NOTEBOOK

The power of the Olympics?

NYNEX, a U.S. luge sponsor, is running a two-week commercial in the Northeastern states listing an 800 phone number for youngsters interested in luge.

“We’ve had 2,500 calls in the first week,” Ron Rossi, executive director of the U.S. Luge Federation, said. “We have only two phone lines. That’s nonstop ringing.”

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Gerhard Rainer, a 33-year-old Innsbruck policeman and driver of Austria’s two-man bobsled, tested positive for metandienon, a growth hormone, and was expelled from the Olympics. Kurt Einberger, driver of Austria’s four-man sled, will replace Rainer.