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From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.sport
Subject: Re: USSR - Alpine Skiing
Message-ID: <574@pyuxa.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Feb-84 13:04:04 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxa.574
Posted: Fri Feb 17 13:04:04 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Feb-84 03:31:10 EST
References: <675@ihuxq.UUCP>
Organization: Central Services Org., Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 32

I don't recall too well, but, I think I remember seeing USSR
skiers listed in the complete rundown of the Giant Slalom.  They
were pretty far down the list.

The saddest thing to see was a short bit about "the other skiers".
The scene was at the bottom of the run, only about 20 or 30 people
standing around.  The winners had already departed along with the
crowd.  There was a woman and her daughter waiting for her son to come
down the slope.  He was a Costa Rican and his mother was his coach.
He finally came into sight through the fog and the two began cheering.
No one was there to slap him on the back or give him a thumbs up for
competing in the Olympics.  He had finished somewhere in the 35th
to 40th range.  I for one felt a lump in my throat.  Here was a
young 19 year old kid who had just competed in the greatest winter
athletic event in the world, and no one cared enough to to stick
around and tell him "nice going kid, you'll nail it next time."

He finished his race ahead of some 30 other contestants.  But, the
only recognition he got was a well deserved hug from his mother
and sister, and a one line mention in a list of also-rans.  I
know that ABC can't show us the whole thing.  But, because I
am a sentimental fool, I wish there were some way we could see
the also-rans short of going to the Olympics.  Just being in the
Olympics has got to be a lifetime triumph.  I don't care if the
person is from Britian or Botswainia, it's the kind of experience
that will last a lifetime.  The Yugoslavian skier who won the
Silver medal in the same event is now a national hero.  I think
that the kid from Costa Rica is too.  Training for the GS can't
be easy if you live in Costa Rica.

T. C. Wheeler