Germany dominates 2-man bobsled
Germany 1 and Germany 2 teams got gold and silver, respectively. No surprise considering the three other gold medals won by Germany 1 driver Andre Lange and brakeman Kevin Kuske in 2 and 4-man bobsledding. Steve Holcomb, driver for the US team finished sixth, but has said that the 2-man is really just his warm-up [...]
How much do I hate NBC and Comcast?
I am livid! NBC decided to broadcast tonights hockey game between Canada and the US on MSNBC, a channel I don’t get. I just spend half and hour trying to get coverage on my computer cable access and have failed at every turn. Apparently, I will have to upgrade my cable subscription to watch the game. [...]
Women’s 1500m speed skating
The women’s 1500m had lots of hopefuls until the final, grueling lap. I love having the line that shows you where the best time is in comparison to the skaters. You could really see how most of the competitors started strong, but just ran out of gas in the last lap. Ireen Wust of the [...]
Not quite there for men’s curling
I guess it took benching skip John Schuster two days ago to wake the men’s curling team up. They got their first win without him on Friday, then won again with him back on the ice yesterday. I can hardly blame Schuster for taking a day off. Being called the “Bill Buckner of curling” online [...]
Men’s 30km Cross Country
The winning time for the 30 km cross country was 1hr, 15min, 11.4 sec. The silver medallist came in just 2.1 seconds behind. I can’t imagine how completely exhausted Marcus Hellner (Sweden, gold) and Tobias Angerer (Germany, silver) must have been at the end of this race. I’ve commented before how the cross country and [...]
Vonn takes Bronze
Lindsey Vonn may not be disappointed, but I am. I don’t know, I just expected a bigger finish for her this year. Vonn even did well in the middle of the Super G course, which gave the majority trouble, but slowed down at the bottom. Maybe it was the bruised shins from the super-combined wipeout, [...]
Women’s Cross Country 15 km Pursuit
I wasn’t able to catch this one and I’m pretty sorry I didn’t. Pursuit means a mass start, so you don’t have to wait around to see who comes in at the best time. If you finish first, you’re first. Marit Bjorgen of Norway was the clear gold medallist; it got exciting for silver and [...]
Ice Dancing Competition Begins
Couples ice dancing started today with the compulsories. The style selected was “Romantic Tango.” The couples have very little leeway when it comes to artistic interpretation at this point. All couples must use the same steps at the same part of the program. The music is even identical. Any artistic additions come at the very [...]
Women’s and Men’s Skeleton Results
US hopeful Noelle Pikus-Pace did not get her Olympic medal this year. She finished .10 second behind the bronze medal winner, Anja Huber. Amy Williams from Great Britain captured the gold despite controversy about her helmet. The helmet has little bumps on it, supposedly to improve aerodynamics. The Olympic officials approved it, so that should [...]
Commentators Biggest Fight in Hockey
Hockey is well known as a testosterone-infused sport with lots of shoving and fighting. Tonight, during the match between the Czech Republic and Latvia, there was big checks were verbal, and in the booth.
The Czech Republic was dominating the game and had a 4-0 lead when one of the players made a mistake, or maybe [...]
Costas Indulges in Fruitless Mining
There’s been a little controversy surrounding Evan Lysacek’s gold medal yesterday. Silver medalist Yevgeny Plushenko responded with a little wonder that he didn’t win. He complained that the new scoring system didn’t fairly account for the quad axel that he can land, but Lysecek can’t.
Bob Costas sat down with Lysacek to find out what his [...]
Two US Skiers get the Podium
The trick about Super G is that while it’s the same course as downhill, the start is lower down and the turns crisper. Plus, the skiers don’t get a warm-up run, just an inspection of the course. In a way, they have to remember how they skied during the downhill competition and adapt their style [...]
100 Gold Medals for Norway
Tora Berger earned Norway’s 100th gold medal in the Winter Olympics by finishing first in the women’s 15km individual biathlon. Though silver medalist, Elena Khrustaleva of Kazakhstan, hit all the targets and Berger missed one, Berger made up the penalty time won by 20.7 seconds. That’s a pretty good margin by biathlon standards. Bronze medalist [...]
USA Women’s Hockey Continues Rampage
Finland got taken out of the running by Team USA 6-0. That’s three wins, two of them shutouts so far. Goalie Jessie Vetter has let only one goal go past her this tournament; she is definitley hot, hot, hot. If they keep playing like this, they may be able to jump the final hurdle of [...]
Multiple Wipe Outs for USA, Aussie Wins Halfpipe
No less than four US women were competing (and had a good chance) in the women’s halfpipe this evening. But there was almost as much wiping out for the competitors as there was solid performances. The qualifying runs had promised a spectacular show for the finals, but it seemed everyone had blown their energy on earlier [...]
Men’s Hockey Heating Up
Team USA pounded Norway 6-1 today, 3 of the goals made in the final 6 minutes of the game. This makes them 2 for 2 with 9 points, leading Group B standings.
More exciting was the 3-2 win by Canada over Switzerland in a shootout. Canada took the lead early in the second period, but the [...]
Everyone Needs To Take A Day Or Two!
Folks, I finally was able to spend most of my day watching the Olympics. I got in both men’s and women’s curling, a fantasic hockey match between Canada and Switzerland, and the women’s halfpipe competition. And the night ain’t over yet!
Getting to watch what you want is difficult for normal 9 to 5ers, I suggest [...]
Little Hope for Men’s Curling
I finally caught some curling today. It seems the key is to not work during the day so you can catch USA’s coverage.
The US Men’s curling team just can’t seem to get over the barrier of winning. They get so close, then fall apart at the end (no pun intended.) Extra ends, near misses, it [...]
Women’s 500m Short Track Gold No Surprise
Wang Meng of China is the 500m world record holder and Torino’s gold winner, so it was an easy bet she would win this year. Wang breezed in well before any of the other contenders in today’s race, just like she did in the qualifying races. Tension was provided more from a restart due to the [...]
No Love for Curling
Well, I wanted to give a little boost to curling tonight. There were a lot of matches played today, but I had problems trying to view it on my computer and none of the TV stations were showing the matches. Looks like the sport most ignored by the US will remain that way!
Here’s what’s going [...]
White and Coach Will Get Matching Tattoos
Shaun White and his coach made a deal. If he won his second gold in the halfpipe they’d get matching tattoos in Vancouver. I wonder what they’ll get?
White locked in the gold on his first run, so the second was just for the crowd, and he delivered. Tempted though he was to just do a [...]
Brothers Win Second Straight Gold
Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger took gold the second time in men’s doubles luge today. A second set of brothers, Andris and Jurcis Sics from Latvia won silver with a time only .2 seconds slower. Bronze went to Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany.
Linger and Linger are only the second doubles team in [...]
Defending Champ Westcott Wins SBX
Seth Wescott came to Vancouver on the heels of a terrible injury and at the ripe old age of 33. He really didn’t have high hopes of winning the Snowboard cross gold. His qualifying run wasn’t that great, and today’s weather practically blinded the competitors. Canada’s Mike Robertson had such a strong lead even the [...]
Diverse Countries Medal in Cross Country
Six different countries were represented in cross country medaling today. It just goes to show that no single country need dominate a sport.
Charlotte Kalla of Sweden won the gold in Women’s 10km freestyle cross country skiing. This is her first major international championship win. Kristina Smigun of Estonia took the silver and Norwegian Marit Bjorgen earned the bronze. [...]
Medals 2/14
So, here are the medals we didn’t cover today:
Men’s single luge 4th run concluded with gold going to Germany’s Felix Loch, silver to David Moller, also German and bronze to Armin Zoeggeler of Italy. Times were still very good and the track was fast despite the efforts made to slow it down.
In Women’s 3000m speed skating [...]
