Word: rink
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Everyone sees Eric. It is cool just to be in the same town with him. The people who don't have tickets for his events lean against the fence around the speed skating rink like refugees, shouting desperately every time he circles by. They love him madly; he is a hero. And it is clear that he loves them back. "Good luck, Eric," a random fan calls out as he whizzes by on a trial run, and Eric literally stops dead in his tracks and spins around and squints up at the crowd in the direction of the voice...
...fact, it is the game almost no one in the arena has bought tickets for. But the Official Olympic Ticket Committee misprinted about 400 tickets, leading many United States vs. Norway fans into the wrong arena at the right time. The police guarding the door to the right rink turn spectators away sternly, repeating, "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do about it." They are authoritarian clones, faceless and infuriating among all the hope and faith. "Go to the Chamber of Commerce," is another one of their favorite lines...
...Placid Organizing Committee, and another belonging to the FBI. Indeed, the citizens sometimes out-organized themselves. The mother of American Speed Skater Leah Poulos Mueller, who has sharpened her daughter's skates through 20 years of competition and two earlier Olympics, found herself banned from facilities at the rink, but a Lake Placid teenager let out of school for the grand holiday could wander in and stare at the stars...
When Tai and Randy skated out onto the ice Friday night with the other pairs for their warmups prior to the pairs short-program competition, the crowd gave a pleasant stir of anticipation. The U.S. pair struck a pose, glided around the rink and then went into a sit-spin. Randy fell out of it. He got up and brushed off the ice. They skated over to Coach John Nicks, talked anxiously, came back and tried the sit-spin again. This time, Randy stayed up, but he had to put a hand down to keep from tumbling...
...been a great danger to his partner. That was what concerned us more than anything else." At last the loudspeaker at Lake Placid announced the inevitable: "Ladies and gentlemen, the U.S. pair is unable to compete at this time because of an injury." At the edge of the Adirondack rink, the American skaters' ambitious dreams combusted sadly. Tai cried as she left the ice. Said Tai: It was a nightmare." Said Randy: "I felt nothing. I just couldn't believe it was all happening...