Olympic Scalpers by David Fleming He is an Olympic silver medalist. A national hero. A world class rower in the double sculls. A man with half of Norway's medals tucked away in his sock drawer back in his room at the athlete's village. And all Steffen Stoerseth wants now is green hair. Neon green. Obnoxious green. Kermit-after-swallowing-radioactive-waste green. There will be plenty of time for hometown interviews, basking in Olympic glory and trips to Disneyland, right now Steffen just wants to get his dyed roots under the giant I Love Lucy hair dryer over in the corner. "I took silver, so now my coach or my sponsor can't say anything to me," says Stoerseth, who, along with Kjetil Undset rowed to a silver in 6:18.42 on Saturday. "I'm tired of people telling me what to do all the time. I've earned the right to freak out a bit, to have my hair look like, like, KABOOM, an explosion of greeeeeen." Steffen Stoerseth is hoping that his mother doesn't have web access. As Stoerseth acts out the implosion of his noodle, athletes across the packed waiting area of the All Types Hair Salon in the marketplace of the athlete's village giggle in a dozen different languages. This tiny salon, perhaps the only place in the world where the gel is protected by armed guards, bomb-sniffing canines, motion detectors and electric fences, has turned into one big moussed up melting pot for athletes at the Games. Just 22 people showed up the first day the salon opened its door, but, of course, those athletes told two friends and then they told two friends and so on and so on and so on. Now the numbers are in the hundreds. "One person from a country will come down and in 30 minutes the whole contingent is down here in line," says stylist Robyn Atkinson who risks an international incident every time she reaches for the shears. "Thank God we have the Dream Team of hair stylists here." While Stoerseth waits for his Green Day special to dry, a Swedish rower is having three-inch nail extensions put on "for good luck" while a pair of Korean handball players are being clipped, a Canadian is having a Maple Leaf quickly edged into his scalp for a team picture tonight, a runner from Slovakia is getting cornrows and a woman from Russia is showing off her gold, locks that is, after entering the Salon de Coiffure as a brunette. The clipped hair of a 197 different countries lies together on the floor in perfect hairmony. Swedish rower Maria Haglund scored a perfect 10 in nail extensions. Actually the hair piles up rather quickly around here with four to five hundred athletes a day, some of them waiting up to three hours, having their `dos washed and clipped (everything else is extra) compliments of Billy Payne. "Of my top 100 reasons for qualifying for these Games, getting a free haircut was right up there," says Suzie Ellis, a rower from.Great Britain. "Most of us are done competing, so we all need cuts for party week. Hair cuts uniting the world. Isn't it nice, really?" The concept sure is cute, but the haircuts, well, they ain't gold medal contenders if you know what I mean. Despite Steffen's selection, the 55 stylists who are working 15 hours a day to keep up with the demand say the shaved look is even more popular than that of the Rodman wannabes. Athletes are spending $50 (the equivalent of half a month's pay in places like Hungary) to have the Olympic rings, Canadian leafs, torches, Nike swooshes (which were recently eliminated from the available options by order of Olympic officials) and, ick, Izzy, carved into their noggins. As they wait amid shouts of "Shakiriareena from Russia for a perm, you're next" the athletes write postcards and watch live action from Olympic Stadium. An autographed smock hangs by the doorway and athletes sign it as they leave, pausing for quick lessons in how to circle snap with attitude--a communication must here in the global village. American heptathlete Sharon Hanson has been here, so have U.S. track stars Sandra Farmer-Patrick and Carlette Guidry. Edgar Padilla and Carmelo Travieso, the basketball guards from UMass competing for Puerto Rico, came in for a buzz. Some of the swimmers and cyclists who raced their waxed bodies to gold last week also have this little parlor to thank. Newt Gringrich visited before the athletes arrived, but, as you can tell, didn't stay for a styling. I asked for a quick fixer-up and was told "Honey, you need more than a quick fix." And, of course, Olympic silver medalist Steffen Stoerseth has been here, adding a fresh twist to the tired old story of athletes turning their Olympic medals into green. This Just In: Izzy Sighting photographs by David Fleming

Izzy Sightings: 1 And don't miss: Day 1: Carbo-Nation Day 2: Pindemonium Day 3: Bobsled Tryouts Day 4: Ticket Fairy Day 5: Trainspotting Day 6-7: SI Online Decathlon Day 8: A Dream Deferred Day 9: Waiting for Izzy Day 10: Centennial Olympic Park: Before and After Day 11: The Munich 11 Remembered

SI Olympic Dailies Day: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18