First Comes a Joint Effort, Then a Crash and Burn

Was it just a bad flashback, a temporary siege of reefer madness, or did Ross Rebagliati really get his gold medal back a few hours before Hermann Maier imploded on the men’s downhill course?

Dazed and confused, the Nagano Games peered through the fog--or was that second-hand smoke?--and made the proper call on Rebagliati, finally arriving at the conclusion that marijuana does not enhance any athletic performance beyond synchronized pizza scarfing.

Then, the thrice-delayed men’s downhill got a break in the weather, the featured ski race of the Winter Olympics finally got off, and the featured skier of these Winter Olympics pulled a “Wide World of Sports” agony-of-defeat ejection-seat wipeout.

It was a spectacular crash, one of the those I-can’t-bear-to-take-my-eyes-off-it free falls through two plastic fences and nearly into the next prefecture. Maier, the runaway leader in the men’s World Cup standings, lost it on the Alpen jump early in the run, the same jump that eliminated seven other skiers and badly injured one Friday--a jump that was not part of the original course layout, as planned by Nagano organizers.

The jump was only added at the insistence of the International Ski Federation, which had pressed the Nagano Organizing Committee for five years to lengthen the run. Be careful, you might get what you ask for. By the time the weather permitted Maier and the rest of the field to tackle the course, the Alpen jump was slick and ice-hard after two days of heavy rain, a veritable Dead Man’s Curve.

Maier, incredibly, walked away from his crash, but Italian Luca Cattaneo had to be airlifted off the slope after falling and injuring his ankle. France’s Jean-Luc Cretier was the winner/leading survivor; 1994 gold medalist Tommy Moe lumbered home in 12th place, behind American teammate Kyle Rasmussen, who was ninth.

Rebagliati’s restored gold medal was a triumph of common sense and attention to fine print, courtesy of the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS). Basically, CAS had two points to consider before ruling on Rebagliati’s appeal:

1. Is marijuana an athletic performance-enhancing drug?

2. Is marijuana on the International Olympic Committee’s list of banned substances?

CAS’ conclusions: No, and no.

As articulated by Swiss halfpipe gold medalist Gian Simmen, marijuana “doesn’t make you go faster. Give the medal back.”

And according to the NAOC Drug Formulary Guide, marijuana is not listed as prohibited substance--only a substance to be used “cautiously.”

Carol Anne Letheren, chief executive of the Canadian Olympic Assn., said there is “absolutely a requirement here for this to receive a real clarification.” But until there is one, and marijuana remains off the IOC’s banned list, the CAS had to rule as it did and reunite Rebagliati with his giant slalom snowboarding medal.

And, no, no one in the stands at White Ring arena was hallucinating during the men’s figure skating short program. There really were world-class athletes dressed as jellyfish, gypsies, pirates and ninja warriors cavorting across the ice--with Jellyfish Boy, Ilia Kulik of Russia, skating away with first place.

Canada’s Elvis Stojko (dressed in all black) and the United States’ Todd Eldredge (brown vest, brown pants) were second and third, apparently weighted down by their comparatively tasteful clothing choices.

Speedskating, once the proud domain of Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen, has become a tiresome tale of sameness here for the United States. The fundamental plot line never varies:

American skates a personal best, an American record, sometimes an Olympic record.

American peels off his or her Lycra hood and watches Dutch, German and Japanese skaters take their marks.

American slowly, painfully, falls from first to second to third to fourth, fifth or sixth.

It happened again to KC Boutiette, who completed his 1,500 meters in 1:50.04--fast enough for first place after 18 pairs of skaters had come and gone.

Four pairs later, Boutiette was fifth, eclipsed by three Dutchmen and Norwegian Aadne Sondral, who won the gold medal in a world-record time of 1:47.87.

But Boutiette fared better than Todd Lodwick, regarded a dark-horse contender for the United States’ first-ever medal in Nordic combined, who placed 29th in the ski-jump portion, and the American women’s curling squad, which was eliminated from medal contention by Norway, 9-8.

Maybe the curlers can take it up with CAS. Beer is nowhere to be found on the IOC banned list.