The newly appointed members of the executive committee of the Utah Olympic Bid Committee spent several days at the start of the Albertville Olympics touring the various venues and becoming acquainted with Olympic procedures.
Frank Joklik, the new chairman of the 14-member bid committee board of directors, and Spence Eccles and Verl Topham, also members of the executive committee, made the trip to France, as did Don Cash, a member of the board."We wanted them to see an Olympics firsthand and also meet people in the Olympic community," said Dave Johnson, vice president of the Utah Bid Committee. "It's been a very good experience for all of us."
Another Utahn at the Games is Park City Mayor Brad Olch. Olch has been staying in Courchevel, Park City's sister city, where he has been treated like one of the family.
"They're treating me great," said Olch, "the mayor here is a great guy." Olch said that Courchevel takes it's sister city relationship with Park City seriously. He said that at the Courchevel ski lifts (like Park City, the town of Courchevel sits in a ski resort setting) they will honor season skiing passes from Park City - at any of their more than 130 lifts.
A number of promotions are always going on during an Olympics. On Tuesday, it was "Prune day." The French federation of prune-growers passed out bags of free prunes - 450,000 of them - to all spectators at the 13 different venues.
The prunes were "specially pitted." According to a press release from the prune-growers, the pits were removed in the interest of controlling litter and "to make certain no one would throw any pits at the ice hockey matches in Meribel."
Bernhard Russi, the former Swiss downhill champion who has gained much notoriety this week for designing the Belevarde Face downhill used in Val d'Isere for the men's downhill competition, was also a consultant for the proposed Olympic downhill course at Snowbasin Ski Resort near Ogden.
Two summers ago, Russi came to Ogden and walked the mountains at Snowbasin. The course he recommended has some similarity to the course at Val d'Isere, with many turns and considerable visibility from the resort base below.
The V-jumping style made popular by Swedish jumper Jan Vokloev five years ago, . . . reason for victory . . .
The East German bobsledder who formerly spied on his teammates will remain on the Olympic team after all.
Harald Czudaj, an East German driver who admitted to filing reports on his fellow bobsledders to the German secret police, Stasi, during competitions over the past several years, has nonetheless been given full support by his teammates.
In a letter to the German delegation chief, Willie Daume, the German bobsled team, said, "We ask you to decide in favor of the team and allow Harald to take part in the Winter Games of Albertville.
East Germans on the team said Czudaj's spying caused them no problems.
"Mature athletes have spoken out in his support," said Daume, "we see no reason to prevent him taking part in the Olympic Games."
QUOTE DU JOUR: U.S. bobsledder Herschel Walker, scheduled to compete Thursday in the two-man competition, on his goals: "Someone asked me about a gold medal. That's the only reason I'm here. I didn't come all the way over here just to be in the Olympics. I don't need a uniform."