Women lugers linked by tragedy

Posted: Tue February 10, 1998 at 1:15 PM ET

Myler, of Plattsburgh, New York, is competing in her fourth Olympic Games   Gary M Prior/Allsport

NAGANO, Japan (CNN/SI) -- Two athletes, a world apart but linked by tragedy in their personal lives, return to the Olympic luge looking for a way to ease the pain.

Cammy Myler, the top American woman, and Italian Gerda Weissensteiner, the defending champion, meet again trying to erase the sour memories of Lillehammer.

"That is a time in my life that I will never forget," says Weissensteiner.

While Myler carried the U.S. flag at Lillehammer in 1994, her brother was losing a struggle with cancer. He died shortly after the Olympics.

Weissensteiner's gold medal from Lillehammer was stolen while she attended the funeral of her brother, killed in a motorbike accident.

Myler and Weissensteiner compete in Wednesday's final two runs of the women's luge. The event will be part of CBS-TV's Wednesday night coverage as heavy snowfall forced continued juggling of the schedule.

The women's super-G, which was to have been shown live Monday night, was postponed until Wednesday. The event will be Picabo Street's first at this Olympics, although she is concentrating on the women's downhill later in the week.

The men's downhill already has been moved to Thursday morning (Wednesday night EST).

Jonny Moseley led men's qualification on Sunday and is looking to use his spectacular 360 Mute Grab jump to win.

Barring further delays, the men's downhill will be broadcast live Wednesday night in the United States.

CBS-TV also has the freestyle moguls final as part of its Wednesday night schedule, with both the U.S. men and women in the hunt for medals.

Donna Weinbrecht, Liz McIntyre and Ann Battelle all are capable of winning women's gold to continue an American medal tradition in the event. Weinbrecht won gold in 1992, and McIntyre took the silver in 1994.

Myler has no chance of a medal after today's first two runs, but she's still grateful to be in Nagano free of emotional burdens.

In 1994 she finished 11th as she was distracted by family matters. Her brother was dying of cancer and her parents were headed for a divorce.

"In '94 there were a lot of external things going on. My brother was dying and I had a lot of things aside from luge I was thinking about," she said.

Weather permitting, look for Katja Seizinger on the super-G podium   Zoom/Allsport

Myler, of Plattsburgh, New York, is in her fourth Olympics. Her fifth-place finish in 1992 is the best ever for the United States in singles luge.

Erin Warren of Winchester, Massachusetts, could improve on that. She was in sixth, but just four-tenths of a second out of third place.

Weissensteiner won gold in 1994 but it looks like she won't get another, as she is more than a second behind Barbara Niedernhuber.

Weissensteiner lost the original medal she won in Lillehammer when thieves broke into her parents' home in Italy.

The thieves also took a camera that still contained film of Weissensteiner's victory in Norway.

"They even stole my memories," Weissensteiner said.

At least she got a replacement for the medal. When Olympic officials found out about the theft, they presented her with another medal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.