Free Republic

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com Canada's CTV Olympics website CBC.CA - Torino 2006

TORINO, Italy (Army News Service, Feb. 22, 2006) – As anchor on the U.S. Biathlon’s Olympic Relay Team, Army World Class Athlete Spc. Jeremy Teela blames his poor shooting for the team’s ninth-place finish in the Men’s 4 X 7.5 kilometer Relay competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics Tuesday. “Could we have got seventh today, probably,” the Vermont National Guardsman said. “I think I messed up. I had a penalty in standing so I had to take a penalty loop.” Strong skiing on the cross-country course and just three extra shots needed on the firing line helped Jay Hakkinen of...

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com Canada's CTV Olympics website CBC.CA - Torino 2006

The Winter of Bryant’s Discontent HBO’s Bryant Gumbel sounded off about the Winter Olympics, finding them deficient in athletic prowess, something he attributed to the lack of black athletes. “So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention,” Gumbel said. Gumbel immediately became the focus of right-wing scolds. We here at The Blogaroni don’t usually find ourselves providing fodder for such a crowd. However, in this case it’s pretty clear. Gimbel was wrong. Ten Reasons the Winter Olympics is NOT...

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com

TORINO, Italy (AP) -- An Austrian ski coach who bolted the Winter Games following a surprise anti-doping raid wound up in a psychiatric hospital -- the latest stop on his bizarre flight from Torino, where authorities were still analyzing 100 syringes and other material seized from athletes' housing. Authorities took Walter Mayer into custody Sunday after he crashed his car into a police blockade 15 miles inside Austria's border with Italy. Police later took him to a psychiatric facility, Austria's ski federation president Peter Schroecksnadel told The Associated Press. "Apparently he's still in there,'' Schroecksnadel said Monday night. "I believe...

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com Canada's CTV Olympics website CBC.CA - Torino 2006

In the pantheon of bad ideas as they pertain to newspapers, you will almost always find an editor or nine. It's uncanny how they can ceaselessly come up with something obvious or dull -- hey, let's write about ratings! -- but when applied to the Olympics there's also what they perceive to be a Bigger Picture. Namely, what does it mean for us as a country and a people if the Olympics get trounced by prime-time soap operas or reality series about treacly cats? While we suspect it has a lot to do with the Nordic combined or the biathlon,...

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com

by Mark Finkelstein February 20, 2006 Things didn't work out well at the Olympics for Johnny Weir, the flamboyant American figure skater. Favored to take home a medal, he finished a disappointing fifth after a very rugged long program. But Johnny shouldn't feel too bad. When he hangs up the skates, there could be a promising second career for him . . . as a member of the liberal media. Interviewed on CBS' Early Show this morning, Weir explained that he knew he wasn't at his best on the day of the long program, and in particular wasn't "feeling pretty."...

TURIN, Italy - The Dutch oom-pah band had just finished Queen's ubiquitous rock anthem "We Will Rock You" and the crowd was on its feet Sunday night, stamping and clapping. Then the Olympic cheerleaders ran onto the skating oval. Dead silence. Followed by boos. The official cheerleaders of the Winter Games just can't seem to help it. They're not exceptionally good. Ranging in age from 15 to 26, these Italians were hired to entertain audiences at each Olympic venue. They practiced for four-and-a-half months. It just doesn't look like it. They have a lot of heart, but not much rhythm....

Brother and sister skiers Anders and Alissa Johnson have trained together in the ski jump for their entire careers, and both are considered among the best jumpers in the country. But at the Olympics today, Alissa will be on the sidelines while her brother goes for the gold. "I'm here [only] to support unfortunately," Alissa, 19, said. "I wish I was here to train and jump, but I'm here to support Anders." The International Ski Federation has ruled that ski jumping is too dangerous for women, making it the only winter Olympic sport that has male competitors and no female...

The next time you see a kid skateboarding down the railings at the post office or zipping around the shopping carts at the supermarket, don't throw a can of cling peaches at him. Instead, put your hand over your heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. These youngsters are our Olympic future. Many of them go on to become snowboarders. And snowboarding is about the only thing we can do right here in Turin. Nearly half of the USA's medals are the result of our snowboarding expertise. We pour millions of dollars into developing Olympic athletes. But it's the kids...

Today: February 19, 2006 at 16:11:8 PST Bush Tries His Hand at Winter Sports ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush tried his own version of winter sports this weekend - two bike rides in subfreezing temperatures - after watching some of the Winter Olympics on Air Force One on Friday. While flying back from Florida, Bush watched part of the U.S. men's curling competition broadcast from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. "We were watching some curling - cheering the U.S. on," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said, recalling the match the U.S. team won by 7-3 over...

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com Canada's CTV Olympics website CBC.CA - Torino 2006

Shani Davis knew what he was doing. Davis became the first black to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history on Saturday, capturing the men's 1,000-meter speedskating race. Joey Cheek made it a 1-2 American finish, adding a silver to his victory in the 500. Davis came under scrutiny for skipping the team pursuit _ especially when the Hedrick-led squad was knocked out in the quarterfinals, doomed by a slow skater who might not have been on the ice if Davis was available. But Davis, world record holder in the 1,000, wanted to focus on his signature event

Without Davis, Hedrick can't equal Heiden February 16, 2006 BY JAY MARIOTTI Sports Columnist TURIN, Italy -- Chad Hedrick's dream of becoming the 21st-century Eric Heiden is over. Which means Shani Davis' national nightmare might be beginning. With Hedrick reduced to shouting in frustration Wednesday, an American team without Davis was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the team pursuit competition in Olympic long-track speedskating. That quickly, so went Hedrick's chances of equaling Heiden's legendary 1980 record of five Winter Games gold medals. And that ominously, the focus turned to Davis, the South Side native and 2005 world all-around champion. Saying...

TURIN, Italy - Put down the remote and find another time to wash those socks. After two decades of being the most skippable event at the Olympics, figure skating's ice dance is actually worth watching this year. For the first time since 1976, an American couple not only has a chance to medal in dance, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto have an outside shot at winning it. "Any Olympic medal would be an amazing, amazing thing to achieve," said Belbin, whose silver with Agosto at last year's world championships was the first medal by an American couple in 20 years....

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule (Presumably updated with Results) TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com Canada's CTV Olympics website CBC.CA - Torino 2006

Maybe it is impossible to draw some grand theme across an entire nation's diverse athlete delegation, but every day covering the Americans seems to bring the same scene, the same hung heads, the same excuses, no matter what venue you go to. Team USA has been disappointing here, rarely winning in any sport that we didn't just recently invent and push into the games. Six of our ten medals, including three of our six golds have come in snowboarding. It's a great sport, but there isn't exactly heavy international competition. We have two golds in speedskating, one in Alpine skiing...