Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Action on Slopes in Utah
Aired February 10, 2002 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Some action on the slopes today in Utah; skiing and snowboarding events on the program. CNN's Carol Lin is standing by in Salt Lake City to bring us a preview. A little early out there for the competition just yet, but Carol is up because she just likes working. Right, Carol?
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: I just love working. I love working on your show, so we don't mind getting up early. Yes, today is a big day. It's a chance for the United States to win two more medals. In fact, it's called the Nordic combined, Miles. Have you ever gone cross-country skiing?
O'BRIEN: With a gun?
LIN: After a day of...
O'BRIEN: Is that the one with the gun? Right? Is that the Nordic combined or another one?
LIN: You know what, I don't -- I haven't read anything about -- yes, the Nordic combined.
O'BRIEN: OK.
LIN: So they do the cross-country skiing...
O'BRIEN: Right.
LIN: ... and then after that they do the ski jumping.
O'BRIEN: Right.
LIN: And, apparently, two Americans, their names are Tod Ludwig (ph) and Bill Demond (ph), have a pretty good chance of winning some medals in that event. That's today, along with Alpine skiing, as well as snowboarding. But we want to bring you some of the winners from yesterday.
Let's take a look at the medals total so far. The line that you want to look at in this next graphic is the United States of America. That being two silver medals yesterday. Italy won the gold, the Russian Federation won the silver, and Norway won the gold in snowboarding. And that was a really interesting competition. Shannon Bahrke, 21 years old, won the silver medal in the snowboarding competition. She actually set a record, and then Norway swept in and beat her for the gold by .88 of a second. But Shannon was the first American to win a medal yesterday, just finishing a fraction of a second behind Norway in the free style moguls, actually.
Now just last month she won the Gold Cup but ignored -- she was ignored here by a lot of the media, as there was a lot of speculation about other people who might be winning medals. But Shannon came through the clutch in the end. Her final words as she came into the finish -- she knew she had won a medal, she just didn't know which one -- and she said, "Oh my God, this is so awesome." It was a great day for her.
In the meantime, speed skater Derek Parra, 31 years old, this is a former handyman speed skater. He won the silver in the 5,000 meter speed skate. He shaved off more than 14 seconds off of his best time ever. He said that he woke up at five in the morning the day of his competition, and he decided what he wanted to do was to tweak his skates at the last minute the day of the competition in order to take advantage of the world's fastest ice here in Utah.
Now I say he's a former handyman because just last year he was working at the Home Depot, Miles. So all of us can dream.
O'BRIEN: Well, now, a couple of things about this. First of all, what is fast ice, anyway? I mean ice is ice, right?
LIN: No. You know what, Miles, I didn't know this, but ice actually changes at this altitude at 7,000 -- 7,000 feet above sea level it changes nature and it becomes very temperamental. Apparently, there's a big risk in rippling or bubbling, but the nature of the ice is very different and it's very dry. So it's a faster ice, and I guess he decided to pick up his skates -- I don't know how you tweak your skates, but I guess a former handyman would know how.
O'BRIEN: Well, yeah, dry ice. And, besides, he has access to all the good tools from Home Depot. But let me ask you -- let me ask you this, Carol...
LIN: And probably a discount.
O'BRIEN: That seems so risky to me. I remember once -- I ran the New York marathon years ago. I'm still in pain over it. That was back in '88. And I wore a new pair of shoes. That was such a dumb idea. I had the worst case of blisters. Why I did that I don't know. Now why would you tweak your skates right before the competition like that?
LIN: You know what, this was a guy who actually after Nagano thought that he was going to quit racing.
O'BRIEN: Right.
LIN: And I think he just decided -- he was struggling, and I think he just decided, you know, with that last minute doubt, "What do I have to lose? I've been through the worst of it. I've already decided in my own mind that maybe this isn't for me, but give it a shot." And so he took a risk, which is a little bit of what the Olympics are all about.
O'BRIEN: You know, I've got to tell you, this is why I like the winter Olympics more, though. You get more of these quirky little sports that have nothing to do with endorsement contracts. The guy's got to work at Home Depot to pay the rent. It's much more in the spirit of amateurism, which is what the Olympics is supposed to be about.
LIN: Yeah. It feels a little bit like spring training in baseball. You know it's a lot more of an intimate environment. You're not swamped with crowds. There are fewer sports, so you can focus on them. And it seems like there's better access to the athletes. We're going to be talking with Eric Schlope (ph) down in the press center. He's one of the downhill racers this year and one of the stars of the U.S. men's team. And it just -- it just -- it's a little bit easier to get around then, say, in the summer games, where it's just so massive.
O'BRIEN: Yeah. Yeah, having lived through that. Now -- and, finally, it's interesting to me that the U.S. really looks good for winning a bunch of medals this time.
LIN: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: And, typically, the winter Olympics have not been the stars and stripes' strong suit. A lot of money has been spent on these athletes. Is it as simple as that, or is it -- you know, when you put in snowboarding, of course the U.S. guys are going to do well. It's a U.S.-born sport, right?
LIN: Yeah, but you can't discount the Austrians and the Norwegians, who clearly think they're king of the slopes and queen of the slopes. But the big home team advantage here, I think this time around, is the sense of post September 11th. You know, the home team advantage where the crowds are just going wild every time the American athletes come out. They actually prevent any sort of noise makers at any of the other events, except for Alpine skiing, where people are actually allowed to take cowbells in. I should have bought one yesterday, because I saw one yesterday. But they take cowbells in...
O'BRIEN: Wait, how do you get the...
LIN: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) screaming and hollering.
O'BRIEN: How do you get the cowbell through the metal detector?
LIN: They allow the cowbells through.
O'BRIEN: They do? All right.
LIN: Yeah. You can buy them at the souvenir stores or you can buy them inside the Olympic venues. But it's tradition. So these guys are going nuts out there. O'BRIEN: Yeah.
LIN: And I don't know what damage you can do with a cowbell, except be a little distracting and just kind of loud.
O'BRIEN: Yeah.
LIN: But, yeah, you're right. They won't allow you to take hamburgers or sodas or anything like that into these Olympic venues. But you can take your cowbell to the Alpine skiing event.
O'BRIEN: Don't bring the nail clippers, but take the cowbell. It's just fine. All right, Carol Lin, always good to see you. Thanks for dropping by.
LIN: You too.
O'BRIEN: Keep us posted now.
LIN: Sure, will do.
O'BRIEN: All right, have fun out there. Try to have fun, don't work too hard. She's a hard worker, though, that Carol Lin.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
