Olympic athletes have 1 more thing to stress about: weather

By HOWARD FENDRICH and PAT GRAHAM
AP Sports Writers

Winter Olympians in outdoor sports such as Alpine skiing or snowboarding say the weather can be a key factor in success or failure. The wind, the light, the temperature and whether or not there is any precipitation can affect all sorts of things during competition. Those sorts of variables could speed up or slow a downhiller at the Beijing Games in February. They can make calibrating jumps on the slopestyle course dangerous. They can harm or help performances and alter an athlete’s preparation and mindset. All of which turns the weather into just another source of stress at a one-day-every-four-years spectacle already filled with them.