Word: torino
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...SKATER, AT YOUR SERVICE EMILY HUGHES could be the Cinderella of the Olympics. An alternate on the U.S. women's figure-skating team, the 17-year-old sister of 2002 gold medalist Sarah learned a day after Opening Ceremonies that she would get to go to the ball in Torino as a last-minute sub for injured Michelle Kwan. But even Cinderella started out by sweeping the floor. The price for Hughes' invitation to the Games? Being a mule for Russian rival and reigning world champion IRINA SLUTSKAYA, inset. The two share a New York City dressmaker, and when...
When Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao took to the ice in the pairs figure-skating final in Torino last week, most Chinese knew the song they skated to by heart. The Offspring of Dragons celebrates the glory of a mighty civilization. "There's a dragon in the ancient East, its name is China," go the folk song's stirring lyrics. By the time the final standings were tallied in the Olympic competition, the Zhangs' choice of music seemed particularly prescient. Although Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin won the 12th consecutive pairs gold for Russia (or, previously, the Soviet Union...
...style sports academies, where athletes are given free training in return for intense physical devotion. Even though China has no tradition of ice and snow sports and only started competing in the Winter Olympics in 1980, it won eight medals in Salt Lake City. At the halfway point in Torino, China had already secured six medals, including gold in women's short-track speedskating, and looks almost certain to surpass its 2002 record. This week's action includes several sports in which China has, in a decade, transformed itself from newbie competitor to gold-medal contender, including freestyle aerial skiing...
...former Soviet sport facilities that had been turned into markets to be restored. Four years on, many markets have been shuttered, but few have been converted back into athletic centers. "There used to be more financial support from the government," acknowledges Oleg Vasiliev, a Russian skating coach in Torino who won a pairs gold at Sarajevo in 1984. "The old system is over, and we are building a new system...
...Chinese figure-skating team presented a more patriotic front. "The skating spirit of the pairs teams will inspire other Chinese athletes to train harder for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing," predicted Wang Yitao, secretary general of the Chinese delegation in Torino. Wang surely must be pleased: Back in 1995, China's State General Administration of Sport published an "Olympic Glory Winning Plan" that included figure skating, short-track speedskating and speedskating. By the end of the first week in Torino, China had captured medals in all three sports. The offspring of the dragons were off to a fiery start...