Skiing Events May Be Diluted

Bombs are falling in Afghanistan and anthrax scares are occurring with frightening frequency, but the International Olympic Committee insists the Winter Games will go on.

If they do take place, will they be compromised because athletes’ training was disrupted and travel limited because of security concerns related to the Sept. 11 attacks and U.S. military action?

The U.S. has pulled speedskaters, hockey players and figure skaters out of overseas events, and some foreign athletes delayed or canceled plans to train at Salt Lake City venues. Skiers could be the next group affected.

The World Cup ski season begins this weekend in Soelden, Austria. It continues with men’s and women’s races Nov. 22-26 at Aspen, Colo.; women’s competition at Lake Louise, Canada, Nov. 29-Dec. 1; and men’s races at Beaver Creek, Colo., Dec. 1-2.

However, some U.S. skiers, based on recent informal chats in Europe, say the Austrians might skip the North American World Cup stops. That could keep the Austrians from earning World Cup points to qualify for the Games. Their absence could give U.S. athletes a boost, but it could also dilute the competition.

“Some of them are so afraid to come over here because we’re at war,” Picabo Street, the defending women’s super-G Olympic gold medalist, said last week during the Olympic Media Summit at Salt Lake City. “The early events in my sport are jeopardized....

“I think some of my competitors are fairly adamant about not wanting to come. But they’re not individual enough to stand up and say ‘I’m not coming.’ If one doesn’t come they all won’t come. They’re going to leverage their power with our national governing board ... to get the races moved or canceled.

“I look at it like the glass is half full. You’re going to wait until February to compete here for the first time, you’re going to be at a disadvantage if you’re still stressing about being here.”

Chad Fleischer had similar impressions. “I think there are heavy concerns from some of the Austrians about how things are at our airports,” he said.

Both said they doubt Austrians will skip the Games or that the Games will be canceled, but nothing is impossible anymore. “I just get on my bike every day and pedal away and hope my Olympic dreams will come true,” Street said.

Bode Miller said he hopes the world’s best skiers will come, so the competition will be fair and the results beyond question. “Besides Daron [Rahlves, last season’s super-G world champion] we haven’t really showed our ability on the world stage. We haven’t skied the way we can,” he said. “If we do, no question we can come out of this with a lot of medals.”

Coming out alive is the best result. “This is America’s opportunity to show just how safe we can make America,” Miller said.

Rally ‘Round the Flag

Street, who said Salt Lake City will be her Olympic finale, said she hopes to carry the U.S. flag in the opening ceremony Feb. 8.

“Right now, it would be a really great chance for me to show my patriotism,” said Street, who returned last winter after missing two seasons because of a broken femur and torn right knee ligament. “That would be the cherry on top of a really amazing career.”

If she doesn’t get her wish, she will settle for a medal. Or not breaking any bones.

“I’ll take a gold,” she said. “I’ll take a bronze or silver, but I’ll also take getting to the finish line in one piece on my feet, giving my mom a hug and having my last race be in America.”

Street would be a fine flag bearer. Some other possibilities: three-time national skeleton champion Jim Shea Jr., attempting to follow in the Olympic footsteps of his grandfather, a 1932 speedskating gold medalist, and his father, a 1964 Nordic competitor, and biathlete Jeremy Teela. He competes in a little-known sport but has a chance at a medal and is a member of the Army’s World Class Athletes Program; choosing him would be a symbolic salute to U.S. military troops.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane ...

Rusty Smith of Sunset Beach is leading a double life.

One day, he’s a mild-mannered hardware salesman at the Home Depot in Huntington Beach. The next, he takes off his orange apron and becomes a world-class short-track speedskater.

“The Olympic job is the only reason I’m able to skate,” Smith said of the USOC’s Olympic Job Opportunity Program, which places athletes with companies willing to give them flexible work schedules with full-time pay and benefits.

“I’ve supported myself since I was 17. If I didn’t have this job I might not be here. I actually contemplated quitting because I wasn’t able to support myself.”

Smith positioned himself for an Olympic medal by winning the 5,000 at this year’s world championships. The 1997 Ocean View graduate also was fourth in the 1,000 and eighth overall.

Smith, 22, began his Olympic buildup last weekend at a World Cup event in Calgary. He didn’t reach the final in any of his four races, crashing on the last turn of his semifinal in the 500 and 1,500 and getting outmaneuvered in the 1,000, but he wasn’t alarmed. The event was the first of the season for the U.S. team, which canceled trips to China and Japan after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“We figured out now we’re in the right spot and doing the right things,” he said. “We’re in the same spot as if we had gone and had done really well.”

Here and There

Organizers of the 2002 U.S. Figure Skating Championships are seeking volunteers. Positions include staffing hospitality rooms for competitors, judges, chaperones and officials, helping coordinate bus transportation, staffing information tables at arenas and hotels, and providing security services such as checking badges. Applicants must be 18 and must be able to work at least four shifts of six hours per shift, downtown or at the El Segundo practice facility. Applicants can call the event office at (213) 489-2002. Applications are also available on the event’s Web site, www.la2002.com or by faxing Carol Hunt at (310) 544-2421.

U.S. skiers said Hermann Maier’s coaches told them it would take a miracle for “the Herminator” to recover from the injuries he suffered in an August motorcycle accident and compete in Salt Lake City. “It’s a sad thing. He’s an icon,” Fleischer said. Rahlves, though, is reserving judgment. “If there’s anybody who can do it, that guy can make it happen,” he said. “I’m not counting him out. It would be a great comeback story.”

After receiving assurances security will be tight, USA Gymnastics sent its men’s and women’s artistic teams to the world championships, which start Saturday in Ghent, Belgium. The younger rhythmic team was held out of its world competition in Spain last week. “We’re excited about the world championships. The kids look great,” USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi said. “We’re headed back to the podium.” Competing for the men are Sean Townsend, Brett McClure, Stephen McCain, Raj Bhavsar, Guard Young and Paul Hamm. For the women, it’s Tasha Schwikert, Tabitha Yim, Mohini Bhardwaj, Rachel Tidd, Ashley Mills and Katie Heenan.

Chris Chelios, captain of the U.S. men’s hockey team, said NHL players should be subject to drug testing, even though it’s not provided for in their labor contract and has been opposed by the players’ union. An agreement allowing the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to conduct random, no-advance-notice tests on Olympic candidates was forged only after lengthy negotiations involving the NHL, NHL Players’ Assn., the International Ice Hockey Federation, IOC and USOC.

“It should be mandatory in all sports, and the Olympics should be more so,” Chelios said. “I think the NHL should be doing that also. There’s a lot of things going around and enhancing players’ performance and it’s not fair.”

Only 106 days until the Salt Lake City Winter Games.