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2006 Winter Olympics

Finding love at the luge

By GARY SHELTON
Published February 14, 2006

TURIN, Italy - The competition is fierce. And the moon is full.

The Gatorade is flowing. The wine, too.

In the air, there is the smell of sweat. Also, pheromones.

Welcome to Valentine's Day in the Olympics, that magical day when the torch looks like candlelight, the rings look like jewelry and the national anthems all seem to be played by Air Supply. What's that Olympic Creed again? Citius, Altius, Kissius?

Yep, these athletes are making time, all right.

Much of the time, it is with each other.

Did you hear? Over on the mountain, Shaun wants to pass notes to Sasha. KC loves Jenny. Denis is mad about Melissa. Rena has a crush on John. Allison is going to the prom with Apolo.

Most of the time, of course, this is the sort of news that would make you pantomime putting your finger down your throat and make retching noises.

Ah, but this is Italy, the country that invented cuddling, hand-holding and teen angst. Also, Valentine's Day. The most popular legend about the origin says that St. Valentine was a priest who used to perform secret marriages for young people. Evidently, old Valley ended up in the clink, where he wrote mash notes to the jailer's daughter and signed with "Forever Your Valentine." Which means that Italy also invented the Hallmark card. Who knew?

We are 164 miles from Verona, where Romeo used to hang out with Juliet. We are 228 miles from Venice, where the gondoliers sing beneath the Bridge of Sighs. We are 325 miles from Rome, where young women were once told they would marry the first eligible man they saw on Valentine's Day.

Which explains, of course, why the Flying Tomato may linger on the street where Sasha Cohen lives today.

Poor Shaun White. The kid has been struck by the thunderbolt. He has it bad for Cohen, the way Alberto Tomba used to have it for Katarina Witt. As soon as they hung a gold medal around White's neck Sunday, he started wondering if it would impress Cohen, a woman he has never met.

"I hope she dates gold medalists," White said, picturing what that first meeting would be like. "Oh, yeah, this. I just got it. How's it going?"

White also said he would like to win a gold medal during the Summer Games. "Sasha would dig that," he said.

It isn't just those two, though. American pairs skaters John Baldwin and Rena Inoue are dating. Baldwin has said he fell in love with Inoue "because I saw the kind of person she is on the ice."

Perhaps that's why there were rumors all day Monday that Baldwin might fall to a knee and propose to Inoue at the end of their pairs competition on Monday night. It didn't happen.

As Baldwin said once about marriage, "I hear it's the leading cause of divorce."

It really shouldn't surprise anyone when athletes become involved. After all, they are at that gooey-eyed age, and they are young and fit and often, they are dressed in Lycra. Besides, look around. How many romances do you see in your workplace?

The Olympics always have been a hotbed, so to speak, of involvement. If you are of a certain age, you probably remember how American hammer thrower Hal Connelly was smitten by Olga Fikatova, the Czechoslovakian discus champion. Then there was the Brad and Angelina of 1952, Dana and Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia. Tracy Caulkins met her husband, Mark Stockwell, when he hopped into the Olympic warmup pool to introduce himself.

Perhaps that explained the moonstruck eyes of Allison Baver Sunday night, when she talked about watching short-track sweetums Apolo Ohno botch his race. "It breaks my heart," she said.

For the record, Baver said she and Ohno aren't doing anything special today. They both race Wednesday.

Still, they may not be able to help themselves. Turin is where the chocolate bar was invented, they say here. They make famous wines nearby. There are flowers.

And if all fails, Internet access is available.

That's how American ice dancer Denis Petukhov met his wife, Melissa Gregory. No, not in those rooms.

Gregory had been without a skating partner for three years when a friend saw an Internet posting of a Russian skater seeking a partner. It was Petukhov. The two began to correspond in conversations you can only imagine.

"What are you wearing?"

"Sequins."

"Me, too!"

Eventually, Petukhov flew to Denver to meet Gregory. "I fell in love when I first saw her," he said. The two were dating in a week, married in a year. Petukhov's return ticket to Russia has never been used. These days, the two are inseparable.

"If he wants to go hunting with his BB gun, I am right there wearing my high heels and reading my magazines," Gregory said. "If I am getting my nails done, he's right there reading a magazine about cars."

Then there is Jennifer Rodriguez and KC Boutiette, the speed skaters who were married a few months after the Salt Lake City Olympics. He proposed by leaving a ring in her vitamin bottle.

Ah, romance.

Remember Dave Pelletier and Jamie Sale, the Canadian skaters in the middle of the Salt Lake City judging scandal? They're married now. Double golds, if you will. Kristi Yamaguchi met her husband, hockey player Bret Hedican, at the Olympics.

Okay, it doesn't always work out. It's hard to forget the impact of Tonya Harding and ex-husband Jeff Gillooly at the Olympics. As I understand it, films are available.

Then there was the Russian pair of Alexander Zhulin and Maia Usova, who were married when they competed in 1994. Usova caught Zhulin with another Russian dancer, Oksana Grishuk. Usova punched her rival in the face.

Then there was Italian skier Alberto Tomba who loved, well, everybody. Near the end of his career, Tomba had an explanation of aging. Once, he said, he used to "have a wild time with five women until 3." In his declining years, he said, it was "three women until 5."

Here, the love of the Olympics lingers on. What else would you expect. The motto of these Olympics is "passion lives here."

As for me, I have never missed my wife so much in my life.

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 04:09:15]