Nagano Aglow With Charm

The Winter Olympics are making one final appearance on the stage of the 20th century, an aging actor trying to conjure up the charm of Lillehammer while dragging the crassness of Atlanta behind like a bum leg.

From the rooftop of Japan, the hosts in Nagano will try to walk a fine line between old and new, East and West, capitalism and environmentalism, religious and secular, high-tech and low--even Olympic and X Games.

The mix will be evident right from the opening ceremonies on Friday (Los Angeles time). A half-naked, 300-pound-plus Sumo wrestling grand champion named Akebono -- a naturalized Japanese citizen born in Hawaii -- will brave the cold to perform an ancient purifying ritual inside a state-of-the-art stadium shaped like a sakura, or cherry blossom, Japan’s national flower.

Competition in 68 sports will then provide opportunities for familiar and extraordinary events to unfold.

Russia will struggle to regain its dominance in all things wintry. Italy’s Alberto Tomba, the self-proclaimed “messiah of skiing” will struggle with humility. And Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski, two tiny, teen-aged figure skating queens with dueling autobiographies already in bookstores, will meet on the ice in the highest-stakes head-to-head match of the games.

That singular evening could also constitute the entire feel-good portion of the program for a young U.S. team with high hopes but without a proven performer like Bonnie Blair or a gold-medal lock on any other sport.

The Japanese, meanwhile, will be hard-pressed not just to match Norway’s hospitality, but also its record medal-winning performance as a host. The Norwegians climbed the medal platforms they themselves built in Lillehammer more than anyone else--26 times in all, with 10 golds. Next was Germany (24 and nine golds); followed by Russia (23 and 11); Italy (20 and seven); the United States (13 and six); and Canada (13 and three).

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Yet, no matter how the medal race turns out, the host’s greatest wish is that by the end, the world is reminded of what the Olympics once were and what they are always supposed to be: more about striving than winning; more about dignity than delivering; about playing for something besides pay.

“The concept for the games are games of the heart, participation of children and respect for the bounty of nature and peace,” said Makoto Kobayashi, director general of the Nagano Organizing Committee.

“I hope people watching on TV will see it as a wonderful festival and that the Eastern magic will show through.”

Toward that end, the images beamed around the globe will be long on gauzy white light and the picture-book alpine settings that made Norway look so beautiful, and short on the garish sign boards that made Atlanta look like an endless strip mall during midnight madness.

Although many of the same mega-sponsors will be on board, ponying up the same megabucks for the privilege, they will face considerably less competition. Missing entirely will be an official Olympic cold cut, an official Olympic game show, and plenty of the other “official” Olympic tie-ins in Atlanta that drove the International Olympic Committee nuts.

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That will be a blessing for everyone, especially since people watching TV back in the United States will have a tough enough time simply sorting out which events CBS is showing live and which ones are on tape. There is a 14-hour time difference between the East Coast of the United States and Nagano, a city of nearly 350,000 that is farther south than any other Winter Games host.

The biggest beneficiary of the 178 hours of broadcasts (128 by CBS and 50 by cable network TNT) will be figure skating. The sport’s ratings swelled enormously with the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan knee-knocking episode four years ago. Appealing to an audience that includes an increasingly large number of women viewers, figure skating winds up in prime time 10 of the 16 nights.

The three new sports on the Olympic program--curling, women’s hockey and that X Games refugee with crossover appeal, snowboarding--will be grateful for any exposure at all. But faring even worse in the TV sweepstakes is the NHL, which is closing down for two weeks in midseason so that its professionals can take part in the games for the first time ever.

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Commissioner Gary Bettman gambled that the exposure would pay off by helping to give hockey the same buzz the “Dream Team” generated around the globe for pro basketball. He may now have to wait until the 2002 Salt Lake City Games for his reward.

Most of the contests from Nagano--probably some of the best hockey ever played--will be shown live in North America in the wee hours. Even the gold-medal game was relegated to the TV graveyard, given a 11:35 p.m. EST time slot by CBS.

Still, almost nobody else is complaining. CBS forked over $375 million for the U.S. broadcast rights and got permission to construct a three-story studio on the grounds of the Zenkoji Temple, a centuries-old mecca for the Japanese. The sale of TV rights generated $513 million--some 60 times more than the $8.5 million the Sapporo Olympic Committee received in 1972, the only other time the Winter Olympics visited Asia.

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But the organizers will need every penny, as well as the $500 million or so kicked in by sponsors. A total of 71 nations, represented by about 2,000 athletes and 1,000 officials, are expected to show up. And the total budget, including infrastructure costs covered by the government in Tokyo, could climb as high as $12.7 billion. The Sapporo Games, by contrast, cost $1.7 billion and produced a $1.5 million surplus.

But they were memorable for more than just the bottom line. In Japan, they are remembered for producing the nation’s first-ever individual gold medal champion, Yukio Kasaya, who led a sweep in small-hill ski jumping by his countrymen. The result took on even greater significance because Emperor Hirohito was in the stands that day, inspiring a tradition of excellence in the sport that continues today.

Olympic historians, however, remember the Sapporo Games for the presence of another imperial ruler, Avery Brundage, the curmudgeon who headed the IOC at the time. Always on guard against commercialism creeping into the games, Brundage barred Austrian skier Karl Schranz, the favorite in all three Alpine events. Worse than taking money under the table was Schranz’s failure to keep his mouth shut about the $50,000 or so he collected every year in endorsement and sponsorship fees.

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Now, that kind of money would barely keep most amateurs competing--let alone winning. Italy’s national Olympic committee pays a $100,000 bonus for every gold medal--above the table. And even the U.S. Olympic Committee has adopted pay-for-performance bonuses, shelling out $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500 for gold, silver and bronze.

The nervous question echoing in the hallways of USOC headquarters through the fall and early winter was whether any of the dough would be doled out. Last October, Paul George, head of the U.S. mission at the games, set the bar at 18 medals. It was a giddy prediction made at a giddy time. Last week, despite a promising return to form by downhill racer Picabo Street, the USOC lowered it to 13.

Even that number might be too high. Besides Kwan and Lipinski, U.S. figure skaters Nicole Bobek and Todd Eldredge are solid medal contenders. But the rink is the only venue where Americans are the overwhelming favorites. And as it is, Bobek will have to hold off German Tanya Szewczenko, who gouged eventual Lillehammer winner Oksana Baiul in a practice mishap four years ago, and Eldridge will have to overcome his fear of flying and land a successful quad--a four-revolution jump--in Nagano to defeat Elvis Stojko for gold.

The muscular Canadian held a black belt in karate at age 16, and won silver in Norway dancing to the music from “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.”

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This time around, Stojko is the odds-on favorite to end a surprising drought and become the first Canadian male skater to win a gold. His other challengers are a pair of Russian teens, Ilia Kulik and Alexei Yagudin.

Interestingly, the Americans’ best chance to break the Russian stranglehold on pairs skating is an import from Japan. Kyoko Ina, whose partner is Jason Dungjen, was born there and represented Japan in junior competition before moving to the United States.

And the last chance for anyone to break the Russian stranglehold in ice dancing may have ended when both members of the defending gold medal Russian pair escaped serious injury in separate crashes with teammates during practice.

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Nothing that extreme will have to happen for either the men or women’s U.S. hockey teams to win it all, especially since both proved themselves the equal of the favored Canadians in recent international competition. But the rest of the world is loaded, too, especially in men’s bracket.

Squabbling between the Russian federation and a handful of its well-capitalized stars has left the Big Red Machine a shell of its former self. But it remains formidable, and Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and even Slovakia--bolstered by three NHL stars and the presence of Satan (Buffalo Sabre Miroslav Satan) in the lineup--could provide a threat.

America has won more medals in speedskating than any other sport, but this team will have all it can handle. The sport has been revolutionized by the clap skate--a hinge allows the blade to remain on the ice longer and “claps” when the blade snaps back into place--a development few Americans have been able to exploit.

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The Dutch and Germans, both long-track speedskating powers, got their hands on the new technology faster and therefore mastered the technique quicker than their U.S. counterparts. Still, American KC Boutiette, a converted in-line skater who like several of his teammates sports dyed hair and body piercings, set a U.S. record at 1,500 meters in clap skates and could contend.

An even stronger challenge could come from two American women: Chris Witty, 21, who followed in Blair’s tracks by becoming world sprint champion; and Kirstin Holum, the daughter of four-time U.S. Olympic medalist Dianne Holum. In what can be called an extreme example of preparation, Dianne Holum was pregnant with Kirstin during the entire time she coached Eric Heiden to five golds in the 1980 Lake Placid Games.

Some of the noise in alpine skiing no doubt will be made by Tomba “La Bomba” clapping for himself. But most everyone else will probably be lauding his countrywoman, Deborah Compagnoni. She flattened the competition throughout the recent World Cup season and is regarded, along with Germany’s Katja Seizinger, as the woman to beat.

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Street joined Tommy Moe on the medal stand in Lillehammer, helping extend a run of American downhillers zooming out of nowhere to steal a race from the favorites. Both cashed in big-time and have encountered rough stretches on the slopes ever since--Street blew up knee ligaments; Moe tore his, then severed a tendon in his thumb on broken glass last year while tending bar.

And although Street placed fourth in a recent World Cup downhill in Italy, a repeat performance at the Olympics by either would be considered a surprise. The most likely breakthrough American performer could be slalom specialist Kristina Koznick.

As far as the rest of the world, Tomba will be even more envious if an Austrian team led by Hermann Maier proves as formidable as it looks, and the sole Italian man to win a medal is teammate Kristian Ghedina. But both could happen.

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So could a U.S. medal in bobsledding, which would be the first since 1956. Prospects seemed dim when the U.S. four-man sled was disqualified in Lillehammer for using a sled with runners that were too warm and finished behind the cool-running Jamaican team.

But Brian Shimer, the driver on that U.S. team, won bronze medals in two-man and four-man sleds in last year’s world championships. And if needed, he can call on push-athlete Chip Minton--who makes his living away from the track as a pro wrestler--to keep nosy inspectors from looking under the sled.

An inspection, this one by the international skiing federation (FIS), also produced the major controversy leading up to the games. To avoid extending the downhill ski course into protected parkland, Nagano organizers put the starting gate for the downhill ski course on Happo’one well below where the federation wanted it.

FIS underestimated Japanese resolve. Nagano organizers would budge only so far after transplanting grass favored by the endangered Gifu butterfly to make way for one ski run and relocating the biathlon venue so as not to disturb nesting goshawks.

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A compromise was eventually reached. But not before ski federation director Marc Hodler apologized for remarks he made in a local newspaper comparing Nagano committee chief Kobayashi with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

“Environmental things are of interest to us,” Kobayashi said. “The starting point has become a symbol of our regard. If we were to raise it, we’d be called the Nagano Olympics that destroyed the environment.”