Olympics: Citius, Altius, Fortius

AFTER months of dreary infighting by rule-minded officials, the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, finally and refreshingly gave way to the athletes last week. Sparked by their youthful zest, the games more than lived up to the Olympic motto: "Citius, altius, fortius" (swifter, higher, stronger). Indeed, when the competition ended after ten days and 35 events, the Swiss had skied swifter, the Japanese had jumped higher, the Americans had come back stronger--and the Russians and East Germans had walked off with the lion's share of medals.

The brightest of all the Olympic stars was a Dutchman: Speed Skater Ard Schenk. Like Jean-Claude Killy, the Gallic glamour boy of the 1968 games, the dashingly handsome Schenk won three gold medals and the unofficial beefcake award. Crowds of more than 40,000 packed the Mako-manai Speed-Skating Rink to see the big (6 ft. 3 in.. 200 Ibs.), blond and blue-eyed Schenk easily overpower his competition at 1.500 and 5,000 meters with his powerfully rhythmic strides. Then, while Dutch fans clopped their wooden shoes and shouted "Heya! Heya! Ard Schenk!" he covered the 10,000-meter marathon in 15 min., 1.35 sec., an astonishing 22 seconds better than the old Olympic record.

Blinding Snowstorm. As for team efforts, the Swiss skiers upset the Austrians and all but swept the French off the slopes. The first surprise came when a 17-year-old Swiss whiz named Ma-rie-Theres Nadig nipped favored Austrian Annemarie Proell in the women's downhill. After that, the chunky Swiss girl swiveled through a blinding snowstorm and once more bested Annemarie in the giant slalom. In the men's division, Bernhard Russi and Roland Collombin finished one. two in the downhill. In all. the Swiss men won four of the top six positions in the downhill and second and third in the giant slalom.

In the 70-meter ski jump, it was evident that the Japanese have also been building. Their jumpers, painfully aware that no Japanese athlete had ever won a single event in the Winter Olympics, had gone all out to prepare this time. Arcing forward like human airfoils. Yukio Kasaya. Akitsugu Konno and Seiji Aochi sailed majestically through the air to win the gold, silver and bronze medals.

As expected, the well-trained Russians dominated cross-country skiing and Italy's flashy Gustavo Thoeni captured the men's giant slalom. But totally unexpected was the performance of Wojciech Fortuna, a 19-year-old Pole who leaped out of nowhere to win the 90-meter ski jump. The young U.S. hockey team, sparked by the acrobatic saves of Goalie Mike Curran. upset the strong Czech team 5-1 and then moved into contention for a medal. In women's figure skating, buxom Beatrix Schuba of Austria built up such a commanding lead in the school figures, the technical half of the event, that her competent but dull performance in freestyle skating did not deter her from winning the gold medal on total points. The freest spirit of all was U.S. Skater Janet Lynn. A pixy in pink, the tiny (5 ft. 2 in., 108 Ibs.) teen-ager whirled through her double Salchows and camel spins with grace and a kind of smiling elan, despite a fall, to win the freestyle and a bronze medal overall.

Family Affair. Save for Janet and Susan Corrock, the surprise bronze medalist in the women's downhill, midway through the competition it seemed that the 131-member U.S. team might be headed for one of its worst showings ever. "The trouble with you Yanks," said one widely quoted Norwegian athlete, "is that you're too soft. Your life is too easy."

The Norwegian had obviously never visited Northbrook, III. (see box, page 51), which produced Dianne Holum, 20, Anne Henning, 16, and three other members of the U.S.'s 16-mem-ber speed-skating team. Dianne turned U.S. fortunes around in short order. The smoothly striding brunette put on a strong closing drive in the 1.500-meter race to win the U.S.'s first gold medal with a new Olympic record time of 2:20.85. Then it was Anne's turn. Matched with Canada's Sylvia Burka in the 500 meters, she lost at least a full second when her opponent cut her off while crossing lanes, but finished in 43.73, fast enough to break an Olympic record and win a gold medal, anyway. Allowed another try after officials disqualified the Canadian. Anne clipped .40 sec. off her first run to set another Olympic record.

At that point, the gold fever became contagious. Going into the women's slalom, the U.S.'s hopes hinged on Marilyn and Barbara Cochran, the two sisters who with brother Bob made the U.S. ski team something of a family affair. The sisters' chances were quickly halved, however, when Marilyn, 22, snagged a gate in her first run and tumbled out of the race. Then, out of the snow flurries came Barbara, 21. Cutting corners dangerously close, she whizzed home with the fastest time in the first of the two heats. Refusing to look at her competitors lest their difficulties make her "too cautious," she again went all out to register a total time that was just .02 sec. better than Runner-Up Danielle Debernard of France. It was the first gold medal won by any American in Alpine skiing in 20 years.

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