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Olympics: Rings and things

DID SHE GET HER CHRISTMAS BONUS?: If you had trouble finding that box of Kellogg's Mini-Wheats Honey Frosted Bite Size on the grocery store shelf, perhaps it already is on its way to becoming a collector's item.

The cereal was shipped this month with Olympic bobsled teammates Jean Racine and Jen Davidson smiling on the box.

Barely a week later, Racine fired Davidson, her best friend and brakeman.

The decision has thrown the bobsled community into a tizzy with the Olympic trials this week in Park City, Utah.

Racine hired brakeman Gea Johnson away from rival Bonny Warner, who had to scramble to find a new teammate days before the trials.

This means two of the top U.S. contenders are starting from scratch, and Davidson, a native of Utah, probably will be shut out of the Salt Lake Games.

Racine and Davidson won the World Cup championships the past two years and were the favorite for gold with women's two-man bobsled making its debut in the Olympics. A yearlong slump, however, convinced Racine to gamble on a new teammate.

"This decision is the hardest one that an athlete can make," said Matt Roy, executive director of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. "They have all set aside personal friendships to realize the overall goal, to represent their country to the best of their ability."

Racine and Johnson, in their first competition together, won the silver medal in the World Cup season finale last week. Warner tried using Davidson as her brakeman but switched to Bethany Hart and finished seventh.

ONE FRIEND TOO MANY: Ashley Hayden, Brenna Margol, Becky Wilczak and Courtney Zablocki have worked side by side since they were teenagers as the next generation of U.S. luge team members.

They all are 20 or 21 and were attempting to make their first Olympic roster. The catch? Only three would qualify.

When the results were finalized last week, Hayden, Wilczak and Zablocki had reservations for Salt Lake and Margol was in the cold.

"I'm happy that I made the team, but Brenna's been sliding as long as I have and we've always had the same goals," Wilczak said. "Between the four of us, I couldn't have told you who wouldn't have been chosen because we're all so close. It's difficult to watch one of the four of us not be there."

PUCKS O'PLENTY: NBC announced last week that it would provide live coverage of at least 30 Olympic hockey games, using CNBC, MSNBC and NBC.

"Hockey will be covered like no team sport ever has at any previous Olympics, Summer or Winter, foreign or domestic," NBC coordinating producer Molly Solomon said.

-- Compiled by John Romano from staff and wire reports.

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