The best in show?

Rocky Mountain News

Friday, February 10, 2006

For 17 days in a row, more than 2,500 athletes from 85 countries will ski, skate, curl, slide and play in the hope of winning one of 252 medals. Somewhere, inside all those numbers, millions of stories will take shape. Here are the top 10:

1. Go team?

The United States, long an afterthought in Winter Games, made great strides in 2002. Was it a one-time deal, only possible with a home-field advantage? Or can American athletes come close to their 34-medal magic?

2. And a 182.3 from the Russian judge

After a judging scandal rocked the Salt Lake City Games, the brains of international figure skating tossed out the 6.0 system. The new judging system is supposed to be corruption-free, but few people fully understand it. Skaters aren't sure whether to kiss or to cry when each score is posted.

3. Win or fall down

In 20 World Cup races in the past 12 months, Bode Miller has the same number of DNFs as top-five finishes: five. The New Hampshire native might be the hope of the U.S. Ski Team and the love of many European fans, but he's just as likely to be a bust on the world's biggest stage.

4. The Comeback

Hermann Maier alone was a .500 ski team in winter 2000-01. The Austrian won half the races he entered and was certain to defend his two Olympic gold medals in 2002. Then he wrecked his motorcycle and nearly lost a leg. Maier was in a wheelchair for months before he could even think chairlift. Now he's competing again, but is he good enough to repeat his performance from Nagano, Japan, in 1998?

5. The Comeback II

Emily Cook was soaring and spinning and flipping as America's leading hope for a freestyle medal in the Salt Lake City Olympics. Then she crash-landed on one of her jumps, broke both her feet and ripped tendons in both ankles. Three years and two surgeries later, Cook was able to ski again. One year after getting back on the planks, it's déjà vu. She once again is America's best hope in aerial skiing.

6. Kwan she do it?

Michelle Kwan should have nothing left to prove. The 25-year-old skater has nine national and five world championships. That might be enough if she weren't desperate for an Olympic gold to complete her set. (She won a silver in Nagano and a bronze in Salt Lake City.) Plagued by injuries, she hasn't competed in nearly a year, but she, and the brains at U.S. Figure Skating who nominated her to the Olympic team, still thinks she's the best.

7. The Exception

Chad Hedrick's teammates gave him the nickname because, for every rule in speedskating, he's the Exception. Great long-track skaters start when they're young. He started at 24. Great skaters lift weights and ride bikes to cross-train. He won't. Yet Hedrick owns two world records and has his eyes on Eric Heiden's history. Can the Exception win five gold medals?

8. United States vs. Canada

In women's hockey, only two teams matter. In two Olympic women's hockey tournaments, the North American neighbors have won two golds and two silvers. Other countries have started to offer more competition, but this is a rivalry that endures. One team will be on top and the other will have to wait four more years.

9. Skeletons in the closet

American sliders won both gold medals in 2002 and this team is even more talented. The problem, though, is all the distractions. The best male skeleton athlete had a positive drug test for a substance he was using to cure baldness. The best female was run over by a bobsled. And the coach found himself in court defending against sexual-harassment charges. Can the team achieve with all that background noise?

10. The unknown

Every Olympics, athletes arise from obscurity to run the show, at least for a moment. Think of Steven Bradbury, an Australian skater who won a short-track gold only because he was the last man standing. Or Sarah Hughes, who came from nowhere, to win a figure-skating gold and promptly retired. Who will be the surprise superstar in Turin? To see how all of these stories play out, let the Games begin.

U.S. target: 30 medals

The U.S. Olympic Committee won't make a medals prediction for the 2006 Turin Games, but Rocky Mountain News Olympic reporter Jody Berger will. She's predicting 30, and here's where the Americans will get them:

Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total Comment

Alpine skiing 1 2 1 4 Rahlves takes gold; Miller's close

Biathlon 0 0 0 0 Hakkinen's best, but in the U.S.

Bobsled 1 0 0 1 Todd Hays gets there first

Cross country 0 0 0 0 Better, but not good enough

Curling 0 0 0 0 Leave this to Canada

Figure skating 1 1 0 2 Kwan consoles herself with silver

Freestyle skiing 1 1 1 3 Jeremy's final flips and spins

Ice hockey 0 1 0 1 U.S. women lose to Canada

Luge 1 0 1 2 Martin, Grimmette move up a spot

Nordic combined 0 0 1 1 Fourth time a charm for Lodwick

ST speedskating 1 1 1 3 Ohno and Kim take three

Skeleton 0 0 1 1 Blame coach, test, runaway sled

Ski jumping 0 0 0 0 Still not our strength

Snowboarding 2 2 2 6 Shaun White can't be stopped

Speedskating 3 2 1 6 Hedrick wants to be Eric Heiden

Total 11 10 9 30

Going for the bagel

• Center of attention: The most distinguishing feature of the 2006 Winter Olympics medal is the hole in the middle, said to symbolize the Italian piazza, the open space in a city. The opening also draws attention to the heart of the Olympian who wears it.

• Why the change? Host cities of the Winter Games are allowed to add special details to the design of the medals. Although the Summer Olympics medal only received a makeover in 1928 and in 2004, the Winter Olympics medal has seen many new looks.

• Making the medals: It takes eight people 10 hours to produce each medal.

• Rocky poll: Some have criticized the new medal redesign, saying it looks like a doughnut. Here are some other possibilities: a bagel, a Life Saver, a washer or a CD. Which of these objects do you think the medal most resembles?Associated Press; Www.Olympic.Org; Www.Torino2006.Org