Greenport High School - Beachcomber Yearbook (Greenport, NY)

Page 13 text:

Another disappointment was Mike Woods who came in seventh place in speedskating. However, despite all the set-backs and disappointments from the ski jumpers and Hockey Team, the last day of competition ended with tears of triple happiness for Phil Mahre. It was the Men's Slalom in which he cap- tured first place. His twin brother Steve Mahre, soon followed, one tenth of a second later. An Austrian finished third. A few hours after the race, Phil Mahre called home to find out the pleasant news that his wife had had a baby boy. Overall, the U.S.A. Alpine Team did the best, taking home five of the eight American medals. (The Soviets had the highest medal total, 27, and the East Germans followed close behind with 26 27.) Debbie Armstrong, Bill Johnson, Phil Mahre and Scott Hamilton took the golds, while Christine Cooper and Steve Mahre earned silvers. The U.S. fugure skating team didn't do too badly either with Scott Hamilton, gold, Rosalynn Sumners, silver and in pairs. Kitty and Peter Carruthers held the sil- ver. The Summer Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles, California, should be much more successful for the Unit- ed States. Afterall, we will have the home-ground advantage .... Melisse Dansereau

Page 12 text:

After a delay of three days in the Men's Downhill, Bill Johnson, a dark- horse in the event, swore he would win the gold medal, and did in fact take the gold. He said all the Austrians and Europeans who came to the Olympics were competing for second place. He had won the recent World Cup Title in the Downhill prior to the winter compe- titions. February 16 finally was the day reset for the race, and on this sunny day, Johnson put up when he finnlly shut up” and did win the first gold ever in the men's division with the time 1.59.85. Soon after, he received much coverage from national magazines such as SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. On the same day, another glorious triumph was gained. This time it was in figure skating. Scott Hamilton who had suffered from malabsorption syndrome (a disease which prevents nutrients from being absorbed through the in- testines) when he was a child, found therapy on the ice. Leading in all the events, figures, and short program, Hamilton skated his long program, making it good enough for gold. As an ABC announcer said, After talking to Scott Hamilton, it is a joy to know that nice guys do finish first ...” In the women's division, the United States had very good chances of win- ning a gold, but Katarina Witt from East Germany took the judge's vote with a split-triple toe loop combination, and beat out the American favorite and 1983 World Champion, Rosalynn Sumners, who settled for second with a silver. The U.S.A. Hockey Team didn't do as well as in the 1980's, losing to the Canadians, Czechs, and tieing with the Norweigens 3-3, thus putting them out of any possibility of advancement to the medal round. The Diaper Line”, made up of Ed Olczyk, David A. Jenson and N.Y. Islander Ist-round draft pick, Pat Lafontaine were slow getting started, but picked up and scored productively for Team U.S.A. However, it still wasn't good enough, because they ended up with seventh place. This is the lowest hockey finish for the U.S. since 1968 when the Americans placed sixth. The 1984 Olympics didn't provide the Miracle on Ice” as did 1980, but who knows about 1988 . . history can repeat itself. The four-man bobsled team, Jeff Jost, Joe Briski, Tom Barnes and Hal Hoye did exceptionally well, making the top ten. The U.S. foursome brought the Swiss sled two days before the competition, thus capturing fifth place, something which the U.S. crew hadn't accomplished since 1956, when they won a bronz medal. Ski jumper, Jeff Hastings, who won the World Cup title in 1983, just fell short of winning the bronze medal at Sarajevo in the 90 meter competition. Pat Ahern who competed in the Nor- dic Combined missed getting a medal because his ski jump was so long that judges said it was endangering the other jumpers” and that Ahern had gone over the safety mark”. A disap- pointed Pat Ahern who had been leading with his spectular jump, was ruled out by the Austrian, East and West German, Yugoslavian, and other judges who rescheduled the jump thus making him lose his lead and sending him back down to 16th place overall.

Page 14 text:

 ;:h fill Ill lasa £11 111« Il«l U«