Winter Olympics: Anni raises the glamour stakes

Steve Bunce in Salt Lake City reports on a rivalry overheating on ice

Winter Olympics:

Games of celebration and remembrance

Pedersen a serious flyer for Britain

Anni raises the glamour stakes

Notebook

Guide to the 12 sports

The Great Britain squad

Schedule and TV guide

External link

Salt Lake 2002 - official site

For some odd reason most people expect Anni Fries-inger to be some type of Amazon but in reality she is just 5ft 7in. However, on her clap skates she is a truly frightening woman. A few days ago, here in Salt Lake City, word spread that Friesinger was holding an impromptu conference at the German House – an outpost of strong beer in an oasis of watered-down fare. The grapevine was right and a few hours later several hundred people arrived in expectation of a glimpse of the glamorous one.

Friesinger has been at the forefront of German sport for over a year now since she adopted a policy to propel her sexuality at the German public. She has a pierced navel surrounded by a tattoo and she makes moves with her eyes and her figure that have had German males choosing her ahead of an evening of Bundesliga football.

Suddenly speed skating and Friesinger in particular were being discussed in Bavarian salons by pot-bellied men. I exaggerate but you get the point. She dropped another bombshell by attacking female skaters from the former East Germany. "They have no idea how to have fun. I'm a good German girl and I know all about fun,'' she cooed one day in Frankfurt. The papers loved it but many of the athletes on her team frowned at her ascent up the glamour ladder.

In the last few months Friesinger, who comes from a village near Munich, has repeatedly upstaged all other German sporting icons with a succession of utterances that any publicist would be proud of. She recently said: "Speed skating is extremely sexy, it is purely erotic for me because I give the ice everything I have.''

Here at the Winter Olympics she is expected to win as many as three gold medals and it is generally considered that nobody can challenge her over 1,500 metres and 3,000 metres, but there is a challenge over 5,000. Friesinger will have to beat reigning Olympic champion and the east German favourite Claudia Pechstein if she is to pull off an amazing triple.

Pechstein and Friesinger are known to detest each other and have not spoken since last month but they have been thrown together with six other athletes in an apartment of four bedrooms. According to the mischievous, the air inside is as cold as the ice they skate on.

Last month in Erfut, a city in the old East Germany, Pechstein was able to outmanoeuvre Friesinger off the ice and then win the European title over 5,000m. Friesinger was livid at what she considered an ugly deception because Pechstein had claimed during the week of the championships that she was sick and would not be able to compete. Instead it was revealed that she had just spent her time fine-tuning the incredibly technical skates that these women use. On the night that they clashed Pechstein won and in the post-race interview Friesinger let loose her sharp tongue with a volley of insults that was watched live by millions on German TV. It was the last time they exchanged words.

Friesinger has promised not only to beat Pechstein but she aims to take her bitter rival's world record over 3,000m and then crush her in the 5,000m. Today the first of their two confrontations begins when they meet in the 3,000.

Pechstein, who is also stunningly attractive, has retained a dignified silence and, to be fair, Friesinger has toned down her own language during the last week. However, many of the journalists here are not following her for her words.

According to German Olympic sources there is a suggestion that the pressure finally started to undermine Friesinger's preparations. She missed a warm-up on Thursday and her coach has spoken in private about just how important it is that she wins. The suggestion is that if she loses today the triple goes out the window and Pechstein will rule supreme.

There is more at stake today than just a gold medal. For Pechstein there is a chance to silence a loathed rival and for Friesinger there is a very real opportunity to move from the ice to a career in either films or fashion. "I have a nice body and I'm not afraid to show it,'' she said recently after a mildly erotic series of photographs appeared in a German magazine. Today's clash could very well be one of the Olympic highlights.