Maybe This Time We'll Win
More American-friendly sports and more money increase the odds
A new generation of Olympians competing in other sports will make up for some of these shortcomings. Some freestyle-skiing observers are whispering about multiple medals for the U.S. women's moguls team. The event, which debuted as a medal sport at the 1992 games in Albertville, France, involves competitors schussing over large bumps and occasionally performing midair stunts for style points. American veterans Liz McIntyre and Donna Weinbrecht already account for a silver and a gold, and three-time Olympian Ann Battelle zooms into Nagano fresh from a remarkable World Cup season. Aerials, the hot-dogging acrobatic show that constitutes the other half of freestyle skiing, could provide another medalist or two in the forms of Eric Bergoust and Nikki Stone.
American short-track skaters will run neck and neck with the powerful South Koreans. Added to the games six years ago, the sport bears more than a passing resemblance to roller derby; jockeying for position in dense packs, short-trackers have been known to throw an elbow or two. Double gold medalist Cathy Turner, 35, who parlayed her on-ice success into a dubious B-film debut--she costarred with Leave It to Beaver's Jerry Mathers in a low-budget vampire flick--returns to aid the always strong women's relay team.
Snowboarders will vie for gold for the first time in Nagano. World champion (and U.S. News diarist) Sondra Van Ert is a threat in the giant slalom, as is Mike Jacoby for the men. The half-pipe competition, in which boarders perform stunts along a U-shaped corridor, looks wide open on the men's side because of three-time world champion Terje Haakonsen's unilateral boycott of the games (the 23-year-old Norwegian criticized Olympic officials--whom he called "the mafia"--for indulging in luxuries while "the athletes live in barracks in the woods"). Haakonsen's absence leaves the door open for Americans Todd Richards and Ross Powers to seize top spots.
Women's ice hockey, another sport making its first Olympic appearance, is a good bet to yield either a gold or a silver for the United States; recent victories against world champion Canada indicate the more precious metal is the likely prize. Men's ice hockey has been a part of the Olympics since 1920, but this year it's a whole different game--for the first time, National Hockey League professionals will take part. With a roster packed with high-priced talent rather than career minor leaguers, it shouldn't take too much luck for the United States to medal.
Many Americans, of course, would swap a dozen medals in other sports for a single women's figure skating gold. Fortunately for such fans, only a major realignment of heaven and Earth will prevent either Michelle Kwan or Tara Lipinski from becoming America's next ice princess. For the United States, the addition of a new Olympic medalist to the figure-skating pantheon may well be the highlight of a medal-rich winter games.
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