from speakers snow turning to mush beneath our feet dozens of workers wishing us a great day barring us from places we were not allowed to go to and answering panicked logistical questions in slow loud russian i began to understand how tourists visiting the united states feel when americans act as if they are stupid rather than just unable to speak english no one could say where my press pass entitled me to sit so i picked a seat myself and watched the race it was boiling hot and my fourlayer winter clothing extravaganza culminating in a pearlwhite parka with a fake fur hood that you might wear if you went to a halloween party dressed as a dogsled racer began to seem like a serious misjudgment i took the hand warmers out of my gloves you could argue that it is better to watch downhill skiing on television because you can see the whole run not just the last six or seven seconds but there was a big screen and a punchy atmosphere and only the crankiest person would have failed to find it totally fun the englishspeaking announcer a frenchman with a heavy accent had an amusing tendency to wander offpiste in unexpected verbal directions imagecreditjosh hanerthe new york timessmile klara we like that olympic emotion he exhorted as the screen showed the czech skier klara krizova come on russian guy he said of a russian woman even the failure of one of the skiers to complete the course she veered out of bounds and was not heard from again did not dampen his mood i felt pretty cheery too as i made my way to my next stop the russki gorki jumping center where the men were competing in the first part of the nordic combined this is one of those sports that make no sense to untrained observers combining in this case ski jumping and crosscountry skiing but it is very popular in nordic countries getting there involved the sometimes conflicting advice of a halfdozen volunteers a van trip and then a bus trip and then another bus trip and possibly another van trip they began to blur into one another all the advice and the trips and the credentialchecking and finally we were decanted at the venues media center where the worlds sports reporters gather indoors to watch on screens what is going on outside awkwardly for my own sports reporting career i arrived just as the last skier was finishing his last jump but tim fletcher the father of the american competitors bryan and taylor fletcher filled me in his sons were not doing so well especially taylor who at that point was ranked 46th out of 46 but fletcher said the trip had been surprisingly positive he and his girlfriend michelle schiau had had some early logistical problems he said like when the bus mistakenly deposited them at a restaurant that might have been called silly billy but they were now getting