They Don’t Have to Say ‘Zero’ in Japanese Now

At approximately 12:30 p.m., Nagano Time, on Day 5 of the 1998 Winter Olympics, the United States officially moved past Kenya, Azerbaijan, Bermuda, India, Jamaica, Mongolia and Trinidad and Tobago in the medal standings.

Before Jonny Moseley of Tiburon, Calif., began his gold-medal run in men’s moguls skiing, Team USA was tied for last in this winter carnival with countries that have no snow, countries that have no mountains, countries that have no ice except for whatever they crush and slip into drinks with tiny paper umbrellas.

Before Jonny Moguls rode to the rescue Wednesday, the United States was 0-for-Nagano, with no medals to show for four days of luging, skiing, snowboarding and speedskating, placing the Scars and Stripes behind Bulgaria, Ukraine and Belgium’s one-man Olympic team.

Ninety minutes later, Picabo Street pulled off the first true shocker of these Games, stunning Katja Seizinger and the rest of the world superstars of women’s super-giant slalom with another gold medal. When it snows it pours. Four months ago, Street was crumpled on a frozen slope in Chile, emotionally defeated, crying in frustration because her surgically repaired knee wasn’t responding anywhere near to Street’s own warp-speed timetable.

Wednesday, she was on top of world, the fastest woman on Mount Karamatsu, winning an event not even considered her strongest. Street is a downhill specialist; that is where she won her name-making silver medal at Lillehammer in 1994.

Now that silver medal is an afterthought, a long-forgotten opening act.

Gold in the women’s super-G.

That’s one way to re-balance the scales after the American snowboarders crashed and burned and choked on their “death cookies;” after the U.S. women’s moguls team, hoping for a medals sweep, instead got swept off the podium altogether; after Wendel Suckow’s quest for luge bronze came up three lengths short; after both U.S. pairs figure skating teams nearly got arrested for littering the ice during Tuesday’s long program.

Before Moseley finally got Team USA over the bump, the forecast of a full-scale American bust in Nagano was starting to look as good as the forecast for more snow at Hakuba.

By Day 4 in Lillehammer, the United States had already won three medals--two golds and a silver--with 10 more still to come.

By Day 4 in Nagano, Olympic historian David Wallechinsky was telling reporters that the longest the United States had gone without a Winter Olympics medal was Day 6 . . . in 1936.

Ignominy was approaching faster than Georg Hackl in his titanium-or-whatever-enhanced booties, with USOC officials counting down the days until the women’s figure skating competition.

Two or three sure-fire American medals got lost in a snowdrift straddling the snowboarding giant slalom run. Suckow, first on this same luge track during a 1997 World Cup stop, lumbered in at sixth place. Casey FitzRandolph set a personal best in men’s 500-meter speedskating, was third near the end of the final, but wound up in sixth--blown away by Hiroyasu Shimuzu’s locomotive charge to Japan’s first gold medal of 1998.

Women’s moguls skiing looked to be a potential mother lode for the Americans. Donna Weinbrecht had won gold in this event in 1992, Liz McIntyre silver in 1994, and Ann Battelle was second in the 1998 World Cup standings. One medal was a given, two considered likely. There was even some newspaper scuttlebutt--typed with crossed fingers, no doubt--about a possible American sweep.

Final results from Mount Yakebitai:

4. Weinbrecht (USA).

8. McIntyre (USA).

10. Battelle (USA).

Japan’s Tae Satoya slipped away with the gold, giving the home crowds a reason to weep for joy after ski jumper Masahiko Harada failed again with an Olympic championship on the line. Harada cost Japan a team gold medal in 1994 with a poor final jump, when no more than a so-so effort was needed. Wednesday, Harada led the individual 90-meter event after the first round--once more, needing only a mediocre jump to clinch the gold--and short-hopped it again.

Finland’s Jani Soininen wound up with the gold medal; Harada finished fifth.

It’s a tough room, these Winter Olympics. Sportsmanship, fair play and honest effort are paid their obligatory lip service, but those who choose to get real realize the name of the Games is medals, medals, medals.

Wednesday, the Americans finally got theirs. Now, at the risk of arousing the restless winter gods here, can everybody please chill out?