Yo, Adrian, Wanna Rock?

Fans entering the curling venue were startled recently when they were welcomed by the booming voice of Sylvester Stallone.

Rocky curls? Who’d have guessed?

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, he is one of the voices hired by the Salt Lake Olympic folks to provide interesting narration for the Games.

There are Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox, Jay Leno and Britney Spears, Kevin Bacon and Courtney Cox. And, of course, what would be a Utah Olympics without the voices of Steve Young and Donny Osmond.

One famous television doctor says, “Hi, I’m Anthony Edwards. Be careful where you step. It’s slippery out there, and we don’t need you to go to the ‘E.R.’ at these Olympics.”

Then there’s Michael Buffer saying, “Let’s get ready to play hockeeeeeey.”

Guess the “rumble” part would have cost too much.

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No Stuffed Shirts

Before each game Finland’s women’s hockey team plays, a stuffed lion is placed behind the bench.

His name is Vili, and he even has his own team sweater.

Vili has been with the team since it played the World Championships in Minnesota last year, courtesy of an unidentified local man of Finnish descent who adopted the team for a short while, touring the players around.

“One day he’s like, ‘You guys don’t have any mascots here. OK, let’s go, I’m going to buy you one,’” Finland goalie Tuula Puputti said. “They found this lion, and that’s how he became our mascot.”

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We Hardly Knew You

Puerto Rico’s Olympics lasted about as long as winter in San Juan.

The delegation’s lone entry, the two-man bobsled team, was forced to drop out Saturday hours before the event when one competitor was declared ineligible--by the island’s rules. Michael Gonzales could prove he has lived on the island for two years and one month. That failed the team’s three-year rule.

“We know he has the three years, but we need the proof,” said Pedro Cardona, president of Puerto Rico’s Olympic committee said. “Without it, we authorize nothing.”

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Going Offline

Joey Cheek, the surprise bronze medalist in the men’s 1,000-meter speedskating race, is another in what is becoming a long line of former inline roller skaters making a successful transition to ice.

Derek Parra, a former inline champion, already has won a silver medal for the U.S. and Jennifer Rodriguez, who finished seventh in the women’s 3,000, is a contender in today’s women’s 1,000.

“When I first put on ice skates, it was just to do something different,” Cheek said. “But once I tried it, I really loved it. Once I got on ice skates, the Olympics became my goal.”

So six years ago, at 16, he left home in Greensboro, N.C., and moved to Calgary, where he stayed with a host family while learning the intricacies of his sport on what then was the fastest ice available.

His reaction to his medal?

“I haven’t had a good 1,000-meter race since December 2001 but I didn’t want to give up and I kept fighting. I was so pumped. It’s so beautiful! It’s incredible! It’s beyond expectations and I am close to being speechless.”

Cheek then went on talking for about half an hour.

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Tough Crowd

Daron Rahlves discovered it’s not easy living up to expectations when the Olympics are in your country.

Norwegian star Kjetil Andre Aamodt says he discovered the same thing when his country played host to the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

Aamodt won three medals in those Olympics, yet none was the color Norway had in mind.

“It was my most difficult championship in terms of pressure,” Aamodt said after winning the men’s super-giant slalom, his second gold medal of these Olympics. “I had two silvers and a bronze and people were disappointed in me. I was pretty pleased. It was really hard, especially in slalom. I was second after the first run and slipped in the second gate.

“Life goes on.... It’s part of the game. All sports events become history pretty fast. You enjoy the moment, try to win or lose with the same smile, but it’s not always easy.”

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Fast Times

U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan, who has alternated between staying in the athletes’ village and in an apartment with her parents since the opening ceremony in Salt Lake City, went to see the U.S. men’s hockey team beat Finland Friday.

“It was awesome,” she said. “I had a great time.... I’ve been able to see some speedskating and meet Apolo [Anton] Ohno, and I met the rest of the gang.”

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Agenda Isn’t So Hidden

Kwan and fellow U.S. figure skater Sasha Cohen said that they agreed with the International Olympic Committee’s decision to award duplicate gold medals to Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who lost a close decision to Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia on Monday.

“It’s nice they can both have gold medals,” Cohen said.

“Too bad they can’t do that for all the events.”

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Easy Does It

Pelletier had a few words on what he had planned to do before learning he and Sale would get a gold medal:

“We had a few things planned for the day. Obviously not this. I felt like going for a skeleton ride without a helmet on. Now, I will put a helmet on.”

On what he thought when he was told he and Sale would get a gold medal:

“We don’t really know what happened. We watched Mr. [Jacques] Rogge and Mr. [Ottavio] Cinquanta say we had a gold medal and after that I sort of stopped listening.”

On whether he and Sale had worn their silver medals and knew if they had to surrender those medals when they got the gold:

“I do hope we get the bronze, too, so we get the entire collection.”

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Times staff writers Chris Dufresne, Helene Elliott, Mike Kupper, Bill Plaschke and J.A. Adande and Associated Press contributed to this report.