Olympic notes

By Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 15, 2002

At a glance

WHEN: Through Feb. 24.

WHERE: Salt Lake City and surrounding area.

WEATHER: Partly cloudy, high of 36.

BEYOND THE VENUES

Mayors planning way too far in advance

It's still 16 years away, but a feud already is brewing about which Norwegian city should bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Oslo officials believe they should get the Games because they last hosted them in 1952. Lillehammer officials insist they deserve another chance because the 1994 Olympics in their small town went so well. "It has been 50 years since Oslo arranged the Olympics and only eight years since the Lillehammer Olympics," Oslo Mayor Per Ditlev-Simonsen said. "I think Oslo is a much stronger candidate," Lillehammer Mayor Synnoeve Brenden Klemetrud said. "Oslo doesn't have a good starting point for venues," adding the capital would have to use some of Lillehammer's facilities even if it got the Games. A truce between the cities seems likely because a joint application is considered Norway's best chance to land the Olympics.

Just the bare facts

A Canadian reporter received a chilly reception when he tried to dart out of his hotel room to grab a newspaper in the hallway. He didn't bother to dress first, and the door locked behind him. Francois Gagnon, who works for the Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil, used the newspaper to cover himself and asked the hotel manager for help. After letting him back in, hotel management asked him to check out. "I tried to make a little joke and said, "I'm lucky it was a broadsheet and not a tabloid,' " Gagnon said. "But they didn't laugh."

Not religious types

The Salt Lake City Tribune asked athletes what they are giving up for Lent:

German hockey player Andreas Loth: "I don't drink too much. I don't smoke, and I don't cheat on my girlfriend. I could give up sweets."

Slovenian skier Uros Pavlovcic: "I haven't even thought of it."

British figure skater Marika Humphreys: "I haven't given up anything since I was a little girl."

Brazilian cross-country skier: "Lent? What? You want me to give you something?"

MEET A COUNTRY

Finland

LOCATION: Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland, between Sweden and Russia.

POPULATION: 5.2-million.

CAPITAL: Helsinki.

COMPARATIVE AREA: Slightly smaller than Montana.

WINTER OLYMPIC STARS: Veikko Hakulinen (skiing), Marja-Liisa Hamalainen (skiing), Matti Nykanen (skiing), Clas Thunberg (skating).

BEST CHANCE FOR GOLD: Nordic combined team.

GOLD MEDALS WON: Samppa Lajunen (Nordic combined 15K), Janne Lahtela (men's moguls).

RECOGNIZED BY IOC: 1907.

NOTABLE: Ranks fifth all-time in Winter Olympic medals.

NUMBERS GAMES

48: Age of Virgin Islands luger Anne Abernathy.

28: Number of lugers in the competition.

26: Place she finished in Wednesday's event.

2002 Olympics: Today's coverage

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