Olympic Village

NAGANO, Japan -- His Olympic credential reads, "Albert Grimaldi, Athlete, Monaco." It hangs from his neck, along with his room key from the Olympic Village.You can almost see those wacky snowboarders bowing and shouting, "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"Prince Albert rules.This is his fourth Olympics, matching the total of "King" Carl Lewis. Once again, he's competing in bobsled, staying in the athletes' village, acting like a regular guy.The prince might not party with Alberto Tomba, but he considers him a friend.

NAGANO, Japan -- Maybe next time, the U.S. men's ice hockey professionals should just stay home.They've certainly done their best to ruin the first Olympic tournament to include National Hockey League players, an international breakthrough for the sport.After their elimination by the Czech Republic, the Americans capped off a week of questionable conduct and embarrassing play by trashing their quarters in the Olympic Village, U.S. Olympic Committee officials said.In 1980, ABC's Al Michaels shouted, "Do you believe in miracles?"

You want to bet against him, bet against him. The new football stadium at Camden Yards is testament to John Moag's fighting spirit. And this time, he is not alone.Moag is merely one of the heavy hitters trying to secure the 2012 Olympics for Baltimore and Washington. Chances are it will never happen. But the last time people bet against Moag, he stole the Cleveland Browns."Objectively, in a lot of respects, I'm more confident about this," said Moag, one of the Baltimore board members appointed by Mayor Schmoke to join the consolidated organizing committee preparing the Olympic bid."

NAGANO, Japan -- They have shopped. They have practiced. They have tried to gain Olympic experiences even as their every moves have been cataloged and noted by judges, parents and the media.And now, they are ready to take over the Winter Olympics.Tomorrow, Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski will finally grab center stage with the start of the women's figure skating short program.All other competitors, even all other sports in Nagano, may now be dwarfed by two American teen-agers.Rarely, have two young Olympic performers faced such pressure or scrutiny.

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.

Howard County park officials unveiled last night four plans for recreational facilities on part of a 300-acre tract of farmland off Route 175 near Columbia's Town Center.The plans include a soccer facility with dozens of fields; an Olympic village for the 2012 Games; a park with a 5,000- to 8,000-seat stadium, roller hockey areas and basketball courts; and a park with soccer fields, walking and bike trails, gardens and a playground with a farm theme.Jeffrey A. Bourne, county director of Recreation and Parks, unveiled the plans to a 12-member committee appointed by County Executive Charles I. Ecker to recommend a plan to develop the farm.

GIVE JEFFREY BOURNE a medal for imagination, at least, for proposing a 75,000-seat coliseum ringed by an Olympic village on farmland that preservationists and policy-makers are striving to keep green. As director of Howard County's Department of Recreation and Parks, Mr. Bourne floated the idea of building a "Millennium Park" to serve the 2012 Summer Olympiad being sought by Baltimore and Washington.County Executive Charles I. Ecker didn't react well, to put it mildly. Not only did he instantly reject the idea of a major stadium on the Smith Farm in east Columbia, he canned Mr. Bourne.

IT WAS THE second-fastest-growing American metropolitan area in the first four years of this decade even without the Olympics. And this year, Atlanta also has the Summer Olympics.Atlanta is betting that in the 17 days starting July 19, three billion people will watch on television and two million will visit to watch more athletes from more countries compete in more events anywhere ever. And it is betting that 80,000 Atlantans will have gained at least temporary employment and some $5 billion will have been pumped into the economy.

The little boy in our house built an Olympic Village out of Lego blocks, then looked up for assurance that the real Olympic Village, the one in Atlanta, was far away. He only asked, of course, after news of the bomb in Centennial Olympic Park.We couldn't protect him from that. He has been watching the Olympics -- his favorite event seems to be the Whoopi Goldberg commercial for MCI -- since the opening ceremonies. He likes the fast swimmers, the incredible gymnasts, the astonishing sprint cyclists.

It is an unprecedented peacetime security effort -- 30,000 law enforcement officers descended on Atlanta to protect the public and athletes from terrorists. The cost is estimated at $303 million.But it was not enough to block a bomber from spoiling the Atlanta Olympic Games.Officials have been wary of possible violence at Olympic games since 1972, when Palestinian terrorists attacked and killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches in Munich, Germany.Even before the downing of TWA Flight 800 on July 17, the fear of terrorism has been higher than ever this year.

I won't be reading this column today; it was hard enough just to write it. This is the father-notes-little-boy-growing-up column that I fought off a dozen times. Nick's high school graduation was in June. I attended, of course, and found myself too melancholy - and too much in denial - to write about it in public. Saturday was take-the-first-child-to-college day. I resisted, with full self-consciousness, taking up this space and your time with my little bit of miserable joy - what my Portuguese ancestors called saudade, the mixture of feelings one experiences at the landmark events of life.

ATHENS, Greece - At an outside plaza at the Olympic Village yesterday, a contingent of American athletes stood and stared and placed their hands over their hearts. It's a ritual afforded every Olympic team as its athletes check into their home for the next two weeks: They gather to watch their flag be raised. So there it was, the Stars and Stripes, flapping in a stiff breeze, only one of many flags flying over Athens. This is how the Olympics really start, with athletes sharing space, sharing the stage, stories and their colors.

Guest writer Olga Connolly, then known as Olga Fikotova, won a gold medal in the discus for Czechoslovakia in the 1956 Summer Olympics and, more famously, was involved in an Olympic Village romance with U.S. hammer thrower Harold Connolly. That resulted in a marriage that lasted until 1973. She became a U.S. citizen and lives in California. In the 1956 Summer Olympics, I represented Czechoslovakia. In four subsequent Olympics, I represented the United States. In this special year, when the ancient Games of Peace return to Athens, I offer my Independence Day story.

NEW YORK -- The head of security for the U.S. Olympic team says athletes should not be afraid to wear the red, white and blue on the streets of Athens this summer. In the strongest statement of support for security preparations to date, Larry Buendorf and other U.S. Olympic officials said yesterday that athletes should feel free to leave their guarded compound and tour the city like other athletes and spectators. Their comments came at a briefing for reporters just 91 days before the start of the Summer Games.

The revised Washington-Baltimore bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games won praise yesterday from the head of a United States Olympic Committee evaluation team, at the close of a whirlwind visit to help decide whether the bid will be one of two finalists. "Washington enhanced its position from where it was," said Charles H. Moore, chairman of the 2012 Bid Evaluation Task Force, which made stops in Washington and College Park. "If we were scoring today, we would score it higher than we would have before.

THE MOST remarkable statistic to come out of the Sydney Olympics? Not the 15 world records that fell during a furious week of swimming. Not the ratings for NBC's telecast, lowest in 32 years. Instead, it was the fact that 70,000 condoms were distributed in the Olympic Village. In fact, Ansell International, which supplied free condoms, had to make an emergency supplemental shipment of 20,000 before the games ended Sunday. The most wonderful surprise at the Sydney Games was not the upset of Russian wrestling champion Alexander Karelin, undefeated in 13 years, by American farm boy Rulon Gardner.

SYDNEY, Australia - James Carter listened for boos and jeering whistles when he was introduced to the crowd before the final of the men's 400-meter hurdles at Olympic Park last night. "I was hoping I wouldn't hear anything," he said. He didn't. The packed house of 110,000 at Olympic Stadium barely responded to his name. It meant he had survived the biggest mistake of his life - barely. "I just don't want people to have that as their image of me," said Carter, a Baltimore native who went to Mervo.

SYDNEY, Australia -- Today's cinema schedule lists an 11 a.m. showing of "Alien," with subtitles in Hungarian. On one of the pool tables, a man from Moldavia is teaching a girl from Bangladesh how to break. A large Cuban flag hangs from a balcony near the main entrance. Complete with a view of the flame atop the 110,000-seat Olympic Stadium, the Olympic Village is where approximately 15,000 athletes and coaches from around the world have gotten their mail this month. The 24-hour dining hall can seat nearly 5,000.

You want to bet against him, bet against him. The new football stadium at Camden Yards is testament to John Moag's fighting spirit. And this time, he is not alone.Moag is merely one of the heavy hitters trying to secure the 2012 Olympics for Baltimore and Washington. Chances are it will never happen. But the last time people bet against Moag, he stole the Cleveland Browns."Objectively, in a lot of respects, I'm more confident about this," said Moag, one of the Baltimore board members appointed by Mayor Schmoke to join the consolidated organizing committee preparing the Olympic bid."

NAGANO, Japan -- Maybe next time, the U.S. men's ice hockey professionals should just stay home.They've certainly done their best to ruin the first Olympic tournament to include National Hockey League players, an international breakthrough for the sport.After their elimination by the Czech Republic, the Americans capped off a week of questionable conduct and embarrassing play by trashing their quarters in the Olympic Village, U.S. Olympic Committee officials said.In 1980, ABC's Al Michaels shouted, "Do you believe in miracles?"