Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-01-15
HOT SPELL CHECKS
OLYMPIC TRY0UTS
Winter Sports Teams Kept
Idle by Unprecedented
Adirondack ThaW.
BY EDWARD ]. NEIL,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

T AXE PLACID, N. Y, January
15.-A plea for snow and
IL cold welled up from this
Winter sports center today
as an almost unprecedented thaw
hampered preparations for the
Winter section of the Olympic
games, February 4 to 10.
Already the warm sun and
balmy air had stripped the Adj
rondack mountainsides about Lake
Placid of the snow that at this
time of the year usually stands
feet deep. Lake Mirror and Lake
placid were almost bare of ice.
There were green spots on brown
fields and lawns.
No date for the bob sleigh pre-
liminaries originally scheduled for today
and Saturday can be set definitely until
cold and snow return. The ice layer
on the bob run, painstakingly frozen on
with sprayer streams Of water to depths
as great as 10 inches, has W1lted away
except on the upper reaches of the slide,
the fastest and most spectacular run
ever built.
Much Freezing Needed.
It is estimated that at least four days
of freezing weather will be needed to
put the slide back in condition.
One four bob sled team IS headed
bv Billy F'iske, who captained the WIN
ming combination in 1928 at st. Moritz,
another by Henry Homberger of Saranac
Lake, who set world record of
l minute So seconds for the 1l2-mile
run on the slide here last Winter, and
a third by Hunter Goodrich of Mil
Waukee, former winner of the grand
national run on the Cresta course at
st. Moritz.
Thus far the Winter Olympics delega
ton from Japan, formidable looking
outfit and the only nation already at
full strength here, has been the center
of attraction.
The japanese brought two figure
skaters, four speed skaters, nine skiiers
and a complete retinue of cooks and at
PENDANTS, and they we're earliest in
camp. Each day the skaters work out
for hours in the huge Olympic arena on
the artificial ice surface and their form
has aroused much favorable comment.
The youngest competitor in the en-
tire Olympic program that runs here
from February 4 through February 13
| and winds up in Los Angeles next Sum-
mer is little Miss Cecilia Colledge, IL
year-old figure skater from Great Brit
ain, who finished second in the British
national championships a few weeks
ago. She arrived yesterday with her
trainer. The girl who defeated her for
| the British title, 12-year-old Megan
Taylor, is expected tomorrow.
Firms, Swedes Due Soon.
Only one member of the Finnish
team, Marcus Nikkanen, figure skating
champion, has arrived, along with a
single representative of Sweden. w.
Sven Utterstrom, world champion cross
country ski runner. The full teams of
both nations are expected within few
days.
While the Norwegian team Is miss
ing such a famous member as Sonia
Henie, international Women's figure
skating champion, who will not reach
here until February, it comes closest to
Japan in ability to muster full strength
now. In the Norwegian camp, hoping
for an immediate turn in the weather,
are Sigmund Rudd, who holds the dis
tance ski jump record. with a leap of
265 feet last year; Johan Grottums-
braaten, only man to compete in both