It seems as though all my focus has been directed at the Southern Hemisphere lately. The first Grand Slam of the 2010 season is well underway in Melbourne as we have finished the first two rounds of the Australian Open (which I am recapping in the Non-Traditional Sports World for your daily digestion). Andre Greipel continues to lead after three stages of cycling’s season opener, the Tour Down Under. Yet while I lose even more sleep than usual -- through four days of tennis action this week I have accumulated a grand total of 11 hours -- with my brain drifting to Oceania, this non-traditional sports fan in America still has one eye focused on the action closer to home. Apparently there are enough hours in the day to drink it all in! 

So if you’ve been a little more sensible than I in catching up on your sleep and have missed some of the action, consider this your Cliff’s Notes of the past week in international sport. Lord knows there’s been plenty of action to digest... 
 

HAHNENKAMM LOOMS ON THE HORIZON 

The weekend is finally upon us as the most-feared downhill course in all of skiing gets ready to host its annual World Cup event. Hovering over Kitzbuhel, Austria, the Hahnenkamm looms large at the heart of every World Cup season. Merely making it to the bottom of the Streif downhill course, starting with survival of the dreaded Mausefalle near the top of the run, is a badge of honor which must be earned before one can ascend to the upper echelons of the discipline. And with the Olympics just a month away, this will be one of the last opportunities for skiers to gauge the strength of their competition prior to Vancouver. 

Didier Cuche, the Swiss skier who has been a mainstay near the top of the World Cup standings in recent years, made an early statement as the fastest man down the course in training Wednesday. But hitting your line flawlessly at midweek and doing it again on Friday when the times matter are two different beasts. With the fastest run of the week, every other skiers’ crosshairs will be directed on Cuche. Conditions should be spectacular, and I have the added bonus of being off work to watch it all unfold in real time... 

 

 

FATE OF OLYMPIC VENUES UP IN THE AIR 

For those men and women that make it to Vancouver on their respective national Olympic squads in the downhill, they will be skiing on borrowed time. The date of Whistler, the iconic ski resort which will host the downhill competitions, is up in the air as owner Intrawest LLC has seen its assets go into foreclosure. News out of Canada states that creditors intend to hold an auction of Intrawest assets on February 19 as the Winter Olympics rage on. 

While the pending sale of the resort -- along with other assets, including the Whistler Sliding Centre which will host bobsled and luge events -- will not affect the competition schedule, the change of ownership will have repercussions long after the Olympic flame departs British Columbia. A top skiing destination is never guaranteed to stay on top. Travelers are always looking for improvements both on the mountain and in the surrounding amenities. Here’s to hoping a savvy investor comes on board and injects new life into one of North America’s crown winter jewels...  

COHEN RETURNS FROM HIATUS WITH GILDED INTENTIONS 

Sasha Cohen, the American figure skater who took silver in Torino four years ago, has returned from her three-year sabbatical in time to arrive at the U.S. qualifiers. In her absence a new generation of Red, White and Blue hopefuls has arisen, though none have made as big a name for themselves as Cohen did in the last Olympic cycle. At Rockefeller Center recently Cohen took to the famous sheet of ice and displayed a still-formidable arsenal of tricks. And in her first competition practice skate in Los Angeles, she executed a nearly-flawless short program routine that will have competitors taking notice. 

The hype is growing, but performing in front of an impromptu crowd with nothing on the line and putting it all together in competition are nothing alike. At 25, Cohen is well beyond what constitutes a skater’s prime years. While that is not an automatic disqualifier, Cohen will have a tough challenge ahead. Keeping in mind that, for the first time since 1924, the Americans have only earned two spots in these upcoming Olympics, every young woman will need her A-game just to remain in the hunt. Whether time has passed Cohen by remains to be seen, but she will certainly be in the mix for a spot on the Vancouver roster. Stay tuned next week to see who is in and who is out after the judges have tabulated the final scores... 

  

MARATHONERS DISQUALIFIED AFTER PULLING A LORZ 

Taking another gander at Asia for a moment, we learn the sad story about how the Xiamen International Marathon devolved under a quagmire of rules infractions. Thirty contestants were disqualified after it came to light that some had “run” parts of the course in the cushy confines of a car. Others went even further, hiring look-alikes to cover some of their distance for them. Denigrating the spirit of the ancient test of endurance, the infamous runners evoked century-old tactics in trying to foil the system. 

Problem is, efforts to cheat in such a manner failed back then and are even more foolhardy now. Recall that the 1904 Olympic marathon in St. Louis, won by Thomas Hicks in a then-legal strychnine fog, was originally declared in favor of Frederick Lorz. The medal was stripped soon thereafter, though, once it came to the directors’ knowledge that Lorz had spent nine of the miles -- over a third of the distance -- catching a lift from his trainers. While there was a time when chemical gains were not merely accepted but encouraged and celebrated, it has always been deemed unacceptable to cheat in such overt ways as did Lorz. 

Hopefully the swift and concrete response of Xiamen organizers will set a strong precedent to discourage such future behavior. But given the fact that these attempts continue to be undertaken by less scrupulous athletes, I won’t be holding my breath... 

 
 

THE SHOW GOES ON IN ANGOLA 

Despite the horrific attack that sent the Togolese delegation home before the action began, the African Cup of Nations has advanced onward to the knockout phase. That is the truest example of the recuperative ability of sports in the face of a tragedy -- the spirit of camaraderie and fair play can and do trump the factional and discordant message that a terrorist attack symbolizes. Hopefully we don’t have to see the likes of this again in an international sporting event for a long time, but vigilance must be exercised at all times. If we learn no other lesson from what happened to the team from Togo, we must learn that due diligence must be taken in every facet of our lives... 

But sports can allow us to enjoy some respite from the weary struggles of the outside world. Instead, we get to live vicariously through the performances of athletes like Mali midfielder Seydou Keita, who leads the competition with three goals so far but will miss his chance to score more due to the fact that Mali missed passage to the knockout phase on direct result of his team’s 1-0 loss to Algeria in the second game of Group A play. But others -- such as the brick wall in the Egyptian goal, Essam El Hadari, who we last saw plying his trade with Sion in the Swiss league and allowed just one goal in group play down in Angola -- will be there in the next round to battle for the ultimate prize. 

Sunday will see host Angola play Ghana in the first quarterfinal at Cidadela in Luanda at 11:00 am Eastern here stateside. The back half of the doubleheader begins at 2:30 pm Eastern, played in National Chiazi Stadium in Cabinda -- the physically-separated province (by the short coastal section of the Republic of Congo) off the northwest corner of the Angolan mainland where separatist militants attacked the Togo bus -- between lucky advancer Algeria (yes, that’s World Cup qualifier Algeria!) and Ivory Coast. Just a hunch here, but I’m guessing that Ghana will feel the sting of losing Michael Essien to knee troubles and will stumble against the home side, which will see a partisan crowd play the 12th man to perfection. And as far as the second Sunday match goes, well... let’s just say, like I did before, that Algeria got lucky that they scored their only goal -- yes, their only goal -- of the group stage against Mali and that goalie Faouzi Chaouchi held his only clean sheet in that contest. Had it gone any other way, the Algerians would be out; instead Mali is done, and Keita and company can only watch as others get the chance to stay alive in the hunt for the Cup of Nations. 

The other two quarterfinals come on Monday at the same times. The morning match (at least on this side of the Atlantic) will be played in Benguela at the Complexo da Sr. da Graca, with El Hadari and the Egyptians squaring off against Cameroon. Only Mali (there they are again!) scored as many goals as Egypt’s seven, and with the stoutest final defense they look like the likeliest titlist out of this final octet. Cameroon, with the firepower of Samuel Eto’o and Geremi, will do their damnedest to prevent it, but I have a feeling that Egypt comes through unscathed against a much less tight defense. The afternoon match will pit Zambia against Nigeria at the Tundavala National Stadium in Lubango. At face value one might think that Zambia would have no chance against a team which boasts such goalpoachers as Nwankwo Kanu and Obafemi Martins, two players who have played for years in the English Premiership and have invaluable experience. But anything will be possible in this game in a tournament where favorites have been anything but when the games have begun. Zambia has played great soccer throughout so far, but I have a feeling that Nigeria comes through in this contest... 

We have had a far more enjoyable week than the sullen news with which we were bombarded in the previous edition. As I penned last week, both our joys and our sorrows are but fleeting emotions. So enjoy this run of good fortune and revel in all the action around the world. As for this non-traditional sports fan in America, it’s time to focus my attention back Down Under, sleep be damned!