By MIKE LYNCH, Adirondack Daily Enterprise
From Chris Knight - Adirondack Daily Enterprise
Photo Credit of Gordy Sheer and Mark Grimmette: AP
While North Country athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver have been grabbing the headlines, and rightfully so, another group of local residents have quietly been making a contribution to the games.
More than a dozen people from the Tri-Lakes area have been working at the Olympics, helping to run bobsled, luge and skeleton races, setting up interviews and photo shoots for athletes, organizing sponsor events and taking on a host of other behind-the-scenes roles.
They've been at the center of some of the high and low points of these games - from the historic medal streak of the U.S. alpine skiing team to the tragic death of a luge athlete just as the games were getting started.
"It's been a fantastic games," said Doug Haney of Saranac Lake, alpine press officer for the U.S. Ski Team. "I don't think anyone going into these Olympics thought we would have captured eight medals in alpine skiing."
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It happened 30 years ago, when the underdog U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviets 4-3 at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics, then went on to win the gold medal.
You were born to be a player; you were meant to be here. - Coach Herb Brooks to his seventh-seeded hockey team, of mostly college players, before the Soviet matchupAnd maybe they'll do it again - having just unexpectedly defeated the Canadian team at the Vancouver Olympics, 5-3.
Andrea Harris was one of 52 torchbearers selected to carry the Olympic Flame from Yorktown, Virginia to Lake Placid, New York, for the 1980 Olympics. "This particular torch relay journey was a first in the history of the Modern Games and continues to be the only torch relay team that ran as a team from the start of the relay (Yorktown) to the arrival in Lake Placid," she says.
In her post, she tells about her group of torchbearers, and how they have kept in touch.
...the greatest thrill was standing inside the Olympic Stadium as we watched our fellow torchbearer, Charles M. Kerr, light the flame that began the XIII Olympic Winter Games. As we stood beside the Olympic caldron and doves were released, the ceremony was breathtaking.Do you believe in miracles? she asks. I do.
And yes, we had the opportunity to see all the events, including Eric Heiden’s monumental capture of 5 gold medals and 4 Olympic speed skating records. And who can ever forget the 1980 “Miracle” American Hockey Team? I was there. I saw the game. I met the team and congratulated them as they received their medals.
Our torch relay team became the “darlings” of Lake Placid. We were chosen to exemplify “the Greek ideal of the whole person’ and the spirit of the Olympics. The Village of Lake Placid and Olympic tourists connected with our contagious enthusiasm during a time when the world was shaken with concerns not unlike those of today.
No one expected the U.S. to win the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics, because the Soviets were considered unstoppable. But they did, giving the nation that seemingly miraculous, wonderful moment that Sports Illustrated called the greatest sports moment of the 20th century - and broadcaster Al Michaels' great line Do you believe in miracles?
And after defeating the Soviets, the U.S. hockey players won their next game, and that famous gold.
In Small Town, Big Dreams: Lake Placid's Olympic Story, hockey team captain Mike Eruzione says
I don't think we could have won if the Games were held elsewhere - because the crowd was so important, being in our own country was so important ... everybody was around you, I mean, the fans were everywhere, it's not like it was spread out so far that you didn't see people. You could see the fun people were having just being there. And it made you realize how great the Olympics are.
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