25 février 2006

Paul Friesen

TURIN -- A sauna and a mohawk for everyone -- and it's on Chandra.

Canadian gold medallist Chandra Crawford made sure the men who helped her become an Olympic champion got pampered a little yesterday.

They probably appreciated the sauna she arranged for them. Not so sure about the mohawk haircuts.

"All our wax techs shaved their hair into mohawks," Crawford said yesterday. "We made a deal they'd shave their heads into mohawks if we won."

Canada's cross-country ski team has a crew of "wax guys," whose job is to make sure athletes' skis have the perfect wax for each day's conditions.

Apparently, their job description for the Winter Games included the old "other duties as assigned" clause, which, in this case, meant the drastic hairstyle change.

Wax on, hair off, you might say.

"Half of them got the mohawk after Beckie (Scott) and Sara (Renner) won their medals," Crawford said. "The others were trying to fight it."

When Crawford, the 22-year-old surprise winner from Canmore, Alta., took gold in Wednesday's sprint, though, even the holdouts caved.

"They felt moved enough to challenge their relationships with their girlfriends and wives," she said.

Some will face stiffer challenges than others.

"I'll just shave my head, and then I'll look the way I normally look," said Joel Knopff, a wax guy who doesn't sport flowing locks at the best of times.

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