LILLEHAMMER : Let the Games Begin

The Winter Olympic Games begin Saturday in this Norwegian sports resort. The Lillehammer Games start a new sequence in the Olympic schedule. Previously both the Winter and Summer Olympics were held in the same year. The last Winter Games took place in 1992 at Albertville, France, and the 1994 resumption begins a cycle in which each even-numbered year will see either a winter or summer festival. The 1996 Summer Games will take place in Atlanta, and Calgary will host the 1998 Winter festival.

These Games have been marked by controversy even before the opening ceremony, notably the drama involving the American women figure skaters.

But as the XVIIth Games approach, Lillehammer appeared to be taking a fun-filled approach to the festival, anticipating the arrival of 100,000 tourists a day with bulging wallets.