WINTER OLYMPICS : There’s New Events, More Competitors--Let the Games Begin

The Great Whoopee, as Eric Heiden once called the Winter Olympics, is practically upon us.

Starting today in Calgary, the boys and girls of winter, about 2,600 of them, will indulge their passion for the three S’s--skiin’, skatin’ and slidin’. They will be representing 57 countries, 8 more than in 1984 at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and 19 more than in 1980 at Lake Placid, N.Y.

In some of those countries, snow is nothing more than a whispered rumor and ice is something used to cool drinks. Jamaica, for instance, is joining the frostbite festival this time with two- and four-man bobsled teams, and Mexico will compete in figure skating, bobsledding, and skiing.

ABC has paid $309 million to televise 94 1/2 hours of the competition.

The International Olympic Committee has expanded the Winter Games from 12 days to 16, matching the more popular Summer Olympics.

From all appearances, then, the Winter Games have become big stuff, a Great Whoopee indeed.

That’s more than a little surprising, but it’s also a tribute to human ability not just to make the best of a distressing situation--in this case, winter--but to make it fun.

It also shows that even a renegade can succeed.

When Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France revived the Olympic movement for the modern world in 1896, presumably to promote peace and good will throughout the world, he certainly didn’t have winter sports in mind. How could ice hockey, for instance, ever promote peace and good will?

Coubertin, in fact, was among those in opposition when supporters of organized slip-sliding around kept insisting that they should be in the Olympics.

Figure skating was the first to make the big time. It was added to the Summer Games in 1908. Hockey was included in 1920, again as part of the Summer Olympics.

Soon thereafter, though, it was suggested that bobsledding, speed skating and ski running--what we call cross-country skiing today--join figure skating and hockey in Olympic competition to be held every four years in the winter preceding the Summer Games.

Naturally, that was not greeted with great enthusiasm in the Olympic family. In fact, it was not even greeted with great enthusiasm in some of the countries that favored winter sports. Norway and Sweden, for instance, considered themselves the rightful guardians of many snow-and-ice activities and saw no reason to share them with the rest of the world.

So unevenly went the struggle that the first Winter Olympics were not recognized as such until long after they had been completed. In early 1924 at Chamonix, France, 294 athletes from 16 countries competed in 14 events in what was called the Chamonix International Winter Sports Week.

Had that event flopped, we might not be talking about Winter Olympics today. Warm weather did threaten, but it did no more than that, and everything went off without a hitch. More than two years later, in May, 1926, the Chamonix Games were granted Olympic status.

They have done nothing but grow since, providing us looks along the way at such stars as Sonja Henie, Stein Eriksen, Dick Button, Peggy Fleming, Jean-Claude Killy, the 1980 U.S. hockey team that performed the Miracle on Ice, and Heiden, the speed skater with the oak-tree thighs who won five gold medals in nine days at distances ranging from 500 to 10,000 meters.

This time around, the Winter Games have grown again, since two Alpine skiing events have been added for both men and women. In addition, there is a demonstration sport, curling; two demonstration events, freestyle skiing and short-track speed skating, and an exhibition of disabled skiing.

Demonstration sports and events may eventually gain Olympic medal recognition. Exhibition events usually showcase athletic talents in which the host country is strong. Medals are awarded for demonstration and exhibition sports, but they are not exactly the same as those given in the recognized sports.

Despite the additions, however, the Winter Games medal events still consist of five basic sports--skiing, ice skating, hockey, bobsledding and luge--and their variations and disciplines. Here they are:

Alpine skiing--There are five events each for men and women: The downhill, the slalom, the giant slalom, the super-G and the Alpine combined.

The downhill is a speed event, the longest and fastest of the Alpine competition. It’s one run as fast as the skiers can go for more than 3,000 meters, nearly two miles. There are 40 control gates to negotiate, but they are the least strategic in downhill.

In slalom skiing, two runs for regular and giant, turning is the key, since the courses are steep and the gates are many and placed strategically. The slalom, at about 500 meters, is the shortest and most technical event, involving 55-75 gates for men, 45-60 for women.

The giant slalom, two runs at about 1,200 meters, is longer than the slalom but with only 55 gates. It combines some of the speed of the downhill with the aggressiveness of slalom. Super-G, one run, is still closer to downhill at about 2,000 meters, although more difficult technically because it involves more turns. Alpine combined includes one day’s run of downhill with the next day’s slalom run.

Nordic skiing--This includes two unrelated types of skiing: Cross-country and jumping. Both men and women compete in the cross-country, men only in the jumping.

In cross-country, the men race 15, 30 and 50 kilometers individually, and there is a 400-meter relay. The women race 5, 10 and 20 kilometers and they, too, have a 400-meter relay. A kilometer is about two-thirds of a mile.

In jumping, men leap from long slides pitched to allow them to jump about 70 meters from the smaller one and about 90 meters from the bigger one. A meter is a little longer than a yard. Jumpers are judged on distance and style. Men may also compete in Nordic combined, which includes three jumps off the 70-meter slide with a 15-kilometer cross-country race.

Biathlon--Although women compete in biathlon internationally, it is for men only in the Olympics. It combines cross-country skiing and target shooting with a .22-caliber rifle. There are 10- and 20-kilometer individual events and a four-man relay.

Biathletes, rifles slung on their backs, must hurry from one target area to another, then fire at small stationary targets from prone or standing positions. Poor shooting results in having to ski penalty loops, which is bad for the biathlete, since time is of the essence.

Speed skating--This is for both men and women. Competing in pairs, but against the clock, men skate races of 500, 1,000, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters. The women skate three of the same distances but substitute a 3,000-meter test for the 10,000.

Figure skating--This ballet on blades is for men, women, pairs and dancers.

The men’s and women’s singles include compulsory figures, which count for 30% of the score; a short program of seven prescribed elements skated to music, which counts for 20%; and a long program of free skating to music that counts for 50%.

Pairs skate a seven-element short program, counting for 33%, and a five-minute long program good for 66%.

Ice dancing, ballroom dancing on skates, consists of compulsories, counting for 30%; original set patterns, 20%; and free dance, 50%.

Hockey--Again, for men only. Teams are divided into two groups, red and blue, and the top three from each group after a round robin qualify for medal play. A win counts two points, a tie one and a loss none.

In previous Olympics, only the top two teams from each group advanced. Each team plays each other team in the medal round, the team with the most points overall winning the gold medal.

Bobsled--Another men’s sport, this consists of two-man and four-man teams racing aerodynamic, four-runner sleighs going down an ice-covered trough nearly a mile long. Each sled is allowed four runs, the best cumulative time winning. Countries are allowed two sleds in each event.

Luge--This, like the bobsled, is a sliding event. Unlike the bobsled, however, women compete, too.

Lugers, lying on their backs, ride a rudimentary sled down part of the bobsled run, steering with slight weight shifts and toe or shoulder movements.

Men race singly and in pairs, women in singles only. There are four runs in singles, two in doubles and best cumulative time wins.

DEMONSTRATIONS

Curling--This old Scottish game combines elements of shuffleboard and bowling. Playing on an ice sheet, curlers spin--curl--polished granite stones down the ice to a target area. Two teammates, using brooms, sweep ahead of the curling stone to straighten its course or increase its speed. Both men and women curl.

Freestyle skiing--This is the so-called hotdog skier’s sport, and the hotdogs can be either men or women. It involves aerials--a variety of downhill jumps--ballet, and mogul skiing, which includes aerials and stylish turns in a race down a bump-laden slope.

Short track speed skating--This is old-fashioned pack racing for men and women. Skaters race four to six at a time in heats over a 110-meter circuit usually laid out on a hockey rink. In Calgary, however, the curling sheet will be used. There are individual events of various distances as well as relay events.

EXHIBITION

Disabled skiing--This includes Nordic and Alpine events for men and women. In Nordic, there will be a sightless cross-country race in which participants are accompanied by sighted guides. In the Alpine event, amputees will race down a giant slalom course using custom skis and, usually, poles tipped with mini-skis.