‘94 WINTER OLYMPICS / LILLEHAMMER : NOTEBOOK

Aerial skier Trace Worthington of Park City, Utah, whose sport is an Olympic event for the first time here, is among those few athletes who don’t think the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding story is overshadowing all else going on here.

“I’ve never been in this situation, so I don’t know how it’s supposed to be,” he said. “I think this is great. This is the first press conference I’ve ever been at.”

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Ski jumper Jim Holland of Norwich, Vt., has the highest regard for Norwegian Stein Gruben, the jumper who sailed off the big hill carrying the Olympic torch in Saturday’s opening ceremony.

“That’s a tough thing to do,” he said. “It’s tough enough just to do it, but with the whole world watching? I’m not sure how big they would be, but the consequences of dropping it would make for quite a scene.”