IS
[
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, FEB. S, 1976
Page 7
United States has outside chances for medals
Associated Press
INNSBRUCK — The glamor
■ents in the Winter Olympics are
pine skiing, figure skating and ski
Wiping, and Americans would he
ng a big upset to win many med-
;in any of these events.
Generally underfinanced and, as
claim, unappreciated, U.S.
Is come closer to competing for
fun of it, which is what these
Res are supposed to be about.
Uncle Sam’s biggest hope in the
Big Three events is figure skater
Dorothy Hamill, 19, of Riverside,
Conn., who could very well win a
silver medal in figure skating and a
gold if she can overcome Dianne de
Leeuw, who lives in Los Angeles but
skates for The Netherlands because
she has dual citizenship.
Here is a rundown on the Winter
Olympics’ events and favorites:
Cup leader, in the slalom. For the
women, it’s Miss Nadig in the dow
nhill and Miss Morerod in both
slalom events. Cindy Nelson of Lut-
sen, Minn., has an outside chance in
the slalom and could be in the top 10
in the downhill.
FIGURE SKATING
Miss de Leeuw must be consid
ered a strong favorite. If Miss Hamill
can take it, she will follow American
nnsbruck appears
jo handle Olympic
ready
Games
Associated Press
InSBRUCK — The Simple
anu s are here.
Nestled beneath beautiful Tyro-
an Alps, the people of Innsbruck
id Austria succeeded today in stag-
Igan Olympics without spending a
Hn dollars, without failing to
|mplete their facilities and without
]ajot internal hassle.
i spectre of unprecedented se-
i'—5,000 police and soldiers —
[reminder of the threat of ter-
t attack. Otherwise, this citadel
Inter sport was picturesque and
las it began a 12-day festival of
Inational competition on snow
-ice.
^ The XII Winter Games, expected
i | i be dominated by Russia and East
, '"Bnany and Austria’s seasoned
'J Sl tiers, open today with the
Lacp^uries-old tradition of the Olym-
lame being carried into a color-
snow-covered stadium.
■e ceremony at the base of the
-hpp pneter ski-jump slope on towering
olo"; Bi S el Mountain marked theopen-
IsofliiiBof competition among 1,040
Metes representing the hopes of 37
• ace ) itions.
American hopes for medals were
l1 ") ‘''luted to a few events, with speed
^ h aters Sheila Young and Leah
Rllos and figure skater Dorothy
Bhill appearing to have the best
iportunities. Each of them coidd
|the treasured gold that will
[ly elude the United States here.
torches carried into the
im to light two flame towers
fyboth these Winter Games and
Enes that were held here in 1964.
judieJiMesignated torch bearers: Aust-
Iked | nS J° se f Feistmantl, who won a
-( | t( igegold medal in 1964, and Christl
| )e(i 'ms, gold medalist in the women’s
cl ijBihill the same year,
finely Nelson, 20, a skier from
I :.jpen, Minn., who carries Ameri-
' Is slim medal hopes in Alpine ski-
^ g, was nominated to carry the
lifted States colors into the
^jfdium.
The only actual athletic events
heduled yesterday were the first
min the single-seat luge event and
pnpulsory competition in ice danc-
Men’s downhill skiing trials con-
The mighty Russians, who had a
5-2-1 record against National Hoc
key League teams last month, wal
loped Austria 16-3. Finland beat
Japan 11-2, with Matti Rautiainen
scoring five goals, and Czechos
lovakia, Poland and West Germany
won preliminary tournament games
Monday.
By winning preliminary games,
these six teams earned the right to
compete for the gold, silver and
bronze medals when the Olympic
hockey tournament begins Friday.
Losers in the pre-Olympic meet go
into a consolation tournament in
which they are not eligible for med
als.
In other first-round medal division
games Friday, West Germany plays
Poland and Czechoslovakia meets
Finland. The Czechs are favored to
win the silver medal and the United
States is considered to have an out
side chance at the bronze, although
it lost twice to Finland last week.
The Austrian ski team, expected to
dominate the skiing events, was
selected Tuesday and 17-year-old
Anton Steiner made it for the dow
nhill despite a fall in practice Tues
day.
Steiner broker the course record,
previously held by teammate Frahz
Klammer, by 6.5 seconds Monday
but had a poor time in one run Tues-
'/uptnam&a
Eddie Dominguez ’66
Joe Arciniega ’74
Greg Price
thepi
wed.
Today s schedule called for a full
ite of 6lympic events.
‘ llBnerican, Russian and Finnish
)ckey teams won preliminary
I lines Tuesday to qualify for Olym-
" ; c|nedal competition. The Soviet
incltf
nion and the United States meet in
first-round game Friday in the
lontlii
mble-elimination tournament and
nder
Id si*
Russians are heavily favored.
Tbe United States beat Yugoslavia
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day and then fell.
On Tuesday, Swiss ace Bernhard
Russi, the Olympic downhill cham
pion, broke the record again with
1:48.01 over the 3,145 meters —
more than 7.5 seconds faster than
Klammer’s official record.
Cindy Nelson, who has hopes for a
medal for the United States in the
downhill or slalom events, fell in
practice Tuesday but was not hurt.
Jon Bowerman, women’s coach,
said “everybody’s line was off on that
first run and only one girl made it.
The rest had varying degrees of diffi
culty, including Cindy and the
World Cup leader, Brigitte
Totschnig of Austria.”
M iss Nelson and several other
Americans had colds but none was
considered severe enough to affect
their performance.
gold medalists Tenley Albright,
Carol Heiss and Peggy Fleming.
U.S. men’s hopes are slim. The
favorite is John Curry of Britain, who
lives in New York and trains in Den
ver. Russia’s Vladimir Kovalev, Tol
ler Cranston of Canada, and East
Germany’s Jan Hoffinan are strong
contenders.
The Russians and East Germans
should dominate the pairs, the Rus
sians and British should win in the
dance.
Colleen O’Connor and Jim Mills of
Intramural
schedule
Spring intramurals have begun
and entries remain open in many
events. Here is next week’s agenda:
EVENTS
TENNIS doubles and GOLF DOU
BLES — entries open on Monday,
Feb. 9.
HANDBALL — play begins on
Monday, Feb. 9.
TABLE TENNIS — entries close on
Tuesday, Feb. 10.
SLOW-PITCH SOFTBALL — en
tries close on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
MEETINGS
BASKETBALL OFFICIALS —
Thursday, Feb. 5, G. Rollie White
267 at 7 and 8 p.m.
I.D. CHECKERS — Wednesday,
Feb. 11, in Jim Jeter’s office in De
ware, 4 p.m.
INTRAMURAL COUNCIL —
Wednesday, Feb. 11, Intramural of
fice, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Springs are given a chance
for a bronze medal in the dance. Tai
Babilonia, 15, and Randy Gardner,
17, of Los Angeles, carry U.S. hopes
in the pairs, where the Soviet team of
Aleksandr Zaitsev-Irina Rodnina is
overwhelmingly favored.
SKI JUMPING
The Austrians and East Germans
are favored, with no American even
in contention. Surprisingly, Austri
a’s 17-year-old whiz, Toni Innauer,
who dominated the jumping contests
earlier this season, is not expected to
place high. The youthful Austrian
has done poorly in training so far and
may not even make the Austrian
four-man team.
ALPINE SKIING
There are only five persons who
have won more than two World Cup
races so far. Austria’s Franz Klam
mer won four downhills, Sweden’s
Ingemar Stenmark won four
slaloms, Switzerland’s Lise-Marie
Morerod won three slaloms and
three giant slaloms, Italy’s Gustav
Thoeni won two giant slaloms, and
West Germany’s Rosi Mittermaier
won one slalom but leads the World
Cup standings with consistently high
placings.
Stenmark is the men’s World Cup
leader.
The favorites are Klammer in the
men’s downhill; Theoni in the giant
slalom; Stenmark, the men’s World
Favorites are Austria's Karl
Schnabl, Willy Puerstl, Rudi Wan
ner and Reinhold Bachled; East
Germany’s Jochen Danneberg,
Hans Geog Aschenbach and Henry
Glass; Norway’s Johan Saetre; Po
land’s Stanislaw Bobak; Czechos-
lavakia s Jindrich Balcar; Switzer
land’s Walter Steiner and Hans
Schmid, and West Germany’s Alfred
Grosche.
NORDIC SKIING
The Scandinavian countries, Swit
zerland, the Soviet Union and East
Germany are expected to dominate
the men’s competition. For women,
it will be Finland, East Germany and
Russia.
Americans in contention are Bill
Koch, 20, of Guilford, Vt.; Martha
Rockwell, 31, of West Lebanon,
N.H., and Jana Hlavaty, 32, of
Chicago.
SPEED SKATING
The Americans have their best
chance in this event with Sheila
Young and Leah Poulos in the 500-,
1,000-and 1,500-meter events, and
Peter Mueller in the men’s 1,000 and
1,500 meters and Dan Carroll in the
5,000 and 10,000.
Miss Young set a world record in
the 500 in Davos, Switzerland, last
weekend, leaving Soviet ace Tajana
Averina with records only in the
1,000 and 1,500.
Norwegian Sten Stenseh could
win gold medals in both the men’s
5,000 and 10,000. Russian Evgeni
Kulikov is the world record holder at
500 meters with 37 seconds which is
not likely to be bettered this year.
ICE HOCKEY
The Soviets are an overwhelming
favorite after returning from the
United States with a 5-2-1 record
against National Hockey League
competition. The strong Russian
Spartak team will contribute players
to the Russian Army and Moscow
Wings, who played in the North
American series.
Czechoslovakia should be in the
finals with the Russians, and the
American team was considered to
have an outside chance before 9-3
and 9-2 losses to Finland last week.
However, the Americans scored a
convincing 8-4 victory over Yugos
lavia in the pre-Olympic tournament
in Innsbruck and have some chance
at a bronze medal.
LUGE
In this 100-mile-per-hour event in
which the racer lies on his back on a
tiny sled. East Germany, Sweden
and Norway are expected to excel.
The Americans are not in conten
tion.
BIATHLON
In this strange event, cross
country skiing with four pauses for
target shooting, the Finns, Russians
and East Germans are favored. No
Americans are expected to place.
BOBSLED
The East Germans raised eyeb
rows this week with record-
shattering performances in the
two-man event and have become fa
vorites along with the West Ger
mans, who set a record Tuesday.
Others are the Swiss, Austrians, and
Italians.
The refrigerated track has come
under considerable criticism for
being too easy or too short.
In this 90 mile-per-hour event, an
American two-man crew led by Jim
Morgan has an outside chance.
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