Nagano

NAGANO, Japan -- Olympic T-shirts were difficult to find in Nagano, sweat shirts next to impossible. Snowlet mascot dolls sold out by the end of the first week, and organizers did not replenish the supplies.Street vendors, corporate tents, all those other staples of Atlanta 1996 -- they were kept to a minimum. The commercial scene was decidedly, and deliberately, low-key."It has been more muted," said G. Frank Joklik, president of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee. "In Atlanta, there were some expressions of doubt afterward whether such an experience should be repeated."

Katie Proia was born with a rare genetic disorder that left her with loose joints and low muscle tone. Her legs ache when she stands for a long period. And because her muscles are weaker, she exerts more energy and tires easily. Early on, her parents didn't think Katie would even be able to walk. So it was with some hesitation that her parents let her pursue figure skating lessons. Seven years later, Katie, 15, is doing more than standing on her skates. The Clarksville resident is one of four athletes from Maryland competing in the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, from Saturday to March 5. "We weren't sure if she could stand on a single blade," said Judy Proia, Katie's mother.

NAGANO, Japan - Beneath a cypress-roofed Buddhist temple named Zenkoji, pilgrims fumble through a dark passageway, seeking the "Key to Paradise."Those who overcome the underground chill and ages-old fear reach out, touch the padlock and gain eternal salvation.For Japan, the "Key to Paradise" contained in the great temple that looms over this remote, industrial city serves as a symbol of the promise and the peril that is the 1998 Winter Olympics.The promise is that Nagano will connect with the world.

An athlete used to skiing with his family at resorts in Maryland and Pennsylvania will get the chance to tackle the slopes in Nagano, Japan, this year. Josh Smith, 22, of Sykesville is one of four Special Olympics athletes from Maryland selected to attend the 2005 World Winter Games in Japan from Feb. 26 to March 5. "I am very excited, and I am glad I am going," said Smith, who is participating in the World Games for the first time. Smith's enthusiasm for the trip spurred a local businessman to raise funds to support the four Maryland athletes who will be participating.

SALT LAKE CITY - Eight years ago, Michelle Kwan was a quiet, shy 13-year-old who barely got asked a question in her first Olympic news conference. For whatever reason, all anyone wanted to talk about was two women named Tonya and Nancy. About 10,000 questions and 800 news conferences later, all anyone wants to talk about is Michelle Kwan. Intelligent and well-spoken, Kwan remains one of the few figure skaters still able to maintain a sense of normalcy in a sport so often dominated by the absurd.

Days until opening ceremony: 12.Snowfall: 3.54 inches in Nagano city and no snowfall on men's downhill course.Update: The "Snowlet's House," named after the Olympic mascot, opened in the Olympic Plaza in front of the Nagano railway station with Mayor Tasuku Tsukada attending. The house will sell Olympic goods, like Olympic-marked shirts, and also will provide visitors with information about the Olympics. Three torches that traveled through 46 prefectures in Japan have arrived in Nagano.Going for the gold: Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin bolstered their hopes of becoming the first Americans to win an Olympic luge medal by capturing the World Cup doubles title in Winterberg, Germany.

Days until opening ceremony: 2.Snowfall yesterday: No new snow in Nagano city or on the men's downhill course. Current blanket is 6.3 inches in Nagano and 85 inches on the downhill course.Update: She may not win a gold medal, but figure skater Tara Lipinski already has some of the most impressive numbers at the Winter Games. Lipinski is an athlete of extremes on the U.S. Olympic team -- the youngest (15 years, 8 months), shortest (4 feet 10) and lightest (80 pounds) woman on the squad of almost 200 athletes.

Beautiful people, ugly litte town. These were Olympic Winter Games that put out their heart in the right place, but in the wrong place in the country.Apart from the grace of its inhabitants, Nagano has proved to be the industrial equivalent of Pittsburgh. A truck stop the size of Springfield, Mo.Ramshackle huts called homes. Soulless concrete and stucco buildings with an occasional exotic Buddhist temple coming as more of a shock than a pleasant surprise.Nagano, even with the perpetual smile on the face of its residents, seemed like Welcome to My Warehouse.

NAGANO, Japan -- It is impossible to lose a camera, an article of clothing, even money in Japan. Such is the honesty of the Japanese people that the lost item always finds its way back to its owner.I lost a glove in a driving rainstorm at the half-pipe venue, a 50-minute bus ride from the Main Press Center in Nagano. Upon returning to the MPC, I reported the missing item at approximately 5 p.m. Nagano time.The volunteer at the information desk phoned the venue and learned they had already located the glove.

TOKYO -- A former Imperial Army officer who served a little more than a week as Japan's justice minister was dismissed yesterday, three days after he provoked protests throughout Asia by declaring that one of the biggest massacres of World War II, the "Rape of Nanking," was a "fabrication."Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata asked the justice minister, Shigeto Nagano, for his resignation as Japan tried to quell growing outrage all over Asia over the remarks."The bad effects caused in neighboring countries has reached a worrisome stage," Mr. Hata reportedly said, according to Japanese news accounts.

SALT LAKE CITY - Eight years ago, Michelle Kwan was a quiet, shy 13-year-old who barely got asked a question in her first Olympic news conference. For whatever reason, all anyone wanted to talk about was two women named Tonya and Nancy. About 10,000 questions and 800 news conferences later, all anyone wants to talk about is Michelle Kwan. Intelligent and well-spoken, Kwan remains one of the few figure skaters still able to maintain a sense of normalcy in a sport so often dominated by the absurd.

NBC...........4-5 p.m....................Snowboarding ...................8-11:30 p.m............Figure skating, men's hockey, luge, snowboarding, nordic ....................................................combined ..................12:05- 1:35 a.m..........Olympic late night, men's hockey MSNBC.....1-6 p.m..................Men's hockey, cross-country skiing, curling CNBC.......6 p.m.-1 a.m..................Men's hockey What to watch: The U.S. men's hockey team makes its debut against Finland, and with a strong showing early in the games, Team USA might finally put to bed all the talk of smashed hotel rooms and a lackluster sixth-place finish in Nagano in 1998.

Picabo Street blew through Baltimore the same way she has competed during her 28 years: all out, don't look back, go for the gold.She was here to promote the Maryland Science Center's new IMAX film, a chronicle of the 1998 Winter Olympics. That's where Street won the super-giant slalom. She is alternately inspired and frustrated by the film, because she hasn't been on skis in 19 months.Less than a month after she won a gold medal in Nagano, Japan, Street suffered a career-threatening injury.

The numbers reveal how far women's hockey has come since Karyn Bye -- a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team in Nagano -- began playing at the age of 7.According to USA Hockey, 12,873 girls under the age of 12 play hockey, more than half of the females registered with the organization and twice the number of all females registered seven years ago.Some will be attending Bye's clinic tonight from 5 to 7 at Gardens Ice House, 13800 Old Gunpowder Rd....

NAGANO PREFECTURE, Japan -- The cloudburst ended, and the cold, clean winds swirling down from Siberia met the bubbly, hot, volcanic waters gushing into Hell Valley. The red-faced figure in the hot bath closed his eyes.Consider it a sort of a vintage '70s Club Med for Monkeys. There are plenty of water activities. Everyone gets all he can eat, and there is lots of monkeying around.Here amid simmering volcanoes is an onsen, or steamy hot pool, built specifically for monkeys in 1966. The goal was to keep those impish monkeys from using the outdoor hot baths for people, lower in the valley.

As expected, Channel 13 took advantage of CBS' Olympics coverage to wrest back the late-night news crown it ceded to cross-town rival Channel 11 almost three years ago.What wasn't so expected: Even when the Olympics weren't on, more people were watching the 11 p.m. news on WJZ than on WBAL, giving the CBS affiliate its first clear-cut ratings victory at 11 since July 1995."

NBC...........4-5 p.m....................Snowboarding ...................8-11:30 p.m............Figure skating, men's hockey, luge, snowboarding, nordic ....................................................combined ..................12:05- 1:35 a.m..........Olympic late night, men's hockey MSNBC.....1-6 p.m..................Men's hockey, cross-country skiing, curling CNBC.......6 p.m.-1 a.m..................Men's hockey What to watch: The U.S. men's hockey team makes its debut against Finland, and with a strong showing early in the games, Team USA might finally put to bed all the talk of smashed hotel rooms and a lackluster sixth-place finish in Nagano in 1998.

He has won three gold medals and might even pick up a couple more this month. But desperate to avoid becoming to athletics what Erik Estrada is to show biz, Italian skiing star Alberto Tomba resorted to the only means available: He got himself a snazzy Web site.And what a Web site it is, complete with a topless Tomba revealing enough chest hair to make Chewbacca jealous.For those craving more of the Nagano Games than they can get on television, the Internet will be the place to go for more information about the games, the events and the athletes.

NAGANO, Japan -- Thirteen was the best and the worst, an unlucky number and the number of medals won by the United States at the Winter Olympics.The Americans came here with high hopes of securing up to 20 medals. Instead, they had to settle for 13, equaling their record haul from the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway.But this time, 13 seemed unspectacular. This time, six golds, three silvers and four bronzes left the Americans a bit unfulfilled."We had some disappointments, but we also had some very pleasant surprises," said Dick Schultz, executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

NAGANO, Japan -- You had to be here.You had to be inside an Olympic stadium during closing ceremonies filled with joy and tears, as taiko drummers gave way to a stagecoach from Salt Lake City and an Olympic caldron that burned fierce and bright for 16 days was doused on a cloudless night.You had to search for winter, traveling two hours into the mountains, dealing with snow, sleet and rain before discovering Hermann Maier, the ex-bricklayer from Austria, somersaulting through the air in perhaps the most spectacular skiing crash in Olympic history.