Turin notebook

Jamaican wins bobsled silver

Believe it, mon! A former Jamaican bobsledder is now an Olympic medalist.

Lascelles Brown, who pushed sleds for Jamaica from 1999 until 2004, helped Canada win a silver medal in two-man bobsledding Sunday night – only about a month after he obtained citizenship and earned the right to represent his new homeland in the Turin Games.

Brown is the second black bobsled medalist in Winter Olympic history; another brakeman, Vonetta Flowers of the United States, won a gold medal in the women’s event four years ago in the Salt Lake City Games and begins her defense of that victory tonight at the Olympic track with driver Jean Prahm.

Snow causes postponements

Manmade snow allowed the Turin Olympics to go ahead as scheduled last week, when bright sun, blue skies and brown bare spots defined the Alpine scenery here.

So it was only fitting that when some of the real thing finally fell from the skies Sunday, the Olympics ground to a halt.

With nearly a foot of snow blanketing the mountain venues, Olympic transport slowed to a crawl and spectators waited in vain for events to begin. Alpine ski events and snowboarding events were postponed.

Rain and snow showers were expected today.

Nightmare on ice

The U.S. and Canada both lost in men’s hockey – by the same scores as the day before. Sweden beat the Americans 2-1, and Finland defeated Canada 2-0. On Saturday, the United States lost to Slovakia, and Canada fell to Switzerland.

Where is he now?

Dan Jansen finished fourth in the 500 meters in 1984 and was a gold-medal favorite in 1988, but at 6 a.m. the day of the race, he received news that his sister, Jane, was about to die of leukemia. He spoke to her, and she insisted he race. He did, but did not win a medal after falling on the first turn. Four days later, he fell again in the 1,000 meters.

He tried again in 1992, but skated tentatively and finished fourth. Determined to win the elusive medal, he stuck around two more years. In 1994, he was favored in the 500 and again, he fell. By the time he raced the 1,000 in 1994, he had won seven World Cup titles, set seven world records and become a sentimental favorite.

When he finally won the gold medal, even his rivals cheered in the locker room.

Jansen, 40, now lives in Mooresville, N.C., with wife, Karen Palacios, an LPGA teaching pro who used to work at Doral in Miami. Jansen has two daughters, Olivia and Jane, from his first marriage.