Torino Times

Top 5 Moments of the Torino Olympics

GREIS' GOLDEN HAT-TRICK

All the pre-Games talk was about Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Raphael Poiree. All of the post-Olympic chat will be about Michael Greis. Three gold medals - a clinical Individual win, a collected relay anchor leg and a cool Mass Start triumph - leaves the German undoubtedly the man of the Games and has perhaps seen the 29-year-old elevated to the ranks of biathlon legend.

Torino Olympic Breakdown

The Torino Winter Olympic Games concluded today, let's take a moment to look back at some of the highlights and lowlights from the epic competition.

Winter Olympics Figure Skating / Ice Dancing

Figure skating is the marquee sport of the Winter Olympic games and this year's Torino Olympics were no different.
This year, the skating compeitions were under a new scoring system which has caused controversy but has also brought some consistency after the antics at Salt Lake City.
There was the pair of Zhang and Zhang, who re-defined courage after a horrific fall.
It was sad to see Michelle Kwan have to drop out of the Olympics and never get the chance to go for gold. She has done so much for figure skating, but she made the right decision in giving her spot to Emily Hughes.
Johnny Weir missed the bus, then missed the podium
Sasha Cohen lived up the expecatations in the short program, but fell twice in the opening minute of her free skate and couldn't get the gold so many expected. She did, however, rebound nicely to pick up silver - a strong showing of courage and grace.
Ice Dancing became a demolition derby.
Belbin and Agosto take advantage of all the falls and skate to a silver medal - the first for the US in 30 years.

Alpine Skiing

Bode's a bust, Ligety is a Champion.

After much pre-Olympics hype, Bode Miller went 0-for-5 in these Games. Miller's job is to ski fast, something he didn't do here at the Games. Still, in the same way I would never want to see Bode coming down a course holding himself back just to finish, I would loathe to see him being untrue to himself just to be safe with reporters. His performance was dismal, his reputation is in tatters. Nobody is happy. For Miller and for us, the only way the magic is going to kick up again is if we let it. Miller has to believe that he can be the person he wants to be, both on and off the slopes. -- Carrie Sheinberg

Snowboarding Steals the Show

Shaun White falls on his first run in the halfpipe, but recovers to pick up gold.
Kelly Clark couldn't repeat her success from Salt Lake.
Hannah Teeter from Vermont picks up the gold.
American's pick up gold, silver and fourth place in both the men's and women's halfpipe.
Seth Westcott makes an amazing late move in snowboardcross to pick up the first gold in the event's history
Lindsey Jacobellis dominated in the snowboardcross, until she tried to make a celebration trick and fell down to silver.

Speed Skating

Sigh ... In America this Olympics will be remembered for Shanni Davis and Chad Hedrick
Shanni Davis was the first black to win individual gold in the winter Olympics.
It was a change of pace to see Joey Cheek donating his $45,000 medal bonuses to "Right to Play" and then challenging corporations to match it (enough have as he's raised nearly $400,000 so far).
Enrico Fabris outshined the best American skaters and won gold in the 1500m

Short Track Speed Skating

Apolo Anton Ohno showed his class and his skill at this year's Olympics - winning a gold in the 500m, a bronze in the 1000m and a bronze in the team relay.
Ahn of South Korea won three gold medals

Ice Hockey

We'll always remember the moments after the Swedish women's team defeated the American women in a shootout to advance to the gold medal game against Canada. Forget the big-picture stuff about the changing face of women's hockey; all true, but this was about the stark, perhaps even stunning, contrast between the Swedish players who accomplished something they thought might never be possible and the American women who lost something they never thought they would lose. No doubt, it was a moment none of the players on the ice will ever forget. -- Scott Burnside

Sasha Cohen Falls, But Picks Up The Silver

Sasha Cohen wears her emotions on her sleeve better then almost any other figure skater I've ever seen. Last night, when she squeezed her coach's hands and skated off to center ice you could see it in her eyes - something was wrong. In the first minute of her performance, Sasha fell twice and with that dashed any dreams of winning Olympic Gold.

But then Sasha Cohen did something amazing - she didn't give up. In obvious pain she finished her performance with all the beauty and grace that we've come to expect out of the 21 year old skater. Her technical elements were unmatched, her spins and choreography nearly perfect and her final score reflected that. Despite the worst first minute she ever could have imagined, Cohen skated her way to a silver medal.

It was inspirational to watch her determination and heart - she left it all on the ice, and while she didn't come away with gold, she's still a champion in my heart.

Figure Skating Individual Women Results

Rank	Name	Country	Score
Gold	Shizuka Arakawa	JPN	191.34
Silver	Sasha Cohen	USA	183.36
Bronze	Irina Slutskaya	RUS	181.44

Ultimate Torino Olympic Surprises

The 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games rage on and with only a few days of competition left I thought I'd highlight some of the surprises from this year's winter games:

The Canadian men's hockey team fails to get past the quarter finals, losing 2-0 to Russia.
Enrico Fabris outskates the whining pair of Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis to win gold in the men's 1500m speed skating event.
The American pair of Belbin and Agosto win silver in ice dancing, to give the USA it's first medal in the event in 30 years.
Favored Norway doesn't medal in women's cross-country relay, coming in 5th.
Shanni Davis becomes the first black athlete to win individual gold in the Winter Olympics.
Joey Cheek donated all his Olympic winnings to charity.
The U.S. women's hockey team loses to Sweeden and will not be in the Gold medal match for the first time since International play began in 1990.
American Lindsey Jacobellis lost a sure gold medal in the snowboardcross, analyst Todd Richards was quick to note, "on a showboat trick."
As of February 18th, half of the United State's gold medals are in snowboarding, a sport with little International competition - way off their Salt Lake pace.
Johnny Weir missed the bus, then missed the podium.
~~Canadian~~ Austrailian Begg-Smith wins gold in men's freestyle moguls.
Bode Miller is still without a medal after being disqualified in the alpine combined and the Super-G.
U.S. goes 1st, 2nd and 4th in both Men's and Women's snowboard halfpipe.
Apolo Anton Ohno trips while trying to make a pass and didn't get a chance to defend his gold medal in men's 1000m short track speed skating.
Shani Davis announces he won't compete in men's speed skating pursuit.
Zach Lund, America's best skeleton rider, was disqualified for using a hair loss medicine that can be used as a masking agent for steroids.
Cami Granato does not make the U.S. women's hockey team.

North American Hockey Fallout

Thank goodness, it's over.

Another day and another embarrassing loss for the US Hockey team. This time it was a 4-3 loss to Finland which mercifully eliminates the US from the Olympics after an embarrassing 1-4-1 record. This team is only 26 years removed from the Miracle on Ice at the Lake Placid games, but it looked light-years away. There was never the desire neccessary to win or the sense of urgency to stay close. Rather, Team USA with 23 NHL players (a full roster) spent their time pointing fingers and playing the blame game. It seemed the only thing this team cared about was their flying arrangements, not the gold medal at stake. Mike Modano, one of the team's stars, blew up at team management and policy after the game - saying it needed "new blood" and that "it is probably time some things changed." Gee Mike, ya think?

Wednesday's loss to Finland was just one more disaster for coach Peter Laviolette who was forced to call an embarrassing first-period timeout because even in an elimination game, his pro players were playing flat and already trailing 2-0.

"It was the game we seemed to have the least amount of pop and energy," said Laviolette. "I thought from the start we were standing instead of skating. We did not seem to find our energy until the last 12 minutes when the desperation level was what it was, with the score and the elimination from the tournament."

Maybe this collection of Americans wasn't good enough to win gold - they were never favored heading in. But there is still no excuse to play an entire tournament, especially the tournament, and only beat Kazakhstan. The problems with this team were just too deep - the players couldn't deal with not being pampered, the organization thought it was invincible and the executive staff decided they didn't want to select enough young, hungry legs and offensive firepower.

Bring back the college kids.

Oh ... Canada.

Canada was shutout again. This time to 2-0 loss to the Russians sent the gold medal favorites packing and sent Wayne Gretzky home crying. Gretzky shouldered the blame for the Canadian loss, apparently not only for his distration to the team but also in his personel decisions. It was 2002 when Gretzky steered Canada to its first gold medal in 50 years and following that success he decided to go with a similar cast of veterans and old reliables in Turin rather than NHL youngsters such as Jason Spezza, Eric Staal and Sidney Crosby ... woops.

"I'll take all, deservedly so, the responsibility for not winning," said Gretzky, Team Canada's executive director. "That's the position I'm in and the responsibility I have."

Now, they Canadiens head home with no medal for the second time in the last three Olympics. For a country that lives, eats and breathes hockey that simply is unacceptable. Maybe the Americans and Canadiens can learn something from the young, hungry and talented Finnish and Russian teams that beat them - sometimes you have to put your loyalty aside and field your best club regardless of age or experience.

Canada will look to rebound in Vancouver 2008.

Press Conference Gone Wild

Here we go again...

The highly anticipated "smackdown" between Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick didn't quite live up to the expectations as neither claimed gold in the men's 1500m on Wednesday. But the real showdown happened hours after the event, during the press conference where the two played the roles of "spoiled children" perfectly. Davis and Hedrick sat at opposite ends of the podium during their post-race news conference, the distance between them a metaphor for their chilly relationship.

A Recap Of the Davis-Hendrick Fued

Hedrick came into these games with the chance to match Eric Heiden's record of five Winter Olympic gold medals. He won his opening race, the 5,000 meters and was on his way to history.
One of his five events was the team pursuit – a new Olympic event. 4 days before the event was scheduled to begin Davis opted to skip the team pursuit in order to focus on his individual events. The U.S. team, led by Hedrick, was upset in the quarterfinals by Fabris and the Italians, who went on to win the gold.
Hendrick openly criticized Davis for letting his team down and claimed it was irresponsible to go to the press, rather then the team captain (Hendrick), to annouce his decision.
Three days later, Davis' decision paid off as he won the 1,000 meters to become the first black athlete to claim an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Hendrick refused to congratulate Davis, depite his overwhelming acheivement.
Hedrick, who was sixth in the 1,000 meters, even spouted: "Once Shani beat me, I didn't care if I got a bronze. I'm here to win. It's all or nothing."
Hedrick snubbed his rival going so far as to congratulate silver medalist Joey Cheek -- but not the American winner. Hedrick was more conciliatory this time, shaking hands and congratulating his teammate, but it was too little, too late to soothe Davis.
After the 1,500 meters, Davis tried to blame most of the fuss on the media - which honestly, was a very valid claim. The media has been relentless in running this story and pushing it to the limits.

Press Conferences Gone Wild

The press conference began harmlessly enough - filled with pleasantries for the winner, Enrico Fabris and a whole slew of athletic cliches. But after the rambling, Shanni Davis dropped this bomb:

"It would have been nice if after the 1,000 meters, he could have been a good teammate and shook my hand, just like I shook his hand – or hugged him – after he won the 5,000 meters."

Then Davis stood up and walked out of the room, mumbling shakes my hand when I lose ... typical Chad. Hedrick sat grinning uncomfortably in stunned amazement. He took his time, a few sips of water and then got in the last word.

"We're all part of Team USA ... We had a great opportunity to win the team pursuit race. I felt betrayed in a way that not only did Shani not participate in it, he didn't even discuss it with me. As the leader of the team, I felt like we passed up a medal. I just felt betrayed in a way."

Both Are Right and Both Are Wrong

Is it any wonder much of the world views Americans as self-centered and arrogant? While both these men have a reason to be upset at one another, they are simply making a mockery of themselves at this point. Was Shanni Davis' decision to withdraw from the team pursuit an arrogant one? Yes, but it was justifiable. Did Chad Hedrick have a right to be upset at Davis for announcing his decision days before the event? Yes, but to an extent.

Shanni Davis has shut himself out from the media world - turning down multiple interview requests and keeping any answers to question short, terse and bitter. Chad Hedrick, on the other extreme, is everywhere - you can see him on multiple shows and interviews where he starts by saying all the right things, but when given the chance still takes his blows at discusses their difference of opinion.

What do you think? Which speed skating star is handling this situation more appropriately? What would you have done differently if you were in their situations?

Cohen In The Lead After Short Program

Figure Skating Individual Women

Tonight Sasha Cohen was flirting with the judges. She was melting them with her eyes and making them realize that she was the best skater at the Palvela arena and the best at the ladies' short program. You couldn't miss it and they couldn't ignore it. Cohen can do wonders with those eyes - she can make hearts skip beats, and she sure did it Tuesday night. She wound up in first place with a brilliant 66.73. The free skate is Thursday.

Rank	Name	Country	Score
1	Sasha Cohen	USA	66.73*
2	Irina Slutskaya	RUS	66.70*
3	Shizuka Arakawa	JPN	66.02*

* after women's individual short program, free skate will be held on 02/24 to determine medals.

Fabris A Hometown Hero

Italy is a country devoted to it's soccer teams, cyclists and little else in the world of sports. So it comes as no surprise that Enrico Fabris has been preparing for these Olympic Games in relative anonymity. On Tuesday night, however, Fabris burst onto the scene and found his face on the front page of newspapers on Wednesday morning. Any why not? With two gold medals and a bronze to his name, the 24-year-old policeman has become the symbol of Italian success at the nation's first Olympics in 46 years.

While many focused on the soap opera that is Chad Hendrick and Shani Davis, Fabris quietly focused on himself and brought home the gold with a winning time of 1 minute, 45.97 seconds.. Even Hendrick admitted he hadn't focused on Fabris as much as his rival Davis.

"To be honest, I think I was pushing a little harder to beat Shani," Hedrick said. "We were focused on each other. We were not focused on Enrico."

By winning the 1500m in the 2006 Torino Winter Games, Fabris has joined elite Italian athletic company. He is Italy's first Olympic double gold medalist since skier Alberto Tomba won twice at the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. And don't forget that there is still Friday's 10,000 meters to go - an event Fabris is currently fifth in this season's World Cup standings. Perhaps Hendrick should stop bickering at Davis and focus on trying to beat the current speed skating king - Enrico Fabris.

Sasha Cohen's Golden Opportunity

Sasha Cohen has long been overshadowed for years by Michelle Kwan, who almost made a habit of defeating her in competition. As a result, Kwan has enjoyed virtually all of the media attention and commercial endorsements. But last week Kwan had to withdraw from the Olympics and Cohen, who has skated better lately and is America's best hope for gold, is set to make this her week to shine.

Many skating experts and analysts have long-admired Cohen's natural talent and pure flexibility, but they have also been critical in saying she has a tendency to "choke" under pressure. Perhaps that is why Cohen has been practicing for the last week isolated in the mountains, while other performers have hung around Turin where distractions abound. She recently arrived in the Olympic Village and said:

"It has been beautiful," she said. "Very relaxing and great training. But it is good to be back in the hustle and bustle. Practice is going great. I am feeling really, really good, I am confident and excited. I am looking forward to tomorrow ... I am ready to perform out there after training for so long."

Career Defining Moment for Cohen Awaits

The power is in Cohen's hands, or rather her skates, and it now up to her how she handles it. Will she excel in the spotlight with her biggest rival gone? Or will another American favorite, like Bode Miller, come in with high hopes but leave empty handed?

Full Contact Ice Dancing

Ok, I'll admit it - ice dancing has never been able to hold my interest. It's not that I don't appreciate the skill and grace which the event takes and I certainly understand that the couples in this sport practice just as hard as anyone - but let's just call it a personal preference. Wikipedia defines ice dancing as:

Ice dancing is a form of pairs figure skating which draws from the world of ballroom dancing. It became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. It differs from "regular" pair skating by severely limiting throws and lifts (in fact, no throws are allowed at all). No jumps are allowed, and dance spins must be performed as a team.

So, let me get this straight. Ice dancing is:

Just a stripped-down version of apirs figure skating where they are strictly forbidden to do two of things that actually make figure skating exciting - jumps and throws.
Insipred from another boring event, ballroom dancing.
Full of costumes which are so bad that they make the 80's looks stylish.

No wonder I couldn't get into it. But this year I decided to give ice dancing another shot and I may very well have caught a lucky break. Ice dancing is usually the least risky of the four figure skating events at the Winter Olympics and susequently, the most boring. But on Sunday the Palavela rink saw a spectacular run of falls as four medal contenders slipped up.

The Italians , who had returned from retirement specifically for the Torino Games, were in the lead after the first round of ice dancing but watched the dream of winning at home fade at the end of their original dance. As they skated past the judges, Margaglio (man) lifted Fusar-Poli (woman) to shoulder level where she weebled and wobbled until he lost his balance and they both fell down. they quickly fell to 7th place.
Canadian Marie-France Dubreuil won the greatest gasp from the crowd when she crashed her hip hard into the ice, then whirled around on her side before limping off. A horrible event which, much like a NASCAR crash, you can't seem to turn away from.
The simplest fall came when Lithuanian Margarita Drobiazko caught a toe pick and slipped during a straightforward step sequence and dragged her partner and husband Povilas Vanagas down with her.
Later on, Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali of Italy simply tripped over each other, waved around and then landed in an ungainly heap in the middle of the rink.

Underdog Americans Find Hope, Then Find Silver

All of a sudden, the American ice dancing team of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto found themselves in medal position. By avoiding the falling bug, the Americans came out the next night and skated well enough to become the first American ice dancers in 30 years with a medal to celebrate, after winning the silver overall.

"This is absolutely amazing," Agosto said Monday night, wearing a smile that looked as if it would never come off. "We really feel this medal belongs to a lot of people who put in years and years of support. And for the teams that came before us and put in years of dedication building the sport of ice dancing in the U.S."It is hard to put into words. It is really wonderful."

To put it in perspective, the Americans have been about as good in ice dancing as the Jamaicans were in bobsled. It hasn't been since 1976 that the US actually had a medal contender which is more than a half-decade before Belbin or Agosto were born. All of a sudden the United States was a fun underdog to watch and route for - one that came through.

While it is still a surprise, the team of Agosto and Belbin have been building quite a resume over the last few years: 2006 National Champions, 2005 World Silver Medalists, 2005 National Champions, 2005 Grand Prix Silver Medalists, and 2004 National Champions. The future of U.S. ice dancing, for once, actually looks bright thanks to this pair.

I may very well have to tune in to ice dancing again in Vancouver 2008 ... maybe.

Gottwald's Got Gold

After placing poorly in the ski jumping portion of the combined event, Felix Gottwald is the gold medal winner. Gottwald had to overcome a huge 54-second deficit during the cross-country portion of the event - he skiied strong and, according to himself, “in good shape.” In a dominating display, Gottwald sprinted past the early starters and by the last leg he was on his own.

Too Much News, Not Enough Opinion

http://www.blogaholics.ca/archives/2006/02/the_olympics_ne.html

U.S. Skiers Continue to Disappoint

Coming into the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics Games, there were such high hopes for the US ski team to dominate the podium. But with only a few events left, the Americans find themselves reeling after Bode Miller's Multiple Disqualifications, Lindsey Kildow's horrible crash and Daron Rahlves' disappointing results. If it wasn't for Ted Ligety's surprising gold in the combined, the Americans would be shutout in Alpine events.

Today Benjamin Raich, the quiet and talented skiier from Austria, won gold in the giant Slalom - another event the Americans were supposed to excel in.The top American was Bode Miller who finished tied for 6th, while Daron Rahlves and Ted Ligity both were disqualified after missing gates in the steep midsection of the course. While Miller and Ligety still have a chance to medal in Saturday's slalom event, Rahles - considered a multimedal race threat in his final Olympics - will leave the Italian Alps empty handed.

"It's hard to swallow, knowing this is the last time I'll be racing in an event like this," Rahlves said. "Three times in the Olympics and I haven't medaled before."

Miller Believes He Could Have 4 Gold Medals

A change of wind here, a tighter turn there and Bode Miller believes he could be wearing 4 gold medals right now.

"One of the good things about my career is I have such extensive knowledge, so I always go as hard as I can," Miller told The Associated Press. "Some guys can go 70-80 percent and get results, but I wouldn't do that ... If things went well, I could be sitting on four medals, maybe all of them gold."

While Miller was 12th after the opening leg, and made a strong second run that brought him up to 6th, his time was still slower than each of the three medalists. The giant slalom silver medalist at Salt Lake City four years ago, Bode Miller claims he lost the race in the first run, when he "crushed a rock" and lost his edge. While he was on pace and in contention until catching his hand on a gate and then lifting too high off a bump, to claim that he could be wearing 4 gold's right now is kind of an insult to the other great skiiers who have performed up to their expectations at this Olympics: Benjamin Raich, Joel Chenal and Hermann Maier.

North American Power Outage

A Long Way From the Miracle on Ice

I didn't have a chance to live blog the latest USA men's hockey game and quite honestly, I'm glad I didn't. The US offense once again proved to be putrid as they managed just one goal in a 2-1 loss to the Sweedish today in the 2006 Winter Olympics Hockey Showdown.

Team USA is a sad 1-2-1 in this tournament and it has looked lost against the good teams – Slovakia and Sweden. With powerful Russia looming Tuesday, this isn't really a good time to suffer a power outage. How bad of a power outage? The Americans went 0-7 on the power play on Sunday ... and that's the good news. The bad? On two of those power plays they didn't even register a shot on goal. Twice the Americans had a 2 man advantage and they still couldn't put the puck in the net.

I suppose we can find some satisfaction knowing that as bad as we are, Latvia and Kazakhstan are even worse - almost guaranteeing the US a slot in the quarterfinals. However, this is setting up to be a very early and embarrassing exit for a slow, aging American team. This sure isn't the glory days of the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.

Canadians Shutout AGAIN

I suppose fans of the US team can take a little comfort in knowing that their northern neighbors aren't fairing any better. It's not that we don't want Canada to succeed, quite the opposite in fact, but rather it's nice knowing that even a team with so much talent can struggle.

All this talent on the Canadians' men's hockey team, and nothing to show for it. No wins in two weekend Olympic games. No chemistry. Worst of all, no goals. Canadian authorities better be checking the bridges tonight following Canada's 2-0 loss to Finland.

The "flying Finns" - and they certainly have been while going 4-0 - overcame Canada's advantages in physicality and size with excellent puck movement, transitional play and a strong game in net by Antero Niittymaki, who made 24 saves. Finland looked faster on the bigger Olympic ice, seemingly skating circles around a lost Canadian team which coach Pat Quinn juggled after a stunning 2-0 loss to Switzerland on Saturday:

"We kind of looked dopey, quite frankly," a perplexed Quinn said. "We had bad pursuit. We skated to areas where nobody else was -- 'I'll be clear over here, I'll be fine,' but you're not fine -- and we didn't have any teamwork."

Canada had not been shut out in consecutive Olympic games since it failed to score in its final three games in 1984. In order to have any shot of defending it's 2002 Salt Lake City Gold Medal, Canada has to find a way to score.

"We've got to get better," Kris Draper said. "We haven't done it for a couple of games, and we've got to find a way real quick."

South Korea Gets Its Revenge

American Short Track Star, Apolo Anoton Ohno, Takes the Bronze

This time, there was no controversy. There were no crashes, no bumps, no controversial calls and this time around, no gold for Apolo Anton Ohno.

Ahn Hyun-Soo of South Korea won the 1000m short track speed skating race and teammate Lee Ho-Suk took the silver by making a beautiful pass on Ohno on the next-to-last turn in the race. For Hyun-Soo, it was his second gold medal of the Winter Olympic Games. For a nice pictoral review of the race, visit Light the Torch.

"This is something they thrive on,'' Ohno said. "The South Koreans have always been very strong.''

Not only have they been very strong, the South Korean team and its fans have been very patient. Finally getting their rematch with Apolo Anton Ohno meant a lot for the country, and they made the most of it. Unlike the dramatic chaos of four years ago in Salt Lake, when a massive pileup took out Ohno and three others ultimately leading to disqualifications and a gold medal for the American, this race was clean and indisputibly won.

As Ohno crossed the finish line in 3rd place he threw his hands up in the air. Did the skater think he was bumped? Does he feel the race wasn't clean? No, he simply was outskated and made the gesture as a sign of his admiration:

"That was like a `Wow, couldn't believe it,''' he said. "It was ... like, `Man, there was no room to move.' That was kind of my emotion.''

The bronze gave Ohno a complete set of Olympic medals. In 2002, he won a disputed gold in the 1500m over another South Korean skater and took silver in the 1000m. From all the interviews I have seen with Ohno, he seems like a well-spoken gracious young man. He works hard at his sport and appreciates the strong competition.

I have no doubt Ohno will be ready for Vancouver 2008, a mere few hundred miles from his hometown of Seattle, WA. Look for Ohno to compete for another Olympic gold.

Historic Gold: Shani Davis is Champion

Shani Davis Skates His Way and Wins Gold in the Process

Earlier in these Olympic Games, Shani Davis was being called selfish because he decided not to participate in the speed skating relay - a move that may very well have paid off. Davis became the first black to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history Saturday, winning the 1,000-meter speedskating race and justifying his decision to focus on himself first, his team second.

"I'm one of a kind," Davis said, fully aware of how much he stands out in the mostly white sport. "I'm a different type of person. I have a different charisma. A lot of people don't understand me."

Davis beat out fellow team-mates Joey Cheek (silver) and Chad Hendrick (4th) for the gold medal. Hendrick and Shani Davis are starting to form quite the intra-country rivalry: Hedrick won the first speedskating gold with a dominating performance in the 5,000. Davis got him back in the 1,000, the weakest of Hedrick's individual events. They'll face off again Tuesday in the 1,500 -- an event Davis ruled until Hedrick snatched away the world record. But Shanni Davis claims he's not looking for a rivalry:

"I'm not trying to beat Chad," Davis insisted. "I'm trying to beat everyone."

The harsh relationship between the two U.S. stars was apparent after the race when Hedrick didn't even bother congratulating Davis. When asked about it, Hendrick's comments also sounded a little bitter:

"Once Shani beat me, I didn't care if I got a bronze," he said. "I'm here to win. It's all or nothing...Shani skated fast today," Hedrick said. "That's about all I have to say about that."

Congratulations to Shanni Davis and Joey Cheek. May the competition in the American team lead them to more victories later on in Torino.

The Joey Cheek Charity Drive

Five days ago Joey Cheek donated his $25,000 winnings to a charity run by speedskating icon Johann Olav Koss. This time, after coming in 3rd in the 1000m event, he'll hand over the $15,000 check to Koss as well. Because of his donations, several companies have made matching donations and overall $300,000 has been raised. Cheek’s donation will go to underprivileged children both at home and at the war-torn regions of Darfur, Sudan.

This is an amazing act of kindness that isn't getting enough media play - Joey Cheek has donated 100% of his $40,000 Olympic winnings to charity while no other athlete has donated a cent (to my knowledge). Absolutely wonderful. You can contribute to Joey Cheek's drive by visiting the Right to Play site and donating in any way you can.

Live Blog: Men's Hockey - USA vs. Slovakia

Blogging live as the U.S. men's hockey team plays the talented Solvakians who are undefeated in Olympic play.

Slovakia wins 2-1 and remains undefeated in Olympic play. The USA may not even have a chance to fight for bronze now. This was a terrific hockey game with lots of energy and great saves.
The net is empty for the USA who is down by 1 with only a minute to go.
WHAT A SAVE! Not by American goalie DiPietro, but by defensemen Mattheiu Schneider who makes a diving save to keep the US in the game!
DiPietro comes up with a HUGE save on a short-handed break by Solvakia - US looking tired and old on the ice ... no surprise there.
Hooking call on Solvakia - US will go on the powerplay for 2 minutes. But they are unable to get a shot off in the first 1 minute and 10 seconds of the advantage! Charo is too big of a force - he's dominating the center of the zone.
Satan from behind the net to Peter Bonda who scored in front of the net before DiPietro could get down. Slovakia leads 2-1 with 18 minutes to go. This was the first even strength goal of the game.
Martin Sturbak will not be back for Slovakia after leaving the game with a bloody hand in the 2nd period.
After 2 periods, the score is tied at 1-1.
USA has won 16 of 19 faceoffs, the last faceoff leading to the USA goal.
Scott Gomez gets checked from behind into the boards, and the USA will go on the power play.
USA SCORES! Brian Rolston on the powerplay shoots a laser beam on edge past the solvakian goalie to tie the game at 1!
Slovakia scores! On a beautiful power-play slapshot. 1-0 Solvakia.
After 1 period, it's the USA 0, Solvakia 0
Brian DiPeietro is playing a phenomenal game in the net for the U.S. men making the coaches descision look very sound. At the end of the first period, DiPietro made two huge stops on a Slovakian break-away to keep the score tied.
Zdeno Charo is the biggest professional hockey player in the world! At 6'9", 258 pounds this 28 year old is an absolute defensive force on the ice. What's even more scary is the skill in which he handles the puck ... it's almost not fair.
Massachusetts native, Brian DiPietro, will start the game in net for the US - a controversial call by the US coach.

Bode-Time? Miller Disqualifies Again

Bode Miller came into the 2006 Winter Olympics on top of the skiing world. He was the World Champion with the potential for a 5 gold medal Olympics. But as of yet, he hasn't even reached the podium - and he won't if he keeps disqualifying from his events.

In his first event, the Downhill on Sunday (Feb. 12), Bode finished a disappointing 5th. On Tuesday (Feb. 14), he straddled a gate on the Slalom portion of the Combined event and was disqualified. Today, in the Super-G, Bode smashed through a gate and was out of contention altogether once again.

Bode Miller was able to bring in plenty of praise however, with his miraculous recovery on one ski - staying upright after hitting the gate and not falling despite skiing on one leg. Regardless, I believe Bode would slide head-first down the hill if it won him Olympic gold. His next event is the Giant Slalom.

Upset Central: Swiss Beat Canada in Hockey

Switzerland 2, Canada 0

How do you beat Canada in men's hockey? The Swiss have no idea, they just did it. Call it inconceivable. Call it incredible. All the adjectives fit. Even before the game began the Swiss players didn't think it was possible:

"Are you crazy, man? With the players they have, it would be impossible." said Swiss forward Flavien Conne.

They did it by proving a team concept sometimes can overcome even a vast disadvantage in talent. Canadian-born Paul DiPietro scored twice and goalie Martin Gerber turned aside 49 shots in an upset that came only two days after the smallish Swiss -- No. 8 in the world, but normally far behind the other seven -- beat the world champion Czech Republic 3-2.

Cheered on by hundreds of arena-rocking fans who chanted "Hop, Suisse! Hop, Suisse!" -- the equivalent of Go Swiss! -- the Swiss put themselves in position to win their six-team group. That would have been seen as an absurdity days ago, considering the quality of opponents and their 5-0 loss to Finland on Wednesday.

The Miracles on Ice just seem to keep coming here in Turin.

Jacobellis Makes Mistake of Olympic Proportions

Lindsey Jacobellis was in the clear. In front of her was the finish line in the inaugural Snowboardcross at the Torino Winter Olympics, behind her a competitor couldn't even be seen. Jacobellis could have practically crawled to the finish line, and now she wishes she would have.

Instead she got caught up in the moment - while cruising to an Olympic gold medal on Friday, the 20-year-old American grabbed her board on the second-to-last jump before the finish line to perform her "Lindsey Leap". But this time Lindsey tweaked it too hard and then unbelieveably and inexcusably fell. Scrambling to get up and finish it was already too late, Switzerland's Tanja Frieden caught up and sped past Jacobellis to become the first champion in Olympic Snowboardcross history. Jacobellis had to settle for silver.

"She definitely styled that a little too hard," U.S. snowboarding coach Peter Foley said, after looking at a frame-by-frame breakdown of the jump taken by Associated Press photographers.

Should Jacobellis have gone for the so-called "backside method grab" she attempted at the end -- even with a commanding lead in the event? Remember, this is a trick she rarely tries and one that included a flashy 60-degree twist right in front of the grandstands! It's pretty clear to me: this was a blatant and unfortunate case of show-boating, even if in the moments after the race Jacobellis insisted it was pretty much standard operating procedure to "create stability." It wasn't until a few hours later on a conference call that she conceded there may have been a little show-boating going on.

"I was having fun," she said. "Snowboarding is fun. I was ahead. I wanted to share my enthusiasm with the crowd. I messed up. Oh well, it happens."

Oh well, it happens? Lindsey was one of my favorite athletes heading into the games and this quote caught me a bit off-guard. This isn't something that happens, rather this is something that she made happen and unfortunately for her it led not only to the silver medal, but it also brought on the embarrassment of an arrogant move. I can understand her excitement, I can understand wanting to give something to the crowd, I just can't understand doing it on the Olympic gold medal run. Either can fellow Snowboardcrosser Seth Westcott, who won the gold yesterday:

"Sometimes it's subconscious, but that was putting on a show," Wescott said. "You've got to choose your time and make sure you don't miss."

American Jason Hale agrees:

"It's kind of a little victory thing. And when you've got that much of a lead at the end, you throw in something for the crowd, for fun. It happens. Just not at the Olympics and not when you've got a medal in your hand."

Sadly, Jacobellis has a long time to think about her mistake until Vancouver in 2008.

U.S. Women's Hockey Loses in Shootout

More bad news for the Americans. The U.S. women's hockey team made history Friday night -- the wrong kind.

For the first time since international competition in women's hockey began in 1990, the U.S. and Canada won't meet in the championship match. One of the main reasons is Kim Martin, the Sweedish goalie who made 37 saves and stopped all four American attempts in a shootout. It was Martin who led the Swedes to the bronze medal in Salt Lake City, and she was a key to success again on this night.

in the shootout, the U.S. actually went 0-for-5 on four chances against Martin: Defenseman Angela Ruggiero got a second chance when Martin moved too early, but she missed an open net. The Sweedish took advantage of an uncharacteristically sloppy night for the Americans - Pernilla Winberg scored on the next shot, and after U.S. captain Krissy Wendell missed, Maria Rooth finished it with a low stick-side shot against Chanda Gunn.

The Swedes mobbed Martin after Rooth's goal, throwing off their gloves and piling onto each other - it was a scene much like the Miracle on Ice, when the U.S. Men shocked the world-power Russia in 1980. You had to feel good for the Sweedish team as they joined hands and skated around the ice to the cheers of a small rooting section, while hundreds of American fans stared blankly or cried.

The Fall of a Dynasty

The sport's domination by the U.S. and Canada was the talk of the tournament's first week, with some questioning whether it belonged in the Olympics. Canada, which faced Finland in the late semifinal, and the U.S. had never lost to anybody except each other since international play began in 1990. The Americans won the sport's inaugural gold medal in Nagano, and Canada won in Salt Lake City. But the Americans barely held off Finland on Tuesday before losing to Sweden, which lost 8-1 to Canada in the preliminary round and appeared weaker than the Finns.

There's parity in women's hockey after all -- and the Americans are heartbroken they had to prove it this way.

Time to Remove NHL Players From the Olympics

Do You Believe in Miracles? ... We Used To

Remember what it was like to be a hockey fan? Remember the The Miracle On Ice, the way Gretzky, Lemieux and Cam Neely used to skate? Remember when the NHL wasn't the laughing stock of the sports world? Those were the days. The NHL is back, but after the lockout do most hockey fans even care? In Canada, Sweeden, Russia and even Latvia there is a buzz about their national teams - but here in the US? You don't really here so much as a whisper about this year's US squad.

This isn't simply about a weak effort against the Latvians the other day - I'm happy for the Latvians, their team and fans seemed truly thrilled by the victory. Rather, this is about how another of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's marketing experiments is failing, how another winter seems lost, how not even the Olympic Games can excite anyone. There is no feeling of "team" on this roster, nothing to stir up national pride and the ratings are beginning to reflect that.

Part of that is a result of a silly system. Back in 1998, Bettman and all his suits at the NHL rubbed their MBAs together and decided it would be genius to shut the league down for two and a half weeks every four years and let the pros play. Here is what this system has done instead: with the NHL playing on Sunday, the team couldn't gather for the flight to Italy until Monday. They arrived Tuesday, got a grand total of one, single-hour practice and, just like that, played on Wednesday (note, they played like they had only practiced one hour as well).

In fact, U.S. coach Peter Laviolette wanted to spend time on the trans-Atlantic flight going over game plans but the players were so exhausted that he had to drop that idea. That is what makes me think that "Team USA" isn't a national team at all, it's simply just a collection of guys. It is not something that should be out there represeting out country.

It's time to let the college kids play in the Olympics again ... and no, this isn't just because the Americans are losing, it's because the sport is losing.

No-one is Watching? Or Are They?

Diane Meyer over at Respublica, wrote an interesting post this morning about the Olympic Television ratings. She believes very few Americans are watching not because they aren't interested, but rather because:

The Olympics are airing during 24 and American Idol.
She finds it very frustrating to watch a competition, for instance last weekend's Half Pipe, and find that just when the event has become engrossing, NBC cuts away for another sport ... The telecast is so choppy a viewer never knows what is going on or what will be shown when and she finds that annoying.

In her post she also makes mention of Bryan Gumbel's controversial comments. Gumbel thinks no-one is watching because the marketing for the games is mis-leading

Try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the games look like a GOP convention.

While Gumbel may have a point, I believe his statement should be refined. The simple fact is the greatest winter athletes are competing at this year's games, regardless of the color of their skin.

*edit: Since I wrote this post I have found a survey which I thought has some interesting results. Jill Manty runs the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics Blog, part of the Positive Sports Blog Network, where on Thursday she asked the question: Did you watch American Idol or the Olympics Tuesday Night?

The readers of this blog bucked the system, choosing to watch the Olympics, instead of American Idol. A fairly large percentage of you still chose to watch American Idol, though.

Here are the results:

Winter Olympics: 49% (589)
American Idol: 27% (326)
Recorded one and watched the other: 8% (100)
neither: 15% (179)
Total Votes : 1194

While the results may be a bit skewed given the site is about the 2006 Winter Olympics, I still find the fact that 49% of the voters claimed to have watched the Winter Olympics very encouraging.

Westcott Wins Wild New Snowboardcross

The Winter Olympics just got a whole lot more exciting.

Seth Westcott of the United States brought home gold tonight in the first ever Winter Olympics Snowboardcross event. The event, which has 4 snowboard racers plunging down a twisting course at the same time in a race against each other, is the newest addition to the Winter Olympics lineup.

Snowboardcross brings the excitment of short track speed skating to the world of snowboarding. During Thursday's competition Westcott found himself suspended in midair, not only worrying about making the landing, but also trying not to land on and crush his opponent.

All day there was bumping, thrashing and wipeouts in a series of four-man races down the mountain with everyone vying for space on the tight, high-banked, 1,000-yard course. And the gold medal event didn't disappoint either - with lead changes, angling racers and near mid-air collisions.

There was bumping, thrashing, wipeouts and worse during the 90-minutes of NASCAR on Ice, a series of four-man races down the mountain with everyone vying for space on the tight, high-banked, 1,000-yard course.

The women take their turn Friday, with America's biggest snowboardcross star and lone entrant, Lindsey Jacobellis, among the favorites.

Snowboardcross Gold Medal Run Breakdown

In the men's final race, Wescott's winning move stood out for its pure finesse -- a sly slip past Zidek with time running out. The 29-year-old capped a decade-long quest to become an Olympic medalist, one that took him through the halfpipe and across the rough-and-tumble courses of snowboardcross, his sport's more violent -- and maybe more exciting -- cousin.

"I think for a lot of people who just see snowboarding in the halfpipe, they might not see all the intricacies of it," Wescott said. "But with this, they love the racing aspect and for all of us, it's one of the things that makes it so exciting to do. I think that translates to the viewing public, too."

In the final, Westcott took the lead from Zidek first by avoiding him on a jump, then picking up speed on the high line of the course and zipping below him after a hard right turn. He led the rest of the way, and beat Zidek to the finish line by about half a board.

"I almost landed on Rado," Wescott said. "I had a bunch of speed coming into that `hip jump.' I was a little worried in the air that that might be the end of the race right there. I was looking down on him and I wasn't sure exactly where the trajectory was going to put me."

Bode Miller Downplays Importance of Medals

Bode Miller doesn't care about the medals ... yeah, right.

"It is other people who want me to win medals," Miller said in an interview with Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper on Thursday. "The silver medals I won in Salt Lake City didn't give me anything. Last year I set myself the goal of winning the World Cup and lining up a long series of wins. It was my private challenge. This year I just want to enjoy myself. I could give up tomorrow without having the slightest regret. I could keep away from this world for a year and then perhaps start to feel the desire to prove something to myself again."

Excuse me while I cry BS on this one. Bode Miller is one of America's most decorated skiiers and has plenty to be proud of, but to claim that he could walk away from the Olympics right now without regrets is simply insane. After finishing 6th in the Downhill and Disqualifying in the Alpine Combined, is Bode Miller actually starting to succomb to the pressure?

"Fame is almost a poison. I couldn't care less, in fact I lived better when I was a nobody," he said. "I had a great time at Nagano in 1998, when no one knew me and I could do what I wanted. I went out with my friends and went to watch all the sports," said Miller, who failed to finish both technical events at the Olympics in Japan.

Perhaps he should have thought of that before exclaiming that you often raced drunk? I have no doubt that the pressure at the Olympics is overwhelming, but it's difficult to feel bad for a guy who so often brings attention to himself.

"Sport is born clean and it would stay that way if it was the athletes who ran it for the pleasure of taking part, but then the fans and the media intervene and finish up by corrupting it with the pressure that they exercise," he said. "Anyone who isn't strong is left in a corner, no one asks for their autograph, they are abandoned in the cold shadows. Those who win, however, become icons.

"From this inhuman pressure doping is born because the athlete feels the imperative of having to be number one. I believe instead that sport should be a private pressure, a challenge for yourself."

The pressure is starting to crack Bode Miller. We'll see how he does on Saturday, where he is the favorite to win the Men's Super-G.

Australia Wins Third-Ever Winter Olympics Gold

Dale Begg-Smith of Australia gave his nation its third Winter Olympics gold medal ever Wednesday by winning the men's freestyle moguls. This comes as a surprise as Begg-Smith beat out four strong American contenders who were all expected to finish at the top. But it was Begg-Smith for Gold, Mikko Ronkainen of Finland for the silver medal and Toby Dawson of the United States receiving the bronze.

Australia had never won a Winter Olympics gold medal until it picked up two at the Salt Lake City Games. Alisa Camplin won the women`s aerials title at those Olympics and Steven Bradbury won the short-track 1,000-meter race.

Heavily favored Jeremy Bloom of the United States, finished sixth in the moguls Wednesday while teammates Travis Mayer and Travis Cabral were seventh and ninth.

Kildow: From Hospital Bed to the Finish Line

Many American woke up yesterday, saw that U.S. favorite Lindsey Kildow finished 8th, and shrugged it off as a bad day on the slopes. But this story is so much deeper then that - a story of epic courage and perseverance.

Discharged from the hospital in Torino only the previous day, the 21-year-old American Alpine skier returned to the glistening Fraiteve piste where she crashed so agonisingly in Monday's training run. That's what makes her eighth place finish so remarkable. In fact, Kildow's time was just 0.65 seconds adrift of Swedish bronze medalist Anja Paerson.

"The only thing that would have stopped me was if I physically couldn't do it," Kildow told reporters. "Pain was something that I was going to take, no matter what. It was just a matter of whether my body could physically withstand the forces of the speed."

In a time where so many star athletes take a seat on the bench because of a hangnail, it was refreshing and enlightening to watch Kildow perform after such a horrific crash just a few days before.

Kildow acknowledged the pain she was in and hinted that she was racing at only 70%, but it wasn't the results that wowed her spectators, fans and collegues ... it was her heart and determination.

"I'm happy I raced today," she said, conscious of what might have been had she been fully fit, but thankful to have had the chance to compete. "It wasn't really the outcome I wanted but it's as good as can be expected.

"I'm paying right now for choosing to race but if I keep moving, and I keep my muscles going then it feels better. But when I stand still it feels really tight and extremely painful."

Kildow's Olympics are not yet over - and if her legs cooperate, she can be a dangerous threat in future events. I'll be rooting for her all the way.

Athlete Profile: Johnny Weir

Johnny Weir is known for both his lyrical, fluid style of skating, his three consecutive world championships and his ever-engaging mouth. Weir is an outspoken and flamboyant character who always speaks his mind regardless of who it may offend or why.

Eccentric and free-spirited, Weir is a medal favorite at this year's Torino Winter Olympics. He tends to think his success scares people, particularily of the republican variety, because of his views and way of life. In fact, it seems he loves the fact that he has critics, just so he can constantly prove them wrong:

The first [world championship] was more gratifying because I finally got the critics off my back from what happened in Dallas in 2003. It was almost like slapping them in the face. And I loved that.

At the 2006 U.S. Championships in St. Louis, Weir became the first American man to win three consecutive national titles since 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano, who won four straight U.S. championships from 1985-88. Though he skated beautifully in St. Louis, it was Weir's remarks to the press that earned him the most attention. Never one to turn down the chance to be a dramtic, Weir, after his successful short program, said he had gone from feeling like pond scum prior to the event (because of nerves and pressure) to feeling like a flower growing out of the pond. He also didn't hold back on how he viewed the audience that night:

"This one they kind of sat back and had their cognac and cigarettes and relaxed. His was more like a vodka shot, let's-snort-coke kind of thing."

Weir understands his comments may offend some, he simply doesn't care. When asked if, as a role model for young skaters, he should reconsider, he explained:

"I don’t think there should be one role model for all kids. I want to be a role model for kids who feel different and stifled, kids that I was like, kids who feel like they can’t say what they want. ... I’m not for everyone."

Weir is a fan of the first ammendment and I am a fan of his style. While his personality surely may come across as bold and cocky, some of that arrognace is neccessary to succeed in Figure Skating - a sport where you are isolated and so harshly judged.

In The Torino Olympics

Weir's short program music for this Winter Olympics is Saint-Saens' "The Swan." After the 2006 U.S. Championships, he decided to ditch the free program he's been using all season because he was "bored"of watching himself. A self-proclaimed "fashionista", Weir truly loves designing costumes and has created a sexy swan costume to match his Olympic short program music.

*update: after tonight's short program, Weir sits in 2nd place - leading up to the free-skate.

5 Things I'd Like to See More Of At The Winter Olympics

More Rivalries
More Diversity
More National Pride
More Team Events
More Tournaments

No Bode? No Problem

I'll admit it - the Olympic-sized disappointment of the U.S. men on the downhill, coupled with Lindsey Kildow's horrific crash and the news of Bode Miller Disqualifying from the Alpine Combined left me feeling a bit down today.

Not to worry though - in his first Olympics, Ted Ligety of Park City Utah deluvered when other, more highly touted skiiers, couldn't.

The 21-year-old skier had a combined time of 3 minutes, 9.35 seconds for the downhill and two slalom runs. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won the silver medal, 53-hundredths of a second behind the American at 3:09.88. Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria captured the bronze at 3:10.67. The final racer, Austrian favorite Benjamin Raich, was the "no-doubt" leader of the pack until going into the final slalom run he skied off course, setting off a red-white-and-blue celebration at the finish area. A justified celebration: It was only the fourth Olympic Alpine gold medal ever for U.S. men.

"It's incredible," Ligety said. "I can't believe it (happened) in combined because I'm not very good in downhill."

Who is Ted Ligety?

Ligety burst onto the world scene with two thirds and a second in this, his second World Cup season, and it seemed only a question of when, not if he would be a winner. But no-one outside of Ted and his family believed this would be the year - not with Bode Miller and Benjamin Rich in the tournament. But Ligety flew under the radar and in the process stole the hearts of Americans everywhere.

Speed Skating Controversy

At first, one of the only complaints about the Olympics was the quality of the ice at the speed skating oval. But now there is a far more serious complain at the same venue.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Marianne Timmer of the Netherlands was disqualified from the 500 meters Tuesday for causing a second false start in her heat. It is the belief of many coaches, players and fans that the starter is holding skaters too long in the starting stance, causing them to make tiny moves that set off a false start. Speed skating is a game of milliseconds and a good start is just as important as a good skate.

When Timmer saw her bid for another Olympic medal end without even getting off the line, she threw her armband and glasses off in a fury and circled the training track in tears - an understandable reaction after working for 4 years to reach this point. The complaint was echoed by Kip Carpenter, an American who nearly tripped coming off the line after false-starting once.

"The starter is really hurting people. You're supposed to be down for 1 1/2, 2 seconds at the most," Carpenter said. "When you're down for 2 1/2, 3 seconds, it's a tough position. I tripped up and it just got my timing off."

Bode Miller Disqualified

After what looked like a sure Olympic gold, Bode Miller was disqualified from the Alpine Combined event after straddling a gate in the first leg of the slalom. The leaderboard initially showed the American overall World Cup champion nearly a second ahead of Austrian world champion Benjamin Raich after the first leg, but television replays showed he had straddled the 42nd gate and he was disqualified.

About three-quarters of the way through the first of two evening slalom runs—on the 42nd of 56 gates—Miller pinned a red gate with his left ski and the post popped up between his feet.

"I came down and the run felt fine," Miller said. "I had no idea I had straddled. ... I was in the recovery room already getting ready for the second run when I heard it on the radio and I looked at the replay."

The news has sent shockwaves throughout Italy, but I suppose it shouldn't be so surprising: It was Miller's eighth slalom this season, and he's only finished two without either a disqualification, a crash or skiing off course. Maybe that's why Bode Miller was so nochalant:

"I've straddled probably more times than most people have finished the slalom," he told reporters at the bottom of the run.

Bode Miller Leads After Downhill Leg

Bode Miller has setup himself up for Olympic Gold in the Alpine Ski Combined event today by taking a storming run in the downhill portion of the event today. The controversial American was 0.32 seconds faster then the second-placed Didier Defago of Switzerland with a time of 1 minute, 38.36 seconds. Hometown favorite Peter Fill was third with a time of 1:39.22.

The good news for Miller? Neither Defago nor Fill have any slalom pedigree. This gives Bode Miller, who has won five World Cup races in Alpine skiing's shortest discipline, an advantage for the two slalom legs of the event later today.

U.S.A: Global Halfpipe Heaven

Hannah Teiter and Gretchen Blierer - the Italian Alps echoed the Star Spangled Banner - looked like the children they are on the podium - gellfully similing and toying with each other, it was quite a site to see. Afterglow persists. In an interview with Bob Costas BC: you really took off in your first run and had the gold secured. U.S goes 1-2-4, didn't qualify in 2002 Gretchen, came down to triple tie-breaker, didn't make it, taught her a lot, gained so much experience since then. lots of ups and down, got through it and had an amazing time. Shaun was surpised with how emotional the olympics made him feel. hannah felt more emotional for the boys, describes herself as "stoked" and had a feeling of strength. pat on the back, no tears. hannah - 2 of 4 older brothers snowboarders gretchen - swimer, diver, hockey ... always wanted to make it to the olympics somehow.

Zhang Redefines Courage

Who said figure skaters weren't tough?

In Pairs Figure Skating Event last night, Zhang Dan took a horrible fall when she tried to land an unprecedented throw quad Salchow - the fall left her doubled over in pain. The event stopped and the entire venue held its collective breath as her partner, Zhang Hao, struggled to help her off the ice.

With visible bruises on her knee she asked to continue. With the fans clapping in support, the event referee allowed it.

Amazingly, the pair nailed every element in their routine over the next four minutes. Once finished, she again doubled over and Zhang Hao couldn't help but cry. They had nothing to cry about when they saw the marks that kept them in second place with a personal best.

"I think it's a very valuable experience for competition," she said. "It's so important for myself because I made a mistake on the first element, but I think I can do all the other elements, so why not keep going?"

The entire scene showed amazing courage and strength from a women who couldn't weight more then 100 pounds soaking wet. But it brings up the question: why was the pair allowed to attempt their routine a second time?

Don't get me wrong - I love a comeback story and last night was one of the best. However, I can't help but feel that by allowing the couple to skate again it puts the entire competition under the microscope. If you miss a gate in Alpine Slalom you are out, if you fall off your sled in Luge your Olympic dream is done - so why allow this couple, no matter how couragous, a second chance at their routine?

I can't help but think the team that came in 4th is feeling cheated of their bronze medal right now.

Russians Continue to Dominate Pairs Figure Skating

Tatyana Totmiyanina and Maxim Marinin continued Russia's domination of Olympic pairs with a "balletic free skate reminiscent of the greatest Russian couples" according to NBC.

Pure Russina Domination

The two time world champions left no doubt that they were the best. On the medal stand, Tot didn't try to hold back the tears and Marinin smiled widely. Their huge margin of victory, 14.75 points over China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, avoided any suspicions of judging improprieties in the first Olympic pairs event since the 2002 Salt Lake City scandal that led to the new code of points system.

"I can't even explain the emotions because they are very very high," she said. "It was a long, long way and it wasn't the easiest way. I'm just thrilled with everything. We've done so well, our personal best at the Olympic Games."

This victory continues a phenomenal run - a Russian or Soviet pair has won the gold medal every year since 1964, and this one was as good as any.Is this the greatest dynasty in all of sports?

U.S. Continues Snowboarding Domination

Looks like that when it comes to Olympic snowboarding, the halfpipe belongs to the United States and everyone else is just along for the ride.

A day after the U.S. Men dominated the podium for the halfpipe by winning Gold, Silver and barely missing the sweep by coming in 4th, the women matched the feat.

American Hannah Teter won gold and Gretchen Bleiler won silver, adding more hardware to the two medals the U.S. men won the day before. Vermont's Kelly Clark barely missed the bronze medal by coming in 4th, behind Norway's Kjersti Buaas who threw the run of her life. Buass' run was worth the bronze and when Kelly Clark, the 2002 Olympic champion, slipped after her final jump -- a tough, 900-degree spin -- in an attempt to make the medal stand, she wound up 0.9 points short of 3rd.

"USA. Representing," Bleiler said. "We're doing a good job. That's about all I can say."

Teter scored a 44.6 on her first run to take the lead, an advantage that none of the other 11 riders could match. A move, she admits, which made her second trip, soaring through the pipe and into the sunshine of the Italian Alps, simply a victory lap - just like White's the day before. After bouncing up and down and jiggling her legs at the top, she raised her hands, then scored a 46.4 on the strength of a frontside 540 followed by a frontside 900.

24-year-old Bleiler's motivation for these Olympics came from the heartbreak of 2002, when she tied for the final spot on the Olympic team but lost out on the third tiebreaker. It made her journey to this point, and the success she finally enjoyed, a nerve-racking ride with a sweet conclusion.

"I get so nervous, and especially for this event," Bleiler said. "I told my coach, 'I don't want to care this much. I don't want to care this much.' But that's what happens when you work for a goal your entire life."

The move from fringe lifestyle sport to mainstream really took off in 2002 for snowboarding, when the American men swept the halfpipe medals at the Salt Lake City Games, the first time the United States had done that in any winter sport in 46 years. That brought about a whole new wave of shredders -- snowboarding's classic catch-all metaphor for powering through powder and tearing up halfpipes.

This year, when Clark, Bleiler and Teter finished 1-2-3 in qualifying, it became clear the sweep would be America's to lose. Clark flew higher than anyone off the halfpipe, while Bleiler's landings were smoother and Teter's tricks were more tweaked up than anyone's.

NBCOlympics.com

NBCOlympics.com - The official news page of the Torino 2006 Winter Games in the United States. Updated stats, rundowns of the results and upcoming schedules are all easily available here. Subscribe to e-mail alerts to stay up-to-date on the latest olympic news.

Shaun White Comebacks To Win Olympic Gold

The Flying Tomato got his gold.

Redheaded snowboarding superstar Shaun White came back after a rough preliminary run to dominate the competition on the halfpipe Sunday, beating out teammate Danny Kass to win the Olympic gold medal that so many expected him to get.

The American's dominated the snowboard scene yet again, falling one bronze medal short of repeating their history-making sweep of 2002 in Salt Lake City. Instead, a solid run by third-place finisher Markuu Koski of Finland wrecked those hopes as he knocked Mason Aguirre of the U.S. into fourth place.

"I'm a little overwhelmed right now. I can't explain it," White said after a tearful celebration with his parents at the bottom of the hill.

Regardless, this day can hardly be deemed a disappointmentfor the United States - a much needed morale booster after the announcement of Michelle Kwan, and busts from American skiiers on the Alpine and Moguls courses this weekend.

With AC/DC's "Back In Black" blaring over the sound system, White practically touched the sky on his first jump, soaring about 25 feet over the edge of the pipe. According to NBC:

He came back with consecutive 1080-degree jumps, grabbing his board on both, which earns big style points from the judges. Then, it was a pair of 900s -- one off the frontside wall and another off the backside -- each of them high enough that he could pretty much look down and pick his landing spot on the snow.

Wearing a stars-and-stripes bandanna over his chin and his mop-like red hair peeking out from under the helmet, Shaun White soared through the crystal blue sky for the winning score of 46.8 on his first run of the finals - a score that was far and away the best of the day.

After the halfpipe run, Shaun White threw his fists in the air, hugged his coaches, sat down to celebrate, then stood at the top and waved to the crowd.

"It's definitely one of the best things that's ever happened to my career," White said. "I came out here. I barely made it into finals. After that, I knew I could just do the best run I had planned."

Shaun White's snowboarding team-mate, Danny Kass, once considered the ultimate nonconformist who now has two Olympic silvers, said with riders like White in the fold, the boom is just beginning.

"Shaun is probably one of the most amazing riders in the sport and it's just so amazing to be next to him," Kass said. "It's just a great feeling. He's still pushing the sport."

Kildow Crashes, To Remain in Hospital

Lindsey Kildow, an American medal contender in women's downhill, was injured in a severe crash on her downhill training run and airlifted to a hospital on Monday, moments after defending Olympic champion Carole Montillet-Carles of France was hurt in another spectacularly dangerous fall.

Kildow appeared to skid and then fly with her momentum carrying her into the air for about 15 feet. She then landed on her back, slammed her head against the icy snow and slid to a stop. Kildow was heaving with pain as medical personnel rushed to her aid, her legs splayed awkwardly.Thankfully, the injuries aren't as bad as initially feared:

"The x-rays are normal," said Ed Ryan, USOC medical director. "The decision now is how long she stays in the hospital. There's also a question about whether she banged her head. She is complaining of back pain, but that's normal. We will evaluate further and monitor her condition."

Alpine Downhill is one of the Olympics fastest events, which also makes it one of the most dangerous.

"It's the Olympics. People are trying to take more chances." Candian Emily Brydon said. "It's so rolly up there, you to be on it all the time. If you relax for a bit, it will catch you."

Snowboard Halfpipe Glossary

Do you find yourself as confused as I do when the announcer says something like "That was a great frontside McTwist!" To help break down the Winter Olympic Snowboard terminology, here is a quick reference glossary:

The Physical Halfpipe

Wall: The section of a halfpipe that slopes up from the flat bottom, propelling the rider into the air. The 2002 Olympic halfpipe had 15' high walls.

Transition: The section of a halfpipe where it "transitions" from the flat bottom to the vertical wall. Transitions are measured as the radius of a large imaginary circle.

Lip: The upper edge of the halfpipe where the wall ends.

Deck: The flat area on either side of the halfpipe where people hike back up the pipe or stand and watch.

Terms Describing Maneuvers

3, 5, 7, 9, 1080: Spins are measured in degrees, but sometimes these are shortened to just the first digit. Hence, a 360 degree spin will sometimes be called a "three", likewise with a "five" (540), "seven" (720) and "nine" (900). The 1080 (pronounced ten-eighty) is such a big trick, it is referred to in full.

Alley Oop: A spin that rotates in an uphill direction; i.e. back up the pipe. Usually spins rotate down the pipe in the direction of travel. One of the only riders in the 2002 Olympics doing big Alley Oop spins was Heikki Sorsa of Finland.

Cab or switch or fakie: All riders prefer to have a specific foot in front, like being right- or left-handed. When the opposite foot is in front from the rider's natural preference, it is called switch, fakie or Cab; e.g., a Cab 900 is a trick where a rider spins 900 degrees while in the air and takes off with the unnatural foot in the lead.

Corked: An adjective to describe spins that are off-axis, as in a corkscrew; e.g. a corked 720 is a 720 degree spin where the rider's body is sideways in the air as opposed to a level spin. Now, what is a corked Cab 720? Gotcha.

Dropping or Dropping In: To start a run inside the halfpipe, you first "drop in".

Frontside spin and backside spin: Refers to the direction of a spin, relative to the rider. A frontside spin is when a rider turns their chest into the spin first; a backside spin is when a rider turns their back into the spin first (also known as blindside).

Frontside wall and backside wall: Describes which way a rider is facing when going up the wall of a halfpipe. A frontside wall could be either side of the pipe, it just means that the rider is going up it on their frontside (or toeside) edge with their back facing down the pipe. A backside wall means a rider is going up it on their backside (or heelside) edge, chest facing down the halfpipe.

Grab: A trick whereby a rider goes into the air and grabs the snowboard. Each grab has a different name that depends on where and with which hand the snowboard is grabbed. Some common grab names are: method, lien, stalefish, melancholy, indy, mute, tail, nose, etc.

Hit: Each time a rider goes into the air and performs a trick, it is called a hit.

Inverted: Any time the rider's head is below their feet while performing a trick.

McTwist: One of the most common inverted tricks in the halfpipe, a McTwist is basically an inverted 540 or a backflip with a twist. Other inverted tricks are: cripplers, Kasseroles, and Haakonflips.

Sketch or sketchy: Being slightly off balance or out of control, but not necessarily falling down. Judges will dock points for sketchy tricks or sketchy landings

Spin or rotation: When a rider goes into the air and spins 360 or more degrees before coming back down into the pipe.

Straight Air: When a rider goes into the air and pivots 180 degrees to re-enter the pipe, but does not spin around and around while in the air.

Winter Olympic Curling Begins Today

The Torino Winter Olympics have their first Curling Competition today, and in honor of that here are some basic curling facts for those who might not be familiar with the sport:

The official curling rink is 44.5 m (146 ft) long by 4.75 m (16 ft) wide
The stone is made from granite, controlled by a handle, and weighs 19.96 kg (44 lbs maximum). It’s diameter is 30 cm (11.8 inches)
The object of the game is to slide (throw) your stones as close as possible to the target area in the “house”
The players must release the stone, when throwing, before the red “hog line”
The path of the rock is swept clean to control it’s projectory, and brushing “Haaaaardd and Haaaaaarrddder’ will most likely make the ice faster or slicker
Brushing on one side of the stone helps create its ‘curling movement’ towards that side of the rock
Only stones inside the rings of the house count as points, The team with the one closest to the center scores a point for every other stone closest to the the center before the opponent’s closest stone
The players CANNOT sweep opponent’s rocks between the hog line and the front of the house target (called the Guard Zone)
The skip decides on the strategy, and throws last in each end
The third often assists the skip in making strategic decisions
Also, theLead and Second players cannot remove opponent’s rocks in the Guard zone either

Confused yet? Check out this article for more information.

Zoeggeler Slides to First Italian Gold

Italy celebrated it's first 2006 Olympic Gold today as Armin Zoeggeler, racing on his home track, wrapped up his second straight Olympic gold medal with a time of 3 minutes, 26.088 seconds in Men's Luge.

Russia's Albert Demtschenko finished 0.11 seconds behind Zoeggeler for the silver, and Latvia's Martins Rubenis was another 0.247 back for the bronze - edging American Benshoof by 0.153 seconds. By finishing 4th, the Americans remain 0-for-forever in their quest to join the singles luge medal party. For more than four decades, the U.S. has seen many of its best lugers enter an Olympics with realistic hopes of being that first singles medalist - and then watch them leave empty-handed.

"It would have been nice to get on the podium, but I can't get down on myself for a fourth-place finish. It's still pretty good," Benshoof said, adding that he plans to be back for another shot at Vancouver in 2010. "There were only three guys that were better than me in the Olympics."

While America might be used to Luge disappointment, Germany's Georg Hackl is quite the opposite. Considered to be one of the best luge racers of all-time, Hackl said going into this race it would be his last. A three-time gold and two-time silver winner - Hackl ended his career with a seventh-place finish and was out of the medals for the first time in six Olympic appearances.

Zoeggeler, on the other hand, was a hero on this day. He hoisted a flag at the finish line, lifting it above his head and holding it outstretched for several seconds as the cheers from the Italian faithful rained down - accompanied by the clanging of hundreds of cowbells.

The only crash of the day belonged to Canada's Ian Cockerline who crashed in his fourth run, prompting workers to repair some ice that got chewed up as he skidded around the surface. This delay lasted for about 25 minutes and forced the leaders' to wait for their final, medal-deciding slides.

Silver Metal is Good as Gold For Estil

What an absolutely amazing sight in Torino today.

Norway's Frode Estil won Olympic silver in the men's 2x15km cross country pursuit at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games Sunday, despite a fall which resulted in both a broken ski and a broken pole.

Estil fell during the crowded mass start and was literally trampled on by several other competitors, and was left with a broken ski and pole. However, he did not give up, was given a replacement ski, and started again 20 seconds behind the others. He slowly gained on his competitors, and placed second just before the finishing line, 0.6 seconds behind the winner.

This is simply one of the most excting comebacks in Winter Olympics history.

Olympic-Sized Disappointment on Downhill

The much ballyhooed U.S.-Austrian rivalry at the men's downbhill was a serious bust. Bode Miller was the top American finishing in fifth place. His U.S. teammate, Daron Rahlves, was a ore-race favorite and finished a disappointing 10th, 1 1/2 seconds slower than the leader.

Antoine Deneriaz of France, the last man out of the gate with a chance to win, pulled off a startling upset in the Olympic downhill. The 30th skier down the mountain, Deneriaz won in 1 minute, 48.80 seconds, ahead of Austria favorite Walchhofer's 1:49.52 and Kernen's 1:49.82.

"It would have taken a hurricane wind to get me into first," Bode Miller said after the race. "The way Deneriaz skied today, he was pretty much untouchable."

Deneriaz had finished no better than sixth in a World Cup race this season, and that was a super-G. It must be something about the Italian Alps - two of his three World Cup wins, including his last in December 2003, came at Val Gardena in the country's northeast. There were signs that this was coming - he got faster each day in practice before the Olympics and had the fastest run in final training Saturday. That's usually not a good thing because it made him last out of the gate Sunday among the top 30 skiers in the final training run, who start in reverse order in the medal race. Those who went after that were the slowest in training and had no shot at gold.

This is why I love the Winter Olympics! And quotes like this:

"I won because I didn't realize it was the Olympic Games," Antoine Deneriaz

Apolo Anton Ohno is OUT

Apolo Anton Ohno might have gotten greedy in Sunday's 1500m short track speed skating event as he tried to make an outside move on Li Ye and slipped - ruining his chances to defend his gold medal.

Ohno nearly fell with 1.5 laps to go in a semifinal heat of the 1500m Sunday night, and wound up last across the line among those still skating. His mistake ruined any chance to defend his Olympic title in a much-anticipated showdown against South Korea's 1-2 punch - Ahn Hyun-Soo and Lee Ho-Suk.

It was a horrible - and uncharacteristic - mistake by Ohno, who briefly lost his balance and desperately stuck down his left hand in an attempt to stay up, sending a black lane marker flying off toward the padded walls. The 23-year-old American never went down, but the rest of the six-man field went on by.

South Korea rejoice.

Rivaly Reborn: Ohno and Ahn Race for 1500m Gold

The Winter Olympic short track speed skating competition starts on Sunday and old ghosts are bound to haunt the ice as we watch a rivalry reborn. South Korea's power pack is out for revenge against U.S. skater Apolo Anton Ohno, keen to defend his controversial 1500m title from Salt Lake in 2002.

In one of 2002's winter Olympics most compelling stories, the men's 1500m race almost set off a diplomatic incident when Ohno was awarded gold after South Korea's Kim Dong-Sung was disqualified for blocking him during the event. South Koreans went loco after the race and bombarded Ohno with hate mail. Some South Korean's even went as far to call for a U.S import boycott and even the team threatened to pull out of the Closing Ceremony at Salt Lake

Ohno believes that all is history, despite being mock cheered at the World Cup in South Korea - where he himself was disqualified. South Koreans feel differently - and will be out for revenge in Torino. Ahn Hyun-Soo and Lee Ho-Suk, who are ranked one and two ahead of Ohno, are both primed to chase the first gold up for grabs.

"Mentally we have to be strong for that first day but it's a good opportunity to get up on that podium. The 1500m is always a tough, long race," 23-year-old Ohno said this week.

Oh, Canada! Hockey Women Dominating

Caroline Ouellette and Hayley Wickenheiser of the Canadian Women's hockey team each scored three goals to lead the Canadians to a 16-0 win over Italy, the largest rout in women's Olympic hockey history. The blowout eclipsed a 13-0 Canada victory over Japan eight years ago at the Nagano Games.

The defending champion Canadians were expected to dominate the preliminary round matchup. Italy's team has been together for only about two weeks and before the game Italian coach Markus Sparer said the team's goal was not to finish last in the games. Italy planned to play most of the night in their end, and the largest victory for the team might have been that they won the opening faceoff.

"We expected Italy to be weak but we're not going to apologize for winning," Wickenheiser said.

The lopsided result did not deter a crowd of 8,399 from chanting "I-tal-ia! I-tal-ia!" early in the game, cheering whenever the puck was cleared from the Italian end and singing the national anthem and waving the flag in the final minute.

Canadian Hockey Domination Continues

The women's hockey team continued its domination by beating Russia 12-0 on Sunday. But after shutting out its first two opponents in the women's Olympic hockey tournament, defending champ Canada is still on the defensive and don't believe they're running up the score should be frowned upon:

"We definitely don't focus on the scoreboard. It's not about what the score is, it's about us moving the puck and making good plays. It's about success as a team. ... It is the Olympics, regardless of the score. These girls have worked hard to be here. I would take things away from our team, our opponents and everybody involved if we didn't compete as hard as we could."

Canada and the United States are strong favorites to face each other in their third straight gold medal game. A loss by either team before then would be considered a major upset. The goals scored vs. goals against average will determine the home team for the final game, so while 16 and 12 goals seems excessive - Canada has every right to score the goals and secure their "home ice" in the finals.

Kwan Drops Out of Winter Olympics

Sadly, as I expected, Michelle Kwan dropped out of the winter olympics Sunday morning because of a groin injury.

Michelle Kwan has been a gracious leader and has shown much compassion for younger athletes training in figure skating. That's why it is so sad to have seen Kwan cut her first practice short after straining a muscle, and then watch the injury worsen as the day wore on. She said she didn't want to drop out, but after Dr. Jim Moeller evaluated her early Sunday morning, she withdrew.

"I wish I was here in better circumstances," Kwan said Sunday morning, her voice lifeless and her face somber. "When I first put in my petition, I said I believe I'd be 100 percent by time the Olympics came around. But yesterday, after going on ice and feeling stiff ... I don't think that I can be 100 percent. I respect the Olympics too much to compete and I don't feel I can be at my best."

Emily Hughes was chosen by the U.S. Olympic Committee as Kwan's replacement.

Who Is Emily Huges?

In January, Long Island native Emily Hughes placed third at the 2006 U.S. Championships, behind Sasha Cohen and Kimmie Meissner, and shortly afterward was named first alternate for the U.S. Olympic team. Michelle Kwan successfully petitioned for a provisional Olympic berth after missing Nationals with a groin injury, and on January 27th she proved to a special panel that she was fit enough to compete in Torino. However, following a rough first practice on Feb. 11, when she realized the injury was still an issue, Kwan withdrew from Olympic competition. On Feb. 12 the U.S. Olympic Committee agreed to allow Hughes to replace Kwan on the U.S. team, and Hughes began making plans to travel to Torino.

Full Emily Huges Bio »

February 11th, Day 1 Recap

Day 1 - February 11

Biathlon: Michael Greis of Germany wins the first gold medal of the 2006 Winter Olympics, with a victory in the Individual 20km biathlon race.
Figure Skating: Russian pair Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin are the leaders after the short program.
Freestyle skiing: Jennifer Heil becomes the first Canadian woman to win a medal in moguls.
Ice hockey: The Canadian national women's hockey team sets an Olympic record for the most lopsided win when they beat their Italian hosts 16-0.
Nordic combined: Germany takes the lead in the medal count, with Georg Hettich picking up a gold medal in nordic combined.
Speed skating: American Chad Hedrick wins the 5000m long-track event.

Mind Games at Sestriere

The Torino Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony took place last night, but there have been games going on at the men's downhill course for days beforehand - head games, that is.

Weather - passing clouds and gusty winds - is such an important factor in downhill skiing. It is so important, in fact, that most racers don't want to be first out of the gate. The reason? Those first out of the gate find the track often still has loose snow on it and can be slower. But just because they don't want to be first, doesn't mean they want to be last when the track is chewed up by previous racers, making for a rougher ride.

So you can see why the head games have begun. The start order for the top-30 in Sunday's downhill is determined by reversing the order of finish from the final training run. Most riders have the goal to start somewhere between rider number 8 and 15, and then finish fast (but not too fast) on their final practice run.

Bode Miller Knows the Drill

On Saturday, I saw controversial Bode Miller of the U.S. team absolutely fly down the course at Sestriere only to slow himself down to nearly a stop at the finish line. At the fifth and last interval station before Saturday's finish (the last timing station before racers were dumping speed on purpose), Miller was fastest. By a lot. The closest to him? Hermann Maier, a half-second behind. Miller will start 18th Sunday.

Scott McCartney's Irony

Ironically enough, it was hard to find anyone who was happy about going fast after Saturday's run. Even Scott Macartney, who beat teammate Marco Sullivan to the fourth and final spot on Sunday's U.S. downhill team. "I am psyched. At the same time, I'm kind of bummed for Marco because he doesn't have another event to ski. I have a super G and combined spot that's definite, but at the same time, I wasn't going to let up in any way today. It was a battle for us and it was so close [Friday] and today, our team has a lot of depth and hopefully it will be like that for the next few years."

American Medal Hopefuls in Good Position

Gold medal favorite Daron Rahlves and fellow American contender Bode Miller staked out solid starting spots behind their powerhouse Austrian rivals for Sunday's Olympic men's downhill. Rahlves will start 20th, two places behind Miller, based on Saturday's final training runs. It's a bit farther back than they might have liked, but not enough to give serious concern about wear and tear to the course caused by skiers ahead of them.

They both should be happy to know what they will need to do to beat the Austrians, their chief competition in the first Alpine event of the Torino Games, who will be going ahead of them.

Hendrick Wins Olympic Gold in 500m

Chad Hedrick backed up one prediction and offered another after winning Men's Speed Skating in the 5000 meter event. Hendrick had a time of 6:14.68 for winter olympic gold, while the Netherland's Kramer (6:16.40) and the host country's Fabris (6:18.25) finished second and third respectively.

"I didn't come here to win one gold medal," the mouthy speed skater from Texas said after winning the 5000m Saturday. "You're going to see my face a lot more."

Three days ago, Hedrick said that he didn't expect to walk away with anything less than a gold medal. And Hedrick is off to a great start in his bid to equal Eric Heiden's record five gold medals at a Winter Olympics. He covered the grueling 12.5 laps in 6 minutes, 14.68 seconds, about 17 hours after marching in the opening ceremony.

Hedrick has some time before he has to do it again in the 1000m next Saturday. He'll also be part of the new team pursuit, with preliminaries starting Wednesday.

"This is going to give me confidence to do the next race," he said. "The more fun I have, the better I perform. I'm ready to go."

I feel this will not be the last time we hear Chad Hendrick's name in this winter olympics.

Shani Davis Delivers Blow to U.S. Team

Speed skater Shani Davis won't participate in team pursuit, dealing a severe blow to the United States' hopes of winning a medal in the new Olympic event. Davis said that he would rather focus on his individual races after finishing seventh in the 5000m on the first day of competition.

"I could care less what other people say about me,'' Davis said. "I didn't come here to skate the team pursuit.''

Hey Shani - I think it's great that you want to focus on your own races and I wish you the best of luck in all winter olympic events. But here's a question - don't you think now is an odd time to put your team at such a disadvatage?

Winter Olympic Medal Count: February 11th

A total of 12 Olympic Medals have been handed out so far. Norway has the total medal lead with 4, but Germany has the honor of the only country with two Gold Medals. The U.S. won gold in 5000m Men's Speed Skating and host country Italy has a bronze to its name:

February 11th Medal Breakdown

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Norway	0	2	2	4
Germany	2	0	0	2
Canada	1	0	0	1
Austria	0	1	0	1
Netherlands	0	1	0	1
United States	1	0	0	1
Italy	0	0	1	1

Hannah Kearney Fails to Qualify For Moguls

A gold-medal favorite entering her first Olympics, Vermont's Hannah Kearney had a poor first run and didn't make it out of the qualification round. Thought she didn't fall, she stumbled after landing her first jump. Her score of 20.80 points put her in 10th at that point with 20 skiers left to compete. After the second-to-last skier, she was officially bumped out of the top 20, which advances to the final.

In the first major stunner of these Olympics, Kearney was out of her rhythm almost as soon as she began, catching an edge on her second turn, landing awkwardly after her first jump and ramming through the moguls -- not around them -- for the next several turns.