and relay.
But for now he may leave Olympic cross-country -- skiing without the shooting --
for another time after Saturday's experiment.
"I have three more biathlon races and it will be hard to get into the cross
country relay. I don't think so," he said.
19:35 02-11-02
Olympics-Luge-Hackl not worried about failing to make history
By Adrian Warner
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The thick skin of a German known as the
"speeding sausage" of the Winter Olympics finally burst at the Salt Lake Games
on Monday.
After showing strong nerves in luge's fierce mental battles to win the men's
singles title at the last three Games, Georg Hackl missed out on a special place
in history as the first Winter Olympian to win gold medals in the same event at
four consecutive Games.
The Bavarian had to settle for silver behind Italian Armin Zoeggeler, who put
the 35-year-old Hackl under intense pressure in Sunday's first two runs before
adding his first gold medal to the bronze and silver he won in 1994 and 1998
with impressive sliding in Monday's final two runs.
Hackl has earned his nickname because of the way he fits his stocky frame into a
tight, racing suit. A typical Bavarian who loves his beer, he also celebrated
his 1998 triumph by biting into a sausage sandwich shortly after the race.
Despite failing to win a fourth gold, the German has written his name in the
history books as the first Winter Olympian to win medals at five consecutive
Olympics.
But Hackl, an affable man with a Bavarian accent as thick as the ice on a race
track, said making history never entered his mind. As ever, his language was
colourful.
"Olympic history is statistics. I never even thought about it," he said. "Of
course it would have been nice to do something unique. But it did not play a
role in my preparations. If I were an American I would say 'F... the history'.
"My motivation is to do sport, not make history. I don't know much about the
history of the Olympics. If you start thinking about that it is too much of a
burden. I will think about history afterwards, maybe when I am going through a
photo album."
But he added: "I am very satisfied with my performance. The man who won is the
master in luge at the moment."
TEARS
Luge races can be so close that times are measured to a thousandths of a second.
It is a battle of the mind since every mistake is punished as the racers slide
down the ice track at speeds around 140 kph (87.5 mph).
Hackl won silver in Calgary in 1988 before holding off Austrian Markus Prock in
the closest men's singles competition in 24 years to win his first gold at the
La Plagne track in Albertville.
Two years later the German kept his nerve to win an ever closer battle with
Prock in Lillehammer in 1994. At the 1998 Games he was faster than silver
medallist Zoeggeler in all four runs despite coming into the Games struggling
with his form.
But this time the Italian came into the event as the most dominant racer in
recent seasons and Hackl was unable to live with his precise driving down a
1.342-km course of 17 curves and one labyrinth. Prock had to settle for third --
behind the German again.
Prock plans to retire after this season but Hackl said he would race for at
least another season.
Then the world saw another side of the joking Bavarian with a comical nickname.
Asked at a news conference if he planned to dedicate his medal to anybody, Hackl
struggled to hold back the tears.
The room went deadly quiet as Hackl struggled to speak because of the emotion.
Finally he said: "I want to dedicate it to my father who died a few weeks ago."
17:32 02-11-02
Olympics-Snowboarding-Factfile on Ross Powers
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Factfile on Ross Powers, winner of the
snowboarding men's halfpipe at the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Age: 23 (Born February 10, 1979)
Country: United States
A child prodigy, Powers was just eight when he entered his first snowboarding
competition. National champion at 16. Was the first American to win an Olympic
snowboarding medal at the age of 18 as the sport made its Olympic debut in 1998.
Likes any sport involving a board -- including skateboarding, wakeboarding and
surfing.
Past Olympics: Bronze medal in the halfpipe at Nagano.
Other successes: U.S. Open halfpipe champion in 1999. Halfpipe world champion in
2000 and gold medallist at inaugural Goodwill Winter Games at Lake Placid in the
same year.
Reaction: "I didn't expect to win."
17:30 02-11-02
Olympic coverage off to gold-medal start for NBC
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - NBC's Winter Olympics coverage got off to a gold-medal
start, with all-time record ratings for the opening ceremonies and hefty gains
over the 1998 Winter Games on CBS for the first weekend of events, figures
showed Monday.
The robust U.S. viewership was clearly helped in part from the heightened sense
of patriotism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, themes very much on display
during the opening pageantry of the Salt Lake City Games on Friday night.
The results were a welcome reversal of fortune for NBC some 16 months after the
network's tape-delayed coverage of the Summer Games from Sydney, Australia,
limped across the finish line at a 32-year low in Olympics TV ratings.
Friday night's telecast from Utah's capital drew a household rating of 25.5, the
biggest percentage of U.S. homes that has ever tuned an Olympic opening
ceremony, summer or winter, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc.
Each rating point represents 1,055,000 homes, or 1 percent of U.S. households
with TV sets.
The previous record for an Olympics opening ceremony dates back to the
three-network world of 1960, when the Winter Olympics made their television
debut in Squaw Valley, Calif., with a household rating of 24.2. The Los Angeles
Summer Games of 1984 previously ranked as No. 2.
In terms of actual viewers, 72 million people tuned into Friday's opening
extravaganza at some point during the telecast, surpassing the 1994 Games in
Lillehammer, Norway, as the most watched in Winter Olympics history. The average
audience for any given minute of the broadcast, considered a more accurate gauge
of viewership, was a more modest 46 million people.
INCREASED LIVE COVERAGE
Ratings on Saturday and Sunday were less stratospheric but still marked strong
increases over the first two days of competition during the 1998 Winter Games in
Nagano, Japan, which aired on CBS.
Saturday night's prime-time NBC telecast, which included women's mogul skiing
and the short program of pairs figure skating, averaged about 30 million
viewers, about 10 million more than CBS' first day of events from Nagano. On
Sunday night, which featured men's downhill skiing and the U.S. team's first
gold-medal -- in women's snowboarding -- NBC drew 30.2 million viewers, down
about 2 million from Nagano's third day.
But for Friday-through-Sunday combined, NBC averaged a household rating of 20.3,
up 23 percent from the CBS' three-day average in Nagano.
As predicted, NBC benefited from increased live coverage from Utah compared with
both the Summer Games from Sydney in October 2000 and the Nagano Winter Games in
1998, when the huge time difference between the Olympic venues and the United
States forced tape delay coverage of all events.
Executives at NBC, which reportedly has spent $545 million for its U.S.
broadcast rights to the quadrennial sports spectacular, have predicted this
year's Winter Olympics could be as much as 25 percent more profitable than the
Summer Games from Sydney.
The network said before the Games began that it had surpassed its target of $720
million in advertising sales for the 375 hours of Olympic programming planned
for NBC and sister cable networks MSNBC and CNBC.
NBC is a unit of General Electric Corp. CBS is a unit of Viacom Inc.
17:30 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Medals-Bjoerndalen wins men's 20 km gold
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Medal winners in the men's biathlon 20
km at the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Gold - Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway)
Silver - Frank Luck (Germany)
Bronze - Victor Maigurov (Russia)
17:10 02-11-02
Olympics-Speedskating-Fall dashes Wotherspoon's 500 metres hopes
By Lynda Dugdale
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon, the World Cup
speedskating leader, crashed in the men's 500 metres at the Utah Olympic Oval on
Monday, ending his quest for gold in the race.
Wotherspoon lost his footing moments after making a terrific start. He rose and
skated slowly back, wearing a look of utter disbelief and disappointment.
"I think he was pretty shocked and startled," said coach Sean Ireland. "He said
he was feeling good and the next thing he knew he was face down on the ice. He's
feeling obvious disappointment."
Wotherspoon's training partner, American Casey FitzRandolph, heads the standings
after the first day, clocking an Olympic record and personal best of 34.42
seconds.
He leads by 0.19 from defending champion and world record holder Hiroyasu
Shimizu of Japan who dispelled all doubts he had about his form.
The event is raced over two days with the best combined time the winner.
Wotherspoon is scheduled to start on Tuesday but has no chance of winning.
The Canadian has been the most consistent sprinter in the world since the Nagano
Olympics in 1998 when he took the silver medal.
Ireland said he would know until Tuesday morning if Wotherspoon would bother to
skate in the second race.
"It might be good to come back and skate a world record and get some confidence
or it might be good to take a break from here and re-focus."
BEST FRIENDS
Leader FitzRandolph said: "That was one of the hardest things in speedskating I
have ever had to see in my life. He is one of my best friends and it was really
hard to see that happen."
Ireland said: "I have seen him do it in training but it's very rare."
FitzRandolph found the Utah ice very hard and the corners tough, vowing: "I have
to be more aggressive tomorrow and trust the ice."
Japan's Shimizu has been troubled by a hip injury and he admitted late last week
he was worried about his form.
But on Monday he skated almost half a second quicker than he has all season.
American Kip Carpenter produced a personal best (34.68) to sit in third spot.
"This is my first Olympics," he said. "I was nervous but super-pumped. I had
confidence in myself that it was going to be a good one."
The were four other crashes, two in consecutive races. American Marc Pelchat
crashed after 100 metres and spun 360 degrees before getting to his feet.
Wotherspoon races in the 1,000 metres on Saturday and holds the world record in
that event.
"He's really good at refocusing, that's one of his strengths," said Ireland.
19:11 02-11-02
Olympics-Alpine skiing-Women's downhill confirmed for Tuesday
SNOWBASIN, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The women's Olympic Alpine skiing downhill,
postponed on Monday due to high winds on the upper section of the Wildflower
course, will take place on Tuesday.
The race is set to start at 10 a.m. local time (1700 GMT), a statement from the
team captains' meeting said.
19:28 02-11-02
Olympics-Snowboarding-Factfile on Ross Powers
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Factfile on Ross Powers, winner of the
snowboarding men's halfpipe at the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Age: 23 (Born February 10, 1979)
Country: United States
A child prodigy, Powers was just eight when he entered his first snowboarding
competition. National champion at 16. Was the first American to win an Olympic
snowboarding medal at the age of 18 as the sport made its Olympic debut in 1998.
Likes any sport involving a board -- including skateboarding, wakeboarding and
surfing.
Past Olympics: Bronze medal in the halfpipe at Nagano.
Other successes: U.S. Open halfpipe champion in 1999. Halfpipe world champion in
2000 and gold medallist at inaugural Goodwill Winter Games at Lake Placid in the
same year.
Reaction: "I didn't expect to win."
17:30 02-11-02
Olympics-Snowboarding-Powers leads U.S. halfpipe sweep
By Deborah Charles
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Ross Powers led the first American sweep of
the medals at a Winter Olympics since 1956 with a soaring performance in the
men's snowboarding halfpipe on Monday.
The 1998 Olympic bronze medallist, who turned 23 on Sunday, was true to his
promise to "go big" in the final, soaring repeatedly 15 feet above the lip of
the course to win clearly.
Fourth to start in the two-run final round, Powers did enough to bag the gold on
his first attempt, claiming 46.1 points out of 50 for his high-flying twists and
flips.
When Finnish favourite Heikki Sorsa failed to overtake Powers or his compatriots
Danny Kass and Jarret "J.J." Thomas for the top three spots, the three Americans
leapt up to congratulate each other.
"Having a sweep is huge especially after everything that happened on September
11 -- it's huge for sure," said Powers.
Kass, at 19 the "bad boy" of American snowboarding, also got his best score of
42.5 on his first attempt.
Thomas was ninth before his second run -- to the strains of Madonna's "Material
Girl" -- earned him 42.1 points and kept Italian Giacomo Kratter out of the
medals.
"We didn't want to talk about a possible sweep because we didn't want to jinx
ourselves," said Kass who rode down the half pipe with AC/DC blasting in his
headphones.
Powers, one of the highest flyers in the men's Olympic competition, had said
after the qualifying run that he planned to work to get even more air and do
better turns in the finals.
He received a near-perfect score of 9.8 out of 10 points from the judge who
measures rotations for his manoeuvres.
Sorsa, a crowd favourite who was set apart with his spiked Mohawk hairstyle,
pushed himself to the limits and got strong marks for amplitude but failed to
match his number one performance in qualifying and ended up in seventh place.
Five judges score the riders on different criteria and the marks are added
together for the final score.
The superpipe at Park City Mountain Resort is one of the longest on the
international circuit and its near 4.9 metre-high walls help the riders soar
high above the edge and do more difficult aerial acrobatic tricks.
"The superpipe has changed the riding, like people going for more amplitude and
people going for it a little more," Powers said.
18:34 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Late charge by Henkel good as gold
By Judith Crosson
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - German soldier Andrea Henkel came from
behind with perfect shooting over the final two rounds on Monday to win her
first gold medal in the women's 15 km biathlon, edging out Liv Grete Poiree of
Norway.
Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden faltered late and won the bronze.
The 24-year-old German missed just one of her 20 shots and, cheered on by a
large and noisy crowd of her countrymen, set the early mark of 47 minutes 29.1
seconds.
Henkel had ranked as low as 10th after getting a penalty in the second round of
shooting but held her nerve through the rest of the race, with flawless shooting
in the final two rounds.
"I wanted to take it easy in the beginning and have a good race. It was annoying
to have that one miss in the first stand up shoot, but in the end it turned out
to be a good race," Henkel said.
Forsberg, a 12-time world champion medallist had never won an Olympic medal
before. The 34-year-old was in contention for the gold until missing two shots
at the fourth and final shooting round.
"I did very well except for the two shots that I missed. It was my shaky legs
that made me miss because it was a standing shoot. I was a bit tired and of
course the pressure got to me," she said.
Forsberg came in 39.2 seconds after Henkel.
After Poiree scored perfectly in the final round, her coach beamed, but she
failed to catch up with Henkel in the final lap, finishing 7.9 seconds behind
the German.
"I'm very happy with the silver medal. I had some problems in the beginning with
my skis, but in the end it turned out fine," the 27-year-old Poiree said.
Poiree's husband Raphael was competing for France in the men's 20 km later on
Monday.
Russia's Olga Pyleva who was in medal contention through most of the race missed
two shots in the final round, the stand up, giving her a fourth place finish.
Pyleva was so disappointed in her performance she quickly walked away, declining
to speak with reporters. "Olga is very upset, coming in fourth all the time,"
team mate Svetlana Ishmuratova said.
Three-time world champion Olena Zubrilova of Ukraine struggled with her
marksmanship, missing a target in each of the first three rounds and finished in
34th place.
Shooting is important in the individual competition because missing a target
adds a one-minute penalty. In other biathlon disciplines a miss means the skier
has to do one 150-metre penalty loop, which usually takes no more than 30
seconds.
17:06 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Factfile on Ole Einar Bjoerndalen
PARK CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Factfile on Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, winner of the
men's 20 km biathlon at the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Age: 28 (born Jan 27 1974, Drammen)
Country: Norway
If he's not first, he's usually second. The 1998 World Cup winner, he has
finished runner-up in the competition every year since. He won the 10 km Olympic
biathlon sprint title in 1998 -- he didn't miss any of his 10 targets that day
-- but has never managed to win a world individual title, despite 10 medals.
Ditched soccer to take up biathlon and cross-country skiing aged 10, focusing on
biathlon alone from 16. Has decided to double up again at Salt Lake City.
Often trains with France's three time world champion Raphael Poiree, who
finished 10th on Monday. A great fan of Formula One and world champion Michael
Schumacher.
Past Olympics: 1998 - biathlon 10 km sprint gold, relay silver. Failed to shine
on his debut four years earlier.
Other successes: 10 world championship medals, the only gold coming in the
biathlon relay in 1998.
Reaction: "I can't explain how I feel. This is the kind of race I have been
practising for -- finally it paid off."
18:14 02-11-02
Olympics-Luge-Factfile on Armin Zoeggeler
PARK CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Factfile on Armin Zoeggeler, winner of the men's
single luge at the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Age: 28 (born Jan 4 1974, Merano)
Country: Italy
Georg Hackl may be the most successful luger of all time, but Zoeggeler has been
the best in the world over the past two seasons, dominating the World Cup and
world championships. A police officer. Grew up on his parents' farm before
leaving school at 14 and devoting himself to the sport, inspired by his
father...and by Hackl.
Past Olympics: Won bronze in '94, followed by silver in '98, both times behind
Hackl.
Other successes: World champion in '95, '99 and 2001, with a silver in 2000.
Also three times overall World Cup champion, including the last two seasons.
15:09 02-11-02
Olympics-Luge-Hackl misses out on history
PARK CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Georg Hackl's dream of becoming the first Winter
Olympian to win four successive individual golds in the same event was dashed on
Monday as Italy's Armin Zoeggeler snatched the men's single luge title.
Zoeggeler timed two minutes 57.941 overall with the German, regarded as the top
luger of all time, 0.329 seconds behind after four runs and two days of
competition. The bronze went to Austrian Markus Prock.
The 35-year-old Hackl had won silver followed by three golds in his previous
four Olympics since his debut in Calgary, Canada, 14 years ago.
The Bavarian, nicknamed 'The Speeding Sausage' because of his stocky frame
squeezed into a skin-tight racing suit, knows what narrow margins are all about.
He beat Prock to the 1992 Albertville title by just over three tenths of a
second and repeated the result over the Austrian in Lillehammer two years later
by 0.013 of a second.
Had he won on Monday, Hackl might have changed his nickname to 'The Carl Lewis
of the luge'.
The American sprinter-long jumper Lewis is among a handful of Olympians to have
won four golds in the same event in successive summer Games. Lewis -- with a
somewhat different physique to Hackl --achieved it in the long jump before
retiring after the 1996 Atlanta Games.
15:05 02-11-02
Olympics-Luge-Medals-Zoeggeler wins men's single gold
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Medal winners in the men's single luge at
the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Gold - Armin Zoeggeler (Italy)
Silver - Georg Hackl (Germany)
Bronze - Markus Prock (Austria)
14:57 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Late charge by Henkel good as gold
By Judith Crosson
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - German soldier Andrea Henkel came from
behind with perfect shooting over the final two rounds on Monday to win her
first gold medal in the women's 15 km biathlon, edging out Liv Grete Poiree of
Norway.
Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden faltered late and won the bronze.
The 24-year-old German missed just one of her 20 shots and, cheered on by a
large and noisy crowd of her countrymen, set the early mark of 47 minutes 29.1
seconds.
Henkel had ranked as low as 10th after getting a penalty in the second round of
shooting but held her nerve through the rest of the race, with flawless shooting
in the final two rounds.
"I wanted to take it easy in the beginning and have a good race. It was annoying
to have that one miss in the first stand up shoot, but in the end it turned out
to be a good race," Henkel said.
Forsberg, a 12-time world champion medallist had never won an Olympic medal
before. The 34-year-old was in contention for the gold until missing two shots
at the fourth and final shooting round.
"I did very well except for the two shots that I missed. It was my shaky legs
that made me miss because it was a standing shoot. I was a bit tired and of
course the pressure got to me," she said.
Forsberg came in 39.2 seconds after Henkel.
After Poiree scored perfectly in the final round, her coach beamed, but she
failed to catch up with Henkel in the final lap, finishing 7.9 seconds behind
the German.
"I'm very happy with the silver medal. I had some problems in the beginning with
my skis, but in the end it turned out fine," the 27-year-old Poiree said.
Poiree's husband Raphael was competing for France in the men's 20 km later on
Monday.
Russia's Olga Pyleva who was in medal contention through most of the race missed
two shots in the final round, the stand up, giving her a fourth place finish.
Pyleva was so disappointed in her performance she quickly walked away, declining
to speak with reporters. "Olga is very upset, coming in fourth all the time,"
team mate Svetlana Ishmuratova said.
Three-time world champion Olena Zubrilova of Ukraine struggled with her
marksmanship, missing a target in each of the first three rounds and finished in
34th place.
Shooting is important in the individual competition because missing a target
adds a one-minute penalty. In other biathlon disciplines a miss means the skier
has to do one 150-metre penalty loop, which usually takes no more than 30
seconds.
17:06 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Medals-Bjoerndalen wins men's 20 km gold
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Medal winners in the men's biathlon 20
km at the Winter Olympics on Monday:
Gold - Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway)
Silver - Frank Luck (Germany)
Bronze - Victor Maigurov (Russia)
17:10 02-11-02
Olympics-Alpine skiing-Women's downhill confirmed for Tuesday
SNOWBASIN, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The women's Olympic Alpine skiing downhill,
postponed on Monday due to high winds on the upper section of the Wildflower
course, will take place on Tuesday.
The race is set to start at 10 a.m. local time (1700 GMT), a statement from the
team captains' meeting said.
19:28 02-11-02
Olympics-Alpine skiing-Women's downhill confirmed for Tuesday
SNOWBASIN, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The women's Olympic Alpine skiing downhill,
postponed on Monday due to high winds on the upper section of the Wildflower
course, will take place on Tuesday.
The race is set to start at 10 a.m. local time (1700 GMT), a statement from the
team captains' meeting said.
19:28 02-11-02
Olympics-Speedskating-Ohno puts spotlight on short track
By Steve Keating
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - As the 2002 Winter Games began, short track
speedskating was a sport much of the world knew very little about -- and cared
for even less.
But if the speedskating experts and marketing gurus are correct that's all about
to change thanks to Apolo Anton Ohno.
Armed with a can't-forget name, hip young looks, an edgy charm and most
importantly immense talent that could carry him to four gold medals, the 19
year-old American has been positioned by those inside and outside the sport to
become the star of these Games.
In the build-up to the Olympics, Ohno's face has almost become as recognisable
as his name.
Sports Illustrated, America's biggest selling sports magazine, further fuelled
Ohno-mania by putting the short tracker on the cover of their Games preview
edition over more mainstream Olympians such as downhillers Picabo Street and
Daron Rahlves, figure skater Michelle Kwan and the American hockey team.
The sport also grabbed headlines when Ohno was accused of throwing a race during
the U.S. Olympic trials in December allowing good friend Shani Davis to make the
American squad over another skater.
An arbitrator later cleared Ohno, who managed to stay above the controversy and
emerge unscathed, his reputation tainted just enough to confirm a bad boy past.
"I'm going in to do my thing, regardless of what's happening around me," said
Ohno. "Everybody asks me about winning four medals.
"If I walk away from all my races feeling I did my best, it's successful."
While Ohno has the sponsors convinced of his ability he must still do the
business over 500, 1,000, 1,500 metre individual races and the relay.
The overall World Cup champion in 2001, Ohno did not compete on this year's
circuit because he was warned not to travel after the September 11 attacks on
New York and Washington.
In his absence, South Korea's Kim Dong-sung, the defending Olympic champion over
1,000 metres and China's Li Jiajin have dominated the world circuit,
establishing themselves as the American's main threats.
Commonly described as stock car racing on ice, medal contenders can disappear in
a tap of the skates, races routinely ending wild pileups and racers skidding
across the ice into the padding along the boards.
In the women's events, China's dual threat of Yang Yang (A) and Yang Yang (S) -
the letters were added to distinguish between the two namesakes - are expected
to win their country's first gold medal at a Winter Games.
Yang Yang (A), who was going to retire after the Nagano Games, has dominated the
sport in recent years, winning the last five world titles.
However, at Nagano she failed to win an individual medal while her younger
teammate took silver in all three women's events.
February 16
Men
1,000 metres
Favourites: Apolo Ohno (U.S.), Kim Dong-Sung (South Korea), Takafumi Nishitani
(Japan)
Women
500 metres
Favourites: Yang Yang (A) (China), Yang Yang (S) (China) Evgenia Radanova
(Bulgaria)
- - - -
February 20
Men
1,500 metres
Favourites: Apolo Ohno (U.S.), Kim Dong-Sung (South Korea), Marc Gagnon (Canada)
Women
Relay
Favourties: Canada, China, Korea
- - - -
Feburary 23
Men
500 metre
Favourites: Apolo Ohno (U.S.), Kim Dong-Sung (South Korea) Li Jiajun (China)
Relay
Favourites: U.S, Korea, Canada
Women
1,000 metres
Favourites: Yang Yang (A) (China), Yang Yang (S) (China) Evgenia Radanova
(Bulgaria)
05:01 02-11-02
Olympics-Snowboarding-Powers leads U.S. halfpipe sweep
By Deborah Charles
PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Ross Powers led the first American sweep of
the medals at a Winter Olympics since 1956 with a soaring performance in the
men's snowboarding halfpipe on Monday.
The 1998 Olympic bronze medallist, who turned 23 on Sunday, was true to his
promise to "go big" in the final, soaring repeatedly 15 feet above the lip of
the course to win clearly.
Fourth to start in the two-run final round, Powers did enough to bag the gold on
his first attempt, claiming 46.1 points out of 50 for his high-flying twists and
flips.
When Finnish favourite Heikki Sorsa failed to overtake Powers or his compatriots
Danny Kass and Jarret "J.J." Thomas for the top three spots, the three Americans
leapt up to congratulate each other.
"Having a sweep is huge especially after everything that happened on September
11 -- it's huge for sure," said Powers.
Kass, at 19 the "bad boy" of American snowboarding, also got his best score of
42.5 on his first attempt.
Thomas was ninth before his second run -- to the strains of Madonna's "Material
Girl" -- earned him 42.1 points and kept Italian Giacomo Kratter out of the
medals.
"We didn't want to talk about a possible sweep because we didn't want to jinx
ourselves," said Kass who rode down the half pipe with AC/DC blasting in his
headphones.
Powers, one of the highest flyers in the men's Olympic competition, had said
after the qualifying run that he planned to work to get even more air and do
better turns in the finals.
He received a near-perfect score of 9.8 out of 10 points from the judge who
measures rotations for his manoeuvres.
Sorsa, a crowd favourite who was set apart with his spiked Mohawk hairstyle,
pushed himself to the limits and got strong marks for amplitude but failed to
match his number one performance in qualifying and ended up in seventh place.
Five judges score the riders on different criteria and the marks are added
together for the final score.
The superpipe at Park City Mountain Resort is one of the longest on the
international circuit and its near 4.9 metre-high walls help the riders soar
high above the edge and do more difficult aerial acrobatic tricks.
"The superpipe has changed the riding, like people going for more amplitude and
people going for it a little more," Powers said.
18:34 02-11-02
Olympics-Biathlon-Awesome Bjoerndalen powers to gold
By Judith Crosson
SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen put
sheer guts ahead of finesse as he annihilated his rivals to power to the men's
20 km biathlon gold at the Winter Games.
Despite having taken part in the 30 km cross-country event only two days
earlier, the 28-year-old put skiing power ahead of marksmanship to win his
second Olympics title.
The Norwegian, who won the individual 10 km sprint four years ago at Nagano,
missed two of his 20 targets to earn a two-minute penalty yet still came home
ahead of Frank Luck of Germany in 51 minutes 03.3 seconds.
Luck, despite not missing a target at the four prone and standing shot ranges
and thus avoiding any time penalty, simply could not live with Bjoerndalen's
awesome power, finishing more than half a minute behind. Bronze went to Russia's
Victor Maigurov.
Bjoerndalen managed to punch the air weakly with his right hand as he crossed
the line before collapsing to his knees, his face drenched with sweat.
Reigning champion Halvard Hanevold, Bjoerndalen's team mate, finished fifth,
despite also not missing a single target.
Indeed, only three competitors in the first 20 finishers had a worse time than
the winner in the shooting sections.
Bjoerndalen, whose first attempt at cross-country skiing -- biathlon without the
shooting -- ended in a sixth place on Saturday, is now in line for a stack of
medals.
His favourite 10 km event is to come and he is also in line to feature in the
biathlon and cross-country relays.
17:47 02-11-02
Olympics-Figure skating-Ice dance judging under scrutiny
By Laurie Nealin
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The Olympic ice dance event does not begin
until Friday, but worry about the judging has been brewing for some months now.
Although widely-applauded changes have been made in recent years, the fact that
Canada, France and the U.S. were not drawn to be among the nine countries on the
2002 Olympic judging panel sent a collective shiver through the skating world.
Judges from Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and others
will be there and many observers fear that will work against the season's top
performers - Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, of Canada, and France's Marina
Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, the 2000 world champions.
Italy's reigning world champions Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio and
Russia's Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh could be the beneficiaries of the
panel's make-up, despite less-than-superb showings this season.
Didier Gailhaguet, France's Olympic chef de mission, issued a statement last
week about the ice dance event, declaring: "I hope that above all, the sport
will triumph. At the Olympic Games, it would be unfortunate if the best did not
win."
Asked to comment on Gailhaguet's remarks, Canada's Bourne said: "That's a great
thing to say, that's what everybody should be saying. That's what every athlete
wants, that's what the skaters want."
Never more than a blade-length away from controversy, ice dance judging has been
under scrutiny since the uproar at the 1998 Games in Nagano, where it was
alleged some judges werepre-determined over the outcome.
STATUS DOUBT
Dick Pound, a former IOC vice-president, suggested ice dance could lose its
Olympic sport status if the judging issues were not addressed.
Pound's concerns take on even more significance now, given his recent IOC
assignment to study ways to reduce the size of the Games.
Prior to Bourne and Kraatz's stunning victory over the French and Italian
couples at the Grand Prix Final in December, the Canadians' coach Nikolai
Morozov believed that the make-up of the Olympic panel spelled no chance for his
four-time world bronze medallists to land on the podium here.
"Politically, it's still going to be hard for Shae and Vic (because of the
judges' affiliations), but I think the judges will be honest because it is the
Olympic Games," said a somewhat more optimistic Morozov.
Asked in December if he shared the concerns about the Olympic ice dance panel's
composition, ISU president and IOC member Ottavio Cinquanta, an Italian, said:
"Absolutely not. The judges of the ISU have passed exams and are entitled to
judge the event."
But will Bourne and Kraatz's metamorphosis into top flight contenders and
Anissina and Peizerat's superior skills be rewarded by the Olympic judging
panel?
"That's the big question, Has anything changed?"' said Tracy Wilson, 1988
Olympic ice dance bronze medallist turned Olympic commentator.
"This (concern over Olympic ice dance panel) is not a Canadian, a North American
thing, this is international.
"I would like to think it's wide-open based on the Grand Prix Final, but we
won't know until after the first dance is skated."
Meanwhile, whatever spectators make of the judging they will be in the dark
about judges' nationalities until after the skating is over. The ISU has stopped
disclosing where judges come from in an effort to avoid hostile receptions that
sometimes greet the announcement of the marks.
06:01 02-11-02
Olympics-Luge-Hackl misses out on history
PARK CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Georg Hackl's dream of becoming the first Winter
Olympian to win four successive individual golds in the same event was dashed on
Monday as Italy's Armin Zoeggeler snatched the men's single luge title.
Zoeggeler timed two minutes 57.941 overall with the German, regarded as the top
luger of all time, 0.329 seconds behind after four runs and two days of
competition. The bronze went to Austrian Markus Prock.
The 35-year-old Hackl had won silver followed by three golds in his previous
four Olympics since his debut in Calgary, Canada, 14 years ago.
The Bavarian, nicknamed 'The Speeding Sausage' because of his stocky frame
squeezed into a skin-tight racing suit, knows what narrow margins are all about.
He beat Prock to the 1992 Albertville title by just over three tenths of a
second and repeated the result over the Austrian in Lillehammer two years later
by 0.013 of a second.
Had he won on Monday, Hackl might have changed his nickname to 'The Carl Lewis
of the luge'.
The American sprinter-long jumper Lewis is among a handful of Olympians to have
won four golds in the same event in successive summer Games. Lewis -- with a
somewhat different physique to Hackl --achieved it in the long jump before
retiring after the 1996 Atlanta Games.
15:05 02-11-02
Olympics-Medals table on the fourth day of competition
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Medals table at the start of the fourth day
of competition at the Winter Olympics on Monday
Gold Silver Bronze Total
1. U.S. 1 2 0 3
2. Austria 1 1 3 5
3. Germany 1 1 1 3
4- Finland 1 1 0 2
4- Netherlands 1 1 0 2
4- Norway 1 1 0 2
7. Switzerland 1 0 1 2
8- Spain 1 0 0 1
8- Italy 1 0 0 1
10- France 0 1 0 1
10- Russia 0 1 0 1
12- Canada 0 0 1 1
12- Czech Republic 0 0 1 1
12- Japan 0 0 1 1
12- Poland 0 0 1 1
02:00 02-11-02
Olympics-Austrians favourites for second downhill gold
By Robert Woodward
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - It's 22 years since the same country won both
the men's and women's downhills at a Winter Olympics, and on Monday Austria
could again achieve the feat at a Games in the United States.
As Fritz Strobl was racing to victory in the men's race on Sunday, Renate
Goetschl and Michaela Dorfmeister posted the fastest times in final training for
the women's race in Snowbasin, underlining they are currently the skiers in
form.
Dorfmeister leads the overall World Cup standings and Goetschl is second after
winning the last two pre-Olympic downhills.
While the men raced on the Grizzly, the women were set the Wildflower course, a
steep, undulating piste on which Goetschl edged out downhill world champion
Dorfmeister by 0.40 seconds.
In 1980 at Lake Placid, Leonhard Stock and Annemarie Moser-Proell won downhill
golds for Austria.
American fans have not given up hope Picabo Street could achieve yet another
improbable victory in her final Olympics despite finishing seventh in final
practice.
Street, who has twice recovered from serious leg injuries, is by far the most
visible athlete at these Games and would become the first U.S. Alpine skier to
win three Olympic medals if she finished on the podium on Monday.
Olympic records and Georg Hackl go hand in hand and the German, already the most
successful slider in luge history, will add another on Monday if he wins the
men's title.
Only American Carl Lewis (long jump), Al Oerter (discus) and Paul Elvstrom
(sailing) have won four consecutive Olympic titles in the same individual event
and Hackl, now 35, is strong favourite to join them on Monday.
His psychological hold over the rest of the field is probably his greatest asset
but his new sled has been engineered by Porsche, which can only help.
But Hackl starts the second day of competition, comprising two runs, in second
place behind Italy's Armin Zoeggeler after the first two runs on Sunday.
Zoeggeler was second in Nagano four years ago and took bronze in Lillehammer in
1994.
Biathlon has two races - the women's 15-km and the men's 20-km - at Soldier
Hollow and the men's halfpipe gold will be awarded, with the U.S. in with a
great chance of doubling up after Kelly Clark's last-gasp win in the women's
event.
In the evening, the first medals of the figure skating, one of the big draws of
the Games, will be awarded in the pairs.
Any of the top three duos could win. Russian pair Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton
Sikharulidze hold a small lead over Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier
ahead of Monday's free programme.
China's Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao are in third. The free programmes is worth two
thirds of the total marks.
02:01 02-11-02
Olympic-Ice hockey-Slovakia ousted from Games by Latvia
By Alan Crosby
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Slovakia became the first major casualty of
the Olympic ice hockey tournament on Sunday when it was knocked out of the
competition after Latvia scored three unanswered goals to notch a 6-6 Group A
tie.
The tie set up a showdown between Germany, which beat Austria 3-2 on a late goal
earlier in the day, and Latvia on Tuesday to determine which team advances to
the next round.
Stunned by a 3-0 loss to Germany, the Slovaks bolstered their offense prior to
the game adding forwards Marian Hossa of the Ottawa Senators, Jozef Stumpel of
the Los Angeles Kings and Pavol Demitra of the St. Louis Blues.
The move paid off immediately as Stumpel scored just 11 seconds into the game on
a blast from just inside the blue line.
In all, the three combined for six points on the night but they could not make
up for the shaky goaltending of Pavol Rybar, who was chased from the game five
minutes into the second period after Aleksandrs Macijevskis gave Latvia a 3-2
lead.
The moved spurred the Slovaks to four straight goals and a commanding 6-3 lead.
Replacement Jan Lasak, however, fared little better in than Rybar, as
Macijevskis scored again, followed by goals by Aleksandrs Belavskis and Atvars
Tribuncovs.
Florida Panthers defenseman Sandis Ozolins dressed for his first game of the
Olympics and had a strong performance notching four assists.
The loss leaves Slovakia winless after two games in Group A and without a chance
to advance to the second round since only the top team in the group will move
on.
"Our problems started when we lost yesterday (Saturday)...We were missing a
little bit of experience and discipline and that cost us," said Slovak coach Jan
Filc.
Filc and most of the Slovak players were upset with a deal between the NHL and
International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) which left the team struggling to put
its best squad on the ice.
Many NHL players were not allowed to leave their teams until the league
officially stops for the Olympic break February 13.
"In both of the games we used the best players we had available. The system is
not really fair. We tried to do everything we could to put out the strongest
team possible. I think it (getting knocked out of the tournament) will cost me
my job," Filc added.
Latvia, with a win and a tie, will face undefeated group leaders Germany in
their final game needing a win to advance.
It appeared that Germany would tie with Austria but Andreas Loth's backhand with
just over one minute left broke a 2-2 deadlock.
The Germans opened a two-goal lead in the first period on goals by Klaus Kathan
and Leonard Soccio. But Gerald Ressman's power play marker and Gerhard
Unterluggauer's blast with just four seconds left in the second period evened
the game.
Both teams had several chances to take the lead in the final period but failed
to capitalise until a defensive mistake off a face off by Austria allowed Loth
to walk in alone on goalie Reinhard Divis.
Loth's weak backhand trickled under Divis's arm and just made it across the goal
line.
01:06 02-11-02
Olympics-Crowd erupts for first US gold medal
By Deborah Zabarenko
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 10 (Reuters) - They cheered politely for a German, a Swiss,
a Finn and an Austrian, but the crowd erupted in cries of "U-S-A, U-S-A" on
Sunday when Kelly Clark got her Olympic gold medal, the first for the United
States in the Winter Games.
The mere mention of Clark's name or even of the event she won -- snowboarding
halfpipe -- was enough to push the thousands who waited in the cold at Olympic
Medals Park into a frenzy of yelling and applause.
When she finally took the stage along with silver medallist Doriane Vidal of
France and Fabienne Reuteler of Switzerland, the roars of approval echoed
through the night.
And after the gold medal was safely around Clark's neck and a bouquet of
celebratory yellow roses in her hand, the audience whipped out hundreds of U.S.
flags, some the size of postcards and others seemingly large enough to lead a
cavalry charge.
The first U.S. gold medal for these Olympics came at the end of the medal
ceremony, and the audience was patient enough. But there was no question of what
the main event was.
Even in the pre-ceremony entertainment program, after the crowd warmed up with
such oldies as "Stop in the Name of Love" and "Proud Mary," presenter Steve
Young, a Super Bowl star with the San Francisco 49ers and a Utah native, told
the crowd why they were there: "The first gold of the United States!"
At that point, the crowd seemed ready to tear the place apart, but restrained
themselves through the awarding of medals in four other events before the
women's snowboarding halfpipe ceremony.
Cindy Klassen of Canada, who captured the bronze medal in the Ladies 3,000 meter
speedskating competition, got the second loudest ovation of the night, and the
crowd warmed to Simon Ammann of Switzerland, the gold medallist in the
individual K90 ski jump.
The other three gold medal winners of the evening -- speedskater Claudia
Pechstein of Germany, Samppa Lajunen of Finland who won the individual 15 km
Nordic combined, and downhill skier Fritz Strobl of Austria -- got respectable
applause and shouts of support.
But when Clark came out, flanked by Vidal and Reuteler, there was no stopping
the excitement.
The 18-year-old seemed happy but a bit overwhelmed as she took in the crowd's
applause, and looked more comfortable when the silver and bronze medallists
joined her on the top step of the winners' platform.
There were cheers from the largely American crowd even as the U.S. national
anthem played, and the U.S. flags kept waving even after Clark left the stage.
00:45 02-11-02
