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UTAH OLYMPIC PARK — Eager athletes and spectators were reminded Friday why these Games are called the Winter Olympics.
Frigid, strong winds sometimes exceeding 50 mph forced officials here to postpone the qualification round of the K90 ski jumping competition — the first scheduled event of the 2002 Winter Games. The qualifying round has now been combined with the K90 final on Sunday morning.
Mother Nature picked a nasty time to be ornery, officials said.
"In the nine years I've been here, I've only seen one other day when the winds were this high," said Alan Johnson, the ski jumping sports manager.
Because the qualifying round will not be rescheduled as a separate event, Friday's ticket holders will be given a full refund by mailing their tickets to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Additional information will be available at www.saltlake2002.com. About 13,500 ducats were sold for Friday's competition.
Johnson said there is no hard rule in determining when wind conditions make competitive jumping impossible. Decisions to conduct or cancel a competition are decided by event officials on a case-by-case basis.
"We were really hoping to get this event off," said the park's venue general manager, Colin Hilton.
There were, in fact, a number of times Friday after the scheduled start time of 9 a.m. when the winds settled and conditions warranted safe jumping.
"Unfortunately, it was not steady," Johnson said.
Team USA had no argument with the decision to postpone.
"I'm a little bummed out about it, but it happens that way and we certainly can't control the weather," said American Brendan Doran. "Today's wind conditions were less than acceptable."
Sunday's K90 competition will now shift from a two-round competition to a three-round event, with the qualifying portion happening in the first round. Sixty jumpers will compete at the beginning of the Sunday competition.
The weather also impacted other Olympic sports. Nordic combined K90 training Friday at Utah Olympic Park was also canceled.
E-mail: jswensen@desnews.com
