Word: medalling
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...extra speed through the first 50 meters can become a full second's advantage by the bottom of the run. As a result, today's bobsledders are chosen for being fleet, not fat. None have been more shrewdly picked than Willie Davenport, 36, who won a gold medal in the high hurdles in the 1968 Summer Games. Last fall the bobsledders persuaded him that his speed might help the team. Says Davenport: "Why, the first time I'd ever seen a bobsled was right after Thanksgiving...
Davenport learned so fast that he became a member of the top U.S. sled, as had Jeff Gadley, 24, a former decathlon man. Davenport and Gadley will be the first two American blacks ever to compete in the Winter Olympics. If they win, giving the U.S. its first gold medal in bobsledding since 1948, Davenport will gain a further distinction: he will become only the second man in history to win gold medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics...
...thrills and most spectacular spills. The favorites: Liechtenstein's Andreas Wenzel and Canada's Ken Read. Top U.S. challenger: Phil Mahre, 22, now recovered from a badly broken right ankle. At 11:30-11:45 p.m. comes cross-country skiing. Bill Koch, first American to win a medal in the event-a silver in 1976-will try again for glory...
Unless fate or a dark horse intervenes, Stenmark should leave Lake Placid with one gold medal, and possibly two. In his specialty, the giant slalom (a zigzag race through 30 or more gates), he is virtually unbeatable. In 1978-79, he won this race all ten times it was staged in World Cup competition; this season he is three for three. In the slalom (a shorter, steeper course with more gates and sharper turns), his win rate approaches 50%. Says Phil Mahre, his friend and rival: "He is really a fantastic skier, especially on a steep course. He changes edges...
...resume snow training for several weeks. "I've never before started so late in the year," says he, "but I'm not worried." But after his disappointing performance at Innsbruck in 1976-he managed only a bronze in the giant slalom-Stenmark is wary of making medal predictions. "The margins of victory are so small and accidental occurrences so often decisive," he says. "If only I get one Olympic gold medal, I'll be happy...