Exciting final another disappointment for USA hockey
Given the hoopla surrounding the previous USA-Canada match-up, I, like many fans, looked forward to another exceptional game and some great Olympic hockey. I was not disappointed. It almost made up for missing the first game.
Canada must have been completely surprised and humiliated by the 5-3 beating they took in the preliminaries, because after a [...]
“Night Train” steams to gold in 4-man bobsleigh
Steve Holcomb and USA-1 came through with the win in the 4-man bobsleigh. Night Train certainly lived up to the hype of “fastest sled in the world.” Holcomb wasn’t joking when he said the 2-man was just a warm-up for 4-man. I don’t think USA-1 fell behind at any point, they always ended the run [...]
Italy’s 1st gold of the games
Guiliano Razzoli was the last skier down the mountain. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia waited at the bottom, hoping his combined time of 1:39.48 would get him gold. Olympic gold medalist and bon vivant Alberto Tomba also waited with obvious tense nerves. He had advised his friend and student to approach today’s slalom differently, and worried Italy [...]
Patriotic crowd cheers Canada’s curlers to victory
Donald Sutherland looked on, standing and cheering with the rest of the mainly Canadian crowd, as the home team took gold in this afternoon’s men’s curling final. Though it was not quite as exciting as the women’s final, there was still plenty of great shots and surprise steals. Canada took the lead early in the [...]
Team pursuit speed skating results
The USA men’s pursuit team did us proud today, finishing 21 hundredths of a second behind the Canadian team. Team leader Chad Hedrick was hoping for gold, as he plans on retiring after this Olympics, but they weren’t expected to make it this far, so he shouldn’t be too disappointed. Teammates Brian Hansen and Johnathan [...]
More sloppy weather for women’s snowboarding & skiing
Women’s Parallel Giant Snowboard Slalom was closer to surfing than snowboarding today. It was wet, wet, wet, and there were tons of wipeouts. But through it all Nicolien Sauerbreij of the Netherlands managed to make it down the hill all ten runs in one piece and with the best final time, winning the first gold [...]
Men’s biathlon relay results
Norway won gold in the men’s biathlon relay today. Anchoring the 4-man team was Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, giving him his 6th gold medal, 11 in total. Bjoerndalen is has the most medals of any biathlete in history, and he says he plans to be at the next Olympics, competing at age 40. If he does [...]
Two great opportunities for USA gold
The first 2 heats of men’s 4-man bobsled were completed today. Steve Holcomb drove the much talked about “Night Train” sled to back-to-back record speeds on the challenging track. The USA-1 team finished in 1st place with a nice .4 second lead (doesn’t sound like much, but trust me, that’s good.) Tomorrows racing should be [...]
Women’s 1000m short track and men’s relay results
Heart pounding short track racing continued this evening with some great outcomes for the US and tons of excitement for those watching.
The final four in the women’s short track were Katherine Reutter of the US, Wang Meng and Zhou Yang of China, and Park Seung-Hi of South Korea. There were no false starts and no [...]
Crazy finish to men’s 500m short track
The final race for the 500m short track had an explosive ending. I swear, it looked more like roller derby than short track. Apolo Ohno started behind, struggling to pass, the other skaters holding in a tight formation. All of a sudden, just a few feet before the finish line Ohno touched Francois-Louis Tremblay of [...]
Intense women’s curling final
If you still don’t think curling can be exciting, you weren’t watching the women’s final between Canada and Sweden this afternoon. Of course, the majority of the crowd was Canadian, and you’ve never heard such a ruckus. They’ve been very vocal throughout the whole tournament; ringing cowbells, cheering, and donning outrageous outfits. You’d have thought [...]
USA whips Finland; headed for final!
It was no contest this afternoon when team USA took on Finland in the semi-final hockey round. Ryan Malone scored at 2 minutes 4 seconds in the first period and it was downhill for Finland from there. All 6 of the USA’s goals were made in that first period, and Finland never seemed to recover [...]
Fog plays a part in Women’s Giant Slalom results
The fog that plagued the first run of the giant slalom and delayed the second run until today returned, giving Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany the edge she needed to win the gold medal. You wouldn’t normally think finishing 6th in the first run would be an advantage, but it enabled her to ski before the [...]
Speedy Peterson lands the “Hurricane” for silver
Alexsei Grishin of Belrus made it look very easy, spinning through the air with incredible control and precision on the landing. There is no question he deserved the gold for his performance.
There was a feeling of deja vu when you saw Jaret “Speedy” Peterson at the top of the hill preparing for his final run [...]
Canada wins hockey battle
I can’t get too upset with Canada’s win over team USA today in the gold match. I finally got to see a really good game played by the women. It was obvious why everyone was saying the final match-up would be between these two, great teams. You can see the training and dedication on both sides that makes [...]
Ashleigh McIvor wins women’s skicross debut
The first Olympic women’s skicross event came off just as wild as expected. The arrival (finally!) of snow to Cedar Mountain slowed the course and blew around heavily. The competitors raced in sets of four, jostling for position and making for an exciting day overall complete with wipe-outs and face-plants.
Canada’s Ashleigh McIvor came out on [...]
Rookie mistake stuns speed skating crowd
By all accounts, Sven Kramer of the Netherlands should have won the gold in today’s 10,000m speed skating event. Distracted, his coach, Gerard Kemkers, directed him to the wrong lane and inadvertently disqualified him. Speed skaters race in pairs and switch lanes in the backstretch to make sure the distances are even. Kramer says he thought [...]
Giant Slalom disappoints USA
Ted Ligety, the US’s best bet for medalling in giant slalom finished a disappointing 9th today. Bode Miller’s risky style didn’t work for him at all; he clipped a gate then ran off course completely. Of course, Miller hasn’t won a giant slalom since December 2005. Plus, he started the season late, so he is [...]
P&G’s new kind of Olympic support
I don’t know about you, but I like the P&G “Thanks, Mom” commercials we’ve been seeing throughout the Olympics. I actually got a little choked up over the “You’ll Never Walk Alone” one. (Hey, it was late, and didn’t your mom sacrifice for you sometimes?) Here’s the skinny on what they’re all about:
Thanks, Mom
P&G is [...]
A brief chat with US hockey player Jenny Potter
I got a huge opportunity to speak with Jenny Potter before she went to practice today while she was hanging out at the P&G family house. It was last minute and I was unprepared and giddy with excitement, but it was great of Potter to take the time to dish about hockey. I had to [...]
Austrian Jumpers Soar
Earlier we reported that the US men’s ski jump team failed to qualify for the eight team final round. It probably wouldn’t have made a difference if we’d gotten in, Austria was so far above everyone else there was no contest. They earned 1107.9 points, 72.1 ahead of the silver placing team from Germany. Norway’s [...]
Do you see more to Virtue and Moir than just skating?
Ice dancing was not highest on my list this Olympics. I did not watch all the couples as I shifted between ice dancing and curling this evening. But I have to say, I caught Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada in their gold winning performance. I haven’t checked to see if they are a [...]
Women’s Hockey final match-up
It comes as no surprise that the women’s gold hockey match is between the USA and Canada. The elimination rounds were just a continuation of the initial shot fests by the two strongest teams. Since the two were in separate brackets, they haven’t faced each other in Olympic play. The US has had trouble against [...]
Mass Start Biathlon Results
Tim Burke just couldn’t get in the groove this Olympics. He’d hoped the 15km mass start would bring him and the US a long sought-after Olympic medal. But it was no dice; Burke missed a total of 4 targets in the shooting stages, adding 600 penalty meters and bringing him in 1 minute 9 seconds [...]
Spectacular US Hockey Win: But I didn’t see it.
Just when I was resigned to the fact that because of bad scheduling and my lame computer I wasn’t going to get to see the USA v. Canada hockey game, NBC messed me over even more. I was settled in to watch the 2-man bobsled when they interrupted to show the last 36.7 seconds of [...]
