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Show Nordic Tam Win, lost or draw, most top athletes and coaches are not satisfied with anything less than their best. In the aftermath of the 1980 Winter Olympics, the U.S. Nordic Team is not reveling in" satisfaction. According to Nordic Nor-dic Teanr Director John Bower," We are trying to carefully assess what went wrong during those ten days in ' Lake Placid, and still maintain our confidence that we are a lot better than we showed at the Olympics." The team was buoyed by Jim Denney's astounding comeback i in the 90 meter jumping which lifted him to a twenty, year U.S. best in the Olvmoics at 8th olace. Den- close in the 70 meter competition and then went out the next day and ran one of the best cross country races of his life to finish 12th overall in Combined. This is the best performance by an American in Combined since the 1950s, The Cross Country Team is shaking its collective head, however, following the Olympics. Olym-pics. Head Coach Rob Kiesel commented, "I just can't believe we didn't ski better. Our training, early racing and pre-Olympic preparation had seemed to go so well that our results are very difficult to understand." There were a few bright spots... Bill Koch's lead-off relay leg, Leslie Ranrrnft's relav 1fo and 1fl km haps we did not do enough speed work. I know this is the f case with the women, but at ( that time, with the National Championship racing, I don't -believe the men could have I tolerated much more tempo training. Nordic Team Director John Bower cautions, "I think we should be careful about drawing conclusions too hastily. hast-ily. Things of this nature need the perspective of an entire y season to fully evaluate. I find ' it difficult to believe that our preparation was that far off since it was not materially different from that which produced some of our best results ever last year." Bower added, "If I were to settle on any one thing at this time it would have to be the pressure of the Olympic Games in pur own backyard. For the first time we had significant expectations for the entire Nordic Team, yet these expectations were based not on I solidly established performances, per-formances, but on results which showed we were on the threshold. I believe our kids were trying too hard to prove that they have arrived, and this in front of many friends, supporters, and much more than normal press. I think we (the staff) failed to appreciate the significance of this pressure, pres-sure, and did not do enough to help relieve it. ! i ' 't., .." v. - , . - " '' ney'.s performance is all the more remarkable when viewed in the context of his dismal 39th place showing in the 70 meter jump, just six days earlier. According to Head Coach Glenn Kotlarek, "Jim began to discover what he had been searching for all season in the first day of training on the 90 meter. He just got better and better all week until giving us his best two jumps of the Olympic period in the competition. I just wish we , had had one more weekl ' ', The U.S. Team was thrilled also by Walter Malmquist's emotional performance in the Pombined Jumping in which he placed 2nd. Walter was not jumping at the ; peak form in Lake Placid, which had earned him a national title just two weeks earlier in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. However, he came r " ' ' 1 race, which were both good for her, and Jim Galanes' ,20th in the 50 km race, a very good result for him. However, for the most part, team perform-' ances across the board were below expectations. Silver Medalist Bill Koch thought his problems came from over taining in Mont St. Anne, Quebec just before the Olympics. "I was so paranoid about maintaining the European Euro-pean pace in the absence of Europeans to race against, I just went too hard. And this was on top of returning from Europe . more tired than I realized.' Kiesel believes that while this may be correct for, Koch, it was not -'the case for the other members. "The rest of the men are on quite a different program from Koch, and they did" not train so intensively in Canada. Per- |
