European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 26, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Al8erfvti.i9? 98p Adieu Albertville hand rocking the Cradle holds most of the medals by Bill Glauber the Baltimore Sun Albertville France a when you Clear through All the trash sports and All the Tough talk when you get past the hockey Miracle that went bust the cover boy downhill skier who finished ninth the Laid Back Luger who finished 10th, the returning Speed skating medallist who should have passed on the fish what you Are left with is this without the women the . Winter olympic team would have been one Gigantic Luxembourg. The final medal count of five golds four Silver and two Bronze equated the Best . Winter performance on foreign Sod since its 11-medal showing in Oslo in 1952. Only twice before in 1932 and 1980, had the United states won 12 medals at a Winter games. This time the . Women led the Way. Nine of the american medals were won by women including golds by Speed skater Bonnie Blair 500 and 1,000 meter freestyle Mogul skier Donna Wein Brecht figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi and Short track Speed skater Cathy Turner. The . Alpine program a world wide joke for nearly six years received a boost when Diann Roffe giant slalom and Hilary Lindh downhill won silvers. In Short track Speed skating Turner sprinted the opening leg on the Silver medal winning 3,000-meter relay team. In figure skating the 1-3-4 finish of Yamaguchi Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding was the Best in . Women a history. Why did the women do so Well some theories a the olympics of pro sports America is not exactly a ski and skate country. The a quickest ticket to sporting poverty is to become a Biath Lete or Luger. The top male athletes gravitate to sports with professional futures. But with few pro opportunities open to women some of the Best and brightest can carve out olympic careers. Quot there Are no pro football or pro baseball leagues for women a Blair said. A for us the olympics is the highest athletic achievement. A a look ahead 94 promises compactness Albertville France apr Norway a Snow crazy Vikings raided France and Are bringing their haul a Gold Silver Bronze and the Winter olympics themselves a Home to the Birthplace of skiing. At sunday nights closing ceremonies the olympic Flag was handed Over to Lillehammer officials to Fly Over the City during the 17th Winter games from feb. 12-27, 1994. The norwegians Only have two years instead of the usual four to finish preparations for the 1994 games. They Arentt worried. Construction is ahead of schedule and under budget and most 1994 venues will be operating at least a year before the games officials said. Gerhard Heiberg director of Lillehammer �?T94, figures Norway a Strong performance in Albertville a 20 medals including nine Gold a will fan olympic fever already consuming his country of 4.2 million people. And Many of the stars of Albertville will have a Chance to a american culture done to Knock it. The country of fast food and Rock a no Roll also has developed Broad based programs for Wom ends sports. Title in the congressional act that Man dated equal Access to Public funding and facilities for athletics triggered a Money flow to female competitors. A Little girls done to have to play with dolls anymore. They can play in Little league a said Bonny Warner who is retiring from luge to Fly jets for United airlines. A moms done to frown on sports either a she said. A in the rest of the world Young girls still have to Buck the common stereotype of Barefoot and pregnant in the Kitchen. Boys on the other hand Are Likely to have More of an advantage than . Men in the International  the fall of the Wall beyond the laboratories the sports schools the personal rewards and the personal coaches the real secret of the East German sports machine was this it was fuelled by medals from women. Four years ago in Calgary East German women won three luge medals 10 Speed skating medals and one figure skating medal. This time the count was slightly Ower with one medal in luge and nine in Speed skating. Of course the skating Queen Katarina Witt has retired and is now a commentator with lbs to. But according to Blair the trend is Clear european countries especially those in the old Eastern bloc Are devoting fewer resources to women a athletics. That in the end will provide a level playing Field for the american women. Quot some of the countries Are having to do things like the .,�?� Blair said. A a they re looking for corporate support. They re not getting funded As they Usea to. If you look at the whole team performance for Germany it was very up and down.�?� the future a we Arentt dominating world sports yet a Warner said. A but we Are improving. Step by tiny step. Done to get impatient with us especially in sports measured by hundredths or thousandths of a second. We used to be the Doormat of the world. But not  the women saved the americans. Colors belong in hands of double Gold Bonnie Blair. A amps try again for Gold in Lillehammer. A your concept a the compact games a is different because everything is so close together a he said. The Winter games costing about $1.1 billion will be concentrated around Norway a largest Lake Moesa slashing travel times Between events for spectators athletes and the Media. The concept swayed the International olympic committee in Norway s favor in 1988. 98 stressing efficiency la lecher France apr after observing the 16th Winter olympics organizers of the 1998 Winter olympics in Nagano Japan say they re hoping to improve in two areas Over Albertville Access to olympic venues and Volunteer training. A the games Here were spread Over a wide area and Access was worked on a lot Here a said Tadashi Tsuda president of the Nagano olympic organizing committee. A a we la try to do  hundreds of buses were pressed into service during the 16th Winter games to carry spectators competitors and journalists Between the 13 olympic Competition Village and press Center Sites spread Over 650 Square Miles. While traffic jams were generally not a problem buses were usually late and sometimes failed to show up. In Nagano Central Japan there Are Only three olympic locales a Shiga Kogen for most Alpine ski events Hakuba for ski jumping Cross country skiing and the men s downhill ski race and Nagano for the other events. A amps there were also a few problems at the Albertville games with the 4,000 volunteers helping out Here. Some tired of Long hours or of watching Over parking lots and guarding buildings quit in frustration. Lots of volunteers were not used to things Here. Well try to make Clear to them beforehand what is expected of them Tsuda said As this years Winter olympics Drew to a close. A Strong guidance is  Page 4 the stars and stripes wednesday february 26, 1992