NATIONAL ANTHEM? HUM A FEW BARS AND I’LL FAKE IT
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — The second biggest fiasco of these Winter Olympics has nothing to do with figure skates, but rather, passports. It began last week with the Opening Ceremonies.As per tradition, the first nation to enter the Olympic stadium was Greece. The...
FOR ONCE, U.S. TEAM DELIVERS SKI LECTURE
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — And now, news from the Olympics, which you can see “live” on CBS, the word “live” meaning “prerecorded, tape-delayed, sometime next month.”Here’s the news: We Americans are kicking some serious ski...
THE FINAL EFFORTIF YOU ARE JANSEN, YOU HATE IT
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — You hate the Olympics. The worst moments of your life have been wrapped up inside them. At the starting line, you hear a drumroll over the loudspeakers, you dig your skate blade into ice, and the only comforting thought in your windless...
Mayhem In The Media At Tonya-Nancy Circus
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — Things are getting crazy here in the emergency ward of the Media Hospital.
“Doctor! Doctor!” a nurse screams. “This man is critical!”
“What’s the problem?” I ask.
“He was shoved by a reporter and swallowed his camera.”
“Mmmph . . . rnhmmph . . . smthtzyrt . . . yreez!”
“What’s he saying?”
“He says whatever you do, save the film. He’s got a shot of Tonya Harding sneezing.”
Before I can react, a man from “Inside Edition” offers me $1,000 for the tape of Tonya sneezing — $1,500 if I wipe it off first.
FACE OFFBOITANO – ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — It was over that night, the career, the quest, the dream. He sat in the dressing room, wiping off his skate blades, listening to music inside his Walkman headphones. He was smiling, on the outside, on the inside. He had skated the best...
A PAIR OF SKIS, A SLAB OF SALMON, AND THOU
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — Let’s say you want a little peace and quiet at the XVII Tonya-Nancy Olympics, maybe a quaint little outdoorsy event, so you choose the Five-Kilometer Women’s Cross-Country Ski Race, Classical (not to be confused with the...
BY GOING FOR GOLD, KENNEDY EARNS STEEL MEDAL FOR COURAGE
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — On a luge track, you never make a stand, since doing so would send you smack into the wall. Your best control is to lie back on the sled and let gravity guide you over the serpentine ice — even at 80 m.p.h. “Gelling out,”...
TOMMY MOE FOLLOWS IN JOHNSON’S SKI-STEPS
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — He is running a power drill when the telephone rings. He claims he is making a door handle.”Hey, I gotta work these days,” Bill Johnson said from the house he is building in Colorado. “After this, I gotta do the...
Maybe Some Stories Can Go Unexplored
LILLEHAMMER, Norway — Although the Winter Olympics have barely begun, we’ve already had our first major clash. It took place a few days ago, in a packed auditorium, during a press conference. It was not a clash of skis or hockey sticks, but a clash of cultures. In many ways, it set the stage for these Olympics.
The focus of that press conference was Norway’s Vegard Ulvang, a top cross-country skier and a national hero. Cross- country is to Norway what basketball is to America. Ulvang is hugely famous. When he speaks, people listen.
Stay Connected
The only newsletter dedicated to updates, exclusive content, and giveaways of Mitch's books!