Posted on 02/15/2010 11:20:03 AM PST by My Favorite Headache
Monday, Feb. 15 NBC 1-5 p.m. — Men's Snowboard-Snowboard Cross Competition (LIVE); Men's Cross Country-15km Individual Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Women's Cross Country-10km Individual Gold Medal Final (LIVE).
8 p.m.-Midnight — Figure Skating-Pairs Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Men's Speed Skating-500 Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Men's Snowboard-Snowboard Cross Gold Medal Final.
12:35-2 a.m. — Women's Luge-Competition; Medals Plaza-Award Ceremonies.
2-5 a.m. — Primetime Replay.
MSNBC 5:30-8 p.m. — Women's Ice Hockey-Canada vs. Switzerland (LIVE).
3-5:30 a.m. — Women's Ice Hockey-Sweden vs. Slovakia.
Let’s take a look at the current overall and gold medal count for the 2010 Winter Olympics before the Monday schedule starts up.
The United States is leading the overall medal count for the Winter Olympics with 6 podium finishes in Vancouver thus far that include 1 gold, 2 silver, and 3 bronze. The United States was a 7/2 underdog to finish on top of the overall and gold medal counts for the Winter Olympics on the betting odds that BoDog Sportsbook put up, and it will be interesting to see if the Americans can retain their top spot in Vancouver.
Germany was the favorite to take home the most gold medals in the 2010 Winter Games, and they are tied for 2nd in the gold medal count with 1 top finish. The Germans were also expected to compete for the overall medal count honors and they currently sit in 2nd place with 1 gold and 3 bronze thus far.
France is the current leader in the gold medal count for the Winter Olympics and this is quite a surprising result. The French were not amongst the top 4 or 5 favorites in the BoDog Sportsbook Vancouver Games’ betting odds, and the impressive podium finishes have France tied for 3rd in the overall medal count for the Winter Olympics.
Canada is the other team tied at 3 in the Winter Games’ overall medal count and the Canadians’ aggressive medal tally to start the Olympics appears to be off to a slow start. Canada has 1 medal in each category and will have to rely on hockey to gain some traction in the gold medal count standings.
Russia and Norway were amongst the favorites to win the gold medal and overall medal count in the Winter Olympics, but both countries have stalled in the early going with each having 1 medal apiece.
Johnny Spillane earned silver for the United States in Nordic combined.
The Thrill of Victory
Of all the events for there to be an American on the podium, the last anyone would imagine would be the Nordic combined. But in the biggest story to emerge from Vancouver on Sunday, Johnny Spillane broke through to win the first U.S. medal in the event and just the third ever in any Nordic sport.
This also could qualify as a crushing defeat, as Spillane looked to have the gold in his sights before favorite and World Cup leader Jason Lamy Chappuis, who was born in Montana but has raced for France his whole career, overtook him down the last straightaway. Nonetheless, Spillane’s silver is an unprecedented mark for Americans in a sport that has been dominated by European countries.
Canada had a drought of its own extinguished on Sunday as well. Just one day after American Hannah Kearney’s performance in the moguls denied Canadian Jennifer Heil the chance to earn the country’s first gold medal on home soil, Alexandre Bilodeau ended any further Canadian disappointment by besting Australian Dale Begg-Smith, the defending champion, in the men’s moguls.
The Agony of Defeat
The way Spillane was bested for the gold, it would be easy to put him here. But the achievement itself stands as a victory.
Instead, the biggest disappointment comes in another Nordic event. It wasn’t just heavy favorite Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, vying for his sixth gold medal, who faltered in the 10k sprint biathlon Sunday. All the other contenders for medals were hampered by a heavy, wet snow — yes, it actually snowed in Vancouver — and stumbled to disappointing finishes. American hopeful Tim Burke finished a disappointing 47th and France’s Simon Fourcade was an astounding 71st. But it was the sport’s star, Bjoerndalen, who was the most shocking omission among the top finishers, coming in 17th thanks to tying for the most missed shots on the day with three. The troubles at the top allowed France’s Vincent Jay to come through with the second gold of the day for his country.
The aforementioned Kearney looked like she might lead an American resurgence in the moguls event, but her male counterparts did not take care of their end of the bargain. While Ryan Wilson surprised by picking up a bronze, the top two contenders for the United States crashed and burned in their final runs. First it was Nathan Roberts, who skied off the course, and then Patrick Deneen, who crashed during his run. Both men were thought to have a shot at reaching the podium but did not even finish their races.
The Local Look
After qualifying for his first Olympics, Duxbury’s Michael Morse proved he belonged among the big boys in the moguls. Morse barely qualified for the finals, coming in as the 19th out of 20 men to move on to another run. But he showed a marked improvement in his second go-round on Cypress Mountain, moving up to 15th as some of his higher-profile teammates endured terrible finishes.
New U.S. citizen Bengt Walden, who lives in Northbridge, Mass., also delivered a 15th-place finish in his event: luge. The gold went to precocious 20-year-old German Felix Loch, who bested countryman David Moeller and former Olympic champ Armin Zoeggler of Italy. Walden’s finish helped put three Americans — Tony Benshoof finished eighth and Chris Mazdzer was 13th — in the top 15 of the standings.
As for Monday, it looks like the Alpine ski events finally will take place after the weather wreaked havoc with the start date. That means that New Hampshire native Bode Miller will be on the course, vying for a top-three finish four years after leaving Turin without a single medal to show from his five races.
Monday also marks the beginning of women’s luge, which will feature two New Englanders: Julia Clukey and Megan Sweeney. While New Yorker Erin Hamli, the reigning women’s world champ, represents the best shot for the United States to medal in the event, Clukey and Sweeney will be looking to put themselves in position to reach the podium in their final runs tomorrow.
Cross country skiing also will start on Monday. That means a chance for New Hampshire native Kris Freeman to try to earn a medal in the 15k and Liz Stephen of Vermont to represent in the women’s 10k.
The Medal Count
United States: 6 (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze)
Germany: 4 (1, 3, 0)
France: 3 (2, 0, 1)
That winning feeling: Germany's Felix Loch on the podium
Germany's Felix Loch emerged as the winner of a men's luge competition overshadowed by the tragic death of Georgia's Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training accident.
It's rapidly becoming the most photographed chain-link fence in the world.
The barrier between pedestrians and the Olympic cauldron on the Vancouver waterfront has cluttered countless snapshots over the past few days. A line of Olympics-goers several blocks long is pressing forward for a glimpse of the sacred flame.
But many have complained that the barricade that protects the display makes it appear the cauldron is in jail, far removed from those who've come to admire it.
A Canwest news report this afternoon said VANOC officials may consider a "less austere" barrier, while still keeping fans at a safe distance.
As of this writing, however, the fence is still in place and shows no signs of disappearing.
Kaylene Ducholke signs a guest book at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. For Olympic organizers, it's a tough challenge _ trying to stage a bilingual French-English games in a province with few French-speakers and widespread cynicism about Canada's policy of two official languages.
Radical protesters publicly announced they intended to adopt more aggressive tactics several hours before Hudson's Bay and TD Bank plate-glass windows were smashed during an anti-Olympics demonstration in downtown Vancouver.
The group respected the call of an all-ages, family-friendly demonstration Friday evening from the Vancouver Art Gallery to BC Place, a spokesman who identified himself as Walker Riley stated in Balaclava, a daily newspaper distributed in Vancouver during the Olympics.
"But Saturday is another day. Fists in the air will connect our struggle to the black eyes of the boys in blue," Mr. Riley said.
An anti-Olympic march through downtown streets on Saturday morning took a turn after a protester in a black-hooded sweatshirt with his face covered kicked in one of The Bay's windows. A handful of protesters in black threw metal chairs, shattering the window. Then other windows were smashed.
Evan Lysacek practiced on Thursday. At 6 feet 2 inches, he is the tallest of the contenders.
Skiers sidelined after blood tests Aofie Hoey leads the Ireland delegation in to the stadium during the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.Aofie Hoey leads the Ireland delegation in to the stadium during the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. TWO OLYMPIC athletes lost chances of early golds when they were prevented from competing after blood tests at the Winter Games in Vancouver returned high haemoglobin levels.
Nordic combined athlete Niyaz Nabeev, of Russia, and Estonian cross-country skier Kaspar Kokk were not allowed to compete from February 12th-16th, the international ski federation (FIS) said yesterday, after the pre-competition blood tests.
Nabeevs “start prohibition” meant he missed yesterday’s Normal Hill Nordic Combined event. He is also due to compete in the Long Hill Nordic Combined, training for which begins on February 19th.
Kokk will miss the 15km cross country event which is due to take place today. He will next be eligible to compete in the men’s individual sprint on Wednesday.
The “start prohibition” is not a sanction, FIS said in its report, but is in order to protect the health of the athlete.
The athletes will need to pass a fresh test before they can be cleared to compete.
Athletes with high haemoglobin levels are not necessarily doing anything wrong. Some have naturally high levels while others may be dehydrated.
As a precaution, FIS routinely suspends skiers with high levels. FIS said 304 athletes have been tested so far.
Canadian confidence was giving way to talk of a Canadian Olympic curse after the hosts failed to strike gold on the opening day of competition at the Vancouver Games.
The only country to have staged a summer (1976 Montreal) and winter (1988 Calgary) Olympics and never win a gold medal; Canada had looked to end the national embarrassment in short order with an opening-day assault on the top of the podium.
But Canadas gold medal drought extended into a third Olympics in the cruellest of fashions when American moguls skier Hannah Kearney snatched victory from home hope Jenn Heil on the last run of the night on Cypress Mountain.
Meanwhile, Olympic lugers are convinced the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili was caused by “driver error” and not a dangerous track, according to British Olympic Association performance director Clive Woodward. Kumaritashvili died on Friday in a training accident, after crashing near the end of the track at the Whistler Sliding Center. He went over the wall of the track and hit a steel pole near the finish line.
However, Woodward, with the team in Vancouver, has discussed the issue with British luger AJ Rosen.
Reports have claimed there has been some dissent from competitors, concerned the luge event is continuing and worried for their safety on a track where practice opportunities have been limited.
But Woodward explained that the lugers are now satisfied the 21-year-old from Georgia made a mistake during his run, and that was the primary cause of the crash rather than the speeds being reached on the track.
Due to heavy rain fall on Monday, the snowboard cross races were severely affected. Most of the snow laden viewing areas were washed away due to which organizers had to immediately close the standing-room viewing zones. Being near to the Cypress Mountain, Vancouver has always been vulnerable to such heavy rainfall. Due to safety concern, board members decided to cancel the ticket sold for snowboard cross races. Near about 4000 tickets were canceled thereby causing a loss of around $380,000 to the organizing committee budget. Apart from rainfall, organizers are also concerned about the unreasonably warm climatic conditions of Vancouver.
They have recorded warmest six weeks ever in Vancouver. Even though, the courses are well maintained and kept in perfect shape for smooth running of events. Snow from higher altitudes are brought down to compensate any damage to the cross races.
Them slopes don’t look good.. Paging Al Gore .. GReen courtesy phone
Found myself yelling at my TV yesterday during the nordic combine for the American guy...and I didn’t even know what that sport was
2 television cameras and at least three still photographers at the scene of the window smashing. Why aren’t any of the videographers or photographers being arrested for their involvement in this obviously staged act?
First time ever we landed any kind of medal...was awesome as hell to watch.
Some are seen smiling.
Whew! a potential few golds in play here.. lots of endorsements .. OOooo.. feeel the pre$$ure yet..
They need a bikini event.
or a protester relay event.. they run from dumpster to dumpster lighting em up with a torch.
What’s the event where 4 or 5 snowboarders race downhill together?
Snowboardcross
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/schedule
next 4 days and the last two is on the schedule for now.
looks like a lot of fun and a good way to get crazy .. and probably hurt but hey,.. bruises heal, bones too eventually. :-}
Snowboard Cross
TNX, Norm. To me it’s like short track speed skating on a tilted rink.....with bumps!
TY
Any curling fatalities today?
They have some pretty good jumps and nasty turns setup , hopefully the snow will be good. They put on some exciting displays of ‘full-blown nuts’ on a snowboard .. definitely an on the edge event
A minefield would work.
Didn’t that feller with the wild, red hair lose a medal last Olympics by showboating near the end of the course and then getting passed?
that rings a bell.
the young kid behind ohno did the same in that speedskating final,, he still got the bronze but not by much.
You got to go ‘til the finish line.
Mario Kart Wii.
Biathlon: Olympic gold for unheralded Kuzmina.. Slovakia , Germany , FRance for the medals
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