Free Republic

At the end of the Ladies Skating Program Bob Costas picked up a late breaking news bulletin from Reuters within the hour that the President of the I.O.C. has contacted President Putin of Russia and asked the Russian athletes not to leave the Olympics.The Russians are talking about having a seperate games with China and other countries where the judging would be fairer according their view.

Russian Withdrawal Russia Feeling 'Unappreciated,' Threatens to Withdraw Athletes From Winter Games and Athens OlympicsThe Associated Press S A L T   L A K E   C I T Y, Feb. 21 — Russia may leave the Winter Olympics because of decisions against its athletes and may not compete in the 2004 Summer Games if its concerns are not addressed quickly, a Russian Olympic official said today.Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev said he told IOC President Jacques Rogge that his nation was "greatly unappreciated" in the Olympics and wanted its issues taken seriously. The Russian's comments came at ...

You be the judge This week, as the figure-skating competition shifts to the women's event, the focus will be on the judges as much as the skaters. How do they make their decisions? Unlike in other sports, technical prowess counts for only so much. Winning is largely a matter of style. Evaluating the finer points of a skater's presentation, such as poise and emotive display, is subjective territory. But it could mean the difference between gold and silver, as Nancy Kerrigan learned in 1994, when judges ranked her flawless performance at Lillehammer behind Oksana Baiul's slightly flawed but more exuberant ...

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah (Reuters) - Russia's team at the Winter Olympics (news - web sites) is considering pulling out of the Games after they withdrew their cross-country relay team on Thursday following "abnormal" blood tests," the team spokesman said. "It has been discussed with Moscow," Gennady Shvets told Reuters. "This was the last straw." Shvets said discussions were still going on with International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) president Jacques Rogge and the team is due to hold a news conference imminently. Russia has had a disappointing Games and was upset by the furor over the judging of the ...

Postcard from Salt Lake City Dear Family: Wish you were here. We're having a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" in Salt Lake City. That's what everyone says at the Olympics just before they empty their wallets to watch an event. Saw the men's figure skating. Just wondering who dresses these guys. They dress a lot like Aunt Millie. I wonder who let them raid Liberace's closet. Watching men in sequins and chiffon — a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We've been standing in line for 10 hours trying to buy a Roots beret or anything with a maple leaf on it. The Canadians are popular ...

Shelters during Games minimal, jobless man says They haven't been herded onto buses out of town or rounded up by police, but several of Salt Lake's homeless say they are feeling little more than cold comfort from the city's effort to provide shelter during the Olympics. "The shelters are meager and minimal at best," said Jim Newfeld, an out-of-work electrician spending nights at the 500 West emergency shelter. "Not only that, the city is using us to pat themselves on the back about all they're doing. But it's not much, and it's all going away after this is over, anyway." ...

Ohno receives threatening e-mails USOC gives FBI menacing messages aimed at skating star ASSOCIATED PRESS SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 21 — Threatening e-mails regarding short-track speedskating gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno have been turned over to the FBI for investigation, the U.S. Olympic Committee said Thursday. THE THREATS WERE received following Ohno’s first race of the Olympics, when he won the silver medal in the 1,000 meters after wiping out near the finish line, USOC spokesman Mike Moran said. Another 16,000 e-mails regarding Ohno, mostly from sources in South Korea, crashed the USOC’s Internet server early Thursday for almost nine ...

<p>SALT LAKE CITY — The man on the boat docked in Marina del Rey, Calif., planned his evening just like millions of other Americans Tuesday night. He knew he wanted to be in front of the television set when Michelle Kwan skated her short program at the Olympics. He wasn't going to miss that.</p>

The events for the day will be underway shortly. GO TEAM USA and too all freedom loving nations...GOOD LUCK. You can get live results online at this link Live Results Todays Events: Mens giant slalom 12 noon est. Cross Country Skiing Women's 4x5 relay 230 pm est. Curling Ladies bronze medal game USA VS CAN 11 am est. Curling Ladies Gold Medal Game SUI vs GBR 4 pm est. Figure Skating Ladies Free Skate 8 pm est. Ice Hockey Women's bronze medal game 2 pm est. Ice Hockey Women's gold medal game 7 pm est. Nordic Combined Sprint k 120 ...

At the Home Depot, you cannot buy clap skates or curling stones with a can of paint or a stack of two-by-fours, but that does not mean the home improvement chain is not enamored of the Winter Olympics. In fact, if you seek help in the aisles of Home Depots in the United States and Canada, you may run into a speedskater, a curler, a skeleton racer, a snowboarder or a cross- country skier. The fellow wearing the orange apron at the West Valley City, Utah, store who found the perfect tiles for your patio floor might have been Derek ...

A few observations after two weeks writing about and contemplating the world's best skiers: They are not human. I have peered into their eyes, listened to their Olympic hopes, discussed their families and talked technique in a bar when their last competitions were over, and I admit they seem perfectly normal. But stand alongside the downhill or super-G course - where the pitch can reach 74 degrees and is coated with a smooth membrane of ice - watch them flash before your eyes at 80 miles an hour, setting their ski edges at impossibly dangerous angles as they pass, ...

There are armed men everywhere you look in Salt Lake City. Be sure to carry a handful of pins As cool as Olympic sports might look from the couch, rest assured that you are not necessarily missing anything by not being there in person. The luge, for example, is just kind of a whizzing noise and a blur every 50 seconds, after which everybody looks at one another and laughs the laugh of people who were just screwed into paying $1.25 per second of entertainment. What you are missing, though, is the security show. Salt Lake City is a $350 ...

Americans doctored the medal table to show themselves in better lightBy Mihir Bose&nbsp; (Filed: 20/02/2002) OLYMPIC GAMES are always a delicate balancing act between jingoism and spreading international goodwill. The really successful Games, such as the Sydney Olympics, can use the occasion to celebrate national spirit, yet make the world feel so welcome that foreigners come away thinking the party could not have happened without them. Not in Salt Lake City. After three weeks here I'm still like the man at the party who stands with a drink in the corner of the room, checking he has the right invitation ...

SALT LAKE CITY - This place is going straight to heck in the morals department. I blame all these outsiders and foreigners, coming here with their caffeinated beverages and sinful outside foreign ways. Take jaywalking. When I first got here, nobody jaywalked. I'd be walking in downtown Salt Lake City (an area about the size of a regulation tennis court), and I'd come to an intersection, and there might be 150 people waiting to cross the street, with no car visible for a thousand yards in any direction, but if the ''don't walk'' light was on, everybody just stood there, ...

PARK CITY, Utah - This quaint ski-resort village in the heart of the Olympic action has gone out of its way to make you, the visitor, feel right at home, assuming your home charges you $25 to park. You can also buy pizza from a sidewalk stand here for $5 a slice, and a bottle of genuine water for $4. The going price for air is $3 per breath. I'm kidding, of course. Air is only $1.50 per breath. But I'm not kidding when I say the main Olympic event here appears to be the Retail Merchants' 50 Kilometer Price ...

Giuliani, Cheney also are expected to make visits President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, among other dignitaries, have come and gone. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Utah to inspect the troops on security detail and to soak up the atmosphere. And former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Vice President Dick Cheney are expected to come for the 2002 Winter Games' closing ceremonies.Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld enjoy speedskating races at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on Tuesday. Chuck Wing, Deseret News During the Olympics, Salt Lake City is a ...

The Olympics are having a strange effect on Salt Lake City leaders. Old enemies seem to be having so much fun that they can't muster the will to jab at one another.Pedestrians pass banner featuring Mayor Rocky Anderson outside the protest area at Pioneer Park.Peter Chudleigh, Deseret News Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, for example, is usually perched as far away politically as he can get from certain City Council members. A few of them resisted the mayor's plans for a downtown Olympic festival, for serving alcohol at the City-County Building and hosting parties for city residents at the start ...

Who has moved more hearts, shown more endurance, spent more time on the platform and inspired more tears during these Winter Olympics than . . . . . . the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Dear Choir; What a fabulous honor it was to sing with you at the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. If I could've given you all a hug, believe me I would have. God bless you all. Love, Sting. Feb. 13, Florence, Italy That's the way it's been for two weeks &#151; one heartfelt review after another. Who knew? You figure the choir should've gone out of style ...

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived in town today to meet with Gov. Mike Leavitt, attend some Olympic events and fire up the troops guarding the 2002 Winter Games.Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrives in Salt Lake for his Olympic visit. Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News Leavitt met Rumsfeld at the National Guard section of the Salt Lake airport complex and was to accompany the secretary of defense on a tour of the Olympic Village, after which they were to attend events at the Olympic Oval, E Center and Delta Center (Salt Lake Ice Center), governor's spokeswoman Natalie Gochnour ...

SALT LAKE CITY (CP) - The perfect 6.0 mark will disappear under a new judging system for figure skating being proposed by Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the International Skating Union. There would be 14 judges on an event panel, rather than the current nine, and computers would randomly select seven marks. The other seven judges' marks would not count. Secrecy would prevail. None of the 14 would know which seven were selected. Cinquanta called his plan "a total revolution" but could give no timetable on when the new system might be introduced. He'll try to get it added as an ...