Russia Whips the World

Leaning low over the blue-white ice of Lake Misurina, the Soviet skater was a study in scowling concentration. Forgotten was the happy camaraderie of stadium ceremony. This was why he had spent bleak, cold years of practice back home at Alma-Ata, this was why he and his Olympic teammates had come to Cortina: to whip the world.

Like every other Russian at Cortina, Moscow Speed-Skater Grishin, an engraver by trade, was honed to a fine edge. At Oslo, four years ago, the Soviets held off their Olympic entry because they knew they had yet to catch the West in winter sports. Now they were ready. Skiers had trained through their long winters, developed daring techniques on the jumps, stamina and speed in grinding crosscountry going. As for Grishin and his fellow skaters, they had raced and raced and raced more, until their thick thighs looked deformed with ropes of muscle.

Now the gun cracked. Grishin pushed into his start. Down the first straightaway he flashed, arms swinging in time with his skates. At the turn his speed pulled him wide; he leaned hard to stay on course. Under his flying feet, steel blades brushed snow at the lane's edge. One more turn and he tore into the stretch.

His smooth style carried him to the finish of the 500-meter dash in 0:40.2, a new world's record. Split seconds slower, a pair of his teammates finished second and fourth. In the 5,000-meter dash, Russian Construction Engineer Boris Shilkov did almost as well, shattered the Olympic record with a 7:48.7 victory. No U.S. skater scored; as in other events, U.S. contestants were doing very badly.

Almost as surprising as the sudden Soviet domination of speed-skating was the Russian women skier performance.

Ski distance races at the Olympics have traditionally gone to Finns and Swedes, but at Cortina they were not in a class with a Leningrad student named Lyubov Kozyreva, who must have done her homework stretching her cross-country stride. She swung over the lo-kilometer (6.2-mile) course in 38:11, scant yards in front of Teammate Radiya Eroshina.

All week, as the games got under way, even when they did not win, the surprisingly powerful Russians piled up points in almost every event they entered. The U.S. was substantially nowhere. P:Bobsledding, almost a private sport for hefty, hare-brained daredevils, held no appeal for the Russians. Italian Jet Pilot Lamberto Dalla Costa, who knew every bump on the dangerous chute, put his long hours of practice to good use, swooshed home in front of his teammate Eugenio Monti. The best the U.S. could salvage was a slow fifth by Connecticut's Bud Washbond.

P:In the women's giant slalom, the crisp and speedy skill that won at Oslo for U.S. Housewife Andrea Mead Lawrence was scarcely in evidence. Andy Lawrence wound up in a tie for fourth. Gold medal winner: Germany's chubby Ossi Reichert. CJ Finnish Forest Ranger Veikko Haku-linen won the 3O-kilometer (18 miles, 1,125 yards) cross-country skiing championship, finished in front of Sweden's Six-ten Jernberg and a strong Russian squad that took every place from third to sixth. By week's end unofficial team scores put Russia's first Winter Olympics team well on its way to its first Olympic championship. Scores: Russia 60, Austria (with a first, second, third and sixth in the men's giant slalom) 29, Finland 15, Italy 15, Sweden 14, Germany 10, Switzerland and the U.S. 61.

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