Olympic Preview: On Your Marks

Because they originally exercised in the nude, Greek Olympians probably never envisioned Winter Games. But there must be a charm to chilblains, for the more appealing of the quadrennial conventions in the Olympics' two-party system is often the younger, smaller, more mysterious winter segment. Just the thought ^ of a global snowball fight is amusing, but think of it as a happier reason for the world to shiver.

Normally, at least in the mind's eye, these pneumonia festivals are staged in intimate Tyrolean villages built on the order of cuckoo clocks and peopled largely by Peter Sellers. But this year's host,...