DATELINE: Albertville

For savoring the flavor of the Winter Olympics, it’s hard to beat cross-country skiing. Particularly if the Olympics are in Europe.

Europeans really get into the sport. In some countries--Finland especially--international cross-country skiers are as popular as baseball or football stars in the United States. And a day at the ski races is as big a deal as any major sporting event in the States.

The difference is, spectators find their own ways to enjoy it. It’s sort of like a day at the beach that way. Some congregate at the start-finish area, some head for the hills to watch the skiers out on the course and some do a little of each.

The other day at Les Saisies, where Norway’s skiers swept the medals, Norwegian fans were out in force, obviously well aware that it could be a great day for them. They dominated the stadium area, draping a gigantic national flag over the front of the bleachers and waving hundreds of smaller ones nonstop during the competition, cheering whenever one of their boys skied back into the stadium or moved up on the scoreboard or was shown out on the course on a huge TV screen. They sang, they yelled. They wore faces painted in the country’s colors--one guy had the flag on his face--and, in a masterpiece of crowd coordination, wore red parkas.

Against that kind of display, the Swedes and Finns and other national groups didn’t have a chance. They were overwhelmed.

And it carried right out onto the course, where hundreds of other Norwegians--some on skis themselves--raced from one vantage point to another, carrying signs and more flags. One guy’s flag was so big that it could have flown over the consulate. He had it mounted on a 10-foot pole that he stuck in the snow until it was time to move on. Another wore his flag as a cape, Superman style.

As enthusiastic as they were about their own skiers, though, they urged other countries’ on as well, which apparently is a part of the cross-country game. At any given spot on the track, cries of “Go!” in various languages--the French allez, the Spanish vamos, the Finnish hyva, the Norwegian heia and the international hup-hup-hup-- greet any skier as he reaches a cluster of fans.

It’s a neat experience, exciting and mellow all at once.

Only thing is, there are no concession stands on the course or in the stadium area. No wonder the sport never made it big in the United States.