Nagano

I love Nagano's police. They are polite to a fault. They direct traffic with great ease and care. And they are easy to spot.They look like lugers from the Virgin Islands.Nagano's police force is decked out in aqua blue and yellow outfits with white helmets. Apparently, this hasn't gone over big with some of the officers, who would rather look like cops on the beat than athletes on ice.But the look does come in handy.The other night, my friends and I were trying to find the building in which a bunch of Toyota cars sit by a gigantic, second-floor, plate-glass window bathed in a light that could brighten a small city of, say, about a million people.

NAGANO, Japan -- No one can accuse Tara Lipinski of not enjoying her Olympic experience.In fact, Lipinski has been having so much fun that she didn't want to leave yesterday for Osaka, where she will train at a private rink before returning Wednesday to Nagano."

Medals leaders.. .. .. .. .. .. ..G .. S .. ..B .. ..Tot.Germany .. .. .. ...1 ...0 .. ..2 .. .. ..3Italy .. .. .. .. ..0 ...2 .. ..1 .. .. ..3Netherlands .. .. ..1 ...1 .. ..0 .. .. ..2Russia .. .. .. .. .1 ...1 .. ..0 .. .. ..2Norway .. .. .. .. .0 ...1 .. ..1 .. .. ..2Bulgaria .. .. .. ..1 ...0 .. ..0 ... .. .1Canada .. .. .. .. .1 ...0 .. ..0 .. .. ..1Finland .. .. .. ...1 ...0 .. ..0 .. .. ..1Ukraine .. .. .. ...0 ...1 .. ..0 .. .. ..1Belgium .....

NEW YORK -- One month after losing the TV rights to pro football to the Fox Network, CBS will announce today its victory over Fox in securing the rights to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, for an estimated $375 million.Winning the Nagano rights provides a crucial jolt of adrenaline and good news to CBS Sports by providing a major event to look forward to so quickly after its failed football negotiations. And last year, CBS lost a last-ditch bid to renew its deal with Major League Baseball and was greatly outbid by NBC for the rights to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

NAGANO, Japan -- It's not Tonya and Nancy. But Michelle and Tara, alleged figure skating teammates, have yet to cross each other's paths at the Olympics.The White Ring practice rink isn't big enough for them. The city of Osaka isn't big enough for them.The dueling teen-age divas are following their own programs, living in their own worlds.Tara Lipinski, 15, has spent the last several days training at a small rink in Osaka, a plane ride from Nagano.Michelle Kwan, 17, was a later arrival, and skated for the first time yesterday at the practice rink next to the arena where the competition will be held.

For hard-core, meat-and-potatoes sports fans, the Olympics, summer or winter, are more staged than the kind of athletic competition they're used to, what with the spectacle of the opening and closing ceremonies, sports they hardly see and athletes they couldn't pick out of a lineup.And most Olympic television coverage, regardless of where the Games are staged, comes through the magic of videotape, which is antithetical to the live manner in which sports fans have been conditioned to expect their sports fix.That's why it was so disheartening during the first night of Nagano competition that bad weather at the men's downhill skiing race knocked out one of the only three scheduled activities that will be shown live in prime time, with Friday's opening ceremonies and the women's downhill on Friday this week being the others.

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.

Like a lot of people in Nagano, Rick Gentile hasn't seen the sun much recently, but that doesn't mean he isn't feeling some heat.Gentile, the executive producer of CBS' Olympic coverage, is taking some barbs from back in the United States over what the network has been showing so far, as well as some criticism over the number and placement of commercials during Friday's opening ceremonies telecast.To the first charge, Gentile, who will be leaving the network after the Games, pleads guilty, but with a good reason.

NAGANO, Japan -- "Ticket-o! Ticket-o!"Ah, the wonderful singsong of international commerce."Ticket-o! Ticket-o!"The shouts pierce the Nagano air, in American, Canadian, British and French accents.Language differences are overcome. International partnerships are formed. And most important, money is exchanged.Welcome to the ticket-scalping venue.Welcome to the most competitive event of the Olympics."Speed skating! Figure skating! U.S.-Sweden!" cries one scalper."Finland-Czech! Forty-five minutes!

NAGANO, Japan - With the stomp of a sumo wrestler and the passing of a torch, one world assembled for play and for peace at the 1998 Winter Olympics.The ornate opening ceremony that combined ancient Japanese traditions with high-technology magic was held on a crackling, cold winter's morning in this sprawling city and beamed live to the United States last night.The production featured gigantic sumo wrestlers and tiny ballet dancers, soaring wooden pillars and roaring bonfires.There was a peace appeal from International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch.