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Olympics blog
Lindsey Vonn of the US poses with her Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics medal and the women's overall Alpine Skiing World Cup trophy in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Saturday. (Michaela Rehle/Reuters)
For Lindsey Vonn, third overall World Cup title is sweeter than Olympic gold
Less than a month after winning two Olympic medals, Lindsey Vonn this weekend captured an arguably more prestigious honor that makes her not only the most successful woman in US alpine skiing but one of the best ever. Period.
At the World Cup finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, this weekend, Vonn wrapped up not only the overall World Cup title – awarded to the athlete with the most cumulative points in races from October to March. She also won the World Cup downhill, super-G, and combined titles, sweeping three of the five disciplines.
While Germany’s Maria Riesch skied well all season, including beating Vonn last week in the final downhill race of the season, it wasn't enough to unseat her American friend and toughest rival.
"The overall title is one of the biggest things you can win in our sport," said Vonn, coming off Olympic gold in Whistler, British Columbia. "I always try to give my best every day, but it's a long season."
This is Vonn's third straight overall title, a feat unmatched since Austria's Petra Kronberger won her trio from 1990-92. Vonn's 11 World Cup wins this season make her second only to Austria's Annemarie Moser-Proell, who won 14 in 1988-89 and 62 in her career. While Vonn is only at 33 so far, that's a new US record, beating out five-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller of Franconia, N.H.
While Miller quit the season due to injuries shortly after his outstanding Olympic performances, teammate Ted Ligety continued the momentum of an historic year for US alpine skiing by capturing the World Cup title in Giant Slalom for the second time in three years.
Miller and Vonn, together with Julia Mancuso, led the way for the best Olympics ever for the US alpine ski team, blasting their previous record of five medals – won in 1984 – with eight medals in Whistler.
But amid the success there was significant tension as Mancuso, a 2006 gold medalist who won two silvers at the 2010 Games, expressed frustration that Vonn was getting all the attention. Vonn arguably got more publicity ahead of the Games than any other US athlete, as NBC sought to create excitement by hyping a few key athletes – chief among them the Minnesota native with a sweet smile and outstanding record. Going into the Olympics, Mancuso hadn't won a World Cup in three years, while Vonn had established herself as the best woman in US skiing history.
Vonn's skiing in Garmisch – winning the super-G and taking second in the downhill – underscored that point, although Mancuso left a final reminder that she's still a threat by finishing fifth in the downhill.
David Kumaritashvili commemorates his fallen son, Nodar Kumaritashvili, along with other villagers outside his home in Bakuriani, Georgia. (David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)
How to donate to family of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili
In the wake of widespread criticism over the fatal crash of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, the International Luge Federation (FIL) has launched a donation campaign to help his family, which it says is in “urgent need” of financial support.
“Some years ago their house was completely destroyed by fire. Mainly with the help of their only son, the family had begun to rebuild the house which is still far from completion,” FIL said in a March 11 statement.
The organization has donated an initial €10,000 ($13,648), and is encouraging others to wire contributions to “International Luge Federation, donation account Kumaritashvili” at the Sparkasse bank in Berchtesgaden, Germany. For those interested in doing so, the details are:
- Account number: 20121422
- Bank code: 71050000
- IBAN: DE12 7105 0000 0020 1214 22
- Swift: BIC BYLADEM1BGL
The Monitor confirmed with the bank that donations cannot be sent by mail.
Olympic roots
Kumaritashvili hailed from the Georgian town of Bakuriani, which has a strong winter sports tradition. Once the training ground for Soviet winter athletes, it produced nearly half of Georgia’s eight-member Olympic team in Vancouver, according to The New York Times.
So when Kumaritashvili crashed on the Whistler Sliding Track, it touched his team deeply.
His crash also heightened the already significant attention to the track’s unprecedented speeds and cranky turns. An initial investigation determined that the track was safe, allowing the Olympic competition to proceed – albeit from a lower start – but other investigations are reportedly still under way.
Athletes auction suits to raise money
Kumaritashvili’s crash resonated deeply in the tight-knit luge community, with both the US team and Australian slider Hannah Campbell-Begg auctioning signed Olympic suits on eBay to raise money for Kumaritashvili's family.
While the proceeds were modest – Campbell-Begg’s suit went for $3344 and Tony Benshoof’s raised $2,382.99 – it was a “small way to show respect,” USA Luge Team Manager Fred Zimny said in a statement.
“By auctioning one of our Olympic race suits," he said, "we hope we can in some small way show the Kumaritashvili family that Nodar will remain in the hearts and minds of those in the luge community."
Sidney Crosby of Canada scored the game-winning goal past US goalie Ryan Miller in overtime to win the gold medal in hockey at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Feb. 28. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters)
Top 12 inspiring moments we saw at the Vancouver Olympics
• BODE THE KID: Alpine skiing aficionado or not, you couldn’t help being impressed by Miller barreling down Whistler Creekside with abandon – just as he did as a tyke on the cold, shady slopes of New Hampshire’s Cannon Mountain.
His Neapolitan medal grab here – gold, silver, and bronze – fueled the historic momentum of the US team, which topped its all-time haul of five medals with eight here.
• JOANNIE ROCHETTE'S COURAGE: The Canadian figure skater put aside personal tragedy to win bronze and inspire not only her nation, but many around the world who reached out to her in the wake of her mother’s sudden passing just days before the competition began.
PHOTO GALLERY: Top inspiring Olympic moments
“She won gold for us – not just for Canada but for the whole world. She shared with us what courage is,” said Janis D’andrea from Coquitlam, British Columbia, who watched Rochette's free skate. “She really felt our love strong…. And even though her mother is gone, she’s still with her.”
• BRONZE DESPITE BROKEN RIBS: Like a rock, Petra Majdic lived up to the Greek meaning of her first name with a courageous performance in the women’s cross-country sprint. After skidding off the exceptionally icy trail in warm-up, emerging in intense pain – the result, she found out later, of having broken four ribs – she insisted on racing.
Though she collapsed in agony after every heat, Petra put down the hammer in the final heat to take bronze – her country’s first Olympic medal in the sport, and a feat that is likely to get her Slovenia’s sportswoman of the year award for the fourth time.
• KUMARITASHVILI HONORED: In the wake of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s fatal crash on the luge track, American slider Tony Benshoof is auctioning off his Olympic race suit – signed by all 10 members of the US team – and selling it on eBay to raise money for Kumaritashvili’s family.
"By auctioning one of our Olympic race suits, we hope we can in some small way show the Kumaritashvili family that Nodar will remain in the hearts and minds of those in the luge community," said USA Luge Team Manager Fred Zimny. "We were saddened by his passing and wanted his family to know that the US Luge Team honors Nodar as a fellow Olympian."
• GOLD HEART, AND A MEDAL TO MATCH: Nordic combined athlete Bill Demong showed he had a heart of gold when, after a disappointing jump in the individual normal hill event put him out of medal contention, he still was ecstatic for teammate Johnny Spillane’s silver medal – America’s first in 86 years of Olympic competition.
Then, in one of the most spectacular moments of the Games, he surged to victory in the individual large hill event – pulling away from Austrian Bernhard Gruber like a Porsche passing a Plymouth. Last night he carried the flag for Team USA in the closing ceremonies.
• KEARNEY'S JUBILANCE: Though it saddened Canadian fans who were hoping moguls skier Jenn Heil could repeat her 2006 Olympic victory, Hannah Kearney’s flawless final run was truly impressive. But almost more exciting was her unfettered burst of joy upon capturing gold – redemption for all the stairs climbed en route to jumping off Lake Placid’s specially made plastic runs that would shoot her into a gurgling, unheated pool.
Slovenian skier Tina Maze and Canada’s gold and silver medalists in women’s bobsledding also had similarly exuberant reactions that reminded spectators that at the Olympics, anything is possible. Kearney's performance got the US off to a great start in what proved to be its most successful Winter Olympics ever, exceeding the 34 medals won in Salt Lake City eight years ago.
• CANADIAN HOSPITALITY: Known better for their hospitality than their military, Canada mustered a small army of volunteers to pull off these Olympic Games with unfailing patience and cheerfulness – if not always perfect efficiency. Their attitude – one that would make the world a much more forgiving place to live if adopted by all countries, did much to give the 16-day event a welcoming, uplifting feel.
And it didn’t keep the athletes from putting in some mean performances, sweeping more golds than any other country – proof that their Own the Podium program may have been worth it after all.
• VIRTUE & MOIR: Two nations came together when the Canadians won gold in ice dancing. The battle for gold between the pair of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and the pair of Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who train together in Michigan, represented one of the high points of the Vancouver Olympics for competition and sportsmanship.
• CANADA'S FIRST GOLD: Canada entered these Olympics on an almost frantic gold-medal watch. As Canadians were well aware, Canada was the only country only to hold an Olympics twice and never win a gold medal in either (Montreal in 1976 and Calgary in 1988). So whoever won that first gold was going to be celebrated throughout Canadian Olympic history.
It was supposed to be moguls skier Jenn Heil, but she was toppled by American Hannah Kearney on the last run of a rainy night. Not to fear: Mogul skier Alexandre Bilodeau won gold the next night – perhaps the sweetest gold for Canada, save a men's hockey gold.
• KIM YUNA'S PERFECT NIGHT: Perhaps no one really understands skating's new scoring system yet. But everyone does know that Kim Yuna is really, really good. Her world record score destroyed the field by more than 23 points (that's a lot), and her skating set a new standard for craftsmanship – the quality of each jump and pass across the ice exquisite.
It affirmed a new order in figure skating. Skaters can no longer win with one flashy jump. Kim won – and won huge – because she took the quality of her routine to a completely new level. A world-record level.
• THE MINI-MIRACLE ON ICE: Almost 30 years to the day after the Miracle on Ice – and 50 years since the US last beat Canada in men's Olympic hockey – the US shocked the hosts with a 5-3 win on the back of goalie Ryan Miller. It was a showcase for hockey at its finest in front of the most passionate hockey fans on the planet. But Canada got its revenge in the gold medal final, beating the US, 3-2, in overtime. The win gave Canada the gold medal it coveted most and also set a record for most gold won by a country in a single Winter Olympics, with 14.
• THE DOUBLE McTWIST: Shaun White had the gold medal locked up in halfpipe snowboarding, but still had one run left. It was time for a "victory lap" – the run that means nothing and is a chance to have some fun. But it never works. The pressure gone, the focus fading, the victory lap turns into a crash and shrug-shouldered slide down the pipe. Except this day. White hit every trick before coming to his last air. Running out of speed and hill, he attempted what the world had been talking about since he arrived – his new trick, the double McTwist 1260 – and nailed it. That was a victory lap.
PHOTO GALLERY: Top inspiring Olympic moments
Bill Demong of the U.S. displays his gold medal during the medal ceremony for the men's Nordic Combined individual large hill event. Bill Demong will attend the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Closing Ceremonies which are being held on Sunday. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)
Closing ceremony Vancouver Olympics: Bill Demong leads the most successful US Winter Olympic team in history
At the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics tonight, Nordic combined skier Bill Demong will carry the flag in front of the most successful US Winter Olympic team in history.
Demong showed real sportsmanship early on in the Games when he put aside his own disappointing performance to cheer teammate Johnny Spillane’s silver medal – America’s first in 86 years of Olympic Nordic combined events. Then in a stunning performance last week, Demong became the first American to win Olympic gold with a surge on the final climb that left Austria’s Bernhard Gruber in his dust.
But asked what his most enduring memories would be of these Games, Demong pointed not to his own historic achievements but – characteristically – looked beyond himself.
“Being here the last couple of years, training and seeing it all come together and everything done ahead of time, I think these Olympics were a real success in Canada’s attempt to really show the world they could put on a best-ever kind of Games,” said Demong, a four-time Olympian who capped his gold-medal day by proposing to his girlfriend. (She said yes.) “The memory I will take from this was that it was a fantastic Games in a beautiful setting put on by a really proud city.”
Lindsay Vonn, whose gold and bronze added to a historic eight-medal haul for US alpine skiing, agreed that the atmosphere was special.
“The fans were definitely in full force in all the events. Canadians and Americans alike cheering not only us on and Canadians on, but the entire world,” she said. “You don’t get that from every Olympics. I definitely didn’t feel the same energy and the same atmosphere in Torino as I did here in Whistler.”
Rough start for Vancouver 2010
While the US got off to a roaring start with Hannah Kearney’s gold in the ladies’ mogul competition on Feb. 13, Vancouver’s party didn’t. There was the fatal luge crash, dump trucks and helicopters rushing to pile enough snow on Cypress Mountain to hold the snowboard and freestyle skiing events, and a lack of organization as bus drivers and volunteers from around Canada struggled to figure out exactly what they were doing and where they were going. The British press called the Games “the worst in history.”
“When I look at the first four or five days, I don’t think there’s anybody here and anyone in the city that would have been prepared to say, 'I could have predicted this’ – some of the things that Vancouver 2010 had to deal with,” said John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver organizing committee, who quipped that he’d rather have done the job with a paper bag over his head.
But the lack of snow was not new, and if warm spells in cold places becomes the new norm, future Olympic committees may want to take note of Vancouver’s tactics.
“In [the 2006 Games in] Italy, we literally skied on a pile of snow on a dirt road, so this is a big improvement,” said Kearney, the moguls gold medalist.
Golden sunshine, and medals to match for Canada
But even for the cynics, the atmosphere seemed to change with a spell of sunny weather in the second week, and Canadians’ unfailing cheer – whether in the stands or the “smurf suits” as the volunteers’ turquoise uniforms came to be called. And for all the criticism Canada got for its uncharacteristically bold plan to “Own the Podium,” its athletes came through strong in the final days to win the overall gold medal count – if not matching America’s historic haul of 37, including the men's hockey game.
“Our athletes have done a phenomenal job here,” said Scott Blackmun, CEO of the US Olympic committee.
But even before the final day of competition, the USOC was already looking ahead to the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
“We start sending [leadership] teams to Sochi … this coming year, so they start looking at venues and certainly the geography, the area,” said US Olympic team chef de mission Mike Plant, who said the US has spent $55 million on winter sports over the past four years. “They start to understand it years in advance so that when we do get to the Games we’re probably the best-prepared team.”
Vancouver Olympics Men's Curling- Canadian fan watches his team beat Norway and win a gold medal in Men's Curling finals at the Vancouver Olympics on Saturday. Canada's gold medal count broke records at these Olympic Games. (Newscom)
Vancouver Olympics final medal count: Who won?
The best Olympics ever.
The Vancouver Olympics medal count suggests that both the United States and Canada can claim that title.
Canada’s 13 gold medals ties Norway’s 2002 effort for the most ever in a single Winter Olympics – and Canada is favored to get a 14th Sunday in the men’s hockey final against the United States.
It's a US-Canada cross-border rumble on Games' last weekend.
Whatever happens in that game, the United States will win at least a silver, giving it 37 overall medals, which will break the record of 36 set by Germany, also in 2002.
Before we start anointing this Olympics with superlatives, though, it bears noting that, by another measure, the medal accomplishments of the US and Canada were average, or even below par: medals per event.
Yes, the US and Canada won a record number of medals, but there were a total of 86 events – 258 medals – to be won. By contrast, in 1928, there were 14, and Norway won 15 medals, six gold – an average of 1.07 medals and 0.43 golds per event.
86 years in the making: a US gold in Nordic combined
To do that, the US would have needed to win 92 medals, Canada 37 golds.
Of course, back then there were only 25 nations competing, and Norway had invented most of the sports in the Winter Olympics. In Vancouver, there are 82 nations, and many of the newer event are tailored to appeal to a different part of the world.
The Norwegians, for example, didn’t have to deal with the Koreans in short track, the Chinese in aerials, or the Americans in halfpipe snowboarding.
It means that medal count domination has taken on a different hue since 1992, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) began its effort to expand the Winter Olympics, both in terms of events and national participation.
In 1988, the Winter Olympics had 46 events, compared with the 86 today.
That makes historical comparisons – and superlatives – problematic. The US and Canadian winning percentages, however, are roughly equal with the winning percentages since 1992.
Facts from the medal table
Here are some other facts from the medal table, which is complete except the men’s 50 km mass start and the men’s hockey final:
• In a switch from Turin, the US got more medals in traditional sports than sports and women’s events added since 1992, such as snowboarding, short track, and women’s hockey. Traditional: 6-9-4 – 19. New: 3-5-9 – 17
• Canada lost out to the US purely because it could not compete as well in traditional events. Traditional: 3-1-4 – 8. New: 10-6-1 – 17.
• Germany continued its tradition as the traditional-sports king, taking only two medals from new sports and new women’s events – both in women’s skeleton. Traditional: 10-11-6 – 27. New: 0-1-1 – 2.
• This will be the fifth time in 21 Winter Olympics that the winner of the overall medal count and the gold medal count will be different – all since 1980.
• Still only four countries have ever won the overall medal table outright*: Norway (5), the Soviet Union (7), Germany/East Germany (5/1), and the US (2). *Sweden tied with Norway in 1948.
• Austria won 16 overall medals but none in men’s alpine skiing. The alpine men won eight medals in Turin. It was the first Austrian men’s alpine shutout since 1936.
• Three countries each won eight medals in a single sport: The US in alpine skiing (2-3-3), The Koreans in short track (2-4-2), and the Norwegians in cross-country (4-2-2). Only the Norwegians can add to their total Sunday.
• The Koreans won all their 14 medals in skating events – albeit in three different sports: short track speedskating, long-track speedskating, and figure skating.
• Finland, with five medals, had its worst Olympics since 1972.
• The only new event at these Olympics – ski cross – awarded its gold medals to Switzerland (men) and Canada (women).
• Canada might set a record for the most golds at a Winter Olympics, but the US has already set a record for the most bronzes (13), breaking its own record of 11 from 2002. Germany holds the record for most silvers in a Winter Olympics (16) also in 2002.
• No country won a Winter Olympic medal for the first time here.
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Chad Hedrick (r.) celebrates with teammates Brian Hansen (l.) and Jonathan Kuck (c.) after they upset the Netherlands in the team pursuit semifinal at the Vancouver Olympics Friday. The final is scheduled for Saturday. (Newscom)
Vancouver Olympics medal count: US chances for Saturday
The United States added a short track silver and bronze to its medal count Friday, setting itself up for a historic finish to the Vancouver Olympics.
• Silver: Kathrine Reutter (1000 meters)
• Bronze: men’s relay team (which includes Apolo Ohno)
The US has virtually guaranteed that it will finish first in the overall Winter Olympics medal count for the first time since 1932, and only the second time ever. The US holds a 34-27 lead on Germany entering the last full day of competition today.
It’s also now certain that the US will break its record for most-ever medals won in a Winter Olympics (34), set in 2002. Team USA is in the men’s hockey final Sunday, guaranteeing at least one more silver.
What remains uncertain is whether the US will be able to tie or surpass its record for most gold medals in a Winter Olympics (10), also set in 2002. It currently has eight.
Why are those funky Vancouver medals so big?
Here is a brief look at American chances in medal events for Saturday, Day 16.
Curling (men): Canada is the strong favorite to pick up its ninth gold here – succeeding where the Canadian women surprisingly fell short Friday. They face the fantastic pants of Norway. The bronze-medal match pits Sweden, who curls like it were a sport in the X Games – all daring and risk – against Switzerland.
Scoring explained in seven easy steps
• American medal chances: none
Cross-country (women’s 30 km mass start): Two racers to watch: Justyna Kowalczyk could win Poland’s first-ever gold (or silver) in cross-country skiing, and Marit Bjoergen of Norway has already won four medals here, though the 30 km is twice as long as the next-longest race here.
• American medal chances: none
Speedskating (men’s and women’s team pursuit): Coming from nowhere, the US men are already qualified for the final against the Canadians guaranteeing them at least silver. The Canadians enter as the favorite, however.
Let the US-Canada rumble begin!
The women, perhaps even more surprisingly, defeated the strong Canadian team to advance to the semifinal. They are decided underdogs against the Germans in their semifinal but could take bronze with a victory over the loser of the Japan/Poland semifinal.
• American medal chances: (men) guaranteed; (women) fairly good
Snowboard (men’s parallel giant slalom): This figures to be a battle between two Canadians and two Austrians. American Chris Klug won a bronze in 2002 but is a relative long shot to medal again.
• American medal chances: slim (Chris Klug)
Alpine skiing (slalom): The story here is that the Austrian men are looking to win their first medal of any color at the Vancouver Olympics – a remarkable shutout. They are a strong favorite to medal here, with three slalom skiers in the top 6 of the World Cup standings, including current World Cup overall leader Benjamin Raich.
Frenchman Julien Lizeroux, Croatian Ivica Kostelic, and Swiss Silvan Zurbriggen are also favorites. America will look to Ted Ligety and Bode Miller as decent medal chances. Miller skis so fast and close to the edge that if he finishes, he could well medal.
• American medal chances: fair (Ted Ligety, Bode Miller)
Bobsled (four man): Steven Holcomb piloted the USA 1 sled to a 0.40 lead in heats 1 and 2, setting track records on both runs. As the top-ranked four-man pilot in the world, he’s in pole position to win gold. Behind him are Canada 1 and Germany 1.
Just how long has it been since the US took gold in four-man boblsed?
• American medal chances: very good (USA 1)
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Apolo Ohno surveys the wreckage of his final-turn fourth-to-first sprint in the 500 meter short track speedskating race at the Vancouver Olympics Friday. Ohno was disqualified. (David Gray/Reuters)
Apolo Ohno disqualified: Let the USA-Canada rumble begin!
Friday, American Apolo Ohno and Canadian Francois-Louis Tremblay were in the last turn of their race at the Vancouver Olympics when the shenanigans started.
When they ended, Monsieur Tremblay was sprawled on the ice, and Ohno was disqualified for bringing a little too much Heisman flare to the short track.
That was just an appetizer for this weekend, folks.
As the Vancouver Olympics near their conclusion Sunday afternoon, both the Americans and Canadians have three rock-solid medal chances left. In all three, the two nations staring each other in the face are … guess who?
It’s time to drop the steel cage. The next two days are going to be a cross-border rumble.
Who's the boss?
Canada has the inside track on the gold-medal crown, with 10 to America’s eight. But the US has already virtually locked up the overall medal lead with 35, eight more that Germany.
In Beijing we resorted to all manner of nonsense to decide which was the greater measure of Olympic superiority. Here, it will be much easier.
Drop the puck!
Before that, on Saturday, the US and Canada will face each other for gold in the final of the men’s team speedskating pursuit, then they’ll race on the bobsled track, where USA 1 and Canada 1 enter the final two heats 1-2.
But on Sunday, there might still be some debate about who owned the podium during the Vancouver Olympics.
How appropriate, then, that the US and Canada will hold a friendly hockey game at noon Sunday to decide the matter.
If America wins, Canadians will have to send all their firstborn sons to Texas and stop using the letter “u” in color. If Canada wins, America has to replace the stars on Old Glory with maple leafs and Don Cherry gets to kick Stephen Colbert in the shins repeatedly without being assessed a two-minute minor for roughing.
Rumor has it that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had planned on coming to Vancouver to attend closing ceremonies as well as Russia’s expected gold-medal hockey match. When Russia lost to Canada in the quarterfinals, 713-3 (it felt like that, at least), he backed out.
What about the closing ceremonies? The Olympic spirit?
Be serious. This is hockey.
Getting a jump start on the weekend
The US and Canada have already gotten into the spirit ahead of this weekend. Canada beat the US, 2-0, in the women’s hockey final Thursday, giving the Americans silver medals that they appeared to cherish as much as a wedgie from their big sister.
Then Ohno, boxed out by Tremblay on the final turn of the 500 meters Friday, tried the better-DQ’d-than-fourth-place jailbreak rush and left Tremblay in a heap of Lycra and steel. The Canadians also took gold in the race.
An hour later, the Canadians again bested the Yanks, turning the volume dial in the Pacific Coliseum to 11 with a convincing win in the men’s relay. The US finished third – a good result, actually, but two places behind maple leaf nation.
No matter what happens, really, North America’s Winter Olympic alpha males will be able to share the spoils of what has been, for each, a historic Games.
Never has America won more than 34 Winter Olympic medals. It will here.
Never has Canada won more than seven gold medals. It has already won 10 here, and is almost certain to win more.
It’s just that that last gold medal Sunday afternoon might mean a little more than the rest.
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Germany's Maria Riesch negotiates the slalom course on the way to winning gold at the Winter Olympics Friday. (Newscom)
All hail Maria Riesch, the Winter Olympics' favorite kind of skier
Germany’s Maria Riesch is just the sort of skier that the Winter Games love.
Friday, she won her second gold medal of the Vancouver Olympics, taking the slalom by 0.43 seconds over Austria’s Marlies Schild.
Her other gold came in the combined – the single event designed to determine the most well-rounded skier, forcing them to compete in skiing’s most different disciplines, downhill and slalom.
For most of the year, these two poles of the skiing world never meet.
The World Cup generally separates the slower, technical events (slalom and giant slalom) from the faster speed events (downhill and super-G), meaning that the speed skiers and the technical skiers rarely race on the same weekend.
Except at the biennial world championships – and the Olympics.
May the best (all-around) skier win
The Winter Olympics are, in essence, one two-week combined race. They allow those few skiers who can adapt to the demands of all four skiing disciplines to separate themselves from the crowd.
In Whistler, that is exactly what has happened. The world’s best all-around skiers have taken center stage.
Bode Miller, the only man ever to win at least five World Cup races in every discipline, has won three medals – one of each color.
Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal has carried on the legacy of countrymen Kjetil Andre Aamodt and Lasse Kjus, the greatest all-around skiers in recent Olympic history. Svindal, like Miller, has won one medal of each color, and was headed for at least a bronze in the combined when he skied out of the slalom run.
Swiss Carlo Janka, touted by many as the next great all-around skier, took gold in the giant slalom.
Bode's last hurrah
Becoming a better all-around skier is one of American Lindsey Vonn’s goals. For the moment, she dominates the World Cup circuit in the speed events but struggles in the technical events.
Saturday, Miller will try to add to his medal tally in the slalom. Once a slalom specialist, Miller was transitioning to speed events around the time of the Turin Games. Now, he is most definitely a speed skier.
But as his gold-medal winning run in the combined showed, when he can hold on to his run, he’s still one of the fastest slalom skiers in the world.
“In any given race he could light the place up or roll into a waterfall,” says Shauna Farnell of Ski Racing magazine, in an e-mail. “He has a very special innate talent.”
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Thirty-nine US Olympic athletes have nominated an influential person in their life for the O.C. Tanner Inspiration Award. Each nomination comes with an essay written by an athlete, they're all posted on one Facebook page where you're invited to vote for the best story. (screen capture from Facebook.com)
Who inspired US athletes at Vancouver Olympics?
As I wrote a few days ago, every athlete here at the Vancouver Olympics arrived on the world’s biggest sports stage thanks to a small army of friends, family, and fans who have buoyed them and bolstered the practical support provided by coaches and technicians.
Those armies are now being honored by the Olympic athletes themselves.
Thirty-nine US athletes have nominated an influential person in their life for the O.C. Tanner Inspiration Award. Each nomination comes with a short first-person essay, written by the athletes, and they're all posted on one Facebook page where you're invited to vote for the best story. More than 600,000 votes have already been cast.
Some of the same athletes you heard from in our story, including Noelle Pikus-Pace, are featured. But there are many others. One of my favorites was from Bill Schuffenhauer, who competes in 4-man bobsled:
"I was introduced to the difficulties of life at a young age – foster care, juvenile detention and living on the streets of South Salt Lake. Through the insecurity of being passed back and forth between biological parents, foster parents and homelessness, Grandma Sadie was always there. There were times she came to pick me up from the detention center, and others when she helped me when I was homeless and had no food to eat. Her motherly care was precisely what I needed in those difficult times, and she referred to me as 'mi hijo,' her son."
Figure skater Mirai Nagasu, who skated to an outstanding fourth-place Thursday night (read more on that here), in her posting on the Facebook page, expresses appreciation in the contest for a "super-mom." In addition to supporting a daughter's skating dreams, her mother was also supporting her husband’s dream of owning and running a successful Japanese restaurant, she says. The tribute also depicts a life off the rink that wasn’t as glitzy as some might assume for a sport as popular as hers.
It wasn’t uncommon for me to sleep in a storage closet while [my mother] worked at the family business. After cleaning and closing we’d return home at 11:00 pm, to wake up a few hours later and drive to ice skating practice at 5:00 am.... She kept this grueling schedule to support my dreams. Sleep deprived and worked to the bone, she has inspired me to never give up. Watching her sacrifice for me inspires me to push forward. How could I see my mom wearing clothes with holes in them so I could afford lessons, and not be grateful?
For some of the athletes who are married or who have become parents, it’s their new families who inspire them most. US biathlete Jay Hakkinen gives a shout-out to his daughter Stella Amalia.
Because of her, I compete with a lion’s heart – brave and bold on my Olympic journey. When we play together I ask “Stella, what sound does the lion make,” and she musters a courageous roar… I want to make her proud and succeed for her.
Three contest winners – selected by the US Olympic Committee, O.C. Tanner, and the public voting via Facebook – will receive a 14k gold commemorative ring featuring a laurel crown and the words "Inspire, Olympian and Mentor" in Greek.
These are just a few of the stories offered by US athletes. Check out the rest for yourself. It may even make you want to roar as you watch them compete in this final week of events.
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Miracle on ice: The United States' Mark Johnson (10) prepares to shoot the puck into the net for the second US goal in the first period of a semifinal hockey game as the Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretjak defends at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., in this Feb. 22, 1980 file photo. (AP/File)
1980 'miracle on ice': an American in Moscow recalls Soviet reaction
The Berlin wall fell. The Soviet Union broke up. Poland’s in NATO. Yawn.
But 30 years ago this week, a US Olympic hockey team made up of college amateurs beat a Soviet team of experienced hockey goliaths in Lake Placid. Now that’s a miracle.
Forgive the opening facetiousness, and a slide into first person, but sometimes things that aren’t supposed to happen, evidently do.
I'm remembering the Olympic “miracle on ice” from the vantage of a Moscow hotel, as part of a college group that just arrived in the Soviet Union of Leonid Breshnev, before perestroika and glasnost, when, for cold war babies, everything east of Berlin was wrapped in mystery and enigma. Moscow had invaded Afghanistan two months before and the trip almost didn’t happen; we were one of few American groups in Russia at the time, eating green peas at every meal, since peas were the bountiful harvest that year.
We stayed in the Hotel Kosmos, a newly French- built temple to Soviet modernity that featured green flora draped uncomfortably around a set of terraces. Under one of them men shouted and slumped in front of a small “televisor.” The next day we heard they were watching US coach Herb Brooks’s Olympic hockey team pull off an upset that had been broadcast as a sure victory around the Soviet empire.
Beyond improbable
So improbable was the win that New York Times columnist Dave Anderson wrote before hand, "Unless the ice melts, or unless the United States team or another team performs a miracle ... the Russians are expected to easily win the Olympic gold medal for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments."
That victory aproved a small miracle for us. It got mentioned in nearly every function we went to for days, and it helped oil our exchanges and visits to Moscow, Minsk, Smolensk, and then Leningrad -- years before the concept of “citizen” or “people-to-people” diplomacy became popular. Truth be told, the Soviets acted far more graciously about losing at the time than I would have expected from a comparable group of American, myself included – and that was a lesson.
Soviet tour officials were more practiced at the friendship game than American kids in an ancient civilization we could barely fathom. The solace for our Soviet hosts was in saying,“It was a good game. But wait until you play the Finns.” Then Herb Brooks’s US team beat the mighty Finns as well, bringing further rounds of congratulatory bonhomie, and conversation.
(Today in Vancouver, the US team again plays the Finns in the Olympic semifinals. Read here how Canada doused Russian hockey hopes in Vancouver.)
Of course, by the end of our trip, we’d mostly forgotten about Lake Placid and the miracle. Three weeks in Soviet Russia in the winter could do that to the sons and daughters of America’s fairly innocent disco suburbs.
Not until our intrepid study group got back to the US did we discover, after everyone else, what the win involved. We read about coach Brooks, from St. Paul, Minnesota, an international hockey aficionado, and heard of the gut-wrenching discipline and regime of exhibition games he put his players under to train for the Lake Placid games.
A lot of it is in the movie “Miracle,” which Jim Craig, the US goalie who kept batting away shot after shot, recently said was “only slightly Disneyfied.” A lot is being written about that game this week – how it changed hockey, how a team’s spirit and devotion can turn the tables, how a smart plan to counter skill with speed and stamina can make a difference.
Who can calculate the difference it makes? The miracle of Lake Placid may get a little hyped 30 years later. In 1980, it did impress a lot of Soviet people.
Russia's none too happy about its rankings at Vancouver – as you can read here.
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