| 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 |
|
|
|
|
Soldier Hollow aides have crucial roles at all events
By Donna Kemp Spangler
Deseret News staff writer
SOLDIER HOLLOW — Biathlon is revered as one of the most physically taxing sports in the Olympics.
But the real sweat and tears is going on behind the scenes at Soldier Hollow where biathletes, cross country skiers and Nordic-combined competitors are turning the Midway location into the busiest of all Olympic venues.
And if everything goes off as scripted, the 15,000 or so visitors a day won't even notice, said Phil Jordan, Soldier Hollow's general manager.
"People slap my back and say this is the most amazing show," he said. "But it's really all smoke and mirrors."
It is also no small feat. Jordan and a staff of 2,500 volunteers work in tandem with 250 security officers, hundreds of journalists and television broadcast crews, and roughly 200 athletes.
There is also a crew of experts who do everything from groom trails to predict the weather, a critical component for competitors wanting to know exactly what wax to use on their skies each day.
Competitors use 16 different waxes depending on the temperature of the snow, said meteorologist Ryan Wright. He, along with a group of University of Utah students, are providing daily weather forecasts and observations.
It's not easy pulling off the elaborate dance.
"We make sure everything is synchronized," said Max Cobb, chief of biathlon competition. "It is everything from making sure the volunteers get lunch every day to making sure the snow machines are on the course."
Another headache is planning how and where television cameras will be situated. Biathlon happens to be the top winter spectator sport in Europe.
"It makes us nervous," Cobb said. "It's like driving a car on a bike path on a busy Sunday afternoon."
Those are things venue officials have planned for the past three years. What has them crossing their fingers is what they have no control over: weather.
High winds, blinding snow and, though hard to imagine, weather that is too warm, can lead to races being postponed.
"If they (meteorologists) say a big storm, hundreds of people's schedules change," said Lyle Nelson, biathlon sports manager for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
"We plan for what the show-stoppers are," Nelson added. For example, what if the power goes out? The biathlon targets are all electrical.
"No worries," said Alan Nye, chief of range at the Soldier Hollow course. "We get nervous, but we have battery backup and emergency generation."
At Lake Placid in 1980, the electricity did go out, forcing officials to use walkie-talkies to communicate the the firing range results.
Four years ago in Nagano, a snowstorm forced race officials to call off the competition in mid-race.
"It's a judgment call," noted Cobb, who said a jury decides if winds are too high or snow is falling too heavily.
Inside the venue, everything from the music played during competitions to the shepherding of fans into the stadium is carefully choreographed.
Outside, it can seem chaotic as thousands and thousands of spectators make their way via buses along a narrow country lane, braving lengthy security checks and an icy hike to the venue.
Most of the hard work falls to the volunteers who themselves have been training for this moment for three years.
"I know it is a cliche, but it is a once in a lifetime experience," said Matt Ence, a Brigham Young University law school student volunteering as a media transportation host. Besides, he added, it beats going to class.
Ence and the other volunteers get high grades from venue officials.
"It is amazing to see how far the volunteers have come, from nowhere to hosting the Olympic Games," Cobb said. "That's the greatest accomplishment."
E-MAIL: donna@desnews.com
|
|
February 11, 2002
|
