2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics - Day 4

Day 4 of the Vancouver Games was another good one for the Americans. Seth Wescott defended his gold medal in the Men's Snowboard Cross from 2006, becoming the first two-time Olympic gold medalist in any snowboard event.

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In the photo of the Finals race of the event at left, fellow American Nate Holland, in the blue shirt, was vying for the lead at one point, but spun out and eventually finished fourth. Wescott, in the black shirt, spent most of the race in last place, but in one of the most exciting events of the Games so far, he somehow managed to turn on the speed and outmaneuver his Canadian and French opponents, taking the lead in the final turn of the race, and hung on for the win by less than two seconds.

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(seth wescott)

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Meanwhile, American bad boy Bode Miller competed in the Men's Downill and won a bronze medal, only losing the gold by 9/100's of a second. Miller is one of the most controversial skiers in American history due to his blunt comments, his unorthodox training style and his lackadaisical attitude in which he sometimes has not seemed to care about winning, but there is no doubt he's one of our greatest skiers ever. We happen to like the guy and we're thrilled with his bronze medal.

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(bode miller in the men's downhill)

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Even bigger news, and quite possibly one of the great stories in all of sport, was made at last night's figure skating pairs competition.

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(bode miller)

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The Chinese pair, Shen and Zhao, finally won the gold, after winning the bronze medals at the 2006 and 2002 Olympics. This was the first time since 1960 that the Russian pair did not win the gold. A Russian pair had won the Pairs gold in 12 straight Olympics, in every one since 1964. In fact, they didn't even win a medal; the top Russian finishers were in 4th place. If this was the old days of the Soviet Union, the skaters, and their coaches, would have surely been taken out and shot! (Kidding. Sort of.)

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(shen and zhao just seconds after completing their long program)

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But here's where the story become truly delicious, and teaches a great life lesson about never giving up. The Chinese coach Yao Bin, represented China as a Pairs skater in the 1980 World Championships and at the 1984 Olympics, in China's first attempts at the sport. He and his partner were so terrible, they were literally laughed at by the audience and other skaters. Due to the closed nature of Chinese society at the time, they had no film or video with which to study skating, and had to learn their positions and moves by studying still photographs. But instead of giving up, Yao Bin turned his humiliation into a fierce determinaton to turn Chinese skating into a program that would not only be respected, but that could actually win. It's been a long 30 years for Yao Bin, and he made a lot of personal sacrifices to see his dream come true, which is what made his success last night all the sweeter.