European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 09, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Bonnie Blair who already owns three olympic Gold medals in Speed skating will go after three More in these games. This timer America is hot for the Winter olympics  Scripps Howard news service or the vast majority of the american sporting Public the Winter olympic games have Long been a quadrennial curiosity not a passion. Luge the medals went to three Guys named Gunther from Germany Austria and Czechoslovakia. Bobsled the medals went to three Guys named Gunther from. We a you get the idea. The Winter games have always been a charming Little get together but americans somehow found a Way to ignore Biath letes and Down Hillers during the three years Between quadrennial. We would awaken Only Long enough to digest two weeks Worth of triple casts before returning to important stuff like football baseball basketball and american gladiators. But the games Winter and summer have been put on a staggered schedule meaning this month s games in Lillehammer Norway Are Here just two years after Albertville. And the result is an elevated level of interest never seen before in the United states. America will care about these olympics because America will know these people. America has heard their stories has expended emotional Energy caring about these Young people. These Are the repeat olympics. And in this Case familiarity will not Breed contempt. It does t take a diehard sports fan to know these names Bonnie Blair. Dan Jansen. Alberto Tomba. Katarina Witt. Brian Boitano. Torville and Dean. And lest we forget for even one nanosecond that fun couple Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. They Are Back because two years allowed them to stay on top of their competitive form. They Are Back because some federations did we say skating joined the 20th Century and not a moment too soon by allowing old pros to regain Amateur status. And that is immensely Good news for the olympic movement for corporate sponsors advertising budgets just could t handle two olympics in a single year and for lbs which is now the farm network for Fox. I think it the staggered schedule is really going to help All Winter sports in general Blair said recently. Sometimes we tend to get Over shadowed by the summer olympics mainly because there Are so Many sports. This Way we will be Able to stand Lillehammer "94 italian skier Alberto Tomba is one of the olympics familiar faces. A out on our own a Little bit. Hopefully we will have our own Little  the truth about the Winter games is this americans Don t get too worked up about any sport except figure skating and hockey and to a lesser extent downhill skiing. The luge germans and austrians win every year. The bobsled germans and austrians win every year unless the Swiss slip in. And those strange sports like biathlon and the rest when s the last time you heard a neighbourhood kid say my dream is to be a Biath Lete but this time around the sports americans find strange and even superfluous have marvelous storyline the luge has Surprise world Champion Wendel Suckow an american who is regarded by the european Community the Way Bill Johnson was once viewed by the euro ski crowd. Luge also has the continuing Saga of Duncan Kennedy second in the world who survived an attack by Neo nazi skinheads in Germany while defending a Black teammate. The bobsled Triay not have glitterati like Herschel Walker and Willie Cault but Brian Shimer driving a sled designed by Lascar Driver Geoff Bodine returns with a shot at unseating the usual favourites. For a few Days americans might become familiar with a sled that in t named Rosebud. America s Speed skaters labor in relative anonymity in non olympic continued on Page 18 closer look . Bobs edders get big push from Bodine by John Meyer Scripps Howard news service bobsledding has never aroused much interest Down in Dixie where Snow Seldom Falls and most folks Don t know what to do about it when it does. But at the Lillehammer olympics bobsledding figures to become a Good of boy fascination thanks to Lascar Driver Geoff Bodine. He is the catalyst behind the Usa bobsled project and the first reliable american made bobsled in years the Bodyn developed with Lascar technology. It happened literally by Accident. It All started during the 92 games said America s top bobsled Driver Brian Shimer. Geoff was watching on to and saw How we d been having problems had t won a medal in 40 years. He decided hey i m a race car Driver. I can go up to Lake Placid take a few trips and maybe go to the next olympics and bring Home a medal in bobsled.1" not quite. Bodine went to Lake Placid took two runs and broke one sled in half. He decided to leave the bobsled driving to experts but he also Felt an obligation to replace the broken sled. He called in Chassis dynamics of Oxford conn., which previously built cars for him and contributed $130,000 of his own Money a fund raising Effort on the Lascar circuit helped increase the project War Chest to $500,000. The first two Man Bodyn sled was ready for testing late last season. Shimer took it to a world cup in Lillehammer and after three Days of practice runs the technical committee ruled it illegal because of minor infractions. They were a Little bit scared of it Shimer said. I could see worry in the europeans eyes like what Are these Guys on to " Shimer is Coy on the innovations made by Chassis dynamics engineers. If i told you i would have to kill  but he credits Superior workmanship for making the Bodyn sleds Superior in handling. Shimer says he can hear the difference As the sleds hurtle Down the ice. When the two Man was ruled illegal in Lillehammer Shimer got Back in his old sled and could t believe the difference. Bodine i Potto the bottomland i was scared. I was shaking. I thought one of the Guys close to me in the world cup standings had sabotaged my sled. I thought it was going to fall apart that every nut and Bolt was going to come off. It was just that i had gotten used to the Bodyn sled. I knew then they were on to something. I said whatever you Guys Are doing keep doing it " Shimer said the Bodyn Chassis Are now Lehaland the europeans can t pick up any secrets upon inspection. I cannot see these sleds not being faster than what we be had Shimer said. If these sleds Aren t Superior to what we be been using it just can t be done wednesday february 9, 1994 the stars and stripes 17