2006 Turin Winter Olympics Blog

The U.S. Olympic skeleton team coach has been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. 2002 Olympic gold medalist Tristan Gale and Felicia Canfield claim coach Tim Nardiello has made sexual advances and explicit comments toward female racers. Neither athlete will be competing in the Turin Winter Olympics. The four men and four women who are Olympic-team candidates have expressed support of Nardiello.

It seems like odd timing to me to bring this up. Why not a month ago? Why not a year ago? The allegations say this has been going on for years. One can’t help but wonder whether the allegations would have been made now if the women were headed for Turin. Whatever the truth, hopefully it will be resolved soon so that it doesn’t mar the team’s chances in the Olympics.

Earlier this week Derek Parra emotionally announced to the skaters preparing for the Olympic trials the reason he’s been distracted recently. He’s getting a divorce. Some people remember his wife and newborn baby from the Salt Lake City Olympics. That was a happier time. Parra explained that recently he hasn’t been sleeping, has been having difficulty concentrating, and is overwhelmed by sadness. Apparently, in this case, confession is not only good for the soul, but for his skating times as well.

On Friday Parra qualified to compete in Turin in the 1500 meter race. In an interview earlier this week, Parra said that if he qualified for the Olympics he would briefly go home and pack his things. We wish him and his family all the best during this difficult time.

Today we added a new Winter Olympic Trivia page on our website. Every week leading up to the olympics we will be posting a new quiz.

Take our first Winter Olympics Trivia quiz and let us know what you think. And if you have any trivia questions you think we should include, be sure to leave them in the comment section. If you want to challenge us, just leave the question. We’ll research the answer.

I challenge you, dear readers, to stump me! I consider myself somewhat of an above average amateur researcher. So, I challengeyou to come up with an Olympics question that I can’t find the answer to.

What do you win if you stump me? The winner will receive your name in the headline of a blog entry and an entire entry dedicated just to you and your question, plus bragging rights. You can even print out the “I stumped Jill Manty” entry and post it on your refrigerator, your office door, or your car window!

I think the developing theme of our blog is “human interest stories of the Olympics.” Maybe that’s because that’s the main thing that seems to make the news two months out. Maybe it’s because that’s what’s interesting to me. Maybe it’s because it makes for a more exciting blog entry than “Bloom makes Olympic squad”.

So, in that vein, I bring you the blog about the Ethiopian in the Winter Olympics. Robel Teklemariam, 31, will be skiing for Ethiopia as the first Ethiopian-born citizen to represent the African nation at a Winter Olympics. He hopes to compete in Nordic and Alpine events. (Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that translates to downhill and cross-country, for those of us, like Teklemariam, who are from non-skiing locations in the world.)

If you think it’s easy being the first person in your country to compete in a Winter Olympics, think again. You can’t just sign up and say you’re going to be skiing for your country. First, you have to get your country to agree to allow you to represent them. Then you have to get the international committee governing your sport to recognize your country’s right to send a team in your chosen Olympic event. Teklemariam had to establish an Ethiopian skiing federation.

But all his hard work will pay off. He’ll get to carry his country’s flag at the opening and closing ceremonies. Said Teklemariam, “”I guess if I’m the only one, I’ll be carrying the flag.”

For a picture and more information, visit this blog.

I think this article I read recently on the U.S. team’s Olympic uniforms is pretty funny. The look is supposed to be a combination of high-tech materials with retro styling.

My favorite quote about the uniforms? “The parade pant is nylon, and the style is supposed to be a mix of a formal dress style and a snowboard pant.” Sort of tuxedo meets sports attire?

Perhaps that quote is to appease the snow boarders, who are apparently the most fickle of athletes when it comes to fashion.

I’m not sure I fully understand the new speed skating event slated for the Turin Olympics. Called “Team Pursuit”, it involves three skaters working as a team. The time that counts for the team is the time for the third person on the team crossing the line. The lead position is traded among the different skaters. It seems interesting, and I am looking forward to watching it. If nothing else, it should be a wild card when it comes to who wins since no one has really competed in this event before.

The Italian planning commission has taken great pains to make the construction of the 2006 Olympic venues as environmentally friendly as possible. The committee has worked with the U.N. environment agency (the U.N.E.P.) to insure that resources are used as efficiently as possible.

In 2002 Werner Hoeger made news at the Salt Lake City Olympics as the oldest athlete competing, at the age of 48. At this year’s Turin Olympics, he will compete again for his native Venezuela, at the age of 52, in the luge.

In the Salt Lake City Olympics, Hoeger competed with his son. In this Olympics, his son will be staying home because of commitments to the Mormon church.

Hoeger’s goal is to have four clean runs in the competition, but he has few hopes of actually winning.

“We have to be realistic — in the sport of luging, we don’t have a chance of medaling.”

Cynthia Phaneuf has been forced to withdraw from the Canadian National Championships because of a knee injury. She was expected to take one of the top positions, assuring her of a place on the Canadian Olympic figure skating team. Phaneuf can skate but, because the injury is to her landing knee, she can’t jump.

Joannie Rochette, who is the defending champion, is expected to win in Ottawa next week, and Mira Leung, Amanda Billings, Lesley Hawker and Meagan Duhamel now are favored to fill out the team competing in Turin.

Citing a groin injury, Michelle Kwan has decided not to skate in next week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championship. Kwan will, however, petition the U.S. Figure Skating International Committee for one of three ladies spots on the 2006 U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team.

Kwan was injured during practice on Dec. 17 and her doctor has recommended limiting skating since then. She is expected to resume her normal training schedule on Friday, Jan. 13.

Vladimir Krikunov, head coach of the Russian hockey team, says that he has the answer to post-game stress. Three shots of vodka. He considers it mandatory.

Well, yeah, I guess that would do it. Hard to feel stressed when you’re passed out.

This seems to be a burning question among sports journalists today. Because Michelle Kwan pulled out of Nationals due to an injury, there is no guarantee she will compete in this year’s Olympics in Turin. Many feel that U.S. skating owes her a place on the team. I tend to agree.

It’s true that her chances for a medal are slim, but she’s Michelle Kwan. When I told my Mom that we had started an Olympics blog, her first question was “Is Michelle Kwan competing this year?”

My favorite quote from an article on the subject pretty much sums up Kwan’s popularity with the people and with the media:

“And how would NBC, which spends so many millions on Olympics coverage, feel about a Kwan-less team? The network is already using Kwan in its advertising for the Turin Games. If NBC executives have to fly her there in a private jet and provide an around-the-clock medical staff to ensure her health, they’d probably do so.”

Freestyle skier. Model. NFL player? If Jeremy Bloom gets his way, all will be true by the end of February. On the 15th, Bloom hopes to win a medal in freestyle skiing at the Turin Olympics. ON February 22nd, he will be trying to dazzle NFL coaches and convince them that he has the right stuff to make it in the pros.

It’s not as though Bloom never played ball. He played for the University of Colorado, until the NCAA declared him ineligible for taking endorsements as a skier. Bloom went to court over the issue but, ultimately, lost the court case and the opportunity to play college football.

Does he have the right stuff to make an NFL team? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we hope that he fulfills his Olympic dreams in Turin.

Freestyle skiers must be a special breed. Earlier today I wrote about Jeremy Bloom’s determination to pursue his NFL dreams after he finishes his Olympic ones. Emily Cook’s story is different and even more inspiring.

In 2002, shortly before the Salt Lake City Olympics, Emily Cook broke both her feet landing a jump— one of the breaks was so bad that there was some concern she would never walk properly again. But now, a short four years later, she is on track to ski in the Turin Olympics.

You can read more of her inspiring story here.