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Another hurried conference with Nicks, then around the ice, building speed for the lift that would be required in the short program. But Randy did not hoist Tai high above him. The best he could do was press his partner to the height of his head, then set her abruptly down again—a maneuver that was quick and forced and terribly ragged. Randy's face was drawn. Once more they talked with Nicks, then skated out to try a double axel. Three times they attempted the move, and three times Randy fell. The crowd watched in murmurous disbelief; Gardner does a double axel as easily as a man walks through a revolving door. He had not fallen out of a double axel in practice or competition in four years. A shock of bewilderment and concern passed through the arena. For two weeks, the pair and their coaches had harbored their secret: during a practice session in Los Angeles, Randy had pulled a muscle high in his left thigh. The injury slowly improved, but 48 hours before the Olympic short program, he had hurt his leg again and, in addition, injured the flexor muscles in the front part of the groin, impairing his ability to lift his legs. Randy and his doctor tried to repair the damage with physical therapy, ice, compression and a local anesthetic, Xylocaine. Nothing worked. Nicks said later: "He'd been trying hard for many days. In my opinion, he couldn't perform, and more importantly, the lift he would have performed would have been a great danger to his partner. That was what concerned us more than anything else." At last the loudspeaker at Lake Placid announced the inevitable: "Ladies and gentlemen, the U.S. pair is unable to compete at this time because of an injury." At the edge of the Adirondack rink, the American skaters' ambitious dreams combusted sadly. Tai cried as she left the ice. Said Tai: It was a nightmare." Said Randy: "I felt nothing. I just couldn't believe it was all happening."
The excitement—and pathos—of the athletic events happily overshadowed another Olympic theme: the fate of the Summer Games scheduled this year for Moscow. The International Olympic Committee, meeting at Lake Placid, last week rejected the U.S. Olympic Committee's proposal that the Moscow Games be canceled, postponed or moved to another site. To present the U.S. position, President Carter had sent Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to Lake Placid. Vance told the I.O.C. "We will oppose the participation of an American team in any Olympic Games in the capital of an invading nation." But Vance's tough talk drew more anger than applause. Ireland's Lord Killanin, I.O.C. president, said the Games "must be held in Moscow as planned," though he later clouded his position somewhat by adding, "We're keeping our options open."
Publicly or privately, 30 nations now support Carter, including Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. West Germany and a score more are leaning toward the U.S. position. Said Douglas Kurd, Minister of State at the British Foreign Office: "The I.O.C. is not living in the real world."