ANALYSIS : At Least the U.S. Has Learned How to Talk a Better Game

The U.S. Olympic team at the XVI Winter Games benefited from the great improvement in one area, spin control. That, as you probably are aware from watching the United States’ other winter sports spectacle, the political primaries, has nothing to do with curling, figure skating or freestyle moguls skiing.

It has to do with public relations, which former U.S. Olympic Committee president Robert Helmick had little grasp of at Calgary’s Winter Olympics four years ago, when he called a news conference to announce the establishment of an overview commission, headed by George Steinbrenner, that would prepare a game plan for the nation’s future Olympic efforts.

Helmick acknowledged later that he did not realize that when Americans hear Steinbrenner’s name, they also hear sirens. Everyone began searching for the emergency. Could it be at Calgary, where the U.S. team would win only six medals and finish ninth in the standings? Whether or not intended, that was the impression left.

The USOC learned its lesson. Saturday, it called a news conference at the main press center here to trumpet the encouraging results of the U.S. team in the Winter Games of France’s Savoy region. Steinbrenner, a USOC vice president, was out of sight, if not exactly out of mind, having returned home a week into the Games to tend to his Yankees.

Under the heading “U.S. Olympic Team Wrapping Up Successful Winter Games,” the USOC’s release to the press said: “America’s Winter Olympic athletes are turning in some of the best performances in Games’ history in Albertville, and the United States Olympic Committee is moving quickly to keep the effort rolling for the future.”

That is one way look at what happened here.

The United States won 11 medals, including five golds. Only twice in 15 previous Games have the nation’s winter athletes won either more medals or more golds. They won 12 medals, including six golds, in 1932 and 1980, both times on U.S. soil at Lake Placid, N.Y. The only other time they won as many as 11 medals was in 1952 at Oslo.

But, in fact, the U.S. performance here was not significantly better than it was four years ago. Four of its medals, including two golds, came in sports, freestyle moguls and short-track speedskating, that were not on the official program at Calgary. That does not mean they are unimportant, especially to the winners. But, for purposes of comparison, they do not count.

When those are subtracted, that leaves the United States with seven medals and three golds, one more, in both cases, than it won in 1988.

Another yardstick is the number of certificates of achievement that the International Olympic Committee awards to athletes or teams that finish among the top eight in their sports. In 1988, U.S. athletes received 21. Here, they earned 24, but, again, four of those were in sports that were contested for medals at Calgary.

In comparing placements, the United States was unquestionably better here than four years ago in only two sports, Alpine skiing, particularly the women’s events, and ice hockey. It was slightly better in luge, cross-country skiing and ski jumping and about the same in figure skating and bobsled. It was worse in speedskating, biathlon and Nordic combined.

After the initial hype of Saturday’s news conference, the USOC’s practical-minded executive director, Harvey Schiller, acknowledged that the United States “still has a long way to go” in winter sports.

The encouraging news is that USOC at least seems to be moving in the right direction.

Despite the media hits that Steinbrenner’s overview commission took for its emphasis on medals, it did redirect much of the USOC’s budget toward the athletes so that most of them do not live like paupers. The USOC has promised that athletes will receive even more money in direct payments over the next four years.

Beyond that, the overview commission made other recommendations when it delivered its report in 1990 that figure to reap results in the future.

“You’re not going to make dramatic changes in the American sports system in two years,” Schiller said. “Albertville was just a step along the way. But by Lillehammer (Norway) in 1994 and Nagano (Japan) in 1998 and wherever the Games are in 2002, I think you’ll see some real differences.”

One difference will be in the facilities available.

For years, the only luge and bobsled track in the United States has been in Lake Placid. By the end of 1995, an additional one has been promised by Salt Lake City as part of its effort to lure the 2002 Winter Games. Salt Lake City also will build an indoor speedskating oval to go along with the one in Milwaukee that should be completed by the end of next year.

“We’ve needed winter facilities in the West,” Schiller said. “Can you imagine our results if we can get all of those skateboarders in California into speedskating?”

Two more points that should be addressed before we move on to Lillehammer in s719 days:

--Women won nine of the United States’ 11 medals here, including all five golds. Only three countries here won more medals in women’s events, while 12 won more medals in men’s events.

USOC officials advance several theories for the disparity, the prevailing one being that there are virtually no opportunities for women in professional sports. As a result, Olympic sports attract many of the nation’s best women athletes, while the best men athletes have other, more lucrative, avenues.

--At some point, the USOC should reconsider whether to continue sending a full complement of athletes to the Olympics. Some of them are not competitive with the top 20 athletes in the world but still go to the Games. The East Germans used to call that “Olympic tourism.”

Unlike with the former East Germans, this is not a financial issue because the USOC can afford to send as many athletes as allowed. But some USOC officials have voiced suspicions that there are athletes who look at earning a berth on the U.S. team as the challenge and the Olympics themselves as a reward.

Except for Bonnie Blair’s two gold medals and a fourth place by Dan Jansen and a sixth by Eric Flaim, the U.S. speedskating team here had a particularly poor accounting. The average placement in 10 events was 20th.

“We shouldn’t be here with 20 skaters,” U.S. Coach Peter Mueller said. “The Dutch have a powerhouse team, and they don’t have 20 skaters here.”