International Capsules: Top U.S. women's hockey player to skip final tuneups
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — U.S. women’s ice hockey coach Mark Johnson isn’t taking any chances with top scorer Hilary Knight.
That means Knight will skip the final Olympic tuneups this week as she continues to recover from a lower body injury.
Johnson said Knight looked "real good" in practice this week, but that he’s decided not to play her Thursday night when the Americans face Finland in their final exhibition at the World Arena.
She’ll also sit out the team’s scrimmage Saturday night against the Finnish team at the Ice Hall near the USA Hockey headquarters in Colorado Springs.
Knight has 13 goals and 17 assists in 22 games, but has been sidelined the last three weeks. She’ll suit up when the Americans begin Olympic competition against China on Feb. 14 in Vancouver.
The 20-year-old Knight, of Hanover, N.H., is the youngest member of the American team that’s ranked No. 1 in the world after winning back-to-back world championships and is expected to challenge two-time defending gold medalist Canada for the top spot on the podium in Vancouver.
The Americans have plenty of scoring punch even without Knight. Twins Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux have combined for 22 goals, captain Natalie Darwitz has 11, and Meghan Duggan and Jenny Potter, a four-time Olympian, each have nine.
Johnson, who scored two goals in the Americans’ win over the Soviet Union in the "Miracle on Ice" game 30 years ago at Lake Placid, said the U.S. won’t hold back on Thursday against the Finnish, whom they’ll face on Feb. 18 in Vancouver.
"You get competitive kids and they drop the puck, when we play, we play," Johnson said. "We certainly don’t want to get in any kind of bad habits. Obviously, there will be some things in the backs of our minds that the opening ceremony is 10 days away."
The scrimmage on Saturday night will be another story, even though it will be on an NHL-sized ice sheet like those in Vancouver and not the big ice like Thursday night’s game at the arena.
"Well, we won’t have 5,000 people watching. We might have 50," Johnson said. "You talk to any athlete, the last exhibition game before your first regular-season NHL game, how interesting is it? Sometimes not very."
Johnson said he’s been relying on his playing experience in preparing the women’s team for the Olympic Games, as well as the lessons he learned from his father, Bob Johnson, who coached the 1976 U.S. Olympic team, and Herb Brooks, who guided the Americans to their stunning gold medal in 1980.
"I’m sure Herb found it, my dad found it, when you play all exhibition games, it becomes a bit challenging because ... you play all these games and they’re meaningless," Johnson said. "So, how do you motivate the players? Having played obviously helps that. I can put myself in their shoes on any particular day and I can understand what they’re going through."
Johnson isn’t much like Brooks, the notorious taskmaster whose hard-driving style was chronicled in the 2004 Hollywood blockbuster starring Kurt Russell.
"The big thing is to make sure you’re creating an atmosphere where they want to come to the rink," Johnson said. "Those days when they don’t feel like getting out of bed, it’s 15 below in Minneapolis, they have to scrape off their windshields and they’re not feeling great — that they still want to come to the rink.
"You’ve got to make sure that they’re smiling and enjoying it and it doesn’t become work. When it becomes work, then I have to change something," Johnson said. "That’s my philosophy. Other people might think differently. That’s why we call it a game. It’s supposed to be fun."
Babcock on coaching Canada: ‘It’s the ultimate’
DETROIT — Mike Babcock relishes the chance to coach Team Canada.
Pressure? Please. Babcock’s every move from behind the bench at the Vancouver Olympics will be dissected and debated in the hockey-crazed country. If the Canadians win gold in front of their fans, he’ll enjoy a a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
If not, he’ll never be able to forget it.
Babcock said it was "absolutely devastating" when Anaheim lost Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup finals — in his first season as an NHL head coach — but that disappointment would likely be trumped by falling short at the end of the month.
Babcock’s piercing eyes don’t blink and sharp tongue isn’t stunted, though, when pressed about his emotions as he approaches what might be the defining moment of his stellar career.
"It’s the biggest honor anyone coaching hockey could have. It’s the ultimate," Babcock said. "I’m sure Ron Wilson coaching the U.S. feels the same way about it, but hockey is a religion in Canada and it’s THE sport. That’s what makes it so exciting.
"Being the best hockey nation in the world means a lot to Canada."
Babcock seems about as prepared and qualified as possible for the job.
He helped the Detroit Red Wings hoist the Stanley Cup in 2008 and was a win away from repeating last year. He won more games in the playoffs (58) and regular season (282) than any other NHL coach in his first six seasons. Scotty Bowman, Glen Sather, Fred Shero and Babcock are the only coaches in the expansion era that started four decades ago to coach in three or more Stanley Cup finals in their first six seasons.
The Red Wings hired him after away from the Ducks after he climbed the coaching ladder with Cincinnati in the AHL, Spokane and Moose Jaw in the WHL, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and Red Deer College.
Babcock also paid his dues for Hockey Canada, becoming the country’s first coach to win a world championship (2004) and world junior championship (1997).
"He has a great track record as a proven winner," said Hockey Canada executive director Steve Yzerman, who picked Babcock to coach the team he assembled.
Babcock’s duties in Vancouver will include being the face and voice for his team. The 46-year-old Babcock can handle a sea of reporters and TV cameras with ease by delivering stern messages in one breath and regaling the media with stories the next.
"He’ll be perfectly comfortable on and off the ice because he enjoys coaching and everything about it," Yzerman said. "He’s a strong leader."
Very strong. During a relatively casual orientation camp last August in Calgary, Babcock’s style came across as clear as a Canadian lake. Several of Babcock’s players were asked a couple weeks before the Vancouver Games begin for their impressions of him and almost all of them said "intense" within the first few words.
"He’s very intense, very serious obviously," San Jose Sharks forward Dany Heatley said. "He expects a lot out of you. I had him before in a world championship in ‘04. I know him a little bit from there. He’s very organized and knows what he wants you to do and expects a lot out of you."
Babcock makes no bones about being brash at times.
"Do I handle everything right? No. Am I too harsh sometimes? Maybe," Babcock once said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But players will always know where they stand with me and what pleases me because I’ll let them know, and I don’t play games."
Babcock will have only one day to run a practice with his team before it plays Norway on Feb. 16 in the preliminary round. If the Canadians aren’t skating hard or don’t look focused — even if it’s a morning skate — they’ll hear about it.
"He’s very vocal," Dallas stars forward Brenden Morrow said.
Morrow played against Babcock when he was coaching Spokane, was one of his players at the world championships and is on his 23-man roster in Vancouver.
"He’s a great motivator," Morrow said. "He wants a lot of tempo and energy. For a quick tournament like that, trying to get guys together, he’s the right guy for the job.
"He knows the right buttons to push."
Pat Quinn did, too, when Canada won Olympic gold in 2002 — the first in a half-century — but he didn’t have a magic wand when the aging team flopped to a sixth-place finish four years ago.
Babcock is quick to deflect questions about what went wrong in Turin, saying he just watched the games, but acknowledged there’s a "fine line" separating success and failure in a single-elimination tournament that hasn’t had a two-time champion since the NHL let its players participate in the 1998 Nagano Games.
The Canadians might be the favorites to win in storybook fashion, but defending champion Sweden and talent-rich Russia will be among the half-dozen teams with a shot to spoil the party.
Babcock dismisses the scrutiny he’ll face, saying he’s used to it in Detroit and insisting he won’t waste time worrying.
"It’s got to be the best job in hockey — bar none," he said. "I wanted the job, and I’m going to enjoy it."
-- Larry Lage
U.S. Olympic D Komisarek to miss rest of season
TORONTO — U.S. Olympic defenseman Mike Komisarek of the Toronto Maple Leafs will have shoulder surgery that will knock him out of the Vancouver Games and the rest of the NHL season.
A date for the operation has not yet been set, the Maple Leafs said Wednesday.
"Our team doctors have recommended this after a determined effort to rehab the injury without surgery," Komisarek said in a statement. "Having this done immediately is the right thing to do for the Leafs. I am truly sorry that I will not be able to represent my country at the Olympics."
It is the latest blow to the U.S. team that already lost New Jersey Devils defenseman Paul Martin to a broken left forearm. Both players can be replaced before the games begin later this month.
Potential Olympic replacements for Martin and Komisarek include Atlanta’s Ron Hainsey, Los Angeles’ Rob Scuderi, Ryan Whitney of the Anaheim Ducks, and Carolina’s Tim Gleason. Final rosters are due on Feb. 15, one day before the United States opens play with a game against Switzerland.
The 28-year-old Komisarek, a Long Island native, was chosen for the Olympic team on Jan. 1 and was injured one day later at Calgary. Signed by the Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free agent last summer, Komisarek had four assists in 34 games this season.
Winter Sports
U.S. luge teams settles on suits for Vancouver
SAN DIEGO — The U.S. luge team settled on a racing suit Wednesday for the Vancouver Olympics, choosing one made by Toronto-based Karbon Apparel after testing four different suits at the San Diego Low Speed Wind Tunnel.
While it may have lacked the fanfare that accompanied the unveiling of U.S. Olympic team apparel by Ralph Lauren, the team’s choice of suits is critical in a sport where fractions of a second make the difference.
"We were testing for the best suit material," said two-time Olympic medalist Mark Grimmette, who donned each of the suits. "We were looking for the lowest aerodynamic drag. We found one that is going to work great for the Olympics coming up, so we are pretty excited."
The soon-to-be five-time Olympian arrived in San Diego from a World Cup competition in Italy, and wore each suit while on a sled situated atop a device that measures the force of drag in grams. Data was taken from various wind speeds up to 90 miles per hour, although the Whistler track in British Columbia has seen speeds up to 100 mph.
The tunnel, which can generate winds up to 275 mph, has served as testing grounds for cruise missiles, scale model fighter jets, passenger liners, airplanes and cyclists, including seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.
"What is interesting about testing in the wind tunnel is that when I’m on the track I don’t notice the speed because we’re focused on driving and we’re focused on being relaxed," Grimmette said. "But when we’re in the wind tunnel I feel that wind coming over me. And when they crank it up to 80 or 90 miles an hour, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is fast.’
"You can really feel how much pressure the wind is really pushing out of there. It’s a pretty unique experience to be here in the wind tunnel."
Karbon also provides the U.S. luge team with its jackets and has been in the business of providing racing and freestyle skiing apparel.
Gordy Sheer, director of marketing and sponsorship for USA Luge, said it would have been nice to have fabrics that were made in the United States. But he said is was more important to get the best performance out of the suit.
"When you are dealing with a sport that measures to the thousandth of a second, anything you can do aerodynamically is critical," said Sheer, a 1998 Olympic silver medalist.
Grimmette also dismissed concerns about testing uniforms so close to the Olympics.
"To be able to test so close to the games is actually a great opportunity," he said. "It seems like it’s last minute, but it’s not really. For a suit material, to be able to put on a suit is not something we need to break in. So we can just put on a suit and go. We just want to have the fastest suit possible."
Grimmette will be competing in doubles with his racing partner Brian Martin. The teammates won silver in 2002 and bronze in 1998, and are hoping the right suits allow them to finally stand atop the podium later this month.
"I have been competing in the sport of luge since the mid ‘80s," said Grimmette, who turned 39 in January. "Being able to go back and compete for my country a fifth time in the Olympics is a great thing, which I’m looking forward to.
"The science of luge fascinates me a lot. I love the physics of it. When you are going down the track we are pulling between four and five Gs, when we go into the turns the aerodynamics of the mechanics of the way the sled works, it’s all very fascinating to me."
Spain’s first skeleton rider reaches Olympics
MADRID — Ander Mirambell’s chances of reaching the Winter Olympics looked to be as good as the likelihood the Spanish skeleton rider would successfully navigate his first run down an icy track.
Marginal at best.
Yet the Barcelona native will trade his boogie board for a skeleton sled when he is among the 17 athletes competing for Spain at the Vancouver Games from Feb. 12-28, becoming the first Spaniard to compete in a sport that falls under the bobsled umbrella.
For the easygoing Mirambell, who will turn 27 during the games, the hardest part of his Olympic dream has already been achieved.
"There’s no pressure because all that I’ve done up to this point has been incredible," Mirambell told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Now it’s time to enjoy."
Mirambell knew he wanted to participate in the games and a glance at Spain’s winter sports record showed one glaring hole: bobsled. So Mirambell created a club then decided on the discipline.
"With bobsled I needed a teammate and I couldn’t find anyone. There was also the issue of equipment, so that narrowed it down to two things: luge and skeleton," Mirambell said. "The safer option was skeleton — it’s less aggressive and a smoother sport to get into — while with bobsled and luge your chances of ending up in the hospital were higher."
The reaction among family, friends and acquaintances was as united as the support he would later receive.
"They were all surprised at first. ‘Son, are you crazy?’ my mother asked. It didn’t help after I got hurt after starting, that really got her worried. But my father was supportive from start, he saw it was possible to do this," Mirambell said. "The only problem is it ruined a few relationships with my commitments and travels."
The surprise carried over to the circuit, as well.
"My competitors were surprised at first, the reaction was a lot like that movie ‘Cool Runnings’," said Mirambell, a former decathlete and soccer player in the youth ranks of Spanish club Espanyol. "Now I’m just one more guy on a sled."
Nothing can compare to that first run down the circuit, which came five years ago in Innsbruck, Austria.
"You just pray all the way down. You’re not so sure of what you have to do, but you manage. It was a nice moment," Mirambell said. "Overall it was tough at first, but now it’s great because only five years later I’m in the Olympics and there for Spain, which you would never expect."
Especially for someone living in Barcelona, where the closest snow is in the Pyrenees — more than 90 miles away — and where no bobsled facilities exist.
When not training in Italy, Mirambell has learned to use the elements he has available — most notably the beach.
Mirambell might look like any other vacationer playing in the Mediterranean waves on his boogie board, but he’s actually simulating his starts. He has also been using soccer club Barcelona’s ice hockey rink, although being unable to stop himself from crashing into the boards left Mirambell preferring the beach training.
Especially as he’s already had a number of broken bones, which could increase at Whistler in a sport where riders plummet head first down an icy slope at speeds of up to 80 mph. Mirambell compares the Whistler Sliding Center on Blackcomb Mountain — where bobsled and luge will also take place — to Formula One’s street circuit in Monaco: an animal of a track, very technical and very fast.
"It’s a tough circuit that can kill you if you’re not prepared. I’m not going there for vacation," Mirambell said. "But there’s no pressure because all that I’ve done up to this point has been incredible. The objective has been achieved and now it’s time to enjoy."
Mirambell, who has been funded by the country’s winter sports federation and Spain’s Sports Ministry, does not expect to be the third Spaniard to reach the medal podium at a Winter Olympics. Francisco "Paquito" Fernandez Ochoa won men’s slalom gold at Sapporo in 1972 and his sister Blanca won bronze in the women’s slalom at Albertville in 1992.
Mirambell wants to learn, but "also to show that Spain can compete, although we’re still a long way from that. Medals — you can forget about medals.".
What’s important is to leave some kind of legacy so that the sport continues, especially with Barcelona set to bid for the 2022 Winter Games, which would also mean the construction of a bobsled complex.
Mirambell, studying sports sciences for his post-skeleton life, isn’t sure he’ll be competing there, but hopes the impact of his effort will be felt.
"(A legacy) would be magnificent and it would be a shame if after all of the work we’ve done that it would just be wasted," Mirambell said.
-- Paul Logothetis
Jamaica not going to race in Olympic bobsled event
Jamaica’s bid to have its bobsled team compete in this month’s Olympics has come up short.
The list of nations who qualified and entered bobsled events at the Vancouver Games, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, failed to include Jamaica — which had spent the last few weeks hoping that a slot opened in the field.
Those hopes were dashed, and on Wednesday, the Jamaicans acknowledged that all chance for 2010 was gone.
"We’ve been in battles for many, many years," Chris Stokes, a founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team more than 20 years ago, told The AP in a phone interview. "This is one more. But it’s disappointing, no question about that. The guys worked really hard and did well. Not qualifying, it’s by no means a failure. It’s a step going forward."
Officials from the Vancouver organizing committee are in the process of certifying those entries. There remains a chance more nations could be added, but for that to happen a sled that has entered must drop out.
The Jamaicans say they’re no longer waiting for that to happen.
"I am told there are no other options at this point," team spokesman Stephen Samuels said.
They knew they were long shots to get into the Vancouver Games, but still, the notion of another team from the tiny island nation competing in these Olympics — 22 years after the first Jamaican sled raced in the Calgary Games and sparked the idea for the movie "Cool Runnings" — was enough to create a buzz.
Poorly funded and often racing with substandard equipment, the Jamaicans and driver Hannukkah Wallace managed to just sneak into the world top 50 rankings in four-man sliding, giving the chance of a Vancouver berth life.
In the end, they needed to be a few spots higher.
"If we have to be the last small nation, then so be it," Stokes said. "We’ll keep the fight."
Wallace has said he wasn’t sure if he’ll stay with bobsledding, return to his roots in track, or possibly both. It’s not uncommon for bobsledders to take some time off, especially early in a new four-year Olympic cycle.
Stokes said he believes Wallace will try to return and lead the team again.
"This is Hannukkah’s third year driving," Stokes said. "People in the sport would say you need five, seven, maybe even 10 years to get to a certain level. Given the timeframe of development that we had, we knew it would be difficult. And one of the challenges we have in Jamaica bobsleigh, while other nations have several drivers coming up, we can afford only one."
The Jamaicans already say they’re not abandoning all plans for 2010 — or 2014, for that matter.
As has been planned for months, the team will be at Whistler, if for no other reason than to experience what an Olympics are like, Stokes said.
"It’s very important for them to go and see," Stokes said. "They’ll remember what the games are like and watch the start line of a four-man Olympic race and feel that adrenaline. I hope it acts as a motivation for them."
And for the Sochi Games of 2014, Jamaica says it’s hopeful of adding more sleds, more drivers — and intends to offer a coaching job to retired U.S. bobsled pilot Todd Hays, who saw his career end after a crash earlier this season. Even before retiring, Hays lent the Jamaican federation equipment and expertise.
"There are many things we can, and we will, do to improve our chances," Stokes said.
-- Tim Reynolds
Report: Finnish skier Myllyla admits EPO use
HELSINKI — Former Olympic cross-country skiing champion Mika Myllyla, who was involved in Finland’s largest doping scandal in 2001, admitted using the banned blood booster EPO.
Finland’s Channel Four TV reported Tuesday Myllyla acknowledged using the endurance-enhancing drug during questioning by officers of the National Bureau of Investigation last April.
"I have been personally injected with EPO, but won’t say who gave it to me," Myllyla was quoted as telling officers, according to Channel Four. "It occurred during the course of my (skiing) career."
Myllyla gave no other details, according to the TV report. Channel Four did not say how it gained access to the testimony.
It was the first acknowledgment of EPO use by a top Finnish skier.
Myllyla, who has not competed since a two-year skiing ban ended in 2003, was one of six Finnish cross-country skiers who tested positive for banned substances at the world championships in Lahti, Finland.
The skiers tested positive for HES, a banned plasma expander, forfeiting four medals, including the men’s team gold in the 4x10-kilometer relay and the women’s silver in the 4x5-kilometer relay.
Police declined comment except to say they had questioned Myllyla along with other top skiers during their investigation.
"Even after this confession I cannot comment on the content of the story," Pauli Huuskonen, who headed the bureau’s investigation, told Iltalehti newspaper.
Myllyla, who won the 30-kilometer race at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and took three world championship titles in 1999, is the third Finnish skier known to have used EPO.
In 2000, national-level skier Sami Heiskanen told investigators he had used the drug. In 2003, female cross-country skier Kaisa Varis tested positive for EPO during the 2003 World Championships at Val di Fiemme, Italy.
Former ski coach Kari-Pekka Kyro, who acknowledged helping to dope skiers at Lahti, has said that there was systematic doping among Finnish skiers in the 1990s and that top trainers knew about it.
In 2004, Kyro was found guilty of smuggling banned substances and attempted fraud. He was convicted for importing EPO and growth hormones during 1999 and 2000.
Former Finnish long-distance runner Martti Vainio, who later became a sport researcher, also has said that the use of banned substances by top Finnish athletes was more common than earlier believed.
Vainio forfeited a silver medal in the 10,000 meters at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 after testing positive for banned substances. In 2004, he said he had tried doping before Los Angeles and that the practice was common among Finnish athletes in the early 1980s.
Australia appeals Olympic bobsled slight
SYDNEY — The Australian Olympic Committee has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to allow its 2-women bobsled team to compete at the Vancouver Games.
Fiona de Jong, the Australian committee’s director of sport, lodged the appeal in an attempt to gain a games berth for Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Cecilia McIntosh after the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation failed to award a place to any team from the Oceania region.
Australia was the top-ranked nation in Oceania and the AOC said the pair met the minimum qualification standards imposed by the FIBT.
Loch-Wilkinson and McIntosh are training at the Olympic venue in Whistler. Their event was not until Feb. 23.
The AOC accused the FIBT of not upholding its qualifying rules.
"The FIBT should have chosen 18 two-man teams and then reserved the last two places for teams from Oceania and Asia," de Jong said. "They have not followed their qualification system, approved by the IOC."
The AOC said the FIBT will argue that Australia was already represented by male athletes in the bobsled events in Vancouver.
"We will argue that the fact we are represented in the men’s events does not disentitle the AOC to a continental quota place in the women’s bob event," de Jong said.
The AOC asked for an urgent hearing before the CAS in Vancouver. The Australian committee has chosen 38 athletes for the Winter Games.
Swiss Ammann wins 5th World Cup event of season
KLINGENTHAL, Germany — Ski jumping World Cup leader Simon Ammann of Switzerland has won his fifth event of the season.
The two-time Olympic champion had jumps of 133 meters and 134 meters to collect 263.9 points on Wednesday.
Adam Malysz of Poland took second with 257.2 points and Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria was third with 245.4.
Olympics
’Today’ sending crew to Vancouver Winter Olympics
NEW YORK — The Vancouver Winter Olympics location works out well for NBC, which will be able to show live competition in prime time, a luxury it rarely has when the event takes place overseas.
Not so for the "Today" show, which is transporting itself West for nearly three weeks of broadcasts starting Feb. 9. The show will start at 4 a.m. local time each weekday, meaning athletes who want to show off their medals must travel 20 minutes out of the city and take a tram ride to a mountainside set in the middle of the night.
"They’ll come," predicted Jim Bell, the show’s executive producer.
"Today" looms as an ever-more important promotional showcase for NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage, given the network’s dwindling audience in prime-time and late-night hours. Not that it needs it, but the Olympics are another showcase for television’s most popular morning news show.
Matt Lauer and Natalie Morales are arriving first at the "Today" set on Grouse Mountain; Lauer will carry the Olympic torch through the town of Burnaby, British Columbia, as part of the torch relay. Meredith Vieira, Al Roker and Ann Curry arrive on Feb. 12, the day of opening ceremonies. It’s the seventh time that "Today" has gone on location for Olympics coverage.
The schedule was far more comfortable for "Today" and its guests during the Summer Games in Beijing two years ago. There, the live show kicked off at 7 p.m. local time.
Despite being in the middle of the night, Bell said athletes will still wake up early for the chance to be seen on national television. In many cases, they will just stay up late.
"Even though it’s 4 a.m., we’re excited to have great guests, great crowds, great energy," he said. "It’s the Olympics. People will want to come if they have a medal draped around their neck or if they want to hold up a sign saying ‘hi’ to the people back home. It doesn’t matter to us what time it is."
The mountain supposedly provides a great view of the Vancouver area — not that it matters in the middle of the night. The proximity to the winter sports also gives the "Today" personalities a chance to embarrass themselves on ice.
Olympic gold medalists Picabo Street and Kristi Yamaguchi will be "Today" special correspondents during the Olympics, offering commentary and analysis of the action. "Today" special correspondent Jenna Bush Hager will also contribute human interest stories to the mix.
The "Today" cast will host three hours of coverage from Vancouver each morning, while the "Today" fourth hour will remain New York-based with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, Bell said.
The arrival of George Stephanopoulos as co-host on ABC’s "Good Morning America" has done little immediately to change the equation in the morning, where "Today" hasn’t lost a week in the ratings for 14 years. Since Stephanopoulos started, "Today" has gained an extra 30,000 viewers compared with "GMA," the Nielsen Co. said.
Since Stephanopoulos’ start, "Today" has averaged 5.75 million viewers in the morning, "Good Morning America" has 4.4 million and "The Early Show" on CBS has 2.9 million, Nielsen said.
"It’s a very confident show right now," Bell said. "It’s a show that’s operating on all cylinders. The cast is doing very well. The Olympics just give us an opportunity to show that off to more people."
-- David Bauder
Obama skipping Olympics eases security concerns
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — President Barack Obama’s decision not to attend the Winter Olympics has eased some of the security concerns, although organizers still expect at least 40 foreign dignitaries needing special protection.
Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Wednesday that security will be ready for their arrival, along with the estimated 5,500 athletes and coaches, 11,000 media and 350,000 visitors expected to descend on Vancouver in the coming weeks.
"It would have made things more complex but we would have done it," Mercer said, when asked about Obama’s decision not to attend.
Security is costing Canadians almost $609 million, four times the original estimate.
The opening ceremony isn’t until Feb. 12, but already Vancouver is beginning to resemble an armed camp. Several streets are closed, helicopters patrol the skies and security perimeters have been established around 80 sport and non-sport venues.
Mercer said a 30-mile-radius restriction on aircraft has been established, centered around the athletes’ villages in Vancouver and Whistler. Those restrictions will not affect operations at Vancouver International Airport, where athletes and officials will arrive at secured zones.
"The air space gets more restricted the closer you get to the center," Mercer said.
Mercer said 6,000 police officers from across Canada are in Vancouver, assisted by 4,800 private security officers tasked primarily with spectator screening at venues. The screening will be similiar to that done at airports.
Another 4,500 members of the Canadian armed forces are providing marine, Alpine and air security throughout the region, and Canadian Rear Admiral Tyrone Pile said NORAD forces are available should any emergency require U.S. participation.
"We have planned for a medium threat level," said Mercer, adding the threat remains low.
That assurance comes despite the disappearance of 6,000 bags of ammonium nitrate, the same material used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings. Officials at the Kinder Morgan company claimed the ammonium nitrate was missing because of a "clerical" error and an investigation continues, but Mercer said he believes there is nothing criminal about the situation.
Mercer said the tight security will not be so intrusive as to deny protesters the right to lawful and peaceful demonstrations, which was the source of controversy and confusion for many during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Mercer said safe assembly areas have been established within sight of venues as directed by the International Olympic Committee.
"If it’s legal now, it will be legal during 2010," he said.
Medvedev may attend Vancouver Winter Olympics
MOSCOW — Russian news agencies have reported that President Dmitry Medvedev may attend part of the Vancouver Olympics.
The ITAR-Tass and RIA Novosti agencies said Medvedev dropped hints during a meeting Wednesday with sports and Russian Olympic Committee officials that he may visit Canada.
Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev invited Medvedev to attend the Russian women’s snowboard finals, and Medvedev said "it would be great to watch the ice hockey finals as well."
Some of the Vancouver venues are troubled by a lack of snow and Medvedev said "we can deliver some from Sochi," the Russian city that hosts the next edition of the Winter Games in 2014.
Olympic Village construction on course
LONDON — London organizers say three of the planned 11 residential sections have been built for the 2012 Olympic Village.
Work began in the summer of 2008 and the first residential plot was completed last October. The Olympic Delivery Authority says two others, comprising nearly 600 homes, have now been structurally completed.
Work will now start on the exterior of the buildings in east London. Work on the interior will begin later this year.
The ODA says construction on the remaining eight residential areas is "well under way."
Each plot consists of six to eight buildings built around a courtyard in a rectangular layout.
The village will house more than 10,000 athletes and officials during the Olympics. Afterwards, the buildings will become local housing.
USOC tabs Sandusky as new spokesman
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The U.S. Olympic Committee has named former Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky as its new chief communications officer.
Sandusky took the role at the USOC on an acting basis in October and was named to the permanent post Wednesday.
Before working for the Chicago 2016 bid, Sandusky spent 10 years at the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, where he was vice president of sports marketing.
He’ll be moving to Colorado Springs, Colo., home of the USOC headquarters.
Track & Field
Robles wins first race of comeback from injury
DUESSELDORF, Germany — Olympic champion Dayron Robles of Cuba won the 60-meter hurdles at the PSD Bank meet Wednesday in his first competition since being injured last August.
Robles won in 7.50 seconds after pulling ahead early in the race.
The world record-holder pulled out of the semifinals of the 110-meter hurdles at the world championships in Berlin in August after hitting the first three hurdles. Robles will compete at the indoor worlds in March in Doha, Qatar, hoping to win his first world title.
"It was a good race, I had a good rhythm," Robles said. "But I am only at 90 percent. I will try to get better with each race."
World champion Lolo Jones of the United States won the women’s 60 hurdles in 7.85.
Laverne Jones-Ferrette of the U.S. Virgin Islands upset American sprinter Carmelita Jeter to win the women’s 60-meter dash in 7.09 seconds.
Mark Jelks of the United States won the men’s 60 in 6.56.
Sailing
Bertarelli leads Alinghi’s America’s Cup practice
VALENCIA, Spain — Defending America’s Cup champion Alinghi has begun preparing for its best-of-three grudge match against BMW Oracle.
ValenciaSailing.com reported that owner Ernesto Bertarelli was at the helm Wednesday when Alinghi practiced prestart maneuvers. The American challenger also sailed off the coast of Valencia, Spain.
Earlier, an international jury set the start of the series for Monday at 10:06 a.m. local time (3:06 a.m. CDT) and ruled the Swiss boat’s committee can determine whether conditions allow a race to start or not.
The 33rd edition of the America’s Cup has been held up by court battles since July 2007.
