Detroit Free Press

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- You hate the Olympics. The worst moments of your life have been wrapped up inside them. At ...

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.

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- It was over that night, the career, the quest, the dream. He sat in the dressing room, ...

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- Let's say you want a little peace and quiet at the XVII Tonya-Nancy Olympics, maybe a ...

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- On a luge track, you never make a stand, since doing so would send you smack into the ...

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- He is running a power drill when the telephone rings. He claims he is making a door ...

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.

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- As this might be the last column I ever write, I want to get everything down. I have been ...