8A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OLYMPICS
SKIJNG
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23. 2006
wede notches elusive victory
Alessandro Trovati/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY HOWARD FENDRICH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sweden's Anja Paerson skis to the gold medal in the Women's Stalom at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday in Sestriere Colle, Italy. It was her first Olympic gold.
SESTRIERE, Italy — Anja Paerson had won plenty of races, at all levels. Alas, never at the Olympics.
Each silver or bronze at the Winter Games made her crave gold that much more. Each disappointment added to the pressure, made her tight. She knew it.
And yet Paerson felt a welcome calm when she settled into the starting gate and stared into the floodlit fog Wednesday night. Less than a minute later, the Swede was at the bottom of the mountain tossing off her helmet and doing her trademark victory headfirst slide in the snow.
At last, an Olympic champion.
Riding up the mountain for the second of two slalom runs, Paerson later recounted, "I said to myself: 'Dream about gold and how fun it would be.' Then when I got off the lift, I just focused. I just needed to go out and do
it. I wasn't nervous at all."
Instead, she was flawless, despite tweaking her knee during morning practice.
Paerson put up the fastest first run and made it stand up with the second-best final trip, cutting through dense fog, pushing
"Sometimes she surprises even me," said her father and coach, Anders. "I saw her eyes when she came down. She was in a tunnel. She didn't hear and see — just the gates. She was so
Even Janica Kostelić of Croatia offered a pat on the back.
Just as she had focused all season on peaking at these Olympics.
all the way, for a combined time of 1 minute, 29.04 seconds.
focused."
"She deserves the gold medal." Kostelic said.
SUMMER GAMES
Beijing attracts early hype for 2008 event
BY CHARLES HUTZLER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TURIN, Italy — Even before they're over, the Winter Games in Turin are being overshadowed by Beijing, with expectations soaring that the 2008 Summer Olympics will be like none other.
"The Beijing Games are like the Olympics to the power of two," said Scott Kronick, head of China operations for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, who spent a week in Turin researching for the Beijing Games.
Even for an event prone to hype, the buzz over Beijing is truly Olympic. Major players, from the International Olympic Committee to the corporate sponsors who help fund the games, anticipate that the first ever Olympics in China will generate more attention and money than ever.
The Beijing Games offer an irresistible combination, bringing together the globally popular sporting extravaganza with
Beijing will host the first Olympics held in a developing nation in 20 years. For the IOC and Olympic sponsors, that means the opportunity to tap a new, increasingly affluent market of avid sports fans and consumers.
uria — to announce the host's arrival on the world stage. Turin saw the games as an opportunity to refashion its image from a rust-belt manufacturing center to a tourist destination. But China's communist government hopes 2008 will transform its relationship with the world and with its own people.
a China that is a fast growing large economy and a rapidly rising geopolitical presence.
Few hosts have as much riding on the games as Beijing. Past Olympics have been billed as coming-out parties — think 1964 in Tokyo or 2000 for Aus-
"We want to convey the image of a China that is more open and that is making progress," said Jiang Xiaoyu, a senior official with the Beijing organizing committee.
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