| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
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Taking care of the oval Oly-style
By Stephen Speckman
Deseret News Olympic specialist
KEARNS — The ratio looks good.
More than two Salt Lake Organizing Committee people for every one media type or one SLOC person for about every six fans.
Utah Olympic Oval general manager Tom Cornwall directs a staff of 750 SLOC volunteers and employees — kind of like a CEO for a major, but temporary, corporation.
More than 300 print and broadcast media personnel are descending upon the oval each day and another 4,600-or-so spectators are filling bleachers around three-fourths of the 400-meter ice track.
Tending to their needs and those of the athletes is no easy task.
"We're just going to try to make it a good experience, from the time they enter the parking lot," Cornwall said.
This burly, bearded guy oversees everything, from eliminating any funky food smells athletes might notice (athletes tend to complain about a lot ot things) to making sure he knows where his military help is at all times, day or night, helping to keep the arena secure.
If Cornwall is on a radio or phone, there's a good chance he might be talking to the oval director, Nick Thometz. As the chain of command goes, he coordinates building operations among a staff of about 60 or so people. No task is too small.
If everyone can hear the starter before each race say, "Go to the start," it's partly because Thometz was doing his job, which ranges from making sure the public address system works and that TV broadcasters have lights to ensuring that people are entertained during breaks and the field of play is in top condition.
"We want the ice the best it can possibly be for that distance for that day," Thometz said. "It's a lot of communication."
Enter the ice man.
Marc Norman is the building operations manager, but some might call him the ice doctor.
A cut in the ice gets a dose of slush and a spritz off a CO2 extinguisher to seal the wound.
Norman shoots a laser beam at the oval to take the ice's temperature and makes sure the 400-meter track is comfortable amid optimal air temperature and humidity. Norman will change all of those conditions ever-so slightly, depending on the distance of the race.
Before the 2002 Games began and the world moved into Kearns, Norman was logging 18 to 20 hours a day — he's trying to bring that number down — at his home away from home, getting the ice the nicest it can be.
"We've definitely shown the ice is very fast," he said.
Fastest in the world? He might get an argument out of the Canadian skaters, some of whom have said in public that the oval in Calgary is faster.
But the way records have fallen at the Utah Olympic Oval, there is a case to be made for Kearns over Calgary.
Zamboni machines, starter stands, benches for skaters, finish pads, timing equipment, turning on broadcast lights to gauge their effect on air temperature and, again, ice temperature — Norman balances a lot of plates.
"That's really the most important," he said of the ice temperature. "That's the one we watch the closest."
The 3/4-inch surface should be around 7 or 8 degrees Fahrenheit, air temperature about 62 degrees and humidity about 17 or 18 percent — if those numbers stray too far one way or the other, Norman might be back to his 20-hour days.
After all, this is the Olympics.
E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com
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February 11, 2002
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