U.S. Nordic Combined Power House?

For a country that had never won a medal in Nordic Combined, the Americans have really had a HUGE Olympics.

The Americans were definitely helped by the weather today. I’m beginning to learn a bit more about ski jumping. A tiny bit. Enough to know that a tail wind is not a good thing. You see, I’ve been recently told that ski jumping is not about falling, it’s about flying. You need a head wind for that. Some of the strongest skiers received tail winds that meant they were pretty much out of it before the skiing ever started.

So, going into the cross country portion, Johnny Spillane was second, and Bill Demong was sixth. By the end of the third lap, the front group included Spillane, Demong and Austria’s Bernhard Gruber. This allowed Spillane and Demong to work together to an extent. But when it comes down to it, it’s an individual sport.

And when everything was said and done, the Americans had a gold and silver. Bill Demong won the gold, Johnny Spillane took the silver. The bronze went to Bernhard Gruber.

Johnny Spillane almost ended up in third after falling briefly in the final lap. Coming into the stadium these were the only three really in the race. You couldn’t even see any of the other facers.

I hope that this is a great step forward for this program for the United States. This is a desperately underfunded/unfunded sport America. Many of these athletes end up pretty much on their own for covering their costs. And there aren’t exactly endorsements lined up around the block for the athletes. So, maybe a gold and three silvers will change all of that.