Sport: Andy at Oslo

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Andrea Mead Lawrence, who usually skis for fun, was not feeling particularly happy one morning last week. Up early, she found she didn't want any breakfast. Instead, she hiked to the ski slope and made a short run, halfway down the hill, to loosen her tense muscles. Then she caught the tow for a pull to the top of Norway's Olympic giant slalom course.

At the top, she took off her skis and began a laborious trek, often hip-deep in snow,* down the 1,000-meter course. At each of the 59 "gates," the flag-decked poles marking the obligatory turning points, Andy paused and made mental calculations. She carefully gauged each hillock and bump, guessed at her racing speed, and mentally mapped a line of descent to follow. At the bottom she rested, then trudged back up the course, stopping again at each gate to review and correct her calculations. She was adding her own figuring to the slalom racer's standard formula—"run it high and inside."

By race time, Andy's brain was storming. "I didn't see how I could be in the right mood." But as soon as she was off, her nerves and muscles took over. Given the favorite No. 4 starting position, she swooped down the tricky course with the easy grace of a prima ballerina. As usual, she looked as if she were loafing, even as she made a final flick with her ski pole to break the electric-eye photo timer at the finish. But the knowing crowd, recognizing speed when they saw it, cheered her effortless descent, cheered again as she fell into the waiting arms of her husband, U.S. Skier Dave Lawrence. When Andy's time was announced (2:06.8), even Andy was surprised. "Gee, that's good. I didn't think I was going that fast."

It was far & away the fastest run of the day. Austria's glamorous Dagmar Rom placed second, with 2:09. Andy, U.S. women's team captain at 19, had won the first gold medal of the 1952 Olympics, the second ever won by a U.S. skier. Not until 5 that afternoon was she able to get any food down—a sandwich. But now she could remember that skiing was fun. Said she: "Well, one down, now two to go."

In the women's downhill race, over an icy and treacherous course, not even the winner, Austria's Trude Beiser Jochum, had much fun. The U.S. team skidded and slithered into a disastrous series of pell-mell spills. Andy, after one half fall and a daredevil jump ending in a ski-tangled pileup, led the U.S. squad but finished a sorry 17th out of 43. Her sense of humor still intact, she said with a grin: "I guess we're the crash and burn team ... I made a great jump—right off the course." This week Andy had only one to go, her favorite : the special slalom.

With a good number of the returns in (see below,), and with World Figure Skating Champion Dick Button still to compete, the U.S. was well on its way this week to its best showing ever in the Winter Olympics. If there was a sour note, a group of Russian "observers" helped sound it. Though they have indicated that they will compete at Helsinki this summer, the Russians sent no winter competitors. Last week, after watching the early results, they contented themselves with assuring everybody that Russian competitors are better at almost everything.