crack me up even more:
Warm, wet weather forces Vancouver Olympics officials to postpone men's downhillTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, February 13th 2010, 11:01 AM
Weather is playing havoc with the opening alpine skiing events at the Vancouver Olympics. Related NewsFor Fisher, getting back on skis is crash courseBondy: U.S. Olympians favorites to kick ice at GamesPoor weather postpones men's downhillBlizzard threatens to snow under weekend's Alpine skiing eventsHeartache rains on Opening CeremonyWHISTLER, British Columbia - The Vancouver Olympics are only hours old, and already the first two races on the Alpine skiing schedule have been postponed because of warm, wet weather that's turned the slopes to mush.
The competition-opening men's downhill was called off in the wee hours of Saturday morning, about 7 1/2 hours before its scheduled 11:45 a.m. PST start.
The women's super-combined event, originally planned for Sunday, had been postponed Friday afternoon.
Neither race has been rescheduled. And with only one of six downhill training runs for men and women completed as planned so far, there are plenty of questions about how the sport will unfold at these Winter Games.
When will the women finally get to train? When will the nearly constant rain ease? When will the thick fog clear? When will the temperature drop to winterlike levels? When will the soft, unsafe snow be ready for racing?
On and on it goes.
Repeated snow, rain, fog and too-warm temperatures in the 40s have created slopes that are too dangerous to be used for high-speed skiing. The International Ski Federation said early Saturday that snow and rain throughout the night, along with expected mild temperatures, made for poor skiing conditions.
The forecast for the weekend called for a mix of rain, sleet and snow.
"It's an outdoor sport, and there's always uncertainty," Peter Bosinger, who oversees Alpine skiing at the Vancouver Olympics, said Friday, before the downhill was scratched. "We can't predict the weather - and we can't make changes to the schedule until we see where the opportunities to reschedule are."
The next men's team captains' meeting was scheduled for Sunday evening, probably meaning the downhill will not be raced that day, because events generally are not held without going over plans the night before. Instead, officials likely will try to get women's training in Sunday, and push the men's downhill to Monday, at the earliest.
At least there are days sprinkled through the schedule with no races on tap, allowing for changes along the way. That's done by design, because weather problems are nothing new to Alpine events at the Olympics - or to skiing in general.
At the 2006 Turin Games, for example, the women's super-G race was pushed back 24 hours, and the combined event was split over two days. The start of Alpine skiing at the 1998 Nagano Olympics was delayed for two days, while the men's and women's downhills were both postponed at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.
Vancouver Alpine women's race director Atle Skaardal made the case Friday that it would be unrealistic to expect to carry out the
program on schedule at Whistler.
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