Olympics
Thursday • February 19,11
Twin angels on the ice
U.S. figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski finish
first and second; Nicole Bobek falls during short program
NAGANO, Japan (AP) — Gold,
silver, black and blue.
Michelle was nearly perfect.
Tara, too. But, oh, Nicole, what
happened to you?
So went the wild dream of an
Olympic sweep by U.S. women fig
ure skaters.
Michelle Kwan imagined her
self in heaven and skated like an
angel in the short program
Wednesday night. Tara Lipinski
summoned the vision of a cartoon
princess, soaring gaily in her own
ice palace.
Nicole Bobek? She did not know
what to think when her first triple
klutz wrecked any hope of a sweep.
It was a bomb of a show that left her
sobbing, sturmed and speechless.
The 1-2 punch of Kwan and Lip
inski virtually guaranteed one of
them will win the gold, the other
the silver in the best showing by
the United States in 42 years.
It was not so much their posi
tion in the standings that separat
ed Kwan and Lipinski from No. 3
Maria Butyrskaya of Russia, No. 4
Lu Chen of China, No. 5 Irina Slut
skaya of Russia or No. 6 Surya
Bonaly of France.
It was the way Kwan and Lipin
ski, the past two world champions,
blended their artistry and athletic
leaps so much more fluidly than
everyone else.
Kwan, silky in a red and pink se
quin dress, melded her skating in
perfect sync with piano concertos
by Rachmaninoff as if the compos
er had written them just for her.
“Before I started,” the 17-year-
old Kwan said, “I heard people
cheering and I thought, T’m in
heaven.’ People clapping, billions
of people watching on TV and I’m
skating. It’s just me and the ice.”
She had “butterflies” in the
warmup, but she put them to rest
by thinking, “T’ve done this so
many times, I can do it now. I’ve
done everything possible. I’ve
trained hard.’ I kind of knocked
some sense into myself.”
She breezed through the eight
required elements flawlessly, from
her first combination — a triple
lutz-double toe loop — to her final
spiral. Her fine, quick footwork, her
strong, graceful lines put her in a
class by herself.
The judges rewarded Kwan with
a solid string of 5.9s for artistry, and
5.7s and 5.8s for technical merit.
Kwan smiled and waved, not in
any exuberant manner, but as if
she merely did what she was ex
pected to do and was saving emo-
Short track skating takes
center ice next for CBS
‘Dream Tearh leaves Nagano nightmare
NAGANO, Japan (AP) — Done and gone.
The Olympic men's hockey tournament claimed its
biggest victims — the greatest U.S. team ever assem
bled and defending champion Sweden — before either
got to play for a medal.
The Czech Republic knocked out the Americans
4-1 and Finland beat Sweden 2-1 in Wednesday’s
quarterfinals.
Canada, seeking its first hockey gold
medal since 1952, and Russia rolled on
with 4-0 records. The Canadians swept
past Kazakstan and Russia defeated
Belarus by identical 4-1 scores.
Friday’s semifinals feature Canada
and the Czech Republic (3-1) in a goal
tending showdown between Patrick
Roy and Dominik Hasek, while Fin
land (2-2) faces Russia.
The Americans wound up sixth —
an improvement over their worst-ever
finish of eighth in 1994, yet well below*********
expectations. They have not won any kind of medal
since the “Miracle on Ice” team took gold in 1980.
“Everyone expected to be around here for another
week and all of a sudden, you’re yanked out and done,”
Jamie Langenbrunner said. “Everyone’s frustrated be
cause the last two games we played pretty well, but we
didn’t win.”
“We played real
hard every night
and every game
Bill Guerin
U.S. Hockey Team
The Americans had just one victory over Belarus and
losses to Sweden, Canada and the Czech Republic, de
spite outshooting every opponent.
Facing Roy and Hasek — the world’s best goalies —
in consecutive games did not help. The Americans
scored just once against each man.
“We played real hard every night and every game,”
Bill Guerin said. “Unfortunately, we
didn’t get the breaks. He (Hasek) was
making saves when he had to and get
ting lucky when he had to.”
Canada did not need luck or a mar
velous performance by Roy against
lowly Kazakstan, outscored 25-6 in
losing its three round-robin games.
Joe Nieuwendyk, Shayne Corson,
Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzer-
man scored for Canada. Wayne Gret
zky added two assists.
“We knew that we were the superi-
********* or team,” Gretzky said. “We just had to
be patient, be smart and play our game.”
The Czechs did the same against the United States.
Hasek gave up a first-period goal to Mike Modano,
then his teammates scored four straight goals to send
the Americans home early.
“They didn’t play badly,” Hasek said. “When you only
score one goal, you can’t win.”
>5
NAGANO, Japan (AP) — Eric
Flaim swears this is it, his last
Olympic short-track skating
competition. No more roller der
by on ice for him. Been there.
Done that.
Of course, Cathy Turner said
thh same thing.
There is something about this
demolition-derby event that
keeps bringing them back. Call it
the lure of the pack, a sort of
siren’s song that compels skaters
to chase each other around like
Times Square at rush hour and
then come back for more.
CBS will show the short-track
skaters Thursday night, covering
the men’s and women’s 500-me
ter races and the men’s 5,000-me
ter relay. Also scheduled is the
women’s 1,000-meter speedskat
ing, the women’s slalom, the
men’s giant slalom, cross country
skiing and team ski jumping.
And for the night owls, there is
a hockey semifinal game begin
ning at 12:35 a.m. EST Friday.
Short track is a sort of first
cousin to speedskating. The dif
ference is the clock doesn’t de
termine the winner. Instead,
what matters most is who cross
es the finish line first. And please,
no pushing or shoving on the
passes to get there. Colliding with
or obstructing an opponent is
strictly prohibited.
Sure. And basketball’s a non-
contact sport, too.
“It’s got action, drama, speed,
and it’s flashy and quick,” coach
Jeroen Otter said of his sport. “We
just need to market it more and
make it more understandable.
“Some people think it’s like
gambling or roller derby, that the
one left on their feet is the winner,
that it’s about staying on your
feet, that it’s a lucky sport. But
that’s not the case. People don’t
always stay on their feet in the
downhill and nobody says that’s
a lucky sport.”
The 35-year-old Turner, who
won gold medals in 1992 and
1994, has retired three times.
Though she’d had no racing ac
tion since Lillehammer, she
Spring ‘99
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MSC SCONA 43 • "Cities: Decline or Rebirth?"
Thursday, February 19
6:00 p.m. MSC 201
"The Future of
America's Cities"
Mr. Bruce Katz
Director, Center on Urban
and Metropolitan Planning,
Brookings Institution
Friday, February 20
10:45 a.m. MSC 201
"The American
City in the New
Millennium"
The Honorable
IV r * I 1 i-i' ' t ,
Kirk Watson
liitilii
.. i i
Mayor of Austin, Texas
Memorial Student Center • Student Conference on National Affairs
competed here in the 3,000-me
ter relay as the Americans fin
ished fifth.
“I said I was ready for a chal
lenge,” Turner said. “It’s not a
matter of me winning gold
medals because if I’d stayed in
training, I’d be there.”
Turner explained what it is like
on the short track when will
meets power in those scrums
with other skaters.
“I’m so proud of being an ag
gressive skater,” she said. “You
can’t be intimidated by the big
girls. They like to pass inside, and
if I wasn’t as aggressive as I am, if
I saw one of those big Canadian
girls passing on the inside, I’d say,
‘Oh, go ahead.’ ”
Do not hold your breath,
waiting for that to happen. It’s
not her style.
“That just makes me want to
skate faster,” Turner said. “That
just gives me another challenge.
When she goes out, that’s a chal
lenge to me.”
Flaim, the only skater to win
Olympic medals in both short
and long track, carried the flag for
the U.S. team at the opening cer
emony and was a one-race skater
in the 5,000 meters. He under
stands what Turner means.
“The thing I like about short
track is that every race is differ
ent,” he said. “There’s always dif
ferent strategies you can use, dif
ferent things that happen in the
race, tactics.
“The relays are great because
you’re just going all-out for seven
minutes. Boom, you’re out there.
You get slung and you’re going
into the turn with all that speed
and you’re just hanging on. It’s a
real thrill. It’s so exciting.”
Of course, there is also the
bumping part. And the falling part.
“Anything can happen and
you get knocked out and that’s it,”
Flaim said. “There’s a little bit of
chance element that kind of
stinks. But it is exciting.”
Exciting enough to come
back again?
“I’ve said this before,” Flaim
said, “but this is my last time.”
Wjw
Hr
NAGANO 1
Medals
table
1998 Nagano Winter Olympics
r
M
pi
Wednesday, Feb. 18
50 total events
Nation G
Germany 7 8 '
Norway 7 8 ‘
Russia 8 4 ‘
Canada 4 5 j
Austria 2 3 '
United States 5 1 <
Netherlands 4 4 1
Finland 2 3 ‘
Japan 4 1 (
Italy 1 4 1
France 2 1 (
Switzerland 2 1 ;
China 0 3 (
South Korea 2 0 (
Czech Republic 0 1 ‘
Sweden 0 1 '
Belarus MBB 0 0 ‘
Bulgaria 1 0 (
Denmark 0 1 (
Ukraine 0 1 (
Belgium 0 0
Kazakstan 0 0
G-Gold, ^-Silver, B-Bronze
B Tol
I
0
TEXAS A&M
&
★ TUEBHMGEIVr
Are offering a reciprocal exchange progffl
that allows TAMU students with 4 semes®
of college German to spend the 1998-99
academic year in Germany!
INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS:
Thurs., 2/19, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Rm 154
Tues., 2/24, 1:00-2:00 p.m. Rm 154
Wed., 2/25, 11:00-12:00 p.m. Rm 154
Requirements: 3.0 GPR, U.S. Citizen, and Junior
status at time of exchange.
Study Abroad Hrojzrams IC>1 Hi*>ren I hill West S l vl
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