Hackl’s Secret Out German Laughingly Admits It Was Wax, Not Booties, That Earned Him Gold

Those super yellow booties? Forget it.

“The secret this week was to drive well, lie flat and have a fast sled,” Georg Hackl said. “A fast sled and secret wax.”

He said it with a laugh, and who could blame him?

He had just completed another dominating performance Monday, winning the Olympic luge title to become only the sixth athlete to win the same title in three straight Winter Games.

“An awesome feeling,” he said of that accomplishment.

The 31-year-old German had the fastest time in all four heats, smoking his rivals and overcoming the U.S. and Canadian contention that his booties were illegal.

Maybe those protesting countries should have been searching for the … secret wax?

If people were going to complain about his booties, the fun-loving and stein-lifting Hackl (who probably had less trouble winning than finding a beer garden here in which to celebrate) could do a little leg pulling of his own. Surely he was playing his mind games, jesting about the wax.

“Sometimes we think he has something on his sled,” longtime Austrian rival Markus Prock said, seemingly smiling as he said it. “He’s not very fast at the start, but he gets faster and faster (as he covers the course).”

Prock finished second to Hackl in each of the last two Olympics but was fourth this time. Italy’s Armin Zoeggeler was second, .503 of a second behind Hackl, and Germany’s Jens Mueller was third while also wearing those new booties.

Nicknames of Olympic athletes

“Fluffy” - U.S. women’s hockey player Tara Mounsey.

“The Boss” - Former speed skater and current TV commentator Johann Olav Koss of Norway.

“Grandma Luge” - 44-year-old Virgin Islands luger Anne Abernathy.

“The Rice Rocket” - Japanese hockey player Tsutsumi Otomo.

“The Great Wall” - Chinese women’s hockey goalie Guo Hong.

“The Racing Sausage” - German luger Georg Hackl.

“Stevie Y” - Canadian hockey player Steve Yzerman.

“Karpasi” - Finnish cross-country skier Mika Myllyllae (it translates to “the man living in the woods and picking up berries”).

But the award goes to Austrian downhill skier Hermann Maier, who has at least four nicknames: “the Herminator,” “the Human Bulldozer,” “the Alien” and “Das Monster.”

A new sport for 2002 Olympics?

They’ve come from the U.S., Sweden and England to compete at the Winter Olympics, yet they can’t march in opening ceremonies, win medals or stay in the athletes’ village.

They’re Olympic ticket scalpers.

The group of 100 brokers representing at least six countries has turned a block-long area of Nagano into scenes much like the prelude of a Chicago Bulls game.

While spending thousands of dollars and traveling as much as 26 hours to get to the Olympics seems like a tough way to make a living, some scalpers said they’ve turned profits of at least $15,000 at the past three Olympics.

The streak looks like it’ll continue in Nagano. Scalpers are getting more than seven times face value for some sports even before the most profitable events - ice hockey and figure skating - have been staged.

“It’s been great, much better than I expected,” said Tomas Swensen, an economics major at a Swedish college. “The people are friendly over here and they are willing to pay.”

At a freestyle skiing preliminary round, scalpers were collecting $120 for $16 tickets. They also fared well for the luge, pocketing $40 for $16 tickets.

Just say no Yakuza

City officials want Olympic visitors to enjoy the sights and sports. And while they’re at it, beware of organized crime.

In “The Guide to Nagano,” published by one of Japan’s largest newspapers, guests are urged to show their solidarity with Japanese police by patronizing only those bars, restaurants, hotels and stores that have posted anti-organized-crime stickers in their windows.

In English, the stickers proclaim: “We have NO relations with YAKUZA,” the generic Japanese word for gangsters.

Police estimate there are 42 yakuza gangs in Nagano, with 1,000 members operating in the area.