Winter Olympics Thoughts

[yagsy]

The USA has it's first Gold Medal in the 5000 meter speed skating long track. Chad Hedrick won in yesterday's event. He is the first person to have entered and could be a medal contender in each of the long track individual events, 500, 1000, 1500, 5000 and the 10K meter events since Eric Heiden won all 5 Golds in Lake Placid in 1980 Winter Games.

Chad is an interesting study. He's brand new to ice speed skating. He's from Houston, TX and there aren't any speed skating long tracks in Texas. He grew up line skating/racing. 4yrs ago, he was sitting at a black jack table in Vegas and watching Derek Parra win his Gold in Salt Lake and became inspired. Derrick was also a former inline skater and made the transition. Chad figured if Derrick could do it, so could he. So, he went out and started training but did have to train in a different location than Texas. 4 years later he's not only the current World Champion in the 5000 meter but also the Olympic Champion. As he put it, "I have so much more to learn, the techniques are very different, but my determination allows me to overcome my lack of technique." Hedrick’s nickname was given to him by Parra, who said his pal is the exception to every rule that speedskaters are supposed to follow. :thumbsup:

This guy is incredible. His lack of technique on the last 4 or 5 laps of the 12.5 lap race was so unorthodox. He went into his inline skating technique and he was so determined to win. As he said after the race, "it was who wanted it the most and I really wanted it".

He next skates in the team event on Wed.
:cheer: :jump: :banana:

[yagsy]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11302192/

Injured Kwan withdraws from Olympics
Skating icon loses chance for elusive gold; Hughes tapped to replace her

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060212/060212_kwan_hmed_3a.hmedium.jpg
Figure Skater Michelle Kwan at a press conference in Turin, Italy, on Sunday. Kwan spoke about her withdrawal from the games due to a groin injury.


Updated: 7:35 a.m. ET Feb. 12, 2006
TURIN, Italy - Michelle Kwan’s decade-long quest for Olympic gold came to a sorrowful end Sunday when she withdrew because of an injury, taking the biggest name out of the Turin Games.

Kwan cut short her first practice of the games the day before after straining a groin muscle, and the injury worsened as the day wore on. She withdrew after Dr. Jim Moeller evaluated her early Sunday morning and recommended she not continue.

“I wish I was here in better circumstances,” Kwan said Sunday morning, her voice flat and her eyes puffy. “When I first put in my petition, I said I believed I’d be 100 percent by time the Olympics came around. But yesterday, after going on ice and feeling stiff ... I don’t think that I can be 100 percent.

“I respect the Olympics too much to compete and I don’t feel I can be at my best.”

Emily Hughes was chosen by the U.S. Olympic Committee as Kwan’s replacement.

Kwan has been the face of figure skating for a decade, and she owned the spotlight at these games — despite being here for only four days. Her withdrawal is a loss for everyone, USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth said.

“Michelle Kwan means more to the United States Olympic Committee than maybe any athlete that’s ever performed for the U.S. Olympic Committee,” Ueberroth said. “She’s been a leader, she’s been gracious, she’s somebody that cares for so many youngsters that are training in our country.

“She’s a real loss to all of the United States Olympic Committee and to the United States of America, and I think to the world. She’s made a courageous decision.”

Olympic officials wasted little time approving the petition to put Hughes on the team. The 17-year-old, younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, was third at last month’s national championships.

She said in a Saturday interview with WNBC-TV in New York that she would be ready to travel to Turin if needed.

“Just point me in the direction and I’m there,” Hughes said.

But that could be a challenge: Blizzard warnings were posted for the New York City area, where she lives, and dozens of flights were canceled at the city’s three major airports.

When Hughes gets here, she’ll join Sasha Cohen and Kimmie Meissner on the U.S. team. The women’s competition begins Feb. 21.

Kwan said she would return to the United States so as not to be a distraction.

“I’m a little bit shocked,” Cohen said. “I know how tough it is to come back from an injury and get yourself together. It’s great she tried, but things don’t always work out.”

Kwan missed last month’s U.S. nationals with a groin injury, and needed a medical exemption to join the Turin team. She was evaluated several times by U.S. Figure Skating doctors before she arrived in Turin, and they declared her fit to skate.

But she said she pulled the groin when she tried a triple flip Saturday, and the injury worsened throughout the day. After examining her, Moeller said Sunday he does not believe the current injury is related to the groin problem Kwan had during the national championships.

“She was cleared medically and told she had a complete recovery from the prior injuries,” Moeller said. “Based on my assessment at this moment, I would have to say it’s an acute new injury.”

This was Kwan’s last gasp for Olympic gold. Though she’s defined the sport for the past decade, winning five world and nine U.S. titles, she came up heartbreakingly short at the Olympics. The favorite in both Nagano and Salt Lake City, she settled for silver in 1998 and a bronze in 2002.

Now 25, she hung around the past four years for one more shot at gold. But her hopes faded fast.

She missed the Grand Prix season with a hip injury, then missed the nationals with the groin injury. She looked sharp during a Jan. 27 monitoring session that solidified her spot on the team, doing back-to-back run-throughs of her long and short programs.

But she said the long plane ride to Italy, followed by marching in the opening ceremony, took a toll. By the time she returned to the athletes’ village, she was starting to hurt.

When she woke up Saturday morning, it wasn’t any better.

“It’s an honor to represent your country. I didn’t think twice about not going to the opening ceremony, or not going to practice. I have to get my legs under me,” she said Sunday. “When I felt stiff, it’s the Olympics, you’ve got to push. Unfortunately, it happened.”

She didn’t do her first jump, a smooth triple toe loop, until almost 14 minutes into the workout. She did a single flip, landed on two feet on her first triple flip, and fell hard on her next attempt at the jump. Kwan made one last try, but could only do a double, and the frustration was clear on her face.

More telling was her demeanor. With coach Rafael Arutunian still in transit, U.S. team leader Roger Glenn held her hand several times to comfort her. She had to wipe her eyes several times, and she left the practice 15 minutes before it ended — an early exit for a woman who is meticulous about preparation.

She got treatment in the afternoon, but by evening she knew something was terribly wrong.

“It’s physical pain that’s keeping me from performing and skating,” she said. “But it’s also emotional pain as well because I had to make this tough decision.”

That was clear with one look at her Sunday. Dressed in black, her eyes swollen, she had none of the sparkle the world has come to know. And though she tried to smile bravely, pain was etched across her face.

“It’s always been a dream to win the Olympics and it’s always an honor to represent your country,” said Kwan, whose eyes filled with tears with every word she spoke. “My parents are here ... and they always want me to be happy, for their baby to win the gold and make my dreams come true.

“I have no regrets,” she added, pausing to compose herself. “I tried my hardest. And if I don’t win the gold, it’s OK. I’ve had a great career. I’ve been very lucky. This is a sport, and it’s beautiful.”

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[yagsy]

It's sad that she had to withdraw but those groin injuries are always prone to re-injury especially if it's so recent. I hope that she really takes some time and heals. I have a feeling she tore the muscle and will be off the ice for a good few months now.

Michelle has been a wonderful ambassador to figure skating. :Pray: I hope she is able to skate again this summer. And who knows, maybe she'll try again. :notme:

Best of luck Emily Hughes, I think she's a better skater than Kimmie Meissner at this point in their skating careers. Kimmie is just a jumping bean. She's got quite a bit of maturing to do. Emily, I think is a better skater than her sister, current Olympic Champion, Sarah Hughes.

[Chisox73]

I like the Chad Hedrick story.:thumbsup: I hope he wins a medal.

I want to check out the downhill tonight.That should be interesting with Bode Miller and Daron Rahlvs competing against "The Hermanator",Austria's Hermann Maier.

[Chisox73]

Also,don't forget.The Curling competition starts Monday.:cool:

[Timberwolf]

I can't believe this Canada female hockey coach and her team is getting ripped for running up the score. I haven't watched a minute of the Olympics let alone the game, but if her team is so superior to other countries, you can't blame her and her team for not scoring. Canada is just super talented. Isn't Team USA doing the same thing in women's hockey? This is just sour grapes. It happens

[rockin500]

I can't believe this Canada female hockey coach and her team is getting ripped for running up the score. I haven't watched a minute of the Olympics let alone the game, but if her team is so superior to other countries, you can't blame her and her team for not scoring. Canada is just super talented. Isn't Team USA doing the same thing in women's hockey? This is just sour grapes. It happens
well, they (the US) are only winining games like 5 or 6-0 not 16-0. I dont think teams should be trying to run up the score with their first line. If its the second or third lines who are doing all the scoring, so be it.

[Baseball Guru]

Kinda weird to see any team running up the score in hockey:notme:

Oh well, who cares if they kick ass.. The other team shouldnt have participated if they are that inferior;)

[Blue56]

Go CANADA! :D

[yagsy]

I didn't even know about the women's hockey. I've been so busy following the skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding, speedskating long track and figure skating that I missed the hockey completely and I really like watching Olympic hockey. I think that there should be qualifiers before the Games though, to avoid those lopsided scores. I just can't believe that score 16-0! :eek:

How about that Shaun White? :clap: The Flying Tomato did not disappoint, he is so incredibly smooth, after almost not even making it into the finals, he comes out and does his first run that was so breathtaking! Then today, the women, Kelli Clark '02 Gold Medalist, just finished her last run, was in 4th place and needed an AMAZING run to get Gold. Well, she just pushed women's snowboarding beyond the boundaries of men and women. The air she got in each trick, the power ... :tongue: Women's snowboarding just changed forever. Women snowboarders now will have to try to match that. :cheer: :jump: :banana: She ended up on her last and most difficult trick to sit down for a second but then she finished.

Gretchen Bleiler just had a great second run. Hannah Teter wins even before her second run. :cheer: :jump: :banana:

Joey Cheek is up next for the 500 meter long track final. The difficulty in this event is the start is obviously critical and strategy plays a big part in which lane you start. If you start in the outer lane, you must give the right away during the crossover to the other skater. But you also get the inner lane on the last half of the race. It's an amazing event. :cheer:

[yagsy]

The USA just won their first ice dancing medal since ice dancing was added as an Olympic sport. :cheer: :jump: :banana: Belbin and Agosto skated well enough in their free program to hang on for the Silver Medal. In Ice Dancing, this is huge, that an American team could beat out so many wonderful European ice dancers. But last night's Original Dance event, they were the last to skate and one of the FEW couples that skated clean. It was so unusual to have so many teams have a fall in Ice Dancing and many of the top teams had disastrous falls requiring major deductions. One team from France unfortunately had to withdraw due to injury. That was such an awful fall!

The USA Women's hockey team did win a medal but not the one they were expected to compete for...they won Bronze. The Canadians won, as they were the heavy favorites and the Swedes who upset the Americans, won the silver. :clap: Great job for all women playing hockey. :thumbsup:

[yagsy]

The USA men in Curling do go on to the medal round but Skp Pete Fenson needs to get back his form that he had against the World Champion Fins. They lost today but have had a good enough record to move on. The Women in Curling were only 2-5 and will not advance. :( Hopefully they will improve for the next Olympics.

Curling is strangely riveting and I finally figured out how it's played and scored. It's a clean game with lots of yelling. That's always fun. :cheer: :jump: :banana:

[PissedPrincess]

Bode Miller sucks.

[Royce]

Bode Miller sucks.


Bingo.

[rockin500]

hedrick certainly doesnt like davis very much. lol

[rockin500]

gotta love the dutch curling team heckling Chad Hedrick at the press conference after the race. :thumbsup:

[yagsy]

A heckling curling team? :laff: Oh, well, if it's the Dutch Curling team, that explains it. :thumbsup:

I love the drama between Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. Then there was the Ice Dance drama :laff: and now the REAL DIVAS take the ice this evening.

Wonder if they can top the speed skaters and the ice dancers? :notme:

Bode Miller is just an idiot! Keep your mouth shut Bode!

[rockin500]

definitely going to be interesting to see thursday's free skate. Both Slutskaya and Cohen gave great performances. At least you cant say either one of them were cautious really.

commentators loved em both. though i would think .03 means almost nothing really. you might as well say its a tie.

thumbsup to both of the girls. :thumbsup:

(definitely better than the ice dancers. lol)

[rockin500]

BTW, Cohen skates 2nd in the final grouping. Slutskaya skates last, just like last time at salt lake city. The two japanese skate 3rd and 4th, with Kimmie skating 5th. (i forget the name of the #1 spot)

[Thedatch]

gotta love the dutch curling team heckling Chad Hedrick at the press conference after the race. :thumbsup:

oh, those crazy Dutch people...:evillol



:tongue:

[rockin500]

well, sasha has her work cut out for her today. She is in a virtual tie with Slutskaya who is a better jumper than Cohen. Cohen isnt bad, mind you at jumping, but she isnt in Slutskaya's class. A former judge and choreographer said that the margin should have been greater, but slutskaya's jumps were a bit better.

The other problem: looks like Sasha has a bit of a groin problem (not that you could tell on tuesday). But it IS telling that a) she had ice on it right away tuesday evening, and she didnt practice yesterday. And some of her comments (along with others) have been cryptic to suggest that something is bothering her there. If she is excessively sore, that wont make things any easier. Of course, sometimes injury does cause one to skate better because it forces one to concentrate.

So its pretty much Slutskaya's competition to lose. Then again, that was the case in Salt Lake City, too. And we all know how that turned out.

Whatever the case, it'll be interesting. :)

[imgreat95]

One of the tiebreakers in Olympic hockey is goal differential... so you can't blame a team for running up the score if given the opportunity.

[rockin500]

One of the tiebreakers in Olympic hockey is goal differential... so you can't blame a team for running up the score if given the opportunity.
thanks for the clarification. did not know that.

i know its a tiebreaker for the NFL, but its like 6th on the list of things to tiebreak

[rockin500]

cohen fell twice. but is still leading. Too bad, though, because I doubt Slutskaya and the top japanese will probably do better.

i see bronze for her.

[rockin500]

yep. bronze it will be. as ashikawa (whatever) did great supposedly and she is leading with cohen in second with only slutskaya left to skate.

ahh well. bronze is better than nothing i suppose!

[Timberwolf]

I love the drama between Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. Then there was the Ice Dance drama :laff: and now the REAL DIVAS take the ice this evening.

Bode Miller is just an idiot! Keep your mouth shut Bode!

I had enough about Shani and Chad. The two of them should just go away. They have been embarassing themselves with their petulant act. No one wants to hear about how those two don't like each other or whatever disagreement they had. I don't think both guys look good doing it and both guys shouldn't have turned each other off.

As for Bode, I am glad he fell flat in the Olympics.

There hasn't been much to say about the Olympics. The hockey was a disaster. You had atheltes turning on each other and such. It was pretty much everything to forget.

[rockin500]

yikes. im kinda surprised that Slutskaya fell down too. I dont think Sasha would have won gold anyways looking back at it, not with the showing that the japanese skater placed. .73 was not enough of a difference to offset that performance.

congrats to sasha though.

[imgreat95]

thanks for the clarification. did not know that.

i know its a tiebreaker for the NFL, but its like 6th on the list of things to tiebreak

In international competition, it is the #2 tiebreaker... right after head to head...

[yagsy]

Slutskaya felt the nerves as all the ladies did but Arakawa just flat out performed and I think it's because of her coach...Tatyana Tarasova. That woman just flat out makes champions! :thumbsup: I'm really pleased for Arakawa as she was a former World Champion and she felt immense pressure to win a medal for Japan which was their first medal of these games. And this is the first Gold for Japanese figure skating as well as only the 2nd medal since Midori Ito's silver in '94.

Cohen was interviewed this morning on the NBC morning show and she said it wasn't a groin problem, that all skaters during training have something that is sore. I don't agree. I think something was wrong and she didn't want to admit it. But I do agree with her assessment that no matter whatm you just get back onto the ice and DO IT. Right now, I have a pretty good cold but I am going skating this morning because that's what we do. Ray, I'm sure you saw your sister go to the rink many times when hurt or sick. All athletes do no matter what the sport.

The fact that Sasha had pulled herself together after the two falls is really admirable. Good for her. :thumbsup: Maybe she'll stay in til Vancouver, maybe not. I think she will, she's young enough but she also saw what's coming down the road.

Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes were just wonderful these Olympics! The future of this sport is well placed in their hands along with Elene from Georgia (the skater that Ray forgot) and I can't spell her last name yet. Elene is the skater I am anxious to see over the next few years.

Off to the rink now...

[rockin500]

she was hurt. you dont tape up your groin/hamstring up before you start doing your warmups. and usually dont have ultrasound treatments unless something is wrong. Still, she could skate and while it affected her, she still just had to push herself one final time. It is good though, that she isnt using it as an excuse. You see so many athletes in all sports say they werent feeling it today and injured.

You are right, JA, I did see my sister go to practices sick and hurt. Her worst was doing the christmas ice show with a nice case of walking pneumonia when she was 15. And all the sore ankles and feet. (which is what eventually pushed her out as her feet were brutalized and didnt want to have it get to the point that it affected every other sport she played).

It was impressive though that Cohen pulled it together after falling. How often do you see someone falling and then skating flat? Too often. Some will call her choker, I call it redeeming what she lost. I dont call having a .03 lead going into the finals having it on a platter.

also, arakawa had her own case of redemption after a disasterous campaign last year when she almost quit.

and 2010 does indeed look good for the americans. :)

[BayStateBabe]

I had enough about Shani and Chad. The two of them should just go away. They have been embarassing themselves with their petulant act. No one wants to hear about how those two don't like each other or whatever disagreement they had. I don't think both guys look good doing it and both guys shouldn't have turned each other off.

AMEN!! Meanwhile Joey Cheek has quietly gone about his business, done better than either of them, tried to play peacemaker for the "children" AND has donated his prize money to a worthy charity. It's a shame that his actions have gotten lost in the drama because HE is the story of the speed skating team IMO.

[Dward00]

My 1 winter olympic thought: I hate Hedrick.



Done.

[Dward00]

Never mind I have a 2nd one: Somebody's last name is Slutskaya. Wow.


Done.

[BayStateBabe]

Bode finishes 0 for the Olympics. Self aggrandizing buffoon.

[rockin500]

Bode finishes 0 for the Olympics. Self aggrandizing buffoon.
i really dont think his heart is in it. Dude is so talented yet doesnt care.

which is truly a shame. He's a total goof.

[yagsy]

Apollo Anton Ohno won the Gold in the crazy wacky 500M short track race. He said he was never a 500m sepecialist because he never led at the start and then finished. But this race he did. :thumbsup:


American Men Alpine skiers are one big disappointment with the the exception of Ted Lighety. And there were no expectations for him coming into these games.

I don't have a problem with either Hedrick or Davis and I'm glad they'll both be racing in Vancouver. Along with Joey Cheek, the men's speed skating team is very strong. Joey Cheek will be carrying the US Flag into the Stadium on Closing Ceremonies for his accomplishment and Olympic spirit in his charity work.

USA Men's Curling team won a bronze medal for USA, the first Olympic curling medal beating out Great Britain. It was an exciting match going down to the wire with Skip Pete Fenson coming through with another big shot! :thumbsup: They plan to try again in Vancouver but are thrilled that Curling will become more popular. I wish there was a Curling club in SD, I would love to try it. It's a game of strategy, timing, skill, and a tremendous workout!