Monthly Archives: June 2022

Three for three: Johann Olav Koss is the third speed skater I’ll feature in my Lillehammer tales. Unlike Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair, Koss skated the longer distances. Having won the gold medal at 1500m and the silver at 10,000 …

Like Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair made her Olympic debut at the 1984 Games in Sarajevo. Like Jansen, Blair had a respectable finish for a 19 year old when she finished eighth in the 500m sprint. (This was only the second …

In his first Olympic appearance for the United States, Dan Jansen was a few months shy of his 19th birth anniversary when he stepped on the track at the Zetra Ice Rink in Sarajevo on 10 February 1984 to race …

It seems almost impossible that the current world champion could have arrived in Lillehammer virtually unnoticed by the press covering the Olympic women’s figure skating competition but such was the case for Oksana Baiul the 16 year old wonderchild from …

As I’ve noted elsewhere, it seems that every Olympic Games has some degree of controversy attached to it be that a boycott, an athletic scandal, or a protest by the host city’s residents (think Vancouver for this one). But then …