Toil v. Fun

Grindelwald is a storybook village in Switzerland, nestling on the side of towering, 12,000-ft. mountains. It. is Grindelwald's proud boast that it has one of the longest ski lifts in the world; people come from all over the world to enjoy it. Last week a six-woman Russian ski team arrived at Grindelwald for a warmup international meet before next month's world ski championships. They took one astonished look at the capitalistic contrivance and labeled Grindelwald's proud ski lift nothing but "mechanized amusement."

"Up by chair lift, down by force of gravity--what has that got to do with honest physical culture?" demanded Team Leader Constantin Sorokin, one of four "managers" accompanying the girls. "Ski lifts and the like would not be approved in the Soviet Union. Sports without toil and sweat, without the satisfaction of self-denial and self-conquest, are nothing more than an amusement." With that, Comrade Sorokin put his six strapping girls (four blondes, two brunettes) through conditioning exercises, starting at the crack of dawn, that left other competitors gasping.

After the 6.2-mile cross-country race, the other competitors (from Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Yugoslavia) were still gasping. The Russians entered five girls, and they flashed across the finish line in order, 1-2-3-4-5, a full four minutes ahead of the nearest fun-loving capitalist.

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