| | ESPN.com - Flames and Flickers: Reporter learns naked truth (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20) |
 | | In addition to the usual urine samples, SLOC and the International Olympic Committee for the first time are taking blood samples from athletes in endurance sports such as cross-country skiing and speedskating on the day of their competition. |
 | | As the Winter Games move through the first week with no drug cases so far, 43 researchers spread from ski jumps to skating rinks videotaping competitors, running the images through computers and comparing data in hopes of adding a meter here or shaving a 10th of a second there. |
 | | Todd Allinger, Pfizer's Olympic research project director, said there were two "hot topics" -- quadruple jumps, the rage in men's figure skating, and hinge positions on clapskates, which have revolutionized that sport by allowing a skater to keep the blades on the ice for longer strides. |
| sports.espn.go.com /oly/winter02/gen/story?id=1331435 (1898 words) |