T-minus 365 days and counting/ But there will be plenty of action

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 8, 2001 | by Meri-Jo Borzilleri

The final countdown gets kicked off in Salt Lake City today, 365 days and counting. The 2002 Olympics are officially a year away.

It's either a short wait or a long one, depending on your point of view. If you've already paid the credit-card bill for the tickets you ordered last year, it's an eternity. If you've been waiting for the Games to come back to our parts since Denver punted them up to Innsbruck, Austria, in 1976, it's a snap.

The good part is, there's something to look forward to in each of the 12 months between now and then. It's not exactly the "12 Days of Christmas," but it's something.

FEBRUARY

World Cup skeleton for men and women, Salt Lake City, Feb. 16- 17.

Coming to a Kellogg's cereal box near you: Jim Shea, skeleton slider. What is skeleton, you say? It's an individual sport that takes place on a bobsled run, except the slider goes down headfirst on a rudimentary sled composed of nothing more than a board with runners. Sound crazy in an X-Games sort of way? Well, it is. It also is an Olympic sport for the first time since 1948. Shea, an American, is the reigning world champion and favorite for Olympic gold.

MARCH

If the roof stays up and the ice stays frozen, Salt Lake's Olympic speedskating oval will throw its grand debut: the World Single Distance Championships on March 9-11.

The Olympics' most striking man-made venue has created its most striking headaches, what with the collapsing roof and the refrigeration system that required the concrete to be ripped up in December. But the goal was to make the fastest ice surface in the world, combining space-age ice technology with Salt Lake's altitude (4,330 feet isn't Pikes Peak, but it's high as Olympic venues go) to create a rush of world-record performances at these races and at next year's Olympics.

APRIL

Women's hockey will keep trying to worm its way into fans' hearts.

The U.S. team plays host to the women's hockey world championships for the first time since 1994, April 2-8, at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. It's only fair. The United States has one of the two best teams in the world, but up until now, Finland has hosted as many world championships.

Anything besides a U.S.-Canada matchup in the finals would be a huge disappointment. It would also be a huge miracle. These two teams have met in the finals of every major international event since the sport went international in 1990.

The U.S. team is on a two-game winning streak over the Canadians, however, Canada is on a six-world championships winning streak over the U.S. team.

MAY

In the past four years, hockey has taken on an eastern European flavor, including the interesting consonant combinations.

Specifically, the Czechs have taken over.

Ever since supergoalie Dominik Hasek lifted the Czech Republic to a gold medal in the 1998 Olympics, this tiny country has ruled the sport, winning the past two world championships and the world junior championships.

The Czechs will try again at this year's worlds, the finals coming on May 14 in Hanover, Germany. It won't be the Olympic team - Jaromir Jagr, Milan Hejduk, Hasek and friends - but they have started a definite trend.

JUNE

It's not a sport, but it will be a bit of political pingpong. The trial of former Salt Lake Organizing Committee leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson is scheduled to begin in a federal courtroom in Salt Lake City.

The final airing of the dirty details of the bribery scandal should be grand theater, particularly if Welch and Johnson succeed in painting others - say, U.S. IOC member Anita DeFrantz, whom Johnson said knew everything that happened - with some of the blame.

But tales of what happened to those alleged $1 million in bribes will get attention worldwide, shining more light on the unsavory world of Olympic bidding.

JULY

After 21 years at the helm of the International Olympic Committee - which required raising the age limit three times so the 80-year- old Juan Antonio Samaranch could rule until now - His Excellency is stepping aside.

The IOC will elect its new president at its meeting in Moscow on July 9-11. DeFrantz is running but she is the longest of long shots.

If Vegas is accepting bets, go with Belgium's Jacques Rogge or Canada's Dick Pound. They've been acting leader-like in the past year - Rogge as the point man for heading off disaster at the 2004 Games in Athens and Pound as head of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

AUGUST

Athletes come out of the woodwork for the U.S. National Bobsled Push Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.

That's where the U.S. bobsled team hopes to find men and women who are really good at pushing a heavy object (a bobsled) while running really fast.

The push at the top of a bobsled run is critical to win an Olympic medal. Once you get in the sled, the driver does all the work. So the pusher doesn't have to be skilled at anything but pushing. That's why track stars and football players - among them Willie Gault and Renaldo Nehemiah - have become bobsledders. Most colorful: Chip Minton, former Georgia prison guard and pro wrestler (aka Mr. World Class). The two-time Olympian (Nagano, Lillehammer) never medaled. But his trash talking was pure gold.