Word: squaws
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Trying to emulate their predecessors of 20 years ago--who knocked off the Soviets and went on to take the gold at the Squaw Valley, Calif., games--the United States plays Finland Sunday afternoon in the final day of medals round competition...
...their village. Over and over they trooped to meetings of the International Olympic Committee and submitted proposals, only to be snubbed for such fashionable Alpine resorts as Cortina and Innsbruck. When the I.O.C. agreed on an American site for 1960, the nod went to the Sierra Nevadas and Squaw Valley, but still the Lake Placid boosters kept returning, a shade from the Olympics' past that refused to be put to rest...
...Lake Placid standards, Squaw Valley was a modest outing indeed. There were fewer events (27 vs. 38), athletes (700 vs. 1,400) and journalists (600 vs. 3,200). The cost was a mere $20 million (nearly $50 million in today's dollars), compared with $178 million for the 1980 festival...
...real villain of Squaw Valley was a stretch of snow on the women's downhill course. Shooting down the steepest part of the run, skiers would suddenly hit a bumpy, hard-packed mound that sent them flying just as they reached a 90° bend, appropriately dubbed "the airplane corner." The high hopes of the American women crashed at that turn: Betsy Snite and two teammates spilled. Pitou did not fall, but she tottered, squandering precious ticks of the clock and losing the gold medal by 1 sec. to Germany's Heidi Biebl...
Most of the athletes at Squaw Valley would probably have had difficulty making the Olympics today. Training, techniques and equipment are more sophisticated, and times are dramatically faster for speed events. Sadly, though, many 1980 Olympians may wind up remembering the sacrifice more than the joy. Says Pitou, now a travel agent: "The kids aren't having fun any more. They're training to death." The real winners may not be the ones who leave Lake Placid with gold but the ones who take away golden memories. Speed Skater Bill Disney won only a silver at Squaw Valley...