WINTER OLYMPICS : Notebook : Disabled Southland Skiers Win Pair of Silver Medals

A couple of Southern Californians won silver medals here Sunday and were mighty proud of them.

But skiers Cathy Gentile of Torrance and Greg Mannino of Yorba Linda were even more proud of what they and their teammates had done to advance the cause of disabled athletes everywhere.

Mannino was second in the disabled men’s giant slalom at Canada Olympic Park, and Gentile was part of a U.S. sweep in the women’s, finishing behind Diana Golden of Lincoln, Mass., and ahead of Martha Hill of Winter Park, Colo.

Disabled skiing is an exhibition sport at the Winter Games here.

“Inevitably, this is going to grow,” said Mannino, who finished behind Alexander Spitz of West Germany and ahead of Fritz Berger of Switzerland. “If it isn’t before we quit, we’re at least paving the way for the young kids. It’s going to give some incentive for the young kids to keep training.”

Both said, however, that because of the exposure they got here, which ought to increase their sponsorship, they figured to be able to ski for two more seasons, by which time they will be 27.

“In 1990 the (World Championships) are in Winter Park, Colo.,” Gentile said, adding that she intended to be part of them.

Gentile, a 1984 graduate of USC, has been disabled since 1971, when a bone disease resulted in amputation of her right leg at the hip. She began skiing after that.

Mannino’s left leg was amputated above the knee after an electrical accident in 1979. He had been a recreational skier before that, but had never raced.

Both now are living in Vail, Colo., where there is one heck of a mountain to ski, and both stress that they are full-time athletes, not simply disabled persons who ski. Unlike some of today’s athletes, however, they don’t have the backing to be real full-time athletes.

“Unfortunately, you’re on your own to raise money,” Mannino said. “It’s a very expensive sport, and people don’t seem to see disabled skiing as a World Cup competition.

“Right now, I’m working for a prosthetic company, with research and development. They’re subsidizing my bills--they’re actually sponsoring me--but I work for them and I go to shows, and it’s not like I’m doing anything for free. Plus I’m pursuing my career in the prosthetic industry.”

Said Gentile: “I have some sponsorship and I work part-time, at night, at one of the ski shops so that I can ski during the day. It’s not the ideal situation, by far, because it doesn’t allow you to get into the gym to do the dry-land training that you should be doing but, you know, you gotta pay the bills. As Greg said, it’s very expensive.”

Gentile also called for wider inclusion of disabled athletes.

“This is a great start, but I hope someday everybody gets a chance,” she said. “There are a lot of disabilities not represented here.”

And both she and Mannino strongly urged that disabled skiing be included as a regular sport in future Olympics.

“We won the first Alpine medals (of these Games) for the U.S.,” Mannino said. “They ought to be counted with the regular medals.”

Whatever problems they have, though, American disabled skiers figure they are better off than those from most other countries.

“We got to march in the Opening Ceremony with the rest of the U.S. athletes,” said Golden, whose right leg was amputated above the knee after she had cancer when she was 12. “The U.S. and Canada were the only teams that allowed the disabled athletes to march with the other Olympians.”

Golden represents the epitome of disabled skiing, an athlete who is good enough to command total sponsorship, allowing her to spend all her time on her sport.

“My goal is eventually to beat Diana,” Gentile said. “And for me to do that, I have to be on snow every day. And I have to be able to train year-round and not have to worry about working.”

Said Mannino: “Diana is No. 1. She spends half the summer in Europe, training. She’s the first one on the disabled circuit to really hit it big with agencies and full sponsorship. She’s making quite a few bucks.”

Added Gentile: “People are starting to view us as athletes, instead of saying, ‘Isn’t that inspirational!’ It’s changing. It’s changed a lot since I started.”

Folks who took in the biathlon Saturday got an unexpected treat.

Two bearded gentlemen dressed in Alpine costumes gave a mini-concert on Alpenhorns, those long, musical instruments that rest on two tiny feet.

Alpenhorns sound something like tubas, but have a richer, more haunting tone.

If or when Gary Hart abandons his presidential aspirations, he apparently has his future lined up.

A Petro-Canada gasoline station on the west side of Calgary carries a sign proclaiming proprietorship by Gary Hart.

The Calgary Herald was so certain that Canada’s Brian Orser would beat the United States’ Brian Boitano in men’s figure skating Saturday night it had cardboard advertisements on its coin boxes Sunday morning reading, “Canada Wins Gold.”

Orser’s second-place finish, however, leaves Canada without a gold medal.

Inside its Sunday morning edition, the Herald reported that viewers called Calgary’s CFCN-TV, which is carrying ABC’s coverage of the Games, to complain about an interview that reporter David Santee, a former U.S. Olympian, did with Orser immediately after he finished skating.

Santee told Orser he had good news and bad news for him, the good news being that Orser skated well; the bad news being that he finished second.

The callers “were all basically saying that (Santee) was an insensitive idiot,” CFCN editorial assistant Farrah Remtulla told the Herald. “As soon as one person hung up, the phone would ring again.”

Boitano was more sensitive on the awards stand. He and Orser have been friends for 10 years.

“I almost felt guilty about feeling great because I know how hard it was for him,” Boitano said. “I felt it was important not to gloat so he wouldn’t feel worse.”

A large crowd surrounded Swedish speed skater Tomas Gustafson, who wore the gold medal after he won Sunday’s 10,000 meter race.

“Who’s that with Gustafson?,” someone in the throng said. “Is that his wife?”

No, Gustafson is single. The woman in the crowd was Queen Sylvia of Sweden.

The United States has a good chance to win its second gold medal when the speed skating oval is turned over to the women skaters beginning with tonight’s 500-meter race.

American Bonnie Blair is considered the favorite in the race, in which her principal challenger for the gold medal will be Christa Rothenburger of East Germany. Karin Kania, Rothenburger’s teammate, is also a serious contender.

Rothenburger is the world record-holder at 39.39. She beat Blair’s world record by four-hundredths of a second in a World Cup race in Calgary in December.

Blair defeated Rothenburger in a head-to-head 500-meter matchup at the World Sprint Championships two weeks ago in Milwaukee.

Times staff writers Thomas Bonk and Randy Harvey contributed to this story.