Word: skates
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...Davos, Switzerland. A two-day snow has covered and closed the 400-meter speed-skating oval. Skaters from Poland, Canada and the U.S. jog through the quiet alpine village, play poker, and fret. "We've got to skate," says U.S. Sprint Specialist Peter Mueller. "We're losing precious time." At last, late in the afternoon, the ice is cleared and the Americans lace up. Their arms swinging in the hypnotic rhythm of the workout, the skaters seem oblivious to the cold and stinging snow. Round, round, round they go, fluid figures in the fading light...
...some performers, the day might have ended there. Not for Dorothy. After realizing the boos were not aimed at her, she collected herself and skated back out on the ice, head and shoulders set in grim determination. Her music started and suddenly came the smile like a flash of sunlight. Surely, evenly, she started to skate, and soon was sweeping through her routine as if gravity did not exist. The crowd was caught up in the moment, and in four minutes Dorothy turned the entire, week-long championship into her show...
...convinced herself that she is going to the Olympics. "When people say 'Good luck in Innsbruck,' " she explains, "I have to pinch myself." If Dorothy is beaten, it will probably be by Diane de Leeuw, who has a strong if unexceptional style. De Leeuw, though able to skate for The Netherlands because her mother is Dutch, is a resident of Paramount, Calif. She chose to enter under the Dutch flag because her family thought Diane would make that Olympic team more easily. The other serious contender is Christine Errath of East Germany, who is back after breaking...
Sheila's teammate, Peter Mueller, 21, could also pick up some gold. A long and strong-legged product of Madison, Wis., he too is a sprinter-as well as one of the speed-skating team's coolest poker players. "Peter's a fanatic," says his fiancée and fellow Skater Leah Poulos, 24, herself a medal possibility at 500 meters. "When he wants to be good at something, he doesn't stop." Rounding out the key contenders are U.S. ice dancing champions Colleen O'Connor and Jim Millns. The top American pairs...
...perfect circles on the ice, first forward then backward on one foot, the skater moves around a small patch of the rink. Then, after the ice chips have been swept clear, the judges, who have been watching closely, scurry onto the ice. They bend over to examine the skate lines cut into the frozen expanse...