Page 16/The Battalion/Friday, February 17, 1984
American schusses to Alpine gold
j United Press International
J SARAJEVO, Yugoslavia —
' Speeding down the rnountain-
1 side just as quick as his mouth
would carry him, Bill Johnson
skied himself into history
Thursday and created an hon
est to goodness legend.
The bold, brash American
first befuddled conservative Eu
ropeans with his loud-mouth
pronouncements of coming
glory, and then he confounded
the experts by his deeds of dar
ing.
And, in the true tradition of
Muhammad Ali and Joe Na-
math, when the moment came
to put up, he covered himself in
red, white and blue glory.
Long after these Winter
Olympics are over, and the dis
appointment of a shallow U.S.
showing is brushed aside, it will
be remembered that Johnson
stung the Europeans where it
hurt them the most and
brought Jhe United States its
first ever gold medal in men’s
Alpine.
After telling one and all for
the last two weeks that he had
the gold safely tucked away in
his pocket, the 23-year-old
daredevil beat back the Euro
pean challenge Thursday and
won the downhill, the glamour
event of the Winter Games.”
“I think I did put some pres
sure on myself because if I had
finished second, I would have
been a real bum,” Johnson said.
“It really wasn’t a big surprise. I
approached it as just another
race, and I won. But I expected
to win.”
There was only one spot on
the Bjalasnica course that he
was wary of, and once he passed
it safely, Johnson said he told
himself, “It’s a motorway from
here, so I put my head down
and went for it. There’s a speed
limit in the States. I think I
broke it today.”
In edging Switzerland’s Peter
Mueller by .27 second, with
Austrian Anton Steiner third,
Johnson also broke the Olympic
downhill record with a time of 1
minute 45.59 seconds down the
1.9 mile course.
Even in the euphoria of vic
tory, Johnson managed to get in
another dig, saying, “I enjoyed
sticking it to the Austrians, but
the Swiss are nice people. The
Austrians think they should win
it all the time, and you just can’t
do that.”
In contrast to the effusive
Johnson, the women’s downhill
was won by shy, soft-spoken
Michela Figini of Switzerland,
who at the age of 17 became the
youngest gold medalist ever in
Alpine. Marie-Theres Nadig,
also of Switzerland, was 17 days
older when she won the 1972
downhill at Sapporo.
“I have never been so happy
in all my life,” Figini said while
wiping tears away from her
eyes. “I took a lot of risks but ev
erything went without trouble.”
Maria Walliser, the current
World Cup downhill leader,
gave Switzerland the silver
medal behind her teammate
and the bronze went to Olga
Charvatova, providing Czecho
slovakia its first ever Alpine
medal.
Debbie Armstrong, winner of
the women’s giant slalom on
Monday, managed only a 21st
in the downhill, placing her be
hind teammates Holly Flanders,
who was 16th, and Maria Mari-
cich, 19th.
The victory by Johnson pro
vided the United Slates with
only its second gold medal, on
the 10th day of the Carnes, and
its fourth medal overall.
However, another gold was
expected to come Thursday
night from Scott Hamilton in
the men’s figure skating compe
tition. Hamilton, the three-time
world champion, built a solid
lead in the compulsory and
short program and it would
take a total disaster Thursday
night to keep him from winning
the gold medal.
World champion Rosalynn
Sumners of Edmonds, Wash.,
made a costly mistake in her
short program earlier Thurs
day with a clumsy landing from
a double axel that cost her the
lead in the women’s figure skat
ing. Katarina Witt of East Ger
many moved in front with the
free skating still to come with
2.2 placements to 2.6forSu«
ers.
Tiffany Chin, runnerup
Sumners in the U.S. National
is tied for sixth and
world champion Elaine Zayali
11th.
Despite losing her lei
Sumners still was confident
gold in Saturday night's final.
“I feel good being in secod
because the long is my stroij
point,” she said. “1 wasn't™
vous and I felt very confidtt
out there. 1 know now
have to skate the best l ete
have and put my heartandso
into it.”
In other finals Thursdi
Gaetan Boucher won his secoi
gold, and third medal ovenl
What to do this Summer!
SalcfUaH;
“Stewart’s Recipe for
Successful Summers”
1)
Meet David Appleton,
Associate Director of
Camp Stewart for Boys, Inc.
at
Texas A&M University
Monday, February 20
9 AM - 4 PM
Memorial Student Center 2nd Floor
OR
Call or write
Mr. & Mrs. Si Ragsdale, Jr., Camp Stewart
Hunt, TX 78024 (512-238-4670)
Take the HEALTHY TEXAS HILL COUNTRY (being
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Mix well with other SUPER STAFF:
Season with Billy’s excellent HOME COOKING:
Sprinkle with socials with nearby GIRLS’ CAMPS
2)
4)
1984
WINTER
OLYMPICS
U.S. skater falls
back to second
AND SIMMER FROM MAY 30 - AUGUST 12 for the
best Summer You’ll Experience!
WINTER IS HERE
Let’s be sure your car is in condition to perform prop
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Saturday noon, who can do most types of automotive
SAVE
service.
ALIGNMENT
and
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for most domestic i? foreign cars
pickup trucks $ l 50
slightly higher I 4^.
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Continued by popular demand
ENGINE TUNE
4cyl. — $26 6cyl. - $29
8cyl. — $34
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Good thru 2/29/84
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For electronic iginition, others $10
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846-1738 3818S. College Ave.
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III] !
United Press International
SARAJEVO, Yugoslavia —
World champion Rosalynn
Sumners of the United States
had difficulties with her short
program Thursday and fell to
second place behind European
champion Katarina Witt of East
Germany in the Winter Olym
pics figure skating competition.
Sumners took the lead
Wednesday in the compulsory
figures but lost it Thursday with
a poor performance in the short
program. Entering Saturday
night’s free skating final, Witt
led with 2.2 placements against
2.6 for Sumners.
Sumners made a clumsy
landing from a double axel and
it proved costly as Witt put on a
virtually error-free perfor
mance.
Two Soviet skaters, Kira Iva
nova and Yelena Vodorezova,
were third and fourth. Tiffany
Chin, the 16-year-oJd runnerup
to Sumners in the U.S. nation
als, had a splendid short pro
gram and moved into a three-
way tie for sixth place.
Not so fortunate was former
world champion Elaine Zayak
of Paramus, N.J. Zayak, a lowly
13th after the compulsory
phase, did not score well with
the judges in the short program
and managed to move up only
to 11th, effectively ending her
chances at a medal.
Sumners, urged on by hun
dreds of Americans in the
crowd, was skating beautifully
until she fouled up the double
axel. She said later she still re
mained confident entering the
finals Saturday night.
Sumners, urged on by
hundreds of Ameri
cans in the crowd, was
skating beautifully un
til she fouled up the
double axel.
“I feel good being in second
because the long program is my
strong point,” said the 19-year-
old native of Edmonds, Wash.
“I wasn’t nervous and I felt very
confident out there. I was fo
cusing on what I did. Once I got
into the axel, I knew it was'
tipped and I didn’t want to stop
in mid-air so I used the flow to
get out of it.
“I won the long program at the
world’s (she lost the short) and I
know now that I have to skate
the best 1 ever have and put my
heart and soul into it.
“I felt very happy the way I
skated. My combinations were
very good. I trained really hard
this past year and it has given
me a lot of self-confidence.”
Hamilton wins gold
in figure skating
United Press International
SARAJEVO, Yugoslavia — Three-time world championStd
Hamilton became the first American since 1960 to win theOlw
pic gold medal in men’s figure skating, holding off adetermind
charge by Brian Orser of Canada Thursday night to capture Ik
title.
, L
rather low marks and finished second to Orser in the freeskaiia
phase. But Hamilton had built such a lead over the computo
and short program that Orser, who entered the finals in
place, was unable to overtake him despite the fact that hew
both the short program and free skating phases.
Hamilton, who lives in Denver, becomes the first Araenc
since David Jenkins in I960 to win the Olympic gold medalfo
men. Josef Sabovcik of Czechoslovakia won the bronze!
Boitano of Sunnyvale, Calif., had a strong free skating perf«
tnance to finish fifth behind Rudi C’.erne of West Germany.
Orser skated two places before Hamilton and putonhisroit
ing performance to pull into first place. Hamilton tooktheia
greeted by a stomping, cheering reception from the many Amen
cans in the crowd.
“It’s been a long wait,” Hamilton said. “I waited a longm
for this. I was a little disappointed in the score. I didn’t fedtt
solid but I’m glad it was enough to come out with the gold li
been losing it a bit.
“I didn’t see the rest of the competition so I don’t knowp
everybody else got. I just went for everything. I just stoppedi‘
jumps, that’s all. I was a little embarrassed about it. It was f
enough to win and I’m happy with it. And I guess learnedil.
Hamilton had five 5.9s for artistic impression and four)
mixed with much lower marks for technical merit. He finiski
the competition with 3.4 factored places to 5.6 for Orser.Sato
cik had 7.4.
Hamilton sailed though his opening triple Lutz but cof
combine it only with a single flip. A double instead oftripleSi
chow followed and Hamilton appearaed to be having problem
He took command, however, pulled out two more triples at
gaining confidence, ended with an electrifying spin and"
enough to earn him the gold.
On a night when many skaters fell to the ice, the hi^
were the first quadruple toe loop seen in an Olympics perform
by Alexandre Fadeyev of the Soviet Union. Fadeyev
triple axel and attempted no more quadruples.
In speed skating action Canadian Gaetan Boucher capiuit
the 1,500 meters title Thursday, wresting an Olympic gold mi
from Soviet Sergei Khlebnikov for the second time in three daw
The 25-year-old Quebec star, who took the 1,000 men
crown from his Soviet rival Tuesday, sped round theZetraoval! 1
1 minute 58.36 seconds, just under half a second fasterthanfi
lehnikov (1:58.83).
Until Boucher skated, Khlebnikov was out in front
seemed set to gain revenge for his earlier 1,000 meter deft
when Boucher, again skat ing late, had robbed him of that cro«
by .83 seconds.
The bronze medal in the 1,500m went to the Soviet Uniof
Oleg Bogeyevin with a time of 1:58.89.
Just deprived of a medal was Hans Van Helden of Fraud
veteran of the Innsbruck 1976 Games, who was squeezed bach
fourth with his 1:59.39.
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