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Kicking Ice in
Utah
Milla Sue
Wisecarver ('75), assistant director of JMU Sports Media Relations,
served as a media sub-center manager at the XIX Winter Olympic Games
in Salt Lake City. In her mini-Olympic diary below, she shares her eyewitness
account of historical moments (the first African-American winter Olympic
medalist); repeats of history (return of the skeleton event) and world-class
Olympians kicking ice in Utah.
Sunday, Feb.
3
I've never
been to this part of the country, and the Utah mountains are so majestic
they might as well be Alps. We drive through the snow-covered Wasatch
Mountains en route to Utah Olympic Park, where the sports I'm covering
(ski jumping, nordic combined, bobsled, luge and skeleton) will be contested
at 7,000 feet. Utah Olympic Park is "one of the most challenging venues,"
I'm told; and it's the only one with two venues in one. There will be
16 days of competition, and on a peak day we'll see 36,000 spectators
and 1,800 staff, not to mention athletes, officials and journalists.
The UOP workers are mostly from Utah, but we also have staff from Austria,
Germany, Australia and the Ukraine. With athletes and coaches around,
it sounds like the United Nations.
Thursday,
Feb. 7
It's Opening
Ceremony rehearsals, and the pageantry is amazing. During the parade
of countries, each nation has a "stand-in" flag bearer, but the United
States is the only nation with "athletes." Several hundred volunteers
enter the stadium, and the audience roars.
Monday, Feb.
11
At UOP today,
silver medalist Georg Hackl became the first person to medal in five
Olympics. A favorite for luge gold, the 35-year old German was extremely
gracious, saying "Armin (Zoeggeler, the Italian gold medalist) is the
right Olympic champion." Equally impressive was the German interpreter,
Manfred, who not only translated but captured athletes' emotions.
Monday, Feb.
18
Athlete height
and weight are common stats known about American sports like football
and basketball, but I never had a feel for the size of Olympians. Bobsled
brakemen (the pusher and the last man to jump into the sled) can be
the size of football players. Markus Zimmerman, the brakeman for the
German team that won the gold medal today, is 6-foot-3, 234 pounds.
Tuesday, Feb.
19
History is
made today in women's bobsled as USA 2 wins gold. Former All-America
long jumper Vonnetta Flowers, became the first black athlete to medal
in the Winter Games. She and Jill Bakken are in the lobby near my desk
for an hour, posing for photos and talking to volunteers.
Wednesday,
Feb. 20
Imagine hurtling
80 mph down a mile-long icy track, face first on your American Flyer.
Substitute a 3-ft. long steel and fiberglass sled weighing nearly 100
pounds, and you have the sport of skeleton. Third-generation American
Olympian Jim Shea wins gold, and we watch as he struggles to take a
photo of his recently deceased grandfather from his helmet to share
it with the crowd. I was heartened to hear him say, "The friendships
are more important. It's all about friendships and competing. It's about
the world coming together in a peaceful way, and skeleton is a tribute
to all that."
-- Milla Sue
Wisecarver ('75)
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