Dream Team on Ice Has Split on When to Make an Entrance

NAGANO, Japan —  All for one and one for all might have worked for a band of long-dead musketeers, but that was sword-fighting and this is women’s Olympic figure skating, much more serious stuff.

So two-thirds of the so-called American “Dream Team” were no-shows at the opening ceremony here, with Michelle Kwan and Nicole Bobek not yet ready to jostle their daily training regimens at Lake Arrowhead.

Tara Lipinski did join the rest of the U.S. contingent for its lap inside Minami Nagano Sports Park--and then bailed to Osaka for a week’s worth of semi-private workouts.

That tight-knit threesome seen shivering together and sipping tomato soup on television for Campbell’s?

The next time they’re spotted together in the same room could be the night of the women’s short program, Feb. 18.

Kwan, still receiving therapy on the stress fracture in her left foot, is expected to arrive in Nagano by the middle of next week, possibly as early as Tuesday.

Bobek, stricken by bronchitis after returning from the U.S. championships in early January, could delay her arrival as late as Thursday--less than a week before the short program.

That left the 15-year-old Lipinski on her own to brave the camera-popping, quote-hungry, autograph-hounding masses. Her arrival at the athletes’ village was the type of media event usually reserved for visiting pop stars, the ice girl receiving the Spice Girl mob-mentality treatment.

Swarmed by a crush of photographers as soon as she stepped off the bus, Lipinski was soon whisked away for a too-cute photo opportunity with sumo wrestler Akebono, who, at 6 feet 8 and 516 pounds, is more than six times as heavy as the 4-foot-10, 80-pound Lipinski.

As she stood in front of Akebono, the top of Lipinski’s head barely reached the waist of the human Buddhist temple.

She later survived a Friday news conference with the U.S. figure skating team--thanks to the help of a U.S. Figure Skating official who ordered dozens of reporters and photographers off the stage to give Lipinski a few inches of breathing room.

A Japanese journalist asked Lipinski if all this is overwhelming for someone so young.

“For me, it’s normal,” Lipinski said. “And for any other [Olympic] athlete, no matter how old you are. I think I handle it very well.”

Lipinski was asked about Kwan’s staying in Lake Arrowhead and the rivalry between the two skaters.

“Everyone has their own schedule,” Lipinski said. “I felt it was good for me to come here and enjoy the opening ceremony and relax. For me, when I relax, I skate better.”

As for Kwan-Lipinski, she said, “everybody’s talking about it. [But] the only thing we have in common is that we’re going for the same thing--the Olympic gold medal.”

Lipinski then talked about how much fun she was having at the athletes’ village, how she wanted to enjoy the full Olympic experience . . . and how she would soon be pulling out of town for Osaka.

“It’s good for me to train there and just kind of be normal, as I would at home,” she said. “And then come back and have a full week to enjoy this. . . .

“I think it’s pretty close to Nagano. It’s not too long for me to get back, and we found a rink there where I can train for a couple hours [at a time].”

Someone asked Lipinski about her goal at the Olympics, apparently failing to notice the gold nail polish on each of her fingertips.

“I would love to win,” Lipinski said. “It’s been my dream. I made one of my dreams by coming here. The next one was to win.”

Kwan, who unseated Lipinski as U.S. champion three weeks ago, is the gold-medal favorite, but Lipinski claimed not to be bothered.

“I like being the underdog,” she said. “It gives me a lot more things to think about and keeps me motivated.”