No pressure to make sled track as fast as possible, designer says

The designer of the crash-plagued Whistler Sliding Center track said there was never any pressure from Olympic organizers to make the circuit as fast as possible.

“No, not at all, in no shape or form,” veteran track designer Ugo Gurgel said Tuesday.

Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed when his sled flew off the track at speeds nearing 90 mph during a training run just hours before the Olympic flame was ignited. After an investigation by local authorities, officials of the Vancouver Organizing Committee and International Luge Federation blamed the fatal crash on human error.

Asked whether the course was too fast, Gurgel replied: “It is fast. As I have said before, if fast means dangerous, then yes.”

-- associated press Mancuso opts out

Content with her two silver medals, Julia Mancuso has decided not to enter Friday’s slalom.

“They asked if I wanted to race, and it’s my decision,” Mancuso said of her discussions with the U.S. Ski Team coaching staff. “It’s just a lot of work to race another Olympic event, and as good as my slalom is, I honestly don’t feel like it’s good enough for a medal.”

Mancuso opened the Vancouver Games by finishing second to teammate Lindsey Vonn in the downhill, then finished behind gold medalist Maria Riesch in the super combined.

Mancuso still has one race remaining, Wednesday’s giant slalom, which she enters as defending champion.

Slalom is Mancuso’s worst event, but she was ninth-fastest in the slalom leg of the super combined.

“I want to keep that good feeling from the combined slalom,” she said after a giant slalom training session.

-- associated press Evgeni Plushenko isn’t awarding himself a new medal. Or creating one, for that matter.

Reports Tuesday said a picture of the Olympic silver medalist’s latest prize was labeled “platinum of Vancouver” on Plushenko’s official website. His medal from the Salt Lake City Games was properly identified as silver. But agent Ari Zakarian said no one had authority to do this “stupid thing,” and Plushenko himself was not aware of it.

There were no labels beneath the pictures of Plushenko’s three Olympic medals as of Tuesday afternoon. The Russian also has a gold from the Turin Olympics.

“It’s absolutely a mistake. Evgeni has absolutely no idea about this. Absolutely no idea,” Zakarian said. “Nobody from our team is awarding a platinum medal.”

-- associated press Birth trumps Games

The men’s head coach for the U.S. Ski Team has left the Olympics and gone home to Utah for the birth of his second child.

U.S. Ski Team spokesman Doug Haney said Coach Sasha Rearick departed after the last U.S. competitor raced in the men’s giant slalom Tuesday.

Haney said Rearick will try to get back to Whistler in time for the last men’s Alpine event, Saturday’s slalom.

-- associated press

Biathlon

It was a pretty easy time for the defending Olympic champion Russian team in the women’s relay, winning by more than half a minute. France took the silver medal and Germany the bronze in the sport that combines cross-country skiing and shooting.

The U.S. team of Sara Studebaker, Lanny Barnes, Haley Johnson and Laura Spector finished 17th, more than six minutes behind the Russians.

Curling

The U.S. women, like the men’s team, were eliminated from medal contention, losing to world champion China, 6-5. It put the U.S. record at 2-6 and in last place.

The women completed their tournament play later Tuesday night against Switzerland.

-- John Cherwa