Racine Might Have New Partner

Brakeman Gea Johnson, the central figure in a bobsled controversy that shattered a friendship but formed a medal-contending duo, has an injured left hamstring and might not be able to push for Jean Racine in the top-ranked U.S. sled Tuesday.

If Johnson pulls out, the substitute will be Bethany Hart--not Jen Davidson, whom Racine dumped in December after luring Johnson away from Bonny Warner’s sled. The Racine-Davidson breakup was well-publicized because the duo had attracted $500,000 in endorsements and was expected to be among the Winter Games’ marquee performers.

Matt Roy, executive director of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federson, said Sunday that while Johnson is likely to compete, the federation is monitoring her status.

“All the latest information I have from everybody who is involved is that Gea is going to race,” he said.

A source with knowledge of the situation said Racine wants Johnson to back out and allow Vonetta Flowers to take her place, even though Flowers made the U.S. team as a brakeman with driver Jill Bakken.

But the United States Olympic Committee rejected any possible Racine-Davidson reunion Sunday night, saying Davidson was not eligible because she did not compete in the Olympic trials.

“If Gea Johnson is not able to compete as the push athlete for Jean Racine, the only possible replacement is Bethany Hart,” USOC spokesman Mike Moran said.

Names of each duo must be submitted after today’s training and before tonight’s race draw. The source also said the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation has begun the paperwork to replace Johnson with Hart.

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The U.S. hockey team’s 2-2 tie with Russia on Saturday night, shown live by NBC except in the West, generated a 7.2 national rating with a 20% share of the audience.

It was the highest-rated hockey telecast, Olympics or NHL, since 1980, when ABC’s taped-delayed coverage of the U.S. Olympic team’s “Miracle on Ice” upset victory over Russia drew a 23.9/37 and the ensuing gold-medal game against Finland got a 23.2/61.

Saturday night’s game got a 5.2/17 in Los Angeles, even though it was delayed three hours in the Pacific time zone. Sacramento got an 8.4/26.

Through the first nine nights of the Olympics, NBC is averaging an 18.4/30 across the nation in prime time, a 12% increase over the 16.4/27 CBS was averaging from Nagano, Japan, after nine nights in 1998.

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Jack Shea, the late patriarch of the only family to produce three generations of American Olympic athletes, was honored with the U.S. Olympic Committee’s highest award.

The Olympic Torch Award was given posthumously to Shea, a double gold-medalist in speedskating at the 1932 Winter Games. Shea was killed in an auto accident just before the start of the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Jim Shea Sr. was a skier in the 1964 Winter Games, and his son, Jim Jr., is a skeleton racer on this year’s team.

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After 13 knee operations, 13 years on the World Cup circuit and nine Olympic and world championship medals, Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg has raced enough.

“Today was very likely my last day. I don’t think I will race any more. This Olympic race is my last,” the 31-year-old Wiberg said after finishing 12th in the super-G.

She won three Olympic medals in three different events at three different Games: 1992 giant slalom gold, 1994 combined gold and 1998 downhill silver.

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Japanese officials have filed a protest with the International Skating Union over the disqualification of speedskater Satoru Terao in the men’s 1,000-meter semifinals on Saturday.

Terao and China’s Li Jiajun became entangled and fell, with Canada’s Mathieu Turcotte also in the bumping. Terao was disqualified for impeding. Turcotte and Li advanced to the finals.

The Japanese are not seeking to have the semifinal run again, but want Terao’s disqualification overturned.

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Times staff writers Helene Elliott, Larry Stewart and the Associated Press contributed to this report.