Sports

Chris Waddell has won metals in both the winter and summer Paralympic Games, competing as both an alpine mono-skier and a wheelchair racer. Waddell is currently competing in the Paralympics in Salt Lake City. He has already won a silver medal this week.

He is considered the top American male alpine snowboarder. In July 2000, he underwent a liver transplant to cure a serious and rare degenerative liver ailment. Klug was back on the slopes within months, competing in the World Cup races. Snowboarding made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano games. Klug began skiing at the age of two. He was born and lives in Colorado. For more information, go to www.chrisklug.com.

Salt Lake City reporter Lee Benson has just published Lee Benson's Inside Guide to the Games: 2002, Salt Lake City. Recognized as one of Utah's leading experts on the Games, Benson has covered seven Olympic Games for Salt Lake City paper, the Desert News, in the past. He lives in Salt Lake City.

Emmy-award winning sportscaster Bob Costas. Since 1980 hes been afilliated with the NBC network covering Major League Baseball, the NFL, and the NBA. He was the prime-time host for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, the 1996 Summer Olympics, and the 2000 Sydney Games. Hes won numerous Emmys including one for his now defunct late-night TV interview program Later with Bob Costas. He is currently anchor of MSNBCs InterNight. Costas is also the author of Fair Ball: A Fans Case for Baseball.

Writer and editor Roger Angell has been a fiction editor at The New Yorker for over 40 years. And has written about baseball for the magazine for decades. His pieces about baseball have been collected in four books including Late Innings and The Summer Game. Angell new book is A Pitcher Story: Innings with David Cone (Warner Books). Cone is a celebrated pitcher, a Cy Young Award winner, and one of sixteen men in history to pitch a perfect game. Last year, pitching for the Yankees, Cone experienced his first major slump. Angell chronicles Cone struggle in his book.

Currently, his LA Lakers are battling the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals. They lead the series 2 games to 1. Jackson has already won 7 NBA championship rings; He led the Lakers to the championship last year, and he also won 6 with the Chicago Bulls. He has coached NBA greats Michael Jordan, Shaquille ONeal, and Kobe Bryant. Jackson also has a new book called More than a Game, written with Charley Rosen.

Bill Russell is considered the greatest defensive center in the history of the game. In the 1960s he helped the Celtics on to 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons. He was named the NBAs most valuable player five times. Hes written a new book, Russell Rules: 11 Lessons on Leadership From the Twentieth Centurys Greatest Winner

Equestrians David and Karen OConnor. Only the second husband and wife team to share a medal in Olympic history, the OConnors helped win the US a bronze medal and a gold (David OConnor in the individual event) in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Internationally recognized equestrians, they won a silver medal for the US in the 1996 Olympics. In 2000, the US won the bronze in the Team Three Day Event Dressage. David OConnor won the gold in the Individual Three Day Event (Jumping, Cross Country and Dressage). The duo train and run clinics in The Plains, Virginia.

Actress Michelle Yeoh (“Yo”). She’s been called Asia’s foremost female action star. She’s the lead in Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Killing Dragon.” Yeow has starred in many films including “Supercop” with Jackie Chan and the 007 thriller “Tomorrow Never Dies.” Yeow is also a film producer. She is a native of Ipoh, Malaysia, and in fact was once Miss Malaysia.

Historian Jules Tygiel. He gained recognition and critical acclaim for his first book on baseball history “Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy”. Now in his newly released sequel “Past Time: Baseball as History” (Oxford University Press), he examines the relationship between baseball and American society over the past 150 years. He gives his thoughts on baseball history and this year’s World Series. He is a Professor of History at San Francisco State University.