Olympic Capsules: Vonn questions whether she will race at Olympics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Lindsey Vonn took a deep breath, and her words trickled forth slowly, as she began to discuss the badly bruised and swollen right shin she fears could sideline her at an Olympics many predicted would become her personal showcase.

Indeed, almost anyone with any interest in the Vancouver Games — fans and competitors, yes, but also Vonn’s sponsors and NBC — must have been taken aback Wednesday when the U.S. star said: "I’m sitting here today questioning whether, you know, I’ll be even able to ski."

Vonn revealed the injury publicly two days before the opening ceremony, and about a week after hurting herself during a slalom training run in Austria, cutting short her preparation.

As a two-time reigning overall World Cup champion, Vonn is considered a contender to win multiple medals and an overwhelming favorite in the downhill and super-G. And as an outgoing, autograph-signing, product-pitching American, she has been positioned as Vancouver’s answer to Beijing’s Michael Phelps.

For a day, at least, that all was thrown into doubt.

As it is, Vonn sought to distance herself from such comparisons, saying: "I’m not trying to be Michael Phelps. I’m just trying to be Lindsey Vonn, trying to do the best I can every day. Obviously with this injury, it’s going to be even more difficult than I was anticipating, but I’m just going to go out there and fight. That’s all I can do."

The women have their first official training run at Whistler Mountain on Thursday, and Vonn is expected to try to test her leg then — perhaps, her husband said, with the help of painkillers or a local anesthetic to numb the affected area.

"We honestly don’t know how it’s going to respond," said Thomas Vonn, a former U.S. Olympic skier who acts as a coach and adviser to his wife. "We’re going to go up and see tomorrow. We potentially could get up there and she could say, ‘OK. This works. I can do this.’ And it could be not that big of a problem. Or she could get out there with the painkillers and she could say, ‘There’s just no chance."’

The first women’s Alpine race is Sunday’s super-combined. Those who have been around Vonn for years expect her to be in the starting gate, setting aside the agony the way she’s done so many times before.

"Knowing her — her competitive drive — if anyone could be ready to go when the gun goes off, it will be Lindsey Vonn," U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association CEO Bill Marolt said.

Thomas Vonn thinks his wife might wind up sitting out a race or two before healing enough to be able to participate in later events.

"It is entirely possible that she could race in all five events and be fine. It is possible, for sure. I would be very, very surprised if she didn’t race in anything," he told The Associated Press.

Still, he called the time since the injury "one of the more stressful weeks we’ve had ever in our lives ... and we still don’t know what the outcome will be."

His wife did her best to smile through all of the camera clicks at Wednesday’s news conference, but she also paused and sighed occasionally while talking about the pain in her leg and the possibility of needing to pull out of one — or all — of her five events.

She described herself as "very emotional, very scared."

"It’s hard to stay positive, you know," said the 25-year-old Vonn, who lives and trains in Vail, Colo. "A week ago ... I was feeling great, I was feeling healthy, I had no problems. And now I’m sitting here today questioning whether I’ll be even able to ski. So it’s not where I want to be, by any means."

She was in a far better place Jan. 31, when she won a World Cup super-G at St. Moritz, Switzerland, to clinch that discipline title and extend her lead in the overall standings heading into the Olympics. Two days later, Vonn was taking some extra slalom training when she jammed a ski tip, toppled over and slammed her right boot against her leg.

It was the first run of what was supposed to be a three-day pre-Olympics camp. She hasn’t skied since getting hurt Feb. 2, and said it’s even been arduous to simply put on a ski boot in her hotel room to test the leg. Vonn said the bruising covers about a 6-inch swath — starting from where the top of a boot rests against her body — but she refused to have an X-ray done to check whether she broke a bone because she didn’t want to know.

"I pretty much stuck my fingers in my ear and just pretended like I didn’t hear what was going on. I didn’t want to hear that my shin was fractured. At the time, that’s what it looked like," Vonn said. "If I fractured my shin, I wouldn’t be racing the rest of the season."

Vonn called the shin "probably the worst place that you can have an injury, because you’re constantly pushing against your boot."

Other ski racers agreed that even if Vonn does go ahead and compete, she could be limited.

"That’s what puts her in her own league (among) the women: She’s on the front of the boot, and she really accelerates through the turn," said Canada’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis, a medal contender in the men’s downhill Saturday. "If she can’t do that, then it’s going to open doors for a lot of other women."

Trying to speed the healing process, Vonn is having laser treatments and trying a less-orthodox method: wrapping her leg in topfen, an Austrian curd cheese, to ease the swelling. She’s taken anti-inflammatories, but said she hasn’t tried pain medication, meaning "there are still things that we can do."

Like most elite Alpine ski racers, Vonn is no stranger to injuries. Nor would it be anything new for her to try to shut one out while speeding down a slope.

"I’ve always been able to persevere," Vonn said. "I won’t really know until tomorrow, when I actually get on skis, and they can actually assess the situation and see how bad it is."

At the 2006 Turin Olympics, she took a harrowing spill at somewhere around 50 mph in training, a fall that bruised her back and sent her to the hospital. Less than 48 hours later, Vonn — then known by her maiden name, Kildow — finished eighth in the downhill.

This season, she lost control during a World Cup giant slalom in Austria in late December, thudded to the ground and worried she had broken her left wrist. It turned out it was a bad bruise, but Vonn was right back out there racing in a slalom the next morning, wearing a brace to protect the tender arm. Less than two weeks later, she was stringing together a three-race winning streak.

In early December, Vonn’s knee slammed into her chin as she sped down a downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta, making her teeth chomp on her tongue, causing blood to pour out of a corner of her mouth as she crossed the finish line.

"She’s a tough girl," said Bill Sterett, a U.S. Ski Team doctor who first treated Vonn when she broke her leg at age 13. "I think you can never discount Lindsey and how tough she is and how much she wants this."

The U.S. Ski Team and USOC knew about Vonn’s injury last week, but otherwise she kept the bad news mostly to herself until Wednesday, hoping against hope her shin wouldn’t keep hurting so much. Even her mother didn’t know about the injury until seeing Vonn initially disclose it during an interview with NBC’s "Today" show that was taped Tuesday night and aired Wednesday morning.

"This is in no way trying to give myself an excuse if I don’t do well. I wish that this had never happened. I wish that I was coming in here healthy, and that I had to deal with all the expectations with a healthy body, but obviously that’s not the case," Vonn said.

"I know that I’ve given it everything that I have," she added, "and you can be sure that when I’m in the starting gate — if I’m in the starting gate — that I will be out there to win."

Fog forces men’s downhill training to be canceled

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Fog forced the first men’s downhill training run to be canceled Wednesday after only 42 of 87 scheduled racers completed the Olympic course.

Didier Cuche of Switzerland had the fastest time, but it wasn’t immediately clear if the session would count. Olympic rules demand that all racers complete the course on the same day for it to stand as an official training run.

Race jury officials were meeting after abandoning racing because of poor visibility at 3 p.m. local time — 4½ hours after the session had begun earlier than scheduled because bad weather was expected.

"We delayed so long to see what the possibilities were," International Ski Federation official Mike Kertesz told The Associated Press. "Mother Nature is playing games with us."

Two more training sessions are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, with the race Saturday. But more unfavorable weather is forecast.

"Looking at the existing possibilities, we were really trying with every effort to ensure that this training run went ahead," Kertesz said.

Officials halted the session after 40 racers had gone, then allowed two more to go before ordering a second delay when visibility higher up the mountain jeopardized skiers’ safety.

Cuche, who has a broken right thumb, was fastest in 1 minute, 53.22 seconds. He was 0.29 seconds ahead of Canada’s Robbie Dixon, who grew up racing in Whistler. Ambrosi Hoffman of Switzerland trailed by 0.55 in third.

Cuche had surgery Jan. 30 to fix his first metacarpal bone with a titanium plate and seven screws after falling in a World Cup giant slalom.

Whistler has a long-standing reputation for poor weather affecting races because of fronts coming in off the nearby Pacific Ocean. World Cup race weekends were canceled in three straight seasons from 1996-98 before the venue was removed from the schedule.

Whistler successfully returned to the circuit in 2008 in separate weekends of racing for men and women as test events for the Winter Olympics.

The women are to begin downhill training Thursday on the adjoining Franz’s Run. Their first medal race is Sunday’s super-combined — a downhill run followed by a slalom leg.

-- Graham Dunbar

Lake Placid’s Olympics contingent its largest

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — If they’re not on the Cloudsplitter gondola riding up Whiteface Mountain, they’re definitely on Cloud Nine around here — America’s original winter playground has six homegrown stars competing in the Winter Olympics, including its first Alpine skier.

"We’re all thrilled and sitting on the edge of our seats," said Jay Rand, executive director of the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF). "We’ve got some potential medal winners here. It’s going to be fabulous."

Included in the Lake Placid area’s Olympic contingent of 12, its largest ever, are six athletes who were born and raised in the heart of the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks: 23-year-old Andrew Weibrecht in Alpine skiing; Lowell Bailey, Tim Burke and Haley Johnson, all 28, in biathlon; 17-year-old Peter Frenette in ski jumping; and 29-year-old Nordic combined star Bill Demong.

"It’s just incredible to have an Alpine speed skier," Rand said.

Six other Olympic team members who live year-round in the Lake Placid area include: luger Chris Mazdzer, 21, who moved from Pittsfield, Mass in his early teens; 16-year-old freestyle aerialist Ashley Caldwell, a native of Tahoe City, Calif.; 23-year-old bobsledder John Napier, a native of Schenectady, N.Y.; the luge doubles team of 39-year-old Mark Grimmette of Muskegon, Mich., and 36-year-old Brian Martin of Palo Alto, Calif.; and luger Bengt Walden, 36, of Sweden. (Women’s world champion luger Erin Hamlin, 23, of Remsen, N.Y., also lives in Lake Placid while training).

From the day hometown speedskating star Charles Jewtraw won the first gold medal in the history of the Olympic Winter Games — at Chamonix in 1924 — this Adirondack Mountain village has had a connection to the Winter Games like no other in America.

Lake Placid-born speedskater Jack Shea followed Jewtraw, his idol, by becoming the first dual gold medalist in Winter Olympic history at the 1932 Lake Placid Games. Shea then became a driving force in helping the village secure the rights to host the 1980 Winter Games, dying just before his grandson, Jimmy, won the gold medal in men’s skeleton eight years ago in Salt Lake City.

While the locals excelled at speedskating and bobsledding in the early Olympiads, it’s been a longer wait for the ski crowd.

Whiteface opened in 1958 and a little more than a decade later the Whiteface Alpine Training Center was created to provide an affordable training site for aspiring racers. But it was state-run and quickly became a victim of budget cuts.

The New York Ski Racing Association then developed NYSEF in the early 1970s, which proved a positive force for landing the 1980 Games. California-born Bill Johnson came East to train with NYSEF in 1979-80 and four years later became the first American male to win an Olympic gold medal in Alpine skiing. He captured the downhill at Sarajevo while teammates Phil and Steve Mahre, of Yakima, Wash., finished 1-2 in the slalom.

Hosting that second Olympiad has been a key in the drive to develop local talent. It provided the cash to upgrade the venues and led to the creation of the Olympic Regional Development Authority in 1981 which, despite some troubles over the years, has helped keep Lake Placid at the forefront of winter sports.

"Having excellent venues to raise new talent was one of the goals of hosting the Olympics," said 69-year-old Horst Weber, a coach on the original three-member staff of the Alpine Training Center. "Without 1980 and ORDA updating the venues over the years, who knows if these kids would have gotten the chance?"

It’s probably taken longer to develop top-notch athletes than most probably imagined, in part because Lake Placid offers the gamut of winter sports and has a population of only around 2,500 — give or take a hundred. That sends only a few athletes to each sport, and Nordic combined and biathlon are not exactly among the most popular.

"You’ve only got 500 kids you’re sourcing across the country to pick from. It’s that small of a pool that we’re looking at," said Joe Lamb, a member of the U.S. Nordic combined team at Sapporo in 1972 and a former coach. "But I think the programs here are just starting to really ramp up. We’re catching up.

"It took a long time to get all this together, but the success that I see at NYSEF has really been very positive," Lamb said. "I’m going to see six kids at the Olympics with the Lake Placid logo on top of their helmets, and I’m darn proud of that fact."

There’s also a human side for Lamb because the U.S. has never won a medal in Nordic combined.

"That makes it really neat," Lamb said. "The only thing I’ve put in 30 years is to hear one thing — the national anthem in my discipline."

Weibrecht’s story is unique. Home-schooled with his two brothers in the morning, his mom, Lisa, a former luge national champion, or his father, Ed, a longtime ski instructor at Whiteface, would cart the boys to Whiteface virtually every day.

"We had the facilities to bring him up to the international level, we had the coaching staff," Weber said. "But we have 10,000 Alpine skiers and probably a few hundred programs in the country, and all things have to fall in place — the desire, the opportunity, the financial capability because it is an expensive sport, and the environment, a pipeline that allows an athlete to excel from A to Z.

"We have athletes that come into the picture at 7 years old," Weber said. "With Andrew, we bent the rules because he was a talented little skier."

-- John Kekis

Ovechkin, Crosby hot as Olympics draw near

Washington, D.C. is piled under three feet of snow. In Pittsburgh, it’s two feet and counting. Somewhere in Siberia and Saskatchewan, hockey fans are smiling.

Not because they feel a colder-than-cold kinship with the freezing residents of the Great White Northeast, which has been pelted by two major snowstorms since Saturday. Rather, the harder the snow keeps falling, the more Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby keep scoring.

With Olympic hockey less than a week away from starting in Vancouver, that could be very good news for the gold medal hopes of world champion Russia, led by Ovechkin, and home team Canada, led by Crosby.

If history holds up, it’s a lot better to be hot than cold in mid-February when going for the gold.

Since Jan. 1, Ovechkin and Crosby are the NHL’s two most productive goal scorers with 16 goals each through games of Feb. 9. It’s the perfect scenario for the NHL, which is shutting down for two weeks to showcase its stars on a world stage and obviously wants its best playing at their best.

"It’s something that’s been talked about for a long time now and the closer it gets, I think everyone gets more and more excited," Crosby said.

If hockey’s two biggest names meet in the Olympics, Ovechkin and Crosby showed their competitiveness Sunday when going head to head. Crosby scored the game’s first two goals, but Ovechkin came back to score three in leading the Capitals past the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime in snowy Washington.

"If you give him a chance, he’s going to score most of the time," Tampa Bay coach Rick Tocchet said of Ovechkin.

That will be every Russian opponent’s biggest challenge in Vancouver: Keep Ovechkin under control.

Ovechkin and Crosby, of course, are only two pieces of the puzzle that must be solved to win a gold medal. It also takes excellent goaltending — perhaps the biggest factor in a short tournament — and chemistry that must be developed in days, not months, especially with only one day separating NHL games on Sunday and Olympic games on Tuesday.

"It’s one of the unique times in a career when you play for your country and play for a gold medal," Stanley Cup-winning coach Dan Bylsma of Pittsburgh said. "It’s a time when they’ll want to be at their absolute best."

In 2006, gold medalist Sweden received a favorable sign of what was to occur in Turin when Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Zetterberg were among the NHL’s top 15 scorers leading into the Olympics, and Daniel Alfredsson had 12 goals in his final 19 games.

Teemu Selanne, who led Finland to its surprise silver medal, had at least one point in all but one of his final 18 NHL games before most of the league’s top players packed up for Italy.

Canada, too, signaled what was to happen when most of its top scorers had average numbers going into the Olympics. Jarome Iginla, a star for the 2002 gold medalists, was a minus-7 in his final nine NHL games before Canada, blessed with far more top NHL scorers than any other country, was shut out in three of its final four games in Turin.

Brian Gionta of the United States, conversely, had four goals in his final five NHL games before the break, then had four goals in six Olympic games.

So who else should be encouraged as these Olympics draw near?

Sweden again has many of its top players at the top of their games. Nicklas Backstrom, Ovechkin’s NHL teammate, had 10 points in four games through Tuesday night’s play and is second to Ovechkin in scoring since Jan. 1.

The Sedin brothers also are hot, with Henrik producing six goals and 19 assists in his last 17 games and Daniel getting six goals and 17 assists.

Russia’s Alexander Semin (12 goals, 14 assists in 19 games for Washington) and Canada’s Patrick Marleau (13 goals, 10 assists in 18 games for San Jose) also are streaking.

Still, a goalie who is peaking often is the most valuable asset to possess in an Olympics.

Case in point: Finland’s Antero Niittymaki, who was terrible immediately before Turin only to be the best player during the two-week Olympic tournament. This time, he’s hot going into the Olympics, with a 7-0-1 record and nine goals allowed in his last eight games.

Goaltending was expected to be the United States’ strength, and that’s been playing out as the games draw closer.

The Sabres’ Ryan Miller has been the NHL’s best goalie much of the season, and he has a .927 save percentage since Jan. 1, but here’s the asterisk: Miller was 0-3 with 12 goals allowed on 96 shots last week. Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings leads all NHL goalies with 34 victories.

Evgeni Nabokov has easily been Russia’s top goalie lately, with an 11-3-2 record and .932 save percentage since Jan. 1. Tomas Vokoun, who took over in net for the Czech Republic in 2006 when Dominik Hasek was hurt in the opening game, has a .947 save percentage and four shutouts.

Canada’s Martin Brodeur set the NHL career shutouts record this season, but has been average of late with an 8-9-1 record and .911 save percentage. Roberto Luongo has played better in recent weeks with a 10-4-1 record but still figures to back up Brodeur.

And who should be worried? Perhaps Finland, considering that neither Saku Koivu (three goals in 15 games), its best forward in Turin, nor Olli Jokinen (five goals since Jan. 1) is finding the net.

-- Alan Robinson

U.S. judge says no agenda behind e-mail about marks

VANCOUVER — A respected U.S. judge intended to share something he thought his friends would find interesting, not start an uproar on the eve of the Olympics.

Getting the message out in 140 characters or less

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — What if the Miracle on Ice players had Twitter accounts?

Or if the sprinters who raised their gloved fists on the medal stand could have shared their thoughts on Facebook?

Thanks to laptops, cell phones and other new technology, social networking could be the route the next transformative Olympian uses to get the word out.

Skaters, skiers, hockey players and the reporters who cover them now have almost instant access to their fans and readers at what has long been, for better and worse, one of the most grandiose stages for message-sending.

When the torch is lit Friday, it will mark the beginning of the Twitter Olympics era — the first games where social networking and sports collide on a global platform that only the Olympics can provide.

"I’m sure I’ll be flooding tons of photos and tons of stories and glimpses from behind the scenes," said Shaun White, the defending Olympic halfpipe gold medalist. "Because, really, what an interesting and cool time to be sharing with everyone."

White is among the hundreds of athletes who have Twitter and Facebook accounts — or spaces on similar sites — with plans to use them over the 17-day sports festival.

They will give friends, family, fans and, yes, reporters updates on their training and competition, random musings, pictures, links to their Web sites and other peeks behind the Olympic curtain that the public can’t usually see.

It will save them time on the phone, help them build their fan base and allow them to get their message out, unfiltered by the so-called traditional media. It might also serve up a bit of instant gratification when the grind of training and waiting takes its toll.

"I’m not a full addict like some people are," said American Nate Holland, one of the favorites in snowboardcross, a sport added to the Olympic program to appeal to the same, young demographic that inspired the social networking boom.

"But I like to give updates and definitely get those out to people," Holland said. "I can just Facebook ‘Best course ever,’ and 20 minutes later there are a ton of replies and people cheering you on. It strokes the ego a little bit."

Meanwhile, the traditional media is using social networking to try to build audiences that have been fragmenting of late. Reporters from The Associated Press, for instance, will be tweeting from venues and using those posts to link readers to stories on hundreds of customers’ Web sites. The AP also has a Winter Olympics Facebook page that includes a mix of stories from its traditional wire service and short blog entries from on-site reporters.

"Like many media companies, we are trying new methods to disseminate and gather information — in this case from athletes and others attending the Olympics," said Lou Ferrara, AP’s managing editor for sports, entertainment and interactive media. "We want to give the audience what it wants and where they want it."

Of course, with technology comes confusion, and there’s already been some of that.

Knowing the social networking craze was coming, the International Olympic Committee put out a four-page blogging guideline that supplements Rule 49 of the Olympic charter, which essentially states that only journalists can act as journalists at the games, while athletes and coaches cannot.

The addendum says blogs are permitted, so long as they are diary-like in nature, don’t include live action or ceremonies and don’t give "newsy" updates, such as injury reports or information about rivaling countries.

Bob Condron, spokesman at the U.S. Olympic Committee, said Twitter posts — with their abbreviation-inducing 140-character limits — are considered allowable by the IOC, which didn’t specifically mention that site in its rules.

"The IOC considers blogging, in accordance with these Guidelines, as a legitimate form of personal expression and not as a form of journalism," the rule states.

Prohibited in that personal form of expression, however, are any attempts to promote non-Olympic sponsors — a sticking point between the Olympic powers and the athletes who often struggle to cash in on the success of their Olympic journeys.

Oh, and there is the ever-present reminder not to use the Olympics as a political stage — a rule that has long been the crux of a sticky debate about whether the Olympics are just a simple sports festival, or something much more.

"It was pretty crazy to see what we are not allowed to do or supposed to say," said short-track speedskater J.R Celski, a frequent tweeter. "No advertising and just making sure you are positive, but it’s understandable."

Lindsey Vonn recently told her 35,000-plus followers that she would not be posting Twitter updates because of Olympic blackout rules — then came back a day later and said she would.

"Contrary to what I was told it turns out that I am allowed to continue to tweet and facebook during the Olympics!!" she wrote on Facebook. "Yay!! I have to follow very specific rules though:( Did you guys really think you were going to get rid of me that easily?! I’m back baby!"

But when news of her injured shin broke — an update that could not only impact her, but the entire tenor of the Olympics — there was no mention of it on her Twitter feed. Instead, Vonn revealed the news in an interview with NBC, which bankrolls the Olympic movement to the tune of $2 billion over four years.

While Vonn graces the cover of Sports Illustrated and has sponsors aplenty, athletes such as Jeret "Speedy" Peterson are always looking for ways to get the word out. Peterson, the aerials skier whose trademark "Hurricane" jump could give him his 15 minutes of fame come Feb. 22, is at 2,000 fans and climbing on Facebook — and knows the Olympics could be his last, best chance to augment the fan base.

"It’s free, it’s instantaneous and it’s real," he said. "It’s my message and it’s not filtered. That kind of convenience is a huge thing for people."

Convenient as it can be, a surprising number of athletes said they wanted to enjoy the experience without laptops and cell phones getting in the way.

"I want to give my country respect and be involved in the moment and soak it up as much as I can," said snowboardcross rider Lindsey Jacobellis.

Many athletes insist that, once the games start, their actual performance — not updating people about their performance — must come first. But that doesn’t mean they won’t have anything to say.

"It’s like an instantaneous thought of what you are doing on the move, usually from your cell phone, so it’s a very kind of short, pure, raw view of what people are up to," said U.S. Nordic combined skier Billy Demong, who recently bought a helmet-cam so he could post video of his training.

By doing whatever they have time for, it’s almost a sure thing that more information will be available in more formats. Heck, even the IOC Web site has links to Twitter and Facebook.

What has yet to be seen is whether the information will spark something transformative — think sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith raising their fists on the podium in the pre-cell-phone days of 1968 — or wind up only as more noise in the machine.

"I guess they have the opportunity to express their feelings and emotions on the computer," Carlos said. "That in itself would be a statement made. But my thing was very clear. I don’t know if they could express the statement we made in Mexico on the computer."

-- Eddie Pells

N.J. siblings represent Japan, Georgia in Vancouver

WARREN, N.J. — If the ice dancing teams from Japan and Georgia wind up sharing the rink during warmups at the Olympics, watch out. Some fierce trash-talking is bound to break out.

The three Reed siblings of Warren, N.J., burst into laughter at that image. Joking aside, they’ll feel only pride when a journey spanning four continents finally brings them together — on their sport’s biggest stage, and in the first time they’ve competed against each other.

Cathy, 22, and Chris, 20, will represent Japan in Vancouver; their mother is Japanese, and they have dual citizenship. Allison, 15, will skate for the former Soviet republic of Georgia, the home country of partner Otar Japaridze.

"It’s amazing how it all worked out," Cathy said.

Nine years ago, she and Chris certainly didn’t seem destined for the Olympics. Both competed in singles figure skating, but never advanced beyond local events.

"My jumps, my spins were just not working," Cathy said.

Then a coach suggested ice dancing. Cathy had done ballet growing up, but Chris had no background in dance; soccer and karate were his activities of choice.

"When I first saw it, it’s two people just skating," he said.

"What is this?" he thought. "This is so easy."

Not really. Chris was much shorter than his older sister at the time, so their lifts were more like him briefly throwing her in the air.

But the sport certainly proved more natural to the Reeds than those jumps and spins, and before they knew it they were finishing 10th at junior nationals.

Still, they were a long way from the sport’s highest level.

In 2004, the pair just missed qualifying for nationals, and their family had a decision to make. Should they go all in on this skating dream?

The chance to work with coaches Nikolai Morozov and Shae-Lynn Bourne meant the kids would have to be home-schooled. That was actually an appealing prospect to Cathy and Chris, who had moved around a lot as kids because of their father’s job at a pharmaceutical firm before the family settled in Warren in 1998. The Reeds had lived everywhere from Kalamazoo, Mich., to Hong Kong, from Cincinnati to Australia.

Their improvement was quick and dramatic under their new coaches: The Reeds won their division at nationals in 2006. They had the right personalities for the sport, Morozov said.

"You have to work really, really hard and be really, really patient," he said.

Still, the Reeds had little chance of competing internationally for the United States anytime soon because of the country’s depth in ice dancing. Enter the Japan option: The Reeds found themselves good enough to almost immediately be the top team in Japan, yet not good enough that U.S. officials would try to block the move.

They hope to increase the popularity of ice dancing in Japan, where they are often asked in interviews which elements fans should pay attention to. They try to explain that there isn’t really the equivalent of a jump or spin, that what’s important is the overall impact of the performance.

Their original dance may help make that point: It’s a Japanese folk dance complete with authentic kimonos and fans.

Unlike Cathy and Chris, sister Allison got an early start in ice dancing simply by following them into it. By age 11 or so she was already an elite ice dancer, but there was one problem. She didn’t have a partner.

Her height — or lack thereof — had a lot to do with that. In a sport where the partners must look right together, she was just too short at 4-foot-10. For a while, she didn’t skate much.

"It wasn’t as motivational for me to keep doing ice dance because I had nowhere to go at that moment," she said.

Then Allison found out that Japaridze, who also trained in New Jersey, was seeking a new partner. It’s not unusual in ice dancing for a skater to team up with a partner from another country and compete for that nation.

In September, they went to an Olympic qualifying event in Germany that would determine the final five teams in Vancouver. It was Allison’s first international competition — and first competition with a partner. They nabbed the fifth and final spot.

In less than a year, Allison went from not having a partner to going to the Olympics along with her brother and sister.

"It just came out perfect," said their mother, Noriko Reed. "It’s amazing how things can change in your life."

-- Rachel Cohen

China team features ex-gymnasts, martial artists

BEIJING — When Liu Jiayu and her teammates turned up for snowboard camp in trendy Whistler, Canada, people stared at the awkward, aloof teenagers with identical short haircuts.

But it wasn’t long before the former martial artists and gymnasts were grabbing attention for their mad skills — developing from novices who had never been in a halfpipe to World Cup-level riders in the span of two months.

"It was happening so fast, everyone wanted to see these Chinese riders who were seemingly out of nowhere doing so well," instructor Ben Wainwright recently recalled about the 2005 camp. "It was crazy, I’ve never seen anything like it ... Since then, they’ve just been getting better."

It’s all part of China’s well-established plan for Olympic success, where the state-run sports system plucks young athletes from its sports schools and trains them in events where they could excel based on physical traits or athletic background. They generally practice year-round, often under foreign coaches.

The country’s success with this strategy will be on display during the Vancouver Games. The Chinese are seeking to improve on their performance in Turin — where they finished with 11 medals, including two golds — in part by winning in events they’ve been able to dominate in a short amount of time.

The 18-year-old Liu roared onto the snowboarding scene after that camp in Whistler and is a contender for halfpipe gold in her Olympic debut.

China is participating in women’s curling for the first time but is favored to win after taking the world championship last year with a team that includes a former hockey player and three ex-speed skaters.

In women’s aerials, a sport described as gymnastics on skis, the Chinese could be looking at a medals sweep.

"They all came from gymnastics or acrobatics. None of them are skiers per se, they’ve all learned skiing through jumping," said coach Dustin Wilson, a former World Cup competitor for Canada. "They retired from gymnastics when they were 11 or 12 years old ... because they’re already in the sports schools, they just change sports."

This system was a major contributor to China’s success at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where the host gobbled up 51 gold medals, more than any other country, in events including gymnastics, diving and weightlifting.

China has yet to develop into a winter sports powerhouse but has been making steady progress since winning its first Winter Olympics medal in 1992. The Associated Press projects that China will win 14 medals in Vancouver, including seven golds.

"The Chinese system is very important for guaranteeing the development of sports in our country. Because we’ve stuck to this system, in recent years we’ve made continuous progress and breakthroughs in competitive sports," said Zhao Yinggang, director of the Winter Sports Management Center at China’s General Administration of Sport.

Liu is one of China’s most exciting young athletes, taking up snowboarding after spending most of her life practicing martial arts.

"My grandma took me to learn martial arts at sports schools since I was little. Knives, swords, spears, halberds, I’ve worked with all of those weapons," she told Xinhua News Agency last year.

Wainwright said Liu, whom he nicknamed Birdie, stood out immediately in that group of 12 teenagers, even though her only experience with halfpipe up to that point was jumping on a trampoline with her snowboard strapped on.

"She goes big, really big in the halfpipe. She rides her board so well up the transition and letting all of that energy get transferred up in the air, which is very rare in girls’ snowboarding," he said.

Beijing has focused on snowboard halfpipe because it’s considered a technical sport where the relatively smaller Chinese athletes tend to excel, as opposed to events where size or strength are more important.

Within two months, Liu and her teammates were landing 720s and McTwists. Training with his team in the same area, Canadian coach Tom Hutchinson was inspired to copy the Chinese and started recruiting gymnasts, trampolinists and divers.

"This was an initiative I had wanted to do for several years. When I saw the Chinese do it I knew it would surely work," he said in an e-mail.

But the program did not last.

"We did this program for a year and then the funding fell through. We had to decide to fund this or fund our top athletes. There is only so much money to go around," he said.

Liu won the 2008-2009 World Cup halfpipe title and also finished first at the World Championships in South Korea. She’ll pose a stiff challenge to longtime stars Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter and Gretchen Blieler of the United States, as well as Torah Bright of Australia.

Wainwright, owner of Glacier Snowboard Camp and a former member of the Canadian national team, remembers that his Chinese students didn’t fit into the snowboarding crowd at Whistler, practicing martial arts and sword routines in the park after practice instead of skateboarding or swimming like others their age.

But he said they were always smiling and enthusiastic, eager to learn as much as they could about their new sport.

"They weren’t that different, they just worked a little harder," he said.

-- Anita Chang

From Turin to Vancouver, Italy’s Fabris eyes more

VANCOUVER — Enrico Fabris was standing at the heart of Turin’s Piazza Castello medal plaza four years ago, holding his hand on his heart with a gold medal resting on top.

From corner to heaving corner, all he could see was a sea of Italian tricolor flags held by a mass of fans who had discovered their Olympic hero, a man many had never heard of a few months earlier.

Then the anthem started. Fabris led the singing — "Brothers of Italy, Italy has awakened" — backed by a chorus of thousands. It is what words like "stupendo" and "bellissima" are made for.

"It is the most exciting moment for sure. It was the top of the games," Fabris said. "I became a famous athlete in Italy."

No mean achievement in a country where soccer and cycling are national pastimes, and speedskating pales beside Alpine and cross-country skiing.

Then again, Fabris had upstaged just about everyone in speedskating. The 2006 Winter Games were supposed to be about the battle between Americans Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. Fabris beat them both. The all-powerful Dutch? Left behind in a spray of ice. With two gold (1,500 meters, team pursuit) and a bronze (5,000) he was at the top of the games.

This year, he’s concentrating on the 1,500, where he will defend his title against Davis, the big favorite. The 5,000 is seemingly destined for Dutchman Sven Kramer. Fabris hopes the Italian pursuit team can spring another upset.

Being the underdog doesn’t worry him. He thrives in Olympic conditions.

"I look forward to put on the clothes of the Italian national team because it is a different atmosphere," he said.

That is especially true for Fabris. After his two Olympic titles, he did not win gold again — although a half dozen silvers in all-round and single distance world championships would look excellent on almost anyone’s resume.

This season, too, he seemed destined for the scrap heap of memories. One World Cup disappointment piled on top of the next.

"I expected a lot better," he said.

Then came one excellent day in Salt Lake City in December. He suddenly found his groove again and won the World Cup 5,000 meters.

"I knew I never skated on my level this year except that time," he said.

And all the warnings from his competitors that the cunning Italian was just playing games suddenly started to ring true again.

Yes, Kramer didn’t skate in Salt Lake City, but Fabris gave the Dutchman a good 5K race during the European all-round championships in Hamar, Norway, last month. It put Fabris in touch again with that feeling he has on his best days, when even Kramer has to watch out.

"I am also the last one beating Sven on the 5K in 2007. Sometimes I have the right feelings to do it again," he said.

But for all his success, Fabris is not embraced in Italy during the years between the Winter Games. His fans have dwindled since the momentary euphoria on Piazza Castello, and sponsors have followed suit. It is easier to find a Dutch backer, in a country where skating is hot, than an Italian one at home. Fabris is now 28 and the initial bitterness has given way to acceptance.

"Some years ago I was disappointed. Now I don’t think about it because I think it is normal," he said. "I am not a soccer player or somebody famous that you see on TV every day. I cannot expect an Italian sponsor."

Italy doesn’t make it easy on him when the Olympic oval in Turin has basically been closed as a training center to make way for trade exhibitions and business conventions.

It condemns him to "go home" to the old-fashioned open-air training base at Baselga di Pine in the Trentino mountains, where at least he can smell the pure air.

"I am happy to skate outside," he said. "I love to train in the sun and the rain is no problem, too."

Being such a one-man phenomenon creates other problems — like finding decent training partners. When he couldn’t find Italians to challenge him enough, he turned his team led by renowned coach Maurizio Marchetto into an international crew, featuring stars like Russia’s Ivan Skobrev and France’s Alexis Contin. They could even threaten him for a medal in the 5,000 on Saturday.

"The quality of training was much higher because of them. They simply asked us if they could come," he said. "Considering that Italy is a little team, it is a help for me."

-- Raf Casert

Andy Newell chases fellow Vermonter Bill Koch

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Growing up in Vermont, Andy Newell and his buddies were inspired to take up cross-country skiing by native son Bill Koch, the lone American to win an Olympic medal in the sport.

Newell was the only one among the group of pals who stayed with it. As an adult, he still idolizes Koch, and is still chasing the standard he set.

Newell is one of the U.S. team’s hopes for an Olympic medal in a sport dominated by Europeans. He is considered by many to be among the top five sprinters in the sport since finishing fifth in the individual sprint at the 2007 world championships.

Brash and athletic, Newell brings an X-Games sensibility to a sport with a staid reputation in the United States. At Stratton Mountain School in Vermont, he drew stares for taking on the halfpipe on his skinny cross-country skis.

Sporting tattoos and the skull-and-crossbones logo of his "Xski films" company, he’s also been known to do gravity-defying backflips on those same skinny skis, with heavy metal blasting all the while on his iPod.

It all started in Shaftsbury, where Newell dedicated himself to the sport while his friends moved on to other pursuits. Koch’s specter loomed large.

"He’s been the No. 1 inspiration for me," Newell said in Vancouver on Wednesday before heading up to Whistler for competition.

Koch, who is from Battleboro, won the silver medal in the 30K at the 1976 Innsbruck Games. He is also known for his development of the freestyle technique.

"He was the young-gun American," Newell said. "He demonstrated Americans can be successful at a European sport."

When Newell made his first Olympic team in 2006, Koch called Newell’s home in Vermont to congratulate him.

More recently, Koch was skiing with Newell’s father and passed on some advice. Newell, however, hasn’t been able to talk to his dad about it because things have been so hectic heading into the games.

U.S. coach Pete Vordenberg said that four years ago the U.S. team talked a lot about Koch and what his legacy meant to the team. This season, Vordenberg said, the vibe is different.

The U.S. team features Kikkan Randall of Alaska, who last year became the first U.S. woman to win a medal at the worlds, and Kris Freeman of New Hampshire.

The team is intent on establishing its own standard, and Newell seems poised to do just that. This season he had six straight top-15 finishes in World Cup racing.

"I think we’re setting the ceiling for ourselves and the next generation," Vordenberg said.

-- Anne M. Peterson

IOC vigilant against threat of betting and fixing

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The International Olympic Committee remains vigilant against the threat of illegal betting and match-fixing at the games.

"Illegal betting is as serious a threat for sport as doping," IOC president Jacques Rogge said Wednesday. "It’s a very serious concern for the future. We will do everything we can to guard against it."

The IOC set up a system to monitor betting patterns during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but found no illegal activity. A similar system is in place for the Vancouver Winter Games, which open Friday.

"It’s clear we have to be very prudent," Rogge said on the opening day of a three-day IOC general assembly. "Sooner or later it will happen during the games."

All those accredited for the games, including athletes, are barred from betting on Olympic competitions. Athletes suspected of involvement in gambling can be called before a disciplinary commission and face sanctions.

The IOC first addressed the issue in 2007, consulting with international sports federations and betting firms. The IOC has since reached accords with Interpol, the international police agency, and betting companies to monitor any irregular gambling patterns during the Olympics.

A Swiss company, International Sports Monitoring, will monitor betting on the Vancouver Games and the 2012 London Olympics for the IOC. It will get information on betting patterns from 400-450 oddsmakers, betting firms and lotteries and flag any irregularities for investigation.

Rogge said the IOC will meet with international federations in the next few weeks to consider further steps.

The betting issue came up during the opening session of the IOC session.

"As leaders of the Olympic movement, we should recognize and take on board the fact that betting and match-fixing and other forms of corruption rank equally with doping in the sense of destroying or having the potential to destroy the fundamental integrity of sport," senior Canadian member Dick Pound said. "It is a very real and growing problem that can affect the future of sport."

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, an IOC member whose sport has faced numerous betting and match-fixing allegations, cited his federation’s "early warning system" and collaboration with Interpol for monitoring gambling.

"Illegal sports betting is a sign of the popularity of our sport," Blatter said. "Everywhere in society people try to cheat."

-- Stephen Wilson

Olympic weather: snow at Cypress, fog at Whistler

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A good day for Cypress Mountain, with plenty of snow. Whistler was another matter — fog ruled.

Cypress was hit with a surprise snow storm, giving the home of the Olympic freestyle and snowboarding venues a big boost a few days before competition begins.

The snow began in early afternoon Wednesday and was falling steadily in the middle of the afternoon as the Canadian moguls team arrived for practice.

Olympic officials expected between 2 and 4 inches of snow and said that should give them some cushion. The first freestyle competition is Saturday — women’s moguls.

An uncommonly warm winter has forced officials to truck in snow from other parts of the mountain to help build the courses. The biggest problem at Cypress has been forming the halfpipe, where two days of practice have been scrapped.

At Whistler, fog forced the first men’s downhill training run to be canceled Wednesday after only 42 of the 87 racers completed the Olympic course.

Race jury officials met after abandoning training because of poor visibility during the mid-afternoon. That was 4½ hours after the session had begun earlier than scheduled because bad weather was expected.

"We delayed so long to see what the possibilities were," International Ski Federation official Mike Kertesz told The Associated Press. "Mother Nature is playing games with us."

Two more training sessions are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, with the race Saturday. But more unfavorable weather is forecast.

Whistler, with fronts coming off the nearby Pacific Ocean, has a long relationship with uncooperative weather. World Cup race weekends were canceled in three straight seasons from 1996-98 before the venue was removed from the schedule.

Whistler successfully returned to the circuit in 2008 in separate weekends of racing for men and women as test events for the Winter Olympics.

-- Will Graves

A lynx gets a taste of luge and Olympic downhill

WHISTLER, British Columbia — With no hopes of a medal, a lynx is on the loose and enjoying a couple of shining Olympic moments

Skiers and lugers heard the call of the wild from the critter, who is apparently oblivious to the safety concerns of Olympic venue officials.

An orange-and-black spotted lynx sauntered across the downhill course during the men’s opening training session Wednesday. Two days earlier, one of his — her? — brethren was spotted outside the perimeter of the luge track during afternoon training.

The lynx is a large cat — weighing up to 30 pounds and reaching 26 inches in height — that roams forests of the northern United States and Canada. And take it from a Canadian — downhiller Manuel Osborne-Paradis — the lynx is no cuddly outdoor friend when you’re speeding down an icy slope at 70 mph.

"Get out of the way," he said. "Oh, wow. You do not want to get close to that."

The downhill session was already on hold because of fog, and no skiers linked with lynx. Still, officials issued a warning over the race radio in case someone was on the course. The lynx had its own agenda and hopped over the barriers lining the perimeter to retreat to the forest.

Tony Thorburn, a 65-year-old Olympic volunteer, has lived near Whistler for 16 years and says such lynx sightings are unusual but becoming more frequent.

"I’ve known people who worked in the bush all their lives and never seen one," he said. "But in the last few years they’ve shown up here more often."

Volunteers add that you can also spot black and brown bear in Whistler. Thorburn said coyotes also are common, hunting in packs and targeting pets.

"A lot of people can’t leave their cats out," he said. "They make a nice little meal for a coyote."

At the Whistler Sliding Centre, luge forerunners were on the track preparing the ice for the Olympians at the time of the sighting. A local conservation officer was summoned, and it was decided there was no reason to stop the action on the course.

John Gibson, venue press manager at The Whistler Sliding Centre, offered this reassurance: The creature was not a cougar.

"That was all planned. It’s to show people Canadian nature," cracked Mike Kertesz, the International Ski Federation official in charge of the finish area.

Ski racing is no stranger to wildlife. A few years ago at a World Cup downhill in Val Gardena, Italy, a deer loped onto the course and ran next to Italian star Kristian Ghedina for the final part of his run. Ghedina made the deer his personal logo for the rest of his career.

Nanjing wins bid to host 2014 Youth Olympics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Chinese city of Nanjing will host the second Summer Youth Olympics in 2014.

Nanjing defeated the Polish city of Poznan 47-42 in a secret ballot Wednesday of the International Olympic Committee. The Mexican city of Guadalajara withdrew as a candidate last month because of financial reasons.

Nanjing came in as the favorite after an IOC evaluation report last month said the Chinese city presented the least risk of the bids.

Wednesday’s decision means China will be hosting an Olympic event six years after Beijing staged the 2008 Summer Games.

The Youth Olympics, a creation of IOC president Jacques Rogge, are for athletes aged 14-18. The inaugural Youth Games will be in Singapore from Aug. 14-26. The first winter version will take place in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012.

About 3,600 athletes will compete in 26 sports over 12 days in the Summer Youth Olympics. The winter version features 1,000 athletes competing in seven sports over 10 days.

Nanjing, the capital of China’s Jiangsu province, has a population of about 6 million.

Last month’s IOC report said Nanjing, which has a games budget of $117 million, proposes a "reasonably compact concept backed up by generally solid guarantees."

Syrian member: IOC should seek Nobel Peace Prize

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — IOC president Jacques Rogge rebuffed a proposal Wednesday from a Syrian member that the Olympic body should campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Samih Moudallal made the recommendation during the general assembly of the International Olympic Committee and received support from Uruguayan member Julio Cesar Maglione. But Rogge, who has been IOC president since 2001, quickly put the proposal to rest.

"I’m very frank with you," he said. "I don’t think that would be a wise thing to do. You don’t ask for an honor but you don’t refuse it, either.

"Deploying diplomatic activities or lobbying activities would definitely not be in the spirit of this body. If something happens, fine, but we are not going to seek that."

Addressing the whole assembly, Rogge said, "Agree with that?"

The audience responded with light applause.

The issue came up during a discussion of the IOC’s international relations policies, including a call for an "Olympic truce" during the Vancouver Games. The IOC was granted observer’s status last year in the United Nations general assembly.

British competitors get Olympic funding guarantee

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A new British ski and snowboarding organization has been formed and has enough money to send 14 competitors to the Olympics in Vancouver.

The athletes’ participation was threatened because of a bankruptcy crisis involving the British ski and snowboard federation. British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan announced the details of the new group Wednesday.

British Ski and Snowboarding has been recognized as the transitional national federation by FIS, the international ski federation. About $163,000 has been raised to send athletes, coaches and officials to the Vancouver games, which start Friday.

The British team includes Alpine skier Chemmy Alcott and snowboarder Zoe Gillings.

Speedskater Sven Kramer has eyes set on gold

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Dutch speedskater star Sven Kramer is intent on winning at least two gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics.

Kramer says gold in the individual 5,000 and 10,000 — where he is the favorite — are his primary focus followed by the team pursuit, where the Dutch team also is a force.

His first race at the Richmond Oval is the 5,000 on Saturday.

But he warned his rivals Wednesday not to count him out of the 1,500, where Americans Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick are favorites. Kramer says he has been skating fast times in the 1,500, "so who knows" what might happen.

Australian 2-woman bobsled team gets OK from IOC

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Australia’s two-woman bobsled team was approved by the IOC on Wednesday for the Vancouver Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee executive board authorized the addition of a 21st team for the competition, which starts Feb. 23. It described the move as an "exceptional measure" that "shall not be taken as a precedent" for future Olympics.

The decision followed a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld Australia’s appeal to be allowed to compete.

CAS ruled the international bobsled federation did not apply its qualification rules properly when it excluded the team of Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Cecilia McIntosh. The Australians contended the pair deserved an Olympic berth as the top-ranked team in Oceania.

The Irish team had been the last to qualify based on performance and keeps it place in the competition.

Canada hopes Ducks’ Getzlaf can play in Olympics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The president of Hockey Canada tells the Associated Press there’s still a chance Anaheim Ducks center Ryan