New events to the Olympic Program in time for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games

THE MOST UNUSUAL is the sport of skeleton, which last in the Olympics in 1948. Skeleton is like luge in that the object is to steer your sled down an icy, curved course as fast as possible. But in skeleton the athletes down headfirst. Skeleton in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and a men's event to the program both times the Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz -- in 1928 and 1948. In 2002, men's and women's events .

Bobsleigh was one of the original Olympic Winter Games sports in 1924 and every time since then, with the exception of the 1960 Squaw Valley Games. In Salt Lake City, a women's bobsleigh event for the first time. The U.S. team of Jean Racine and Jennifer Davidson the 2000-2001 World Cup competition.

MORE NORDIC
Five events to various disciplines in nordic skiing.
In nordic combined contests, the competitors two times from a 90-meter hill and 15 kilometers the next day. This event in Olympic Winter Games since its inception in 1924. A team event in 1988. In 2002, a second nordic combined event for individuals known as the sprint its debut: one jump from a 120-meter hill and a 7.5-kilometer ski race.

Cross-country pursuits by men and women since 1992. In 2002, these contests from two-day races to one-day events and the length of the second courses will be shorter. In another move to make the sport -- and Olympic Winter Games -- more exciting, the men's 30-kilometer race and the women's 15-kilometer race with a mass start, and the first skier across the finish line the winner

Also, cross-country skiing 1500-meter sprint races for men and women.

Short track speed skating its Olympic debut in 1992 and already so popular that an extra event for both men and women. In addition to the 500 meters, 1000 meters and relay, short track skaters in 2002 also at 1500 meters.

In snowboarding, the giant slalom event also a change of format. In 1998, the contestants one at a time against the clock. In 2002, this event by the parallel giant slalom, in which two snowboarders at a time against each other in a single-elimination tournament.

The air up there
Salt Lake's altitude has some athletes on high alert

By Steve Nelson STAFF WRITER

THE ATHLETES AT the Salt Lake Games won't be there for a vacation, but they could be packing their bags and going home empty-handed if they for the elevation.

"It's going to have a huge effect," Dr. Jim Stray-Gundersen of the Norwegian Olympic Team says of the thin air.

"Athletes who well at sea level well here if they for the altitude."

The higher the altitude, the less oxygen there is in the air, meaning less fuel transported to the muscles by red blood cells. By acclimating to the Rocky Mountain altitude in advance -- Stray-Gundersen and altitude training expert Dr. Benjamin Levine a minimum of four weeks -- athletes can increase their red blood cell production and breathing rate.

LIVE HIGH, TRAIN LOW

Stray-Gundersen, an American whose "live high, train low" studies on altitude training with Levine by the United States Olympic Committee, by Norway specifically to prepare the team for Salt Lake.

Levine is the director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine for Presbyterian Hospital and an associate professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The premise behind the "live high, train low" approach is that by living at high elevation and training at or closer to sea level, athletes the benefits of altitude acclimation while still being able conduct workouts with maximum effort.

It's safe to say the Norwegians will be ready for the altitude. They to Park City, Utah (base elevation 2,048 meters/6,720 feet), months before the Games to get used to the conditions.

Park City alpine's giant slalom and snowboarding events at the Games. Soldier Hollow, the venue for cross-country skiing, biathlon and nordic combined, in nearby Heber City.

THE 100-SECOND RULE
Stray-Gundersen a 100-second rule as a guide for when altitude to affect an athlete in competition

"Cross-country, biathlon and nordic combined will be the events most affected because they all longer than 100 seconds and are at one of the highest venues," he says.

But sports such as ice hockey, figure skating and, yes, even curling to some degree.

"Altitude an effect, but it's not as important as in a sport like cross-country," says Peter Lindholm, skip of Sweden's Olympic Men's Curling Team. "We to Ogden (host to the Olympic curling venue) in March, and just going for a walk was a lot different than here in Sweden."

FAST TRACK FOR SPEED SKATING
But while several athletes over the altitude, speed skaters have to be licking their chops. Salt Lake City's Utah Olympic Oval at 1,425 meters (4,675 feet). Higher elevation is actually a benefit in speed skating because the skaters less resistance and the ice is denser because less air in it. Hard ice fast ice.

That certainly was the case at the 2001 World Single Distance Championships, where five world records and a bevy of national records at the Olympic venue, from the sprints all the way up to 10,000 meters.

"I the altitude adversely the athletes' performance in the longer distances, as most people ," said Nick Thometz, sport manager for speed skating at the 2002 Games.

"Obviously at altitude there is less oxygen in the air, which it more difficult to breathe, but there is also less air resistance, which the skaters to cut through the air easier."

"The (Utah Olympic) Oval is the highest enclosed oval in the world, but it only at 4,675 feet (1,424 meters), which is not that high. Most people high altitude being above 7,000 feet (2,000 meters), which would definitely affect the athletes more. I'd be surprised if the world records for the longer distances were not broken at the Olympic Games."

NAGANO VS. SALT LAKE
The altitude change from the 1998 Nagano Games to Salt Lake will be quite dramatic at some venues. For example, the biathlon course was at 620 meters (2,034 feet) in 1998, as compared with a high point of 1,793 meters (5,882.5 feet) at Solider Hollow, just under the course maximum of 1,800 meters (5,905.5 feet) stipulated by the International Biathlon Union. "I maybe it will be a problem for some," says top Norwegian women's biathlete Liv Grete Skjelbreid-Poiree.

"Personally, I good experiences at high altitude. I at high altitude and as a team we a lot of time in the mountains."

But Skelbreid-Poiree's top rival, 2000-2001 World Cup champion Magdalena Forsberg quite so confident.

"I I can manage it," says Forsberg, who at sea level in Sweden.

"I a tough time at Soldier Hollow during the test event (in March 2001). I to Soldier Hollow just four to five days early. It was not enough. I , but I a really difficult time. For the Olympics, we over in early January to get used to the altitude."

Fellow Swede Per Elofsson, a medal favorite in cross-country, while competing at the 1997 World Junior Championships in Canmore, Canada, at an elevation of 1,309 meters (4,296 feet).

"The altitude is a concern," says Elofsson, who not to compete in an Olympic test event at Soldier Hollow

"I I my lesson (at the 1997 event). We will be going in four weeks early to train. I will be ready."

NO EXCUSES
But whether the altitude or , it's still up to the teams and athletes to come in prepared and to perform. As U.S. figure skater Timothy Goebel says, there's no crying in the Olympics.

"Everyone up the altitude to be this big deal," he says. "I that if you're well-trained and you're mentally well-prepared, then it's not so much of a problem. No one at my level really excuses."

"Real champions excuses."

Ann Salzmann
Intensive English Institute
University of Illinois