Estonia expects medals in cross-country skiing

TALLINN - Estonia's cross-country skiing stars hope to get a nice set of medals at the coming winter Olympics. But the greatest achievement of Estonian athletes so far is a gold medal in the 1,500-meter skating finals, which Ants Antson won back in 1964.

In Salt Lake City, the Estonian team will take part in three events: cross-country skiing, the biathlon and the Nordic combined, basically a ski jump and some cross-country skiing.

The three biggest hopes in the 20-person team - the final list will be confirmed by the national Olympic committee on Jan. 17 - are cross-country skiing athletes Andrus Veerpalu (2001 world champion), Kristina Shmigun (2000 silver medalist), and Jaak Mae.

Shmigun, 24, whose doctor told her to steer clear of training last week until she got well after catching a cold, restarted her intense Olympic training in Otepaa only on Jan. 15.

Jaak Mae, 29, also a member of Estonia's cross-country skiing team, told the Postimees daily he believed he would be able to ski faster at the Olympics.

"I think I can use the games to get into better form," he said.

Experts think Mae has a good chance to win thanks to his diversity. He himself stated he would focus on the 15-kilometer freestyle and the 10-kilometer classical-style races.

Mae's best accomplishment so far has been third place in the ongoing world cup 2002 ranks, with 357 points.

According to Tonis Matsin, a sports scientist at Tartu University, one of the major problems for the Estonian team will not be the tough competition, but the climate of Salt Lake City, which is located 1,700 meters above sea level. Adapting to that could take up to 10 days, and additional energy will be needed getting used to the time difference.

The popularity of winter sports in Estonia speaks for itself. The national public television channel ETV was puzzled over whether to broadcast Estonian President Arnold Ruutel's Independence Day reception on Feb. 24, the last day of the games, or the women's skiing event in Salt Lake City.

Ruutel suggested in December that ETV broadcast the games. But now a number of private channels are fighting to get the rights to show the reception.

Estonian participation in the Olympics will cost the national budget over 8 million kroons ($466,000). Two million kroons of that are allocated for rewarding possible national heroes.