NEWS FROM NAGANO; A DAILY DOSE OF OLYMPIC HEADLINES : STREET KNOCKED OUT AFTER TUMBLE.Byline: Daily News Wire Services Picabo Street Picabo Street (born April 3, 1971, in Triumph, Idaho) is an American skier, now retired and living in Park City, Utah. She was raised on a small farm in Triumph, several miles southeast of Sun Valley, Idaho, where she learned to ski and race. , the two-time World Cup downhill champion and the top U.S. Olympic hope, suffered bruises, an injured neck and a slight concussion during a scary crash Saturday in Are, Switzerland. Street, returning to the Olympia course where she won a World Cup race in 1995, fell on the upper part after a ski binding pre-released. The high-speed crash - Street was going an estimated 75 mph - occurred on the fastest and most dangerous part of the course. She lay on the snow unconscious for approximately two minutes, but was able to walk away from the scene of the accident after a few minutes. Later, she was brought by helicopter to a hospital for tests. ``She's a little dizzy,'' Herwig Demschar, the U.S. women's coach, said. ``But for me the most important thing is that the legs are OK because it's always a mental problem if you have the first crash after an injury, if you're OK or not.'' Street, who never had a concussion before, came back last month after being sidelined more than a year following knee surgery. Demschar said Street will return as planned with the U.S. team to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. today. She'll be back on skis again Saturday in Japan. The women's Olympic downhill is scheduled Feb. 14 at Nagano. And on top of it all, she broke her ski Street left the course crying - not because of her injuries from the fall, but because one of her favorite skis was broken. ``That's a bad thing,'' Demschar said. ``It was a very good ski. One good ski out of three. So we still have two to go. As a downhiller, you get attached to two or three pairs of skis that you use for two or three years sometimes. ``I didn't see it. I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. why the binding opened up. That happens sometimes.'' Street's mishap came only a week after she took a season-best fourth place. He's the favorite Austria's Andreas Schifferer Andreas "Andi" Schifferer (born 3 August 1974) is a former Austrian alpine skier who was known to be a downhill specialist, but also competed in other disciplines. Early life posted his fourth World Cup downhill triumph of the season in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, establishing himself as the gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize favorite for the Olympics. ``Sure, the win gives me confidence and I'm in good form,'' Schifferer said of his chances at Nagano. ``But form doesn't count, a medal does.'' Schifferer had the fastest time on the icy upper slope of the Kandahar course and finished in 1 minute, 54.82 seconds in the final World Cup downhill before the Winter Games
France's Nicolas Burtin was second at 1:55.38. He was followed by Austrians Hermann Maier Hermann Maier (born December 7, 1972, Altenmarkt) is an Austrian skier who has won four overall World Cup titles (1998, 2000, 2001, 2004), two Olympic gold medals (both in 1998), three World Championship titles (1999: 2, 2005: 1) and 53 races in the World Cup. (1:55.57) and Stephan Eberharter Stephan ("Steff") Eberharter (born March 24, 1969) is an Austrian skier, born in Brixlegg, who won the World Cup (overall) title in 2002 and 2003. He was arguably the closest rival of compatriot Hermann Maier in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He has now retired from the sport. (1:55.75). Daron Rahlves was the leading American, 20th at 1:57.42. Fedorov finds his way Sergei Fedorov, sitting out the NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there season in a contract dispute after helping the Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. to the Stanley Cup last season, will join Russia's Olympic hockey team as a replacement for the injured Alexei Kovalev of the New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York, New York, U.S.A. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). . Aleander Steblin, president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, said Fedorov called him and offered to be a substitute for Kovalev, who recently underwent knee surgery. While some Russian NHL stars refused to play on the Olympic team, Fedorov was not among them and had previously asked Steblin to be considered the team's No. 1 standby. COUNTDOWN TO OLYMPICS DAYS UNTIL OPENING CEREMONY: 6. SNOWFALL SATURDAY: 0.4 inch of snow fell in Nagano city, while 4 inches fell on the men's downhill course. That left 7.2 inches in Nagano city and 7 feet, 2 inches on the downhill course. OLYMPIC UPDATE: About 20 members of the Italian team and 30 members of the Kazakstan team took part in welcoming ceremonies at the Olympic Village. CARRYING THE TORCH: The Olympic flame passed through the villages of Aoki and Minowa, the towns of Minami Minowa and Hata and the cities of Ueda, Ina and Matsumoto in Nagano prefecture (state) on Saturday. GOING FOR THE GOLD: U.S. bobsledder Michael Dionne, of Alpharetta, Ga., was barred from the Olympics after testing positive for a banned stimulant. CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO (Color) Germany's Katja Seizinger won the World Cup downhill in Are, Sweden, on Saturday. Associated Press BOX: COUNTDOWN TO OLYMPICS (see text) |
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