Team USA is off to stumbling start


August 7, 2008

BEIJING – Four cyclists insulted the host nation by wearing carbon fiber masks when they stepped off the plane. A three-time medalist from the Winter Olympics was embroiled in an international incident over a travel visa into China. The vaunted women's soccer team, which hasn't lost all year, dropped its opener 2-0 to Norway, a team it had defeated 4-0 a month ago.

And a Sudanese-born runner who has been a U.S. citizen for all of 13 months was selected as flag bearer for Opening Ceremonies, then couldn't attend a news conference at the Beijing media center because he is training hundreds of miles away to avoid the smog.

Probably not the kind of start to the Olympics that the United States had in mind.

The series of events cast a foreboding pall over the approaching Games for the United States, much like the thick haze blanketing the city that is either unhealthy smog or merely a summer fog, depending on whom you ask.

Temecula resident Sarah Hammer and three other cyclists who donned black masks at Beijing Capital Airport met with U.S. Olympic Committee officials, then quickly wrote a letter of apology to BOCOG, the local organizing committee.

Never mind that they were issued the masks by the USOC and reportedly were advised to wear them by a USOC staff physiologist.

“(It) was in no way meant to serve as an environmental or political statement,” the cyclists said in a statement. “We deeply regret the nature of our choices. Our decision was not intended to insult BOCOG or countless others who have put forth a tremendous amount of effort to improve the air quality in Beijing.”

A few hours later, the USOC was faced with another crisis. Speedskater Joey Cheek, who co-founded an international athletes coalition to raise awareness about the Darfur crisis in Sudan, had his visa revoked by the Chinese embassy a few hours before he planned to travel to Beijing.

The USOC did not exactly exude sympathy toward a guy who won medals in two different Winter Olympics, including a gold in 2006.

“He was not part of our delegation coming to these Games,” USOC CEO Jim Scherr said. “It's unfortunate, but that's between this government (in China) and Joey Cheek as a private citizen.”

By nightfall, Sudan and the USOC were back in the news. Lopez Lomong, 23, escaped the violence in Darfur and lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for a decade before being relocated to New York as part of a U.S. program to house the so-called “Lost Boys of Sudan.” He gained citizenship in July 2007 and made the U.S. track team in the 1,500 meters.

“This is the most exciting day ever in my life,” said Lomong, who is training with the track team in the southern Chinese city of Dalian. “I'm here as an ambassador of my country and I will do everything I can to represent my country well.”

Opening Ceremonies are not for another day in Beijing (tomorrow morning San Diego time), but the soccer competition opened yesterday in outlying cities. And it was not an auspicious start for the U.S. women, who have won two of the three Olympic tournaments held and had never lost a first-round match.

They trailed Norway 2-0 after just four minutes, thanks to two glaring defensive mistakes.

Goalkeeper Hope Solo came out too aggressively on a lofted free kick and crashed into teammate Lori Chalupny, allowing Leni Larsen Kaurin to head the ball into an open net. Two minutes later, veteran defender Kate Markgraf made an errant back pass that Norway's Melissa Wiik intercepted and converted for a 2-0 lead.

The Americans can still advance to the second round with wins against Japan and New Zealand in their remaining Group E matches.

“Once you hit the Olympics, friendlies don't matter,” said Markgraf, whose team was 21-0-1 this year, including two 4-0 wins against Norway. “People turn up their game a notch and take advantage of mistakes, and that's exactly what they did.”


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