NOTEBOOK

Peter Mueller, the choice of Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair as U.S. Olympic speedskating coach, said he is quitting because he’s “just fed up with a lot of things.�

Mueller was quoted by the Milwaukee Sentinel in Oslo as saying he decided not to wait for a new contract from U.S. Speedskating.

“People in positions of power aren’t helping the skaters and I’m tired of dealing with them,� he said.

His contract expires at the end of April. He declined to say which officials displeased him.

“When you get results, you’re not appreciated,� he said. “You would think that, after the past three years, that they would want to have you. I love speedskating. It has been my life, but I don’t need these people.�

Mueller, 39, of suburban Mequon, is a three-time Olympic medal winner.

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The Games drew about two million visitors, nearly half the population of Norway. Eighty-eight percent of the tickets were sold, breaking the Olympic record of 83% sold at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

Petter Roenningen, deputy managing director of the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, said the biggest problem in a nearly trouble-free Olympics was not having a recording of the Ukrainian national anthem ready when Oksana Baiul won the women’s figure skating. A Ukrainian team member provided a cassette of the anthem so the medals ceremony could take place.

Times staff writer Robyn Norwood contributed to this notebook.