A Tribute to The Winter Olympics

A Tribute in Honor of:

The Winter Olympics Day 11

Olympics-Winter Games trivia

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Five things you may not know about the Winter Olympics: 1. Current top item in a memorabilia auction for the Olympic Aid organisation is a Dan Jansen winning speedskate at $1,525. 2. China and Australia won their first ever Winter Olympic golds within 15 minutes of each other on Saturday. 3. The 2002 Winter Olympics will cost the U.S. government over $400 million. 4. Norway's Thomas Alsgaard has won cross-country team relay gold for his country at Nagano and Salt Lake, anchoring his team to victory on the first occasion by 0.2 seconds and on Sunday by 0.3 seconds. 5. A total of 477 medals were originally struck for the Salt Lake Games.

07:30 02-18-02

LINKS:

Olympics-Park City resorts looking for gold down the road

By Judith Crosson

PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 17 (Reuters) - No pain, no gain. No, we're not talking about Olympic athletes going for the gold but Utah ski resorts during the Winter Games.

While spectators cheer athletes competing in freestyle aerials as they fly through the air and television pictures feature the stunning beauty of the Rocky Mountain West, ski resorts in Utah are paying a price.

How could that be? Well, despite advertising to the contrary, skiers just expect Utah resorts to be shut down during the Games or that it would be too crowded to ski.

Room occupancy at The Canyons, in Park City, stands at about 95 to 100 percent, according to President Blaise Carrig.

But nobody is on the slopes. They're all in the spectator seats watching the best winter athletes in the world compete for the gold.

"One piece that I think we anticipated as being a little soft was the ski lift ticket revenue, but it's not as bad as we thought," he told Reuters.

And it's worth it. In fact, "long-term investment" has become the catchphrase for ski resort operators.

"This will show the world we have big mountains and lots of great snow," Carrig said. The Canyons, owned by the American Ski Co. (SKI.N), has been the spot where The Today Show has been broadcasting, giving viewers a pre-dawn view of the area on the NBC network.

TAKING ON COLORADO

The dream in Utah is to capture some of the lucrative business that usually goes to the No. 1 U.S. ski destination -- Utah's neighbour state -- Colorado.

"A lot of us are hoping we will look back at the Olympics as a beginning," Carrig said.

"Colorado has been more out front, spending more dollars and Colorado went into international markets earlier than Utah has done. We've got a bit of catch up," he said.

When people plan to ski in the Rocky Mountains it is usually Colorado that comes to mind, especially posh resort towns like Aspen and Vail and premiere locations like Steamboat Springs.

Utah resorts are doing their best to inform the public that after arriving at Salt Lake City International Airport it is only about a 40-minute drive to a ski resort, unlike Colorado where the drive can be several hours on a crowded highway.

Park City Mayor Dana Williams said the city has spent $4 million for the Olympics, a lot for a small town with a population of 7,200, but it should pay off in future years.

The Canyons resort has been sending out direct-mail advertising, inviting skiers to book vacations. Carrig said telephone calls have been up in the past two weeks, but he was not yet able to quantify what kind of business is expected.

MORE BUSINESS SOUGHT

Park City Mountain Resort, an official Olympic venue, is also hoping to capture more business down the line.

"The resort believes we have the opportunity to really find our place as finally being identified and put on the map as a Rocky Mountain destination," Park City resort spokeswoman Michelle Palmer said.

"Business is definitely down, but not down to date as bad as we thought. We were thinking 30 to 40 percent. But we are down only a little over 15 percent for the season," Palmer said.

The resort is hoping to recapture some business in March and even April, if the weather cooperates.

The funny thing is that only 4 percent of the Park City Mountain Resort is being leased out to the Salt Lake City Organising Committee for events, Palmer said.

The people who are skiing find they have the mountain to themselves, Palmer said.

06:03 02-18-02

Olympic hockey goal futures score well for Czechs

By Jan Lopatka

PRAGUE, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Czech bank dealers are combining twin passions for risk-taking and ice hockey by betting on goals scored in their favourite sport at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

A flurry of weekend goals at the ice hockey tournament sent goal futures soaring on the Prague interbank market on Monday.

The craze, in a country which is the defending Olympic ice hockey champion, has generated the same kind of enthusiasm among some professional players as spread betting on sporting events in places like London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In the Czech system, investors buy or sell contracts based on the overall number of goals scored by all teams at the Olympic hockey tournament.

When all results are known, investors lose or gain a set amount for every goal that is scored under or over the contract level, depending on the side they bet on.

Goal futures jumped by 10 to 12 points to 199/201 after the high-scoring weekend.

Investors are mostly bank dealers who play with their own money as Czech banks do not recognise the instrument as one they should have on the books.

HIGH STAKES

Stakes can be high. "There are people who have 1,000 contracts, which means one goal is worth 10,000 crowns ($274). The weekend jump would make a 100,000 crown ($2,740) move there," said one Prague trader.

"One friend told me he had made enough for a garden tractor at one point, but now he says he is short the equivalent of two tractors after the last games," said another dealer.

"We usually trade a bit in the morning before the market opens and than again late in the afternoon," he said.

The contracts are secured by word, not registered, and are done over electronic trading systems or the telephone. After matches played in the small hours of Monday, European time, 141 goals had been scored, or 6.13 goals per game.

Weekend games with 6.75 goals per game were exceptional, setting the ground for the Monday morning rally.

"There were 54 goals this weekend, which cruelly raised the average. Now quotes stand at 4.92 goals in the remaining games," said one dealer.

Meanwhile, trading volumes on more traditional financial markets may be thinner as many Czechs are taking time off to watch late night live shows from the Games and re-runs during the day.

"It would be naive to think that the Olympic tournament does not influence trading on the domestic financial market. (This) week should be calmer than the previous ones," said Raiffeisenbank in a report.

There are 12 games left in the hockey tournament, four in the final round and eight in play-offs.

It is not the first time sport derivatives have grabbed the market's attention. During the Euro 2000 soccer tournament, traded instruments included deals on the total number of goals, corner kicks or red cards.

08:23 02-18-02

Olympics-Speed skating-Le May Doan says goodbye to the Olympics

By Patrick White

KEARNS, Utah, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The women's 1,000-metre Olympic speed skating finals on Sunday was world champion Catriona Le May Doan's swansong at the Olympics and although she didn't strike gold, she was not too unhappy to be saying goodbye.

"I am OK with my retirement from the Olympics," the 31-year-old Canadian told reporters after the race, won by American Chris Witty.

"The Olympics are a bit of a different feel and are exciting but I also look forward to be less self-focused now," she added.

Witty made an extraordinary comeback from a debilitating illness to smash the world 1,000 metres record and win the Olympic title.

LeMay Doan was paired with the American and set the early pace, but Witty pushed ahead in the final 400 metres and LeMay Doan finished ninth.

"I would obviously have liked to break the record and be on the podium. It would have been a bonus," she said."I think I will start realizing it (is over) next week."

She said she would not miss the pressure and the competitiveness of the Olympics.

"That is something you never learn to get over that completely," she said.

Le May Doan won two medals at the Nagano Games and won gold last week in the women's 500-metres.

She has said she will remain in competition for the rest of the year but would definitely not be at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino.

Her coach said Le May Doan's departure from the Olympic team heralded a change of generation in Canada's speed skating team.

"It is the end of an era, but there are young enough skaters hoping to make it in the next number of years," Sean Ireland told reporters.

01:03 02-18-02

Olympics-Australian gold medallist honoured on stamp

SYDNEY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Australia's Winter Olympics gold medalist Steven Bradbury will be honoured with a postage stamp bearing his image.

The stamp will be designed, produced and available to the Australian public by Wednesday and at least one will be rushed from the presses to reach Bradbury in Salt Lake before the Games end.

Australia's gold medal winners at the Sydney 2000 Olympics were also celebrated with postage stamps which were out on the streets with 24 hours of their victory.

Australia Post Philatelic Group Manager David Maiden said on Monday Australia Post had been planning to do the same for any successful Winter Olympics although no-one could have foreseen Bradbury's unexpected victory in the men's 1000 metres short-track speedskating.

"Steven's achievement is every bit as significant as those of our summer gold medallists, so it's appropriate to honour him in this way," Maiden said.

Meanwhile, Australian marketing firms predict Bradbury's amazing win could make him one of the country's marketable sportsmen.

Bradbury struck gold in one of the most remarkable races in Olympic history when his four rivals in the final all fell within sight of the finish line allowing him to skate past them to win gold.

While Bradbury was the first to admit his victory was lucky, at least one marketing firm said the manner of his win would only add to his appeal.

"He's Australia's version of the film Cool Runnings," celebrity publicist Max Markson said.

"He comes from the hottest state in Australia and he's won Australia's first Winter Olympics gold medal in a very different way. He's the luckiest man in the world today."

00:36 02-18-02