ESPN Olympic Sports

PRAGELATO, Italy -- Norwegian prayers for high winds were not answered.

With its team members ill, the world-champion Nordic combined team needed winds Thursday to postpone the ski-jumping portion of the event and give the Norwegians a chance to compete.

They could not compete Wednesday when the jumping began. Winds halted the competition after one of the two jumps, forcing a one-day postponement. If the second jump had again been delayed Thursday, the entire event would have had to start over -- giving the flu-ridden Norwegians a chance to compete.

But there was not enough wind to stop the second jump Thursday, leaving the Norwegians no chance of getting back in. The final leg of the event, a 4X5km cross-country relay race, was set for later Thursday.

On Wednesday, in a cozy hideaway off the town's main drag, a building full of faithful Norwegians prayed to their high one for some seriously high winds.

"We are praying for bad weather so the event is postponed and they have to start from scratch," said pastor Kjell Bertel Nyland. "In Norway, in one prayer each Sunday we ask for good and useful weather for the farmers and so on. Now, when we pray for good and useful weather, we mean bad weather."

Nyland helps lead a close-knit group called the Norwegian Church Abroad. It has a long tradition of renting spaces to erect temporary church homes during the Olympics. They lived in a Utah library during the last Olympics. They knit, read the paper, watch events on the big screen, and devour their delicious homemade waffles with strawberry sauce or goat cheese considered good luck in their country. Above them on the wall hangs a picture of their country's king and queen.

"The waffles are like a gold medal without the hole," Nyland said. "The secret weapon Norwegian waffles we put into our athletes."

Among those socializing in the unofficial "Norway house" Wednesday were the parents of Kristian Hammer, one of those skiers who had fallen ill with the stomach flu. His mom and dad, Hans and Molly, were thrilled to hear their son had gone out for a training session and that his health was coming around.

Nordic combined involves cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Norwegians have long been dominant at the sport.

The Norwegian Church Abroad began in 1864 as a seaman's church to provide spiritual support for the nation's sailors, and has since developed 45 permanent locations all over the world -- from New York and San Francisco, to Spain and Singapore. There are members on the oil rigs in the North Sea and students studying abroad across the world.

"We are in all five continents," said Nyland, who noted there are 70 other places that may be only temporary during extremely cold months of the winter or during a natural disaster or other necessary time.

Nyland has a staff of 10 from Brussels, Belgium, Geneva, Switzerland, and the church's head office in Norway, working in the rented building in Italy, adorned on the outside with Norwegian flags of all sizes. Everybody stays in rooms upstairs from the hospitality area.

"Our aim is to create a home away from home," Nyland said. "Athletes perform well if they are at home, so we create a home abroad for everyone."

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index