Olympics: Only the Lake Was Placid

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Still, there were sparkling moments for the U.S. Eric Heiden, 21, Beth's big brother and the finest speed skater in the world, won the 500-meter race by beating the Soviets' Yevgeny Kulikov and then won again in the 5,000-meter. What was more, the U.S. hockey team coalesced into a scrappily aggressive surprise. Having tied the powerful Swedes, 2-2, they gave a 7-3 beating to the seasoned Czechs, who were rated No. 2 in the tournament behind only the incredible Soviets. On Saturday, the Americans defeated the Norwegians 5-1.

As expected, the Soviet Union was winning the most early medals, showing strength in cross-country skiing and speed skating, two of its traditional sports. It was the Soviets who won the first gold medal of the Games when Nikolai Zimyatov finished first in the 30-km cross-country. Right behind him was Teammate Vasily Rochev to take the silver.

The setting for the drama of the Games is an old and suitable theater for winter sports. The third Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid in 1932, and although the village has acquired some modern hotels since then, it remains a remote little world of its own, with one traffic light at the end of curving, two-lane approach roads. The local Olympic Organizing Committee operated under the slogan, vaguely truculent in its modesty: AN OLYMPICS IN PERSPECTIVE. Lake Placid, with the help of local, state and federal funds, spent $178 million fixing itself up for the winter carnival. The results revealed both the advantages and disadvantages of inviting the world to a small village, but the organizers succeeded in creating an event that was curiously attractive and well suited to the distinctly north-country American flavor of the setting.

Lake Placid (pop. 2,700) has none of the international glamour of Chamonix or Saint Moritz, no air of chic money at winter play. The village lies in the heart of a 6 million-acre state park amid the worn and camel-backed Adirondacks that showed gray-brown all through the Northeast's snowless winter. On cue last week, they did get sprinkled with white, like a moderate dose of talcum powder. Without snow all season, the desperate organizers spent three weeks covering the trails with a thick base of artificial snow that has provided remarkably fast times.

But all the changes and improvisations were not for the better. Locals have been complaining for years about the corruption of contractors and the greed of other residents out to profiteer on the Games. Some expensive skiwear outfits moved into temporary shops on Main Street, near such no-nonsense bars as Jimmy's and the Arena Grill. Food prices soared: $1 for a cup of coffee, $2 for a hot dog. Tickets for the Olympic events have been priced at an undemocratic $11.20 to $67.20 per person, and distribution was a chaotic mess. But as the early events failed to draw the expected crowds, scalpers were forced to take losses. Hockey tickets costing $28 were going for half that.