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TIME: Almanac 1995
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TIME Almanac 1995.iso
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1995-02-24
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<text id=92TT0480>
<title>
Mar. 02, 1992: Peaks & Valleys
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
Mar. 02, 1992 The Angry Voter
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
1992 WINTER OLYMPICS, Page 53
Peaks & Valleys
</hdr><body>
<p>The feast of sportsmanship had its dubious moments too
</p>
<p>-- Compiled by Jonathan Abbey
</p>
<p>-- MOST HEART-STOPPING SPORT
</p>
<p> Olympic hockey, turning rough-and-tumble, provided some of
the most electric moments in the Games. Among them: Canada's
4-3 victory over Germany, which ended in a tie breaker when a
German-launched puck blasted under the goalie, then trickled to
a halt on--but not over--the goal line.
</p>
<p>-- BIGGEST HIGH AND LOW FOR ONE ATHLETE
</p>
<p> Only 24 hours after Italian skier Deborah Compagnoni won
the gold medal in the super-G, she crashed in the giant slalom
and suffered a ligament tear that ended her season.
</p>
<p>-- MOST NOBLE IN DEFEAT
</p>
<p> U.S. speed skater Dan Jansen, who finished an unexpectedly
poor 26th in the 1,000-m event, answered a barrage of
journalists' questions--no matter how boorish--with patience
and dignity.
</p>
<p>-- MOST SOPHISTICATED SKATING OUTFIT
</p>
<p> Amid all the gaudy handkerchief hems and epaulets, Nancy
Kerrigan's simple, lemon-yellow costume for the original program
stood out as the kind of thing Grace Kelly might have worn if
she'd been a figure skater.
</p>
<p>-- MOST EXACTING TIE SCORE
</p>
<p> American Diann Roffe and Austrian Anita Wachter both won
silver medals in the giant slalom after finishing in the same
hundredth of a second: 2:13.71.
</p>
<p>-- MOST EMBARRASSING TRAFFIC JAM
</p>
<p> Even though he had a 40-sec. head start, Moroccan El
Hassan Mahta was "lapped" in the men's giant slalom by Lebanon's
Raymond Kayrouz, who careered past the slower Mahta. Both skiers
missed gates and were disqualified.
</p>
<p>-- WORST PUBLICITY MATERIAL
</p>
<p> The Chinese team brochure made a grand declaration of
universal friendship, then refused to divulge anything friendly
or otherwise about the athletes except their dates of birth.
</p>
<p>-- MOST IRASCIBLE RELATIVE
</p>
<p> Helmut Girardelli, autocratic father and coach of
Luxembourg's Marc Girardelli, entered a restricted area and
insisted that a barrier on the Face de Bellevarde course be
moved to allow skiers a safer turn. Furious race officials
confiscated his credentials for interfering, but they moved the
barrier.
</p>
<p>-- WORST DILETTANTE, ROYAL DIVISION
</p>
<p> Prince Albert of Monaco, whose bobsled wound up in 43rd
place in a field of 46 competitors.
</p>
<p>-- BEST COMEBACK FROM AN ILLNESS
</p>
<p> Just a week after being released from the hospital with a
painful inflamed pancreas, Norwegian speed skater Johann Olav
Koss won a gold medal in the 1500-m event.
</p>
<p>-- WORST LOSERS
</p>
<p> After Italian skiers Josef Polig and Gianfranco Martin
finished 1-2 in the Alpine combined event, bumping a
fourth-place Frenchman from the medal stand, French ski
officials tried to have them disqualified on the grounds that
the advertising on the winners' jackets was too large. Olympic
officials declined to intervene, declaring, "Medals are won on
the ground, not in offices."
</p>
<p>-- MOST BITING REBUKE TO A LAGGING TEAM
</p>
<p> When a leading Swedish newspaper, Expressen, ran two full
pages dedicated to the "successes" of the Swedish Olympians, the
space was blank. "There weren't any," read an explanation at the
bottom of the pages. Swedish Alpine skier Pernilla Wiberg later
won a gold medal in the women's giant slalom.
</p>
<p>-- ECHOES
</p>
<p> "Congratulations, Alberto. Thank you very much, me."
</p>
<p>-- Italy's Alberto Tomba, after winning gold in the giant slalom
</p>
<p> "You know, the regular four-letter stuff. The universal
language."
</p>
<p>-- Canadian Hockey star Eric Lindros, on what he said during a run-in with a Unified Team member
</p>
<p> "When you're in the air, you just have to accept that
you're in the air and have a good time up there."
</p>
<p>-- U.S. Skier Krista Schmidinger, describing a treacherous bump on the women's downhill
course
</p>
<p> "We'd like to see more girls. We cannot even use the
condoms that are provided."
</p>
<p>-- Finnish Hockey Player Keijo Sailynoja, complaining about the isolation of his accommodations
</p>
<p> "I just flew."
</p>
<p>-- Finnish Wunderkind Ski Jumper Toni Nieminen
</p>
</body></article>
</text>