‘94 Winter Olympic Games / Lillehammer : NOTEBOOK

Finally, one small step for man.

Tommy Moe’s gold medal in Alpine downhill skiing was the first by a U.S. male in six years.

Not since Brian Boitano’s figure-skating victory at Calgary has a gold been won by an American man. The only victorious U.S. athletes at Albertville in 1992 were women--speedskater Bonnie Blair twice, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, freestyle skier Donna Weinbrecht and short-track skater Cathy Turner.

“All right! One for our side!” Boitano joked after Moe’s success Sunday.

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Headline from Sports Illustrated’s Winter Olympic preview issue: “What’s wrong with U.S. skiing? Sit down, this may take awhile.”

From writer E.M. Swift’s text: “Slovenia, Luxembourg and New Zealand all have better chances to take home Alpine medals from Lillehammer than Uncle Sam’s lead-footed snowplow brigade.

“Norway . . . has four skiers ranked ahead of the top U.S. man, Tommy Moe.

“Only Moe and a miracle stand between this team and a repeat of the 1988 Games in Calgary, where the top U.S. skier finished ninth, just ahead of the lift operator.”

Anybody still believe in miracles?

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Add article: Moe had this to say about the SI story: “Everyone should read it, because none of it is really true. The result today kind of puts it in place. A lot of American skiers work hard. We don’t need to be ridiculed.”

And: “It’s funny that it came out this time of year, before the Olympics. I read it. It stoked my fire.”

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The magazine also asked why “all seven million Austrians and half of the cows in Switzerland ski faster than the entire U.S. ski team?”

Austria’s downhill skiers placed fourth, tied for sixth, 15th and 19th Sunday. Switzerland’s were 14th, 16th and 23rd.

Americans placed first, 11th and 17th.

No Slovenia, Luxembourg, New Zealand or Swiss bovine skiers won medals.