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Show ft Terl Gomes Dateline: Park City, Utah Those of us who lived through the Vietnam era are a little cautious about our flag-waving. But if ever there was a week to feel patriotic, this one is better than most, especially for Parkites... It all started for me a few weeks ago on a Sunday night at the Salt Palace. We had bought tickets for the final night of the National Ice Skating Championships. We watched as young 4 men and women performed, on ice with skates, feats I couldn't imagine on dry land with sneakers. Jumps and spins and seemingly effortless turns and dancing couples with throws and twirls. There is a grace to figure skating that simply cannot be matched in any other sport. And then, after we had watched these national champions perform their winning routines, the announcers' announc-ers' omnipresent voice proclaimed, "Ladies and Gentlemen, YOUR 1984 Olympic team." The crowd, as they say, went wild. The athletes who had trained for this moment most of their young lives skated out to a shower of flowers, a standing ovation and shouts of "Go for the Gold!" It was an electrifying evening. In the ensuing weeks I have been spending a little time around the U.S. Ski Team office in preparation for the Celebrity Classic. The buzz has been building until this week when, as information director John Dakin admits, "The butterflies have begun." be-gun." For those of you who may have spent the past few weeks in a bomb shelter in Peoa let me tell you a few of the magazines that have been on the stands. Last week the cover of Time magazine featured Phil Mahre and Tamera McKinney, two of America's brightest alpine Olympic hopefuls. Skiing magazine also ran the pair on the cover, and this week both Sports Illustrated and Newsweek have U.S. Ski Team members as their covers. And in all those articles Park City, Utah, is mentioned as the home of the U.S. Ski Team. The past Celebrity Classic events have allowed a number of Parkites to meet those team members, to know Cindy Nelson's laugh and Steve Mahre's easy smile and, however small, many local people feel a kinship with the team. In spirit, they are hoping to stand next to them in the winner's circle. Imagine how that feeling must multiply for those people whose job it is to make the Ski Team run. For years they work out itineraries for trips they'll never go on, arrange equipment equip-ment and clothing most of them will only see in action on television, just like the rest of us. And while every race is important, there is just one set of Olympics, and it comes only every four years. This is the week they have been working towards. The huge machine that is the U.S. Ski Team operates with a staff (coaches and their assistants excluded) exclud-ed) of just 14 incredibly dedicated people, most of whom are Parkites, under the dynamo leadership of executive director Inez Aimee. (To show you how she works: Inez will be in Sarajevo for the opening ceremonies Wednesday and then will fly home to be at the Celebrity Classic to honor the past Olympians and keep raising money for the team. A budget of $1 million three years ago has climbed to $5 million this year. They have used that money, in part, to build a strong developmental team of young skiers. And they have helped convince press corps already captivated capti-vated by the ice hockey team that there will be other sports worth watching this year. Certainly if the individual team members weren't outstanding the staff would have less to crow about. But even the most casual sports reader knows of the impressive World Cup wins from both the men and the women which have helped put US among the favorites for the first time in world skiing history. Those people those athletes are well chronicled in the pages of all those glossy magazines. And while occasionally the name of alpine coach Bill Marolt is mentioned and sometimes some-times even that of director Inez Aimee, that's it. So, for Kristi Scott, who does everything, along with Kae Erickson who does it all with her, for John Dakin who informs and Ed Bowers who helps him, for Anne Bumett, Chris Davis, John Travers and Barbara Bramble who raise money and get goods, for Jim Huston who makes the numbers work, and Marita Viselli, Marlene Nelson, Lea Geary, Daryl Ott and Mary Rose Knowles who make the office work, stand up now and take your bow. For Lisa Osterstock who finds money, Cindy Larkin and Anita Storey who oil the alpine wheels along with their nordic counterparts, Carol Bradley and Kim Ballou (who collectively pulled off the coup this week gaining Audun Endestad early citizenship allowing him to compete for the U.S.) and their leader, nordic coach Jim Page, step up on stage, too. And those people who work bringing future team members along: Harold Schoenhaar, Steve Gaskill and Suzette Cantin, come onto center stage with the rest of the impressive cast. This week will be crazy. With both the Olympics and the Celebrity Classic happening, fuses will get short and people will work long, seemingly thankless hours. Ski team staff-please staff-please know there are a great many Parkites who are proud to know it's their own neighbors who give the nation's best-ever ski team what may prove to be the racer's edge. They give them their best. They do Park City (and here's the flag-waving Bart) and the country proud. City, Utah. It is the home of the U.S. Ski Team and home to the people who make that team run. t |