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Olympic Games silver medallist Nancy Kerrigan
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Credit: Clive Brunskill
ALLSPORT
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Lake Placid set for thrills
by Andy McKenzie
Lake Placid will again take centre stage when the inaugural Winter Goodwill Games begins on February 17.
- The site in New York, USA played host to both the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and is set to again witness some
of the world’s top winter sportsmen and women.
- The opening celebrations take place on February 16, with the competition beginning with the men’s alpine
skiing downhill the following morning.
- The most intriguing line-up looks like being the showpiece ladies figure skating competition.
- Among the skaters competing will be the 1984 and 1988 Olympic champion, Katarina Witt of Germany,
1994 Olympic silver medallist Nancy Kerrigan from the USA, the gold winner from Lillehammer
- Oksana Baiul of the Ukraine - and Dorothy Hamill of the USA.
- The 43-year-old Hamill won a gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics Games in Innsbruck, Austria and has decided
to come out of retirement specifically to skate at Lake Placid.
- The Games, held every four years, have previously been dominated by summer sports and alternated between the US
and Russia. The organisers plan to take the Games around the world and Brisbane, Australia will host the first
all-Summer Games in 2001.
- Lake Placid has seen a significant renovation in order to stage the 2000 event. Much of the existing structure
from the 1980 Winter Olympic Games has been dismantled to make a new track with a state-of-the-art combined bobsled,
luge and skeleton facility.
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