The highlight for tonight in Olympic news includes three more medals for Team USA. The first two went to Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark, who got Silver and Bronze respectively for Women’s Halfpipe. The gold went to Torah Bright of Australia. Also tonight was the men’s free skate, where Evan Lysacek, the reining world champion, took gold. The world champ traditionally does win gold at the Olympics, and this was no exception. Silver went to Yevgeny Plushenko of Russia and bronze went to Daisuke Takahashi of Japan. The only thing I was unhappy about with the free skate results was that Johnny Weir was placed 6th, even though I thought he had an outstanding program and deserved at least a bronze medal. I believe, and NBC commentators agreed, that he was underscored. At the end of the day the total medal count was 17: 5 gold, 5 silver, and 7 bronze. The next highest after the U.S. is Germany with 11. More to come tomorrow.
Tag: winter olympics
Olympic Update – Snowboarding (Halfpipe)
Today was a good day for the USA Olympic Team in Vancouver. Lindsay Vonn won gold for Alpine Skiing while Julia Mancuso took silver. In speed skating, Shani Davis took gold for the men’s 1,000M while Chad Hedrick took bronze. The short track relay semifinals were also today, with Korea, USA, France, China, and Canada making it to the finals. And finally, snowboarding men’s halfpipe was today, with Shaun White taking gold (his second, having also won gold in Torino) and Scotty Lago taking bronze. Overall, a good day for Team USA. The final medal count at the end of the day was 14: 5 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze, putting us back in first place for total medals. Germany is a close second with 10 total. More to come tomorrow.
Olympic Update – Figure Skating (Men’s Short Program)
Tonight’s Olympic action brought us the men’s short program for figure skating. Overall the performances were much better than the pairs from the previous night, in my opinion. There were a few falls by some of the skaters, but mostly it was consistently good skating all the way. My top moments came from two of the Americans. The first was Johnny Weir, who didn’t score very well but showed a lot of spunk and won over my heart as he danced and strutted across the ice. The second was Jeremy Abbott skating to “A Day In The Life” by the Beatles. He also didn’t score that well but put on a good show all the same. The top three skaters at the end of the short program were Plushenko of Russia, Lysacek of America, and Takahashi of Japan. We will have to wait to see who gets the gold. The final medal count for Team USA at the end of the day was 8: 2 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze, putting us in second place for the total medal count. Germany has the most medals now with 9: 3 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze. More to come tomorrow.
Olympic Update – Figure Skating (Pairs) + Snowboarding
Today’s Olympic action included another gold medal for Team USA and some intense snowboarding action. Two Americans made it to the finals in Snowboard Cross: Seth Wescott and Nate Holland. Wescott was able to overtake the other three competitors for Team USA’s second Olympic gold medal. Also tonight was the end of the figure skating pairs competition. The top two pairs in this event were both from China, and both had an impressive display to offer. There was also supposed to be speed skating tonight but it was delayed due to unsafe conditions with the ice. At the end of the day the total medal count for Team USA was 8, including 2 gold medals, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. More Olympic action continues tomorrow with figure skating singles short program and the speed skating race that was delayed from tonight.
Olympic Update – Freestyle Skiing
The 2010 Winter Olympics began yesterday in Vancouver. The USA team had a good start with four medals, including the first which went to Hannah Kearny in the Women’s Moguls. See her impressive run in this video provided by NBC. The men’s team got bronze in the same event. The gold went to Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau, giving Canada it’s first gold medal at home.
Other notable events from this weekend’s Olympic action include the surprise wipeout by the Korean team members during the short track race, giving Apollo Ohno a chance for the silver medal in the event. And in women’s hockey the women’s team annihilated China today with a final score of 12-1. The USA currently has 6 medals total, putting them in first place with many more chances ahead in the next two weeks to increase that lead.