2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

Well, that's it, the 2010 Winter Olympics are over. Canada just defeated the U.S. in a thrilling overtime gold medal game, 3-2. Sidney Crosby, the star of the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins scored the winning goal in overtime to give Canada the win. We're heartbroken, but hey, if the guys who beat us look as good as Sidney Crosby, and they're willing to take their shirts off for magazine spreads, we guess we can live with it.

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On a positive note, the U.S. broke the all-time record for most medals ever won at a Winter Olympics with 37, including 9 gold. We can live with that, too.

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics are almost over, just one more Cross Country Ski Race today, and then the final showdown of the games, U.S. vs. Canada in Hockey. The U.S. grabbed one more gold medal yesterday in the 4-Man Bobsled race, led by driver Steve Holcomb. It marked the first time that the U.S. won the 4-Man Bobsled event since Francis Tyler drove the U.S. to gold at the 1948 St. Moritz Games.
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(steve holcomb, with beard, and teammates on the u.s. bobsled team)

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Whether or not Bobsledding is a real sport, we'll get into in a couple of days, but for now, we're taking a look at the overall medal count and the changing face of world-wide sports. Much has been made of the lack of medals won by former sports juggernaut Russia, and the changing of the guard in certain sports. The 2010 Vancouver Games marked the first time since 1960 that Russia didn't win the Pairs Figure Skating, it marked the first time since 1964 that a American woman didn't medal in Ladies Figure Skating, it marked the first time ever that the U.S. won medals in Nordic Combined Events, etc., etc. An obvious answer as to why some countries are "catching up" to other formerly dominant countries in some sports is because our world is simply becoming more open.
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(francis tyler driving the u.s. to 4-man bobsleigh gold in 1948)
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With the internet and an ever-growing world-wide media, even third world countries can now watch these sports for the first time and take an interest in participating in them. And as those third world and industrially developing countries find the capital, they can begin to assemble teams for these new sports. But a bigger, and maybe uglier, answer is the fact that with the break-up of the Soviet Union, many of the athletes who formerly won medals for the Soviet Union now compete for other countries. The ugly part comes in the knowledge that the Soviet Union used to dope the hell out of their athletes. Remember the monstrously huge East German women of the 1970's? With better doping tests and therefore fewer juiced athletes competing at the Olympics, it certainly levels the playing field for all the athletes.
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(the gold medal winning u.s. 4-man bobsled)

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

(lago and his bronze medal shortly before the medal reached an awkward destination)

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The 2010 Winter Olympics are shaping up to be one of the greatest winter games ever for the U.S. As of today, the U.S. is still leading in the total medal count and has a few events left in which we should medal, including hockey, figure skating, ski racing and short track skating. But the games are not without controversy.

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Scotty Lago, the bronze medalist in the men's halfpipe, was asked to leave Vancouver after being photographed at a party in a "menage a trois" with his medal and an unidentified woman. Who knows what strange new worlds that medal explored, but suffice it to say that Lago learned the first lesson of fame, don't do anything in public which could be embarrassing, because it will end up on the internet.

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.(Mancuso, obviously upset after her "make-up" run yesterday)

.Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, the two most successful skiers on the U.S. women's team, took swipes at each other this week. Vonn has a gold and bronze medal, Mancuso, two silvers, but it's Vonn, featured on a recent Sports Illustrated cover, who is clearly the "golden girl" of these Olympic games. Mancuso told Sports Illustrated this week that the U.S. ski team was being hurt by "a popularity contest." "People are having a hard time reaching their potential because it's such a struggle for attention," Mancuso went on to say. "You come to meetings after races and it's like it's a bad day if Lindsey didn't do well." Meow! It didn't help any when Mancuso was waved off the course yesterday because Vonn had crashed seconds before Mancuso started her run. On Mancuso's make-up run, she performed far worse than in the original run, possibly costing her a medal.

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But the biggest cry-baby of all continues to be the Russian diva, Evgeni Plushenko, who bitterly lost the gold medal to American Evan Lysacek in men's figure skating. Plushenko continues to insist to the press that he really won the event, and insulted Lysacek's performance by saying that it was more like ice dancing than figure skating. Most absurdly, on Plushenko's website, instead of labeling his new medal as silver, he captioned it as a "platinum" medal. We've got an idea, instead of inserting his bronze medal into a woman's mouth, maybe Scotty Lago could shove his medal in a particular Plushenko orifice.

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics - Days 8, 9 and 10

There are still a lot of games to go before the U.S. wins a medal, but the U.S. Hockey team scored a stunning victory last night over powerhouse Team Canada, 5-3. It was the first time the U.S. beat Canada in the Olympics in 50 years! Hockey is everything to Canada, it's a religion to them; Canada is not happy with this loss. Strangely enough, the surprise victory took place on the eve of the 30th Anniversary of Team USA's "Miracle on Ice", when it defeated the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics.
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The Americans won other medals over the weekend, including another bronze for Apolo Ohno, who with seven total medals becomes the most decorated U.S. Olympian ever. But the gold medal which gave us the most satisfaction was Bode Miller's win in the Super Combined ski race. Miller has a long, controversial, infamous career, but finally, in the twilight of his career, he's having his greatest success. Go Bode!

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics - Days 5, 6, and 7

We haven't been able to get to our computer for a few days, we have a lot to catch up on with The Olympics.
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(evan lysacek)

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One of the best stories we've seen in a long time unfolded on Tuesday night at the Men's Figure Skating Short Program. Evgeni Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic champion and well known egomaniac, bragged that he came out of retirement to try for a second gold medal because "the sport needed him." Plushenko has been well known for many years to be someone who is his own biggest fan, but he took his megalomania to new heights Tuesday night. After the short program, Plushenko was in the lead, but American Evan Lysacek, the current World Champion, finished in second, less than half a point behind. The mind games began immediately. Plushenko told reporters that some skaters were hurting the sport because they weren't using the quad jump, (four spins in the air); Plushenko does a quad, Lysacek does not. Lysacek shot back that he preferred to concentrate on superior spins and smaller jumps. In a backhanded insult to Lysacek, Plushenko went to the press again and said that he was doing those "spins and smaller jumps" when he was a child. Meow! This added a nail-biting drama to the Men's Long program on Thursday night the likes of which we haven't seen since Nancy Kerrigan and Tanya Harding took the ice together in 1994. It's no wonder the Olympics beat American Idol in the ratings this week, marking the first time since 2004 that American Idol didn't win its time slot.
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(evgeni plushenko)
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So it was all on the line on Thursday night. Lysacek skated first in the final group, and despite the fact that we've never been fans of his skating, (way too much insane arm flailing and costume choices which make his Ichobad Crane body look even more Ichobad Cranier), we have to give him credit, he skated a near perfect program. Not pretty, necessarily, but almost perfect. Plushenko went last, and he also skated cleanly. His skating was not nearly as "pretty" or as smooth as Lysacek's, but there was no way to know how the sometimes questionable figure skating judging would rule. In the end, Lysacek won the gold medal by less than a point, sending Plushenko to the press to state that he thought he actually won. Today, Russian Prime Minister Putin even weighed in, saying that Plushenko was robbed. Hey, Russkies, you lost. Get over it!
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American Shani Davis defended his gold medal in the 1,000 Meters Race in Long Track Speed Skating. Davis became the first African American, actually the first Black athlete ever, to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics when he won the same race in 2006, and after a history of a somewhat controversial training regimen and bickering with his fellow American skaters, it was great to see him win again. American Chad Hedrick took the bronze.
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(shani davis)

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Defending gold medalist in the Men's Snowboard Halfpipe, Shaun White, "The Flying Tomato", (we prefer "Red Zeppelin"), won his second gold in the event, with American Scotty Lago taking the bronze. Scotty Lago made bigger news today, though, when racy photos of him and a woman at a party doing strange things with his bronze medal, surfaced on the internet. Lago had to publicly apologize for the photos, and he's now left the Olympics. We don't know, yet, if he left Vancouver on his own, or if he was asked to leave. Evidently, Lago hasn't learned the Number One Rule of Modern Life in 2010, if you're famous, anything you do in public is going to end up as a photo on the internet. You can count on it.
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(shaun white)
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Another great story had a happy ending this week. Lindsey Vonn, touted as "the greatest skier American has ever produced", but hampered this week with a severe shin bruise, finally skied her first race, the Women's Downhill. Vonn took the gold, and American Julia Mancuso took the silver. Mancuso was the defending gold medalist in the event. Vonn also broke the infamous "Sports Illustrated Curse"; many athletes who are featured on the cover of the quintessential magazine then go on to lose in their big games/events. Vonn was the SI cover girl two weeks ago, immediately afterwhich the news of her injury broke. Uh oh, everyone thought, the SI Curse is taking another victim. But the weather gods are evidently stronger than the SI Curse, and a freak snowstorm forced the race to be delayed by a few days, giving Vonn time to heal her bruise. After winning the Downhill, Vonn crashed out of the Downhill Combined event the next day, but Mancuso took another silver medal in that event, making her the most decorated American Olympic skier ever with three total medals.
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(lindsey vonn)

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Very often, American Olympic gold medal-winning athletes go on to become very rich with a boatload of endorsement deals. Vonn might already be financially well off, we don't know, but we predict with her new found fame, blonde hair and million dollar smile, we're going to soon see her in a few t.v. commercials for McDonalds and Coca-Cola. Let's just hope she doesn't do any of those, "Let's have a great period!" commercials for women. No one wants to see that. Okay?

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.

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics - Day 3 part II

The Winter Olympics' most popular sport, figure skating, kicked off tonight with the Pairs Short Program.
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Our favorite part of figure skating, other than the beautiful artistry and the breathtaking athleticism, is to see which pairs will come out with the craziest outfits. Tonight's winners were undoubtably the pair from Ukraine, Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov, in their electric blue, Smurfs-on-acid body suits. They look like they just fell off a Christmas tree in a trailer on the wrong side of the trailer park! Good god!!
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This photograph is actually from an international competition which took place in China a few weeks ago, but trust us, Tatiana and Stanislav wore the same suits tonight in Vancouver, and they were just stunningly hideous tonight as they were in China. Can they be penalized for bad taste? Let's hope so!

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics - Day 3

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(bryon wilson)

johnny spillane, #4, and todd lodwick, #2)

On Day 3 of the Vancouver Games, the U.S. continued its lead in the total medal count with six. Johnny Spillane took the first-ever U.S. medal in the Nordic Combined event when he won
the silver, barely being edged out at the finish line for the gold. Fellow Americans Todd Lodwick finished in fourth and Bill Demong finished sixth. The Nordic Combined event, (a combination of Ski Jumping and Cross Country Ski Racing), has been a part of the Winter Olympics since the very beginning in 1924, but until this year, it was a sport in which the Americans never had a prayer. But just like the rest of the world is finally, slowly beginning to catch up with the U.S. in sports like basketball, the U.S. is finally getting more serious about competing in the some of the more obscure winter sports.

(bryon wilson in the men's moguls)
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One sport in which the U.S. has always done well, though, is the Moguls Skiing Event. Last night, American Hannah Kearney won the gold in the Women's Moguls, and tonight, American Bryon Wilson won the bronze medal in the Men's Moguls.
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(johnny spillane receives his silver medal)

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

Hannah Kearney took the first gold medal for the U.S. tonight in the Women's Moguls event. Shannon Bahrke took the bronze medal in the same event.

(hannah kearney)

Also tonight Apolo Anton Ohno took the silver medal in the 1500 Meters Short Track event, tying him with Bonnie Blair as the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian with six medals total. J.R. Celski took the bronze medal in the same event.

After the first day of competition, the U.S. leads the Games' medal count with 4 total medals.