December 25, 1983

MOSCOW VIKTOR TIKHONOV is a man with an obsession born of loss. In barely six weeks the Soviet ice hockey team will play its first game in the XIV Olympic Winter Games at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Tikhonov, who was the coach of the team defeated by the United States in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, is fine-tuning the squad he has molded to remove the solitary blot on an impeccable coaching career. If skill, experience and years of drilling were the only measures, Tikhonov could relax. His team may be the best the Soviet Union has ever assembled. But as Lake Placid showed, the elusive things that no amount of planning can pin down - the surging national pride that can spur an underdog, the sudden cohesion of untested players, luck at the goalmouth - can bring Olympic tournaments to improbable ends. The nightmare that Lake Placid could happen again, has been stalking the 53-year-old Tikhonov for nearly four years. Unlike coaches in other Soviet sports debacles, he and his assistant, Vladimir Yurzinov, have kept their jobs. The only shake-up since Lake Placid, the sacking of Boris Mayorov as head of the ice hockey federation this summer and his replacement by Anatoly Kostryukov, was prompted by an internal scandal at the federation that had nothing to do with the Olympic loss.

When the Federal Government phased out Ginnie Mae/Tandem financing for Section 8 housing rehabilitation projects two years ago, the remaining funds that had been authorized were allocated by lottery among qualified projects. One of the winners was a major renovation of a 24-unit dilapidated, fire-scarred apartment building in Mount Vernon, N.Y. The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently approved a $1.16 million Ginnie Mae/Tandem 40-year mortgage for the project, with 7.5 percent interest during construction and 11 percent for the remainder of the term, well below market rates.

Among the structures being transformed along Theater Row on West 42d Street are three adjoining low-rise tenements at the southwest corner of Ninth Avenue. Over the next few months, they will be turned into a 200-seat restaurant to be called Jolson's.

NEW state laws to protect children and their families, and new programs to prevent family crises, are expected to be in place with the New Year. ''The level of interest on the part of the administration and the Legislature on children's issues is unprecedented,'' said Alexandra Larson, executive director of the Governor's Committee on Children's Services Planning, an advisory body. ''It's an interest that's going across political parties and shows that people realize that New Jersey's children belong to all of us.'' Eight of 17 bills on children's issues recently passed the Senate or the Assembly; one of them - S. 3574, which removes the budget cap on family emergency funds used by the state's Division of Youth and Family Services - is awaiting Governor Kean's signature. It was sponsored by Senator Gerald R. Stockman, Democrat of Trenton.

Arafat DepartureCreates HopesAnd ProblemsYasir Arafat and 4,000 loyal Palestinians left Lebanon last week, but terrorism and other violence remained. The chairman of the much divided Palestine Liberation Organization went first to Egypt where, badly in need of Arab friends after being forced out of Tripoli, he embraced President Hosni Mubarak and so appeared to end the estrangement that began six years ago when Egypt made peace with Israel. Mr. Arafat had a long way to go from his reconciliation with the Egyptians to following their example, but the United States welcomed his gesture and called the meeting ''an encouraging development.'' The American reaction shocked the Israelis, who condemn Mr. Arafat as a terrorist. Disputing the view from Washington, Israel called Mr. Arafat's meeting with Mr. Mubarak ''a severe blow to the peace process.''