The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games is officially underway after the first full weekend of competition has been etched in the books. Here you will find updates on the United States athletes’ performances as well as other stories from the Olympics that are noteworthy (or at least to me).
View the vancouver2010.com medals’ table
Friday, February 19, 2010:
For the United States contingent in Vancouver, Friday’s action was highlighted by the men’s Super-G competition at Whistler Creekside. Americans Bode Miller was edged out by Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal for the gold and placed second, 0.31 seconds out of the gold. Andrew Weibrecht was close behind in third – just three one-hundredths behind Miller- to mark yet another productive day for the alpine skiing team.
U.S. curling tried to reverse the losing trend in Vancouver and both the men and women picked up nice wins. The women defeated Russia 6-4 after gaining two points in the 10th end to break the 4-4 tie. Meanwhile, the men found a way to come from a 3-1 deficit after the seventh end to score two in the 9th and one in the 10th, making the final 4-3 in favor of the much maligned Americans.
It the craziest of crazy Olympic sports, Canada raced to gold in the men’s skeleton on the sled of Jon Montgomery. Montgomery overtook Latvia’s Martins Dukurs in the fourth and final heat to grab the gold and give the Vancouver natives something to cheer about. U.S. racer Zach Lund finished just outside the medals in a respectable 5th place.
Thursday, February 18, 2010:
The United States is continuing to get to the medal podium in bunches, and Thursday’s champions were headlined by men’s figure skater Evan Lysacek’s victory over Russian Evgeni Plushenko after beating Plushenko out of the top spot with the free skate program. Lysacek was 0.55 points behind Plushenko after the short program and skated what many are calling the performance of a lifetime to win by 1.31 points even without a quadruple jump in the routine.
The ladies’ halfpipe competition saw two medalist for the U.S., similar to the men’s event. Only this one was not won by an American, but rather Aussie Torah Bright. Hannah Teter took the silver and was followed by Kelly Clark with the bronze for the U.S. team. Teter had a shot to grab the top spot back from Bright on her last run as the final woman down the halfpipe, but had a speed slow down in the middle of the run that preventing her from having that ‘one big trick’ to regain the top spot.
Alpine skier Julia Mancuso grabbed her second silver in so many days, this time for the Super Combined. Teammate Lindsey Vonn was yet again leading the event after the downhill run and was poised for another gold before she lost a ski in the slalom portion and did not finish.
The men’s and women’s hockey teams both skated to wins as well. The men got the impressive 6-1 win over Norway and the women a 6-0 shutout of Finland. The next game for the American men will be a Sunday matchup with host-team Canada, who narrowly escaped their game with Switzerland after a 3-2 shootout win and goal by Sidney Crosby.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010:
In every event the United States medaled in on Wednesday, it was done in two-fer fashion. The morning pair of medalists came from the Whistler Creekside hills that have been criticized due to weather conditions that necessitated delays in the early skiing events. American Lindsey Vonn and her injured shin has been the talk of the town and she did not disappoint on the hill. Vonn turned in a golden performance and her teammate Julia Mancuso took the silver, handing the American women a 1-2 finish for the first time ever in this event.
On the speedskating track, Shani Davis became a repeat golden boy and was joined on the podium by teammate Chad Hedrick with the bronze. This pairing is the same set of men that had a public falling out in Turin after Davis decided not to skate in the team pursuit event. Their fissure has since been repaired, but nonetheless and interesting relationship to note.
And back on the slopes, but this time at the snowboarding halfpipe at Cyprus Mountain, Shaun “The Flying Tomato” White put on a flying clinic in his runs and stole the show. His compadre was Scott Lago who took a bronze. American Louie Vito also ran well and narrowly missed the podium with a fifth place finish in the event.
This six-medal day is now the record for the most winter olympics medals in one day for the United States. Impressive!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010:
Curling, which has somehow seemingly turned into a fan favorite, did not begin well for the U.S. men’s and women’s contingent. The men dropped both round robin matches on Tuesday, 7-5 to Germany and 6-5 to Norway. The women lost a close battle to Japan 9-7 after their final rock was determined to be just a shade farther away from center than Japan’s.
Men’s and women’s hockey was a different tale – both teams were successful in their games. The men played their first game in the preliminaries and posted a 3-1 victory over Switzerland. The U.S. scored all three of their goals in the first two periods of play, within about a 10 minute time frame on the game clock. Bobby Ryan, David Backes and Ryan Malone were responsible for the scores.
The United States women’s hockey team yet again dominated their matchup, this time with a 13-0 beat down of Russia. Jenny Potter added three more goals to her 2010 Olympic resume, bringing her total to six after just two games. In all, 10 women scored goals on the Russian team that was clearly outmatched. Russia gave up seven powerplay goals and the United States held a 34 to 7 advantage in shots on goal in the contest.
The host country of Canada grabbed another gold medal in the women’s snowboard cross on the board of Maelle Ricker. American Lindsey Jacobellis took fifth in the event, winning the small final after a mishap in the qualifying rounds pushed her out of the medal round. Some might remember Jacobellis managing a silver medal in the Turin Olympics after building a large lead in the race. She then did a trick on the final jump, fell and was overtaken to fall into the second spot. It is hard to imagine two separate Olympic Games, four years apart, with less-than-wonderful results for woman who has dominated snowboard cross World Cup rankings in the period between these two events.
Monday, February 15, 2010:
Two Americans grabbed medals on Monday, both on the slopes, but in vastly different specialties. Bode Miller broke his Olympics drought after a highly publicized, somewhat unsuccessful 2006 games in Torino which included two events in which he did not finish and one in which Miller didn’t even qualify. Miller got a bronze medal in men’s downhill and was just 0.09 seconds behind the gold medalist in one of the closest downhill races in Olympic history. He will have three more opportunities to ‘right the ship’ in Vancouver and continue to repair and rebuild his laissez-faire attitude and image. So far, it seems to be working.
The afternoon on the slopes saw two U.S. snowboarders line up for the medal heat in the mens snowboard cross. Unfortunately for Nate Holland, fourth place was all he could manage after an early spin out on the course. But for Seth Wescott, the run had a golden moment. The 33-year old Wescott chased down and held off Canadian Mike Roberson for the top spot on the podium.
Sunday, February 14, 2010:
The United States women’s hockey team had a decisive 12-1 victory over China in their preliminary round game, led by a trio of goals by Jenny Potter and a pair by Meghan Duggan. In all, nine ladies got goals in this lopsided win.
In the nordic combined event, Coloradoan Johnny Spillane became the first US Olympic medalist ever in this event. He was leading the pack until being chased down near the finish line by Frenchman Jason Lamy Chappuis. Aside from Spillane, US participant Bill Demong finished 6th after starting the cross country portion in 24th place. Back in 2003, Spillane was the first American to take the world title in nordic combined. He will also be competing in the LH nordic combined and team cross country skiing events during the 2010 games.
Just two days after Nodar Kumaritashvili’s luge death, the men’s singles event finals took place with German sliders Felix Loch and David Moeller coming in first and second. The three Americans all finished in the top 15; 8th – Tony Benshoof, 13th – Chris Mazdzer and 15th – Bengt Walden.
The nightcap of the evening saw the home team Canadians get their first ever gold medal on home soil in the men’s moguls event. Alexandre Bilodeau narrowly grabbed the gold and American Bryon Wilson’s performance was good enough for bronze and just 2/3 of a point out of the top spot. This is the third time Canada has hosted the Olympics (1976 Summer – Montreal, 1988 Winter – Calgary) and now is just the first gold for the country. Third time indeed seemed to be their “charm”.
Saturday, February 13, 2010:
In the first day of competition the Swiss took the first gold of the games, with national hero Simon Ammann grabbing the hardware in the NH individual ski jump event. Ammann was the gold medalist in the 2002 games in both NH and LH, failed to medal in the Turin placing 38th in this event and is now back atop the podium for his third gold at 28 years old.
The first American medalists were on the speed skating short track in the men’s 1500 meters, where Apolo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski lucked out for silver and bronze after a crazy crash by the Korean team skaters that were in second and third. This 6th medal makes Ohno tied for most-decorated U.S. winter olympian with three more events on his slate in Vancouver.
The United States team notched their first gold in the ladies’ moguls event. Hannah Kearney grabbed the gold after beating out Canadian Jennifer Heil on the last run and Shannon Bahrke took the bronze.
Friday, February 12, 2010:
Deepest condolences are extended to the team from Georgia and the friends and family of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who was tragically killed in a training run at the Whistler Sliding Centre track. Kumaritashvili lost control and was propelled off of the track and into a metal support pillar, causing his death.
The track has been under scrutiny prior to the games due to its high rate of speed and officials have moved the event’s starting position and raised the wall where Kumaritashvili exited the track.
The opening ceremonies went on as scheduled, with tributes to Kumaritashvili during the event. The much anticipated lighting of the Olympic flame was done by a foursome of notable Canadian athletes, Catriona LeMay Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene Raine and Wayne Gretzky who lit the flame (after some technical difficulties) inside the stadium. Then, Gretzky was taken to the site of the outdoor cauldron to light the permanent symbol of these Vancouver Olympics.
*This post will be updated throughout the games with results information and significant storylines from the action.*
