ABC reporters and executives steeled themselves to cover the Olympics by taking practice runs down precipitous worst-case scenarios, but they could hardly have expected the succession of misfortunes—natural, mechanical and even political—that befell the network during the Games' opening week. Said Jim McKay: "You know the old line about the best laid plans of mice and men. I don't know how the mice made out, but the men have had a tough time."
The snow, fog and high winds that twice knocked out the men's downhill ski race eliminated any realistic chance of a...