Surprise snow for championships

Cross-country skier Lukáš Bauer became an early hero for the home crowd at the World Championships that got under way Feb. 18. Bauer won the silver medal in the men's 15-km classic competition Feb. 20 after crossing the finish line six seconds behind the victorious Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia. Bauer had been in the lead for most of the race before Veerpalu outpaced him in the last kilometer.

"The last kilometer was very difficult. ... I finished the race totally exhausted," Bauer said moments after the race.

Eyes were not just on Bauer, but also on the snow.

As anticipated, snow became the biggest worry for organizers of the championships. However, rather than a feared lack of snow, organizers scrambled to cope with 1.5 meters of fresh snow that blanketed the area. Scores of workers labored night and day to get the venue ready.

"We had a lot to do at the very last minute, but it was still better than if we had no snow," said Organizing Committee President Kateřina Neumannová. "In fact, we were quite nervous in December when we were just waiting for natural snow."

Given the low altitude of the Vesec ski resort, just 450 meters above sea level, natural snow is not common every winter. Last year, about 300 trucks hauled in some 5,000 cubic meters of snow to Vesec from a protected national park in the Jizerské hory mountain range to test the newly developed skiing facilities - a move that raised controversy with environmentalists.

In order to avoid similar controversy this year, organizers prepared ahead of time some 163,000 cubic meters of artificial snow worth 2 million Kč ($87,260) to cover the 7.5-km circuit.

"In fact, we have to stockpile with artificial snow every single time before any event to be held in Vesec," said Robert Heczko, Vesec's facility manager.

The choice of venue has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, an otherwise strong supporter of the championship.

Ski-jumping girls

Apart from snow, the debut of female ski-jumpers in the championship raised controversy. Two young Czech jumpers had to withdraw from the championship after falling in training only a couple of days before the competition.

The falls of 12-year-old Natálie Dejmková and 14-year-old Lucie Míková raised debate as to the appropriate age to start high-level competition. Czech team coach Jaroslav Sakala, a former ski-jumping world champion, admitted that Dejmková's young age could be the reason for her fall.

"I thought that she might have a problem," Sakala said. "Natalie's weight is less than 40 kilograms, so she could hardly fly far in stronger wind," Sakala said.

Sakala said that weight and age limits could be introduced for female ski-jumpers in future World Championships.

"I think 14 should be the minimum age for a competitor to be admitted to the championships," he said.

Soccer is back

In the shadow of the ski championships, soccer fought for attention as the country's top-flight Gambrinus liga resumed after the winter sabbatical. Vladimír Šmicer, veteran midfielder of first-place Slavia Praha, used an unusual method to get in the spotlight. The 35-year-old agreed to act in the TV series Ulice (The Street).

"Due to injury, I cannot start playing from the beginning of the spring season. So I took part in the TV show," Šmicer said. "I played myself. I was in a pub trying to convince guys to go to a soccer game. ... It was fun. Still, I was careful not to make any mistakes so that they did not have to re-shoot the scene because of me."

Also, representatives of some soccer clubs became nervous soon before the spring season's kickoff after the Czech Football Association and police signed a Feb. 16 agreement that shifted the responsibility for peacekeeping in the stands from policemen to game organizers.

Representatives of some clubs pointed to increased costs related to developing closed-circuit camera systems and installing metal detectors at gates. "No one knows how we'll finance this in times of financial crisis," said FK Teplice Director František Hrdlička.

František Bouc can be reached at
fbouc@praguepost.com