The Foreign Favorites

By John Elson

Americans who watch international sporting events only to see Americans win miss most of what is best in the Winter Olympics. At Sarajevo in 1984, the Soviets collectively came in first, the East Germans second. U.S. Olympians were fifth, taking just eight of the 117 medals awarded. That total was bettered by athletes from Finland and Norway and equaled by the Swedes. Even the quark-size principality of Liechtenstein claimed two bronzes. The long white winters of Europe, from Lapland down to Alpine Italy, virtually invite the young and gifted to test their skills on slopes and frozen ponds. In an athletic sense at least, geography contributes to democracy. That is why, if form holds true, stars from central and northern Europe should do exceptionally well at Calgary. Among some of the likely winners:

SWEETHEART ON SKATES

The lean, graceful East German on the practice rink was muffled against the cold; a pink cap was pulled down to her eyebrows and a white turtleneck sweater pulled up over her nose. An American skater had no problem identifying the woman to a visitor: "There she is -- the one with the lovely long legs." The "she" is Karin Kania, perhaps the finest and most admired woman speed skater of this or any other Olympic year.

At four, Dresden-born Kania started her athletic career as a figure skater, but sprouting growth (5 ft. 9 in.) and injuries from too many falls persuaded the 13-year-old to switch to speed skating -- less glamorous, more rewarding of power than finesse. She won one gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980 and two more (plus two silvers) at Sarajevo. Now approaching her physical peak at 26, Kania says, "My aim is two gold medals in the Olympics." How about three? "Oh, no! Just two." And she waves off any bad luck that might come of talking about impossible feats. In fact, at Calgary she is favored in the 1,000- and 1,500-meter races; she holds the world record for both distances. And she is a contender in the 5,000-, 3,000- and 500-meter events, though she says the last "is now too short for me."

Kania seemingly has no off-season. "I train three or four hours every day in summer," she explains, "five or six hours other times. Sometimes I hate it." What spare hours she has are spent with her second husband Rudolf Kania, a school sports instructor, and their son Sasha, born a year after Sarajevo. Shy and soft-spoken, Kania is one of the best-liked athletes on the winter circuit. Competitors will not be trailing in her wake much longer. Kania has already announced her retirement at the end of the season. Future plans? Another child, for sure, and eventually opening a beauty salon in her Dresden home.

A HOTSHOT AND A CHILLY VIRTUOSO

"I would rather see a foreign skier win," Maria Walliser has said, "than be second to anyone on the Swiss team." In the snug little world of winter sports, everyone knows who "anyone" refers to: her teammate Michela Figini. Walliser, 24, was the World Cup overall champion in 1986 and 1987, and Figini, 21, was champion in 1985 and the world's top-rated downhill skier last year. They are the more than first-rate, and less than friendly, stars of a powerful female Swiss team.

At the 1987 world championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, women skiers from the host country won all five gold medals. The richly talented squad that just might bring off a similar Swiss sweep at Calgary includes Vreni Schneider, 23, Brigitte Oertli, 25, Corinne Schmidhauser, 23, Newcomer Chantal Bournissen, 20, and Zoe Haas, 26, who will get an extra boost because she was born in Calgary. But while any of them can win a given race, the real drama will unfold next week on the downhill slope.

There Figini plays the fiery, unpredictable sprite to Walliser's frosty virtuoso at her peak. An Italian-speaking native from the southern canton of Ticino, Figini is both a tough self-disciplinarian and something of a free spirit, who trains when she wants and skis as she pleases, with an elegant, easy grace. Walliser, from the German-speaking St. Gall canton, is a methodical worrier with a rough-edged technique that seems acquired rather than instinctive. Their rivalry dates to the 1984 Olympics, where the unheralded Figini won the downhill, becoming the youngest skier ever to take a gold medal and relegating Walliser, the favorite, to second. Relations grew testier after Rossignol, the ski manufacturer, stopped sponsoring Walliser in favor of Figini.

Jean-Pierre Fournier, who coaches the Swiss women, seems untroubled by the Walliser-Figini face-off. "They are two rivals," he says, "two people who don't have great love for each other, as happens in any other business, like in any office." Besides, strong, competitive personalities are needed to reach the top. The Swiss, unquestionably, have reached the gold standard.

FLYING FINN

He has been called the John McEnroe of ski jumping. When he isn't leaping to world records, Finland's Matti Nykanen (pronounced Nuke-an-en) is usually fuming and sulking. And that's on his good days. On his bad days, he has spit at spectators, cursed reporters, been arrested for stealing beer and been booted from the national team twice.

But there appears to be a new Nykanen on his way to Calgary: cooperative with teammates, patient with interviewers, serious about training. Friends attribute the change to the birth last October of his son Sami. "Matti has grown up a lot in the past year," says his coach Matti Pulli. "I think he has finally figured out that there are a lot of important things in this world besides ski jumping." Nykanen, 24, began jumping at the age of nine in his native town of Jyvaskyla. At 17, he totally outclassed the competition during his first international junior championship. Two years later he won the World Cup, a title he has held three of the past five seasons. During the 1984 Games, he took the gold at 90 meters and the silver at 70 meters.

A national hero notwithstanding his bouts of loutishness, Nykanen has incredible courage, and confidence bordering on arrogance. In both 70- and 90- meter events, he jumps at a dangerously exaggerated angle, twisting to one side and risking control for the sake of reducing wind resistance. If Nykanen has a weakness, it may be in his landings, which are more slam-bang than elegant. Last summer he twice underwent knee surgery, which usually ends a ski jumper's career. But despite missing three months of summer training, he won a competition in October at Hinterzarten, West Germany. And he has been magnificent ever since. Experts think the flying Finn has a chance to accomplish a first for the Games: soaring to gold at both distances.

THE BEAN POLE AND THE MITE

Ever since the Olympic triumphs of the legendary Protopopovs in the '60s, the Soviet Union has been almost as dominant in pairs skating as it is in chess. After taking the two top spots at the recent European Championships in Prague, Moscow's skating duos are poised to reign again at Calgary. But the winners, Ekaterina Gordeeva, 16, and Sergei Grinkov, 21, looked none too happy about the Prague triumph. With reason.

Although they collected 5.7s, 5.8s and 5.9s from the generous judges, their 4 1/2-min. free-skating finale was sloppy and awkward -- the result, apparently, of lack of practice. (Three weeks earlier, Gordeeva had suffered a concussion when she crashed while practicing one of their breath-defying tosses.) The year before at the European Championships, a trouser strap on Grinkov's boot snapped, and then their music stopped; finishing without accompaniment, they were disqualified after they refused to reskate the routine.

But it would probably take that much misfortune to deny Gordeeva and Grinkov at the Olympics. Their bravura athleticism, as well as adagio lyricism, makes them a pair apart, able, for example, to throw a trademark quadruple twist lift as no other couple can. Critics contend that Gordeeva and Grinkov sacrifice finesse for physicality. The charge, which they reject, is nonetheless easy to understand. At 5 ft. 11 in. and 150 lbs., the bean-poleish Grinkov towers over his waiflike 4-ft. 11-in., 79-lb. partner; the disparity in heights and weights allows them to manage spectacular lifts and throws that confound skaters who are more evenly matched in physique. Admits Grinkov: "Some elements can be performed much better by us because of this, and that's good."

Like most Soviet duos, Gordeeva and Grinkov became partners by official fiat rather than personal choice; they were ages ten and 14. Quiet and intense, they are heroes in the homeland, and are mobbed whenever they are in public. They profess to be nervous about Calgary, although they expect to win the gold. But Soviet pairs have reason to be nervous: there always seems to be fresh talent waiting in the wings for champions to falter.

THE BLAZING TRAILMEN

By comparison, running seems almost like a day at the beach. Cross-country skiing is the most grueling of winter sports, and Swedish men are its best practitioners. The Norwegians, Soviets, Finns and newly energized Italians are all threats, but the Swedes could sweep two of the three individual cross- country events and take the relay as well.

No fewer than six Swedish skiers have qualified for the Olympics; in World Cup standings, they hold the two top positions and five of the top ten. The team's most celebrated star is 6-ft. 2-in. Gunde Svan, 26, who medaled in all four cross-country events at Sarajevo. "Wonder" Gunde, as he is known in the Swedish press, occasionally leavens his workaholic ways with zany ideas. In 1985 he provoked frantic rules discussions among officials when he announced he would soon start using a single extra-long pole, gondola-style.

The team's legendary veteran is Thomas Wassberg, who ranks tenth internationally. Now 31, he has been on the squad since he won a European junior championship at 17, and Calgary may be his last hurrah. He will be missed, both for his sleepy off-course demeanor (hence his nickname "the Sack") and his sportsmanship; at the 1980 Olympics he offered to share the gold medal in the 15-km with a Finnish skier who finished a whisker-thin two- thousandths of a second behind him. Wassberg took much of 1986 off, then stormed back last year, and could win the 30-km race.

Sweden's best medal hopes, however, are probably Svan and Torgny Mogren, 24, his childhood buddy. Mogren had been in Svan's shadow, but came on to take the 1987 World Cup. Svan has long since recovered from a lingering virus that made last year a disappointment. This season the two friends have seesawed back and forth on top of the World Cup standings. Last month Mogren slipped once again into first place, but Svan maintains with Viking assurance:, "I have never run faster than I do now."

With reporting by Angela Leuker/Prague and Ellen Wallace/Davos