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Olympic thrills, spills, and surprises
February 25, 2010 by Dianne Osland
Filed under Sports
Photo from www.vancouver2010.com
The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games have not only brought together 82 nations to compete, but they also have brought a vast array of Olympic Moments. From the tears of near-misses and podium pride to the smiles and cheers of at-last victory and unexpected success, these Games have provided an outpouring of emotion from athletes and fans alike.
Check out a few of these moments the Mill Stream has picked to showcase the latest Winter Games.
The Thrills:
-American snowboarder phenom Shaun White’s second gold medal in Men’s Halfpipe. The Flying Tomato lives up to the hype, laying down the “Double McTwist” at the end to awe audiences with another golden performance.
-American skier Lindsay Vonn fights a bruised shin and a rough, icy course to add Olympic gold medal to her list of skiing achievements in Ladies’ Downhill, then goes on to win bronze in Ladies’ Super-G.
-Johnny Spillane’s silver makes him the first American to medal in Nordic Combined, an event dominated by the Europeans since its arrival to the Olympic Games.
Russia's Nikita Kriukov and Alexander Panzhinskiy skied a very close 1-2 finish in Men's Individual Sprint (1.6K) Cross Country Classic
-American Evan Lysacek ends Russia’s reign of dominance in Men’s Figure Skating when he upset defending gold medalist Russian Evgeni Plushenko. Lysacek’s Olympic gold is the first for the U.S. since Brian Boitano in 1988.
-Switzerland’s Simon Ammann ties the Olympic record for most decorated ski jumper when he soared to his fourth gold in Men’s Ski Jumping.
-Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir capture for hometeam Canada its first-ever medal in Olympic Ice Dancing with their gold medal victory over the U.S.’s Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Russia’s Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin.
-Great Britain’s Amy Williams brings the country its first individual Winter Games medal in 30 years with a gold medal victory in Women’s Skeleton. The race also set a new track record of 53.83sec on the 1,450-metre course at Whistler’s Sliding Centre, at a speed of 143.3 kph, according to www.vancouver2010.com .
The Spills:
-American Lindsey Jacobellis fails to capture the elusive Women’s Snowboard Cross gold the second Olympics in a row, despite her dominance in the event outside of the Olympics. Torino 2006 brought her a disappointing silver after her infamous board grab, but Jacobellis didn’t even make finals in Vancouver after bouncing out of bounds in the semi-finals.
-In an event the Americans were favored to sweep, Gretchen Bleiler misses her chance for a gold medal, falling in each of her two runs of Women’s Snowboard halfpipe. Australia’s Torah Bright edged reigning champion American Hannah Teter to win gold, while American Kelly Clark rounded out the podium with a bronze.
Downhill skiing saw wipe-out after wipe-out, as the rough, icy course brought down many a skier, including Swedish standout Anja Paerson who crashed and slid headfirst across the finish line. Germany’s favorite for the event, Maria Riesch, skiied conservatively and finished the race but failed to make the podium.
-World champion Britain falls in the first day of Men’s Curling after Sweden delivers a stunning defeat, 6-4.
-In the inaugural run of Women’s Ski Cross in the Olympic Games, gold medal favorite French Ophelie David crashes out in quarter-finals, allowing for a Canadian win in the finals by Ashleigh McIvor.
The Surprises:
The U.S. Men's Ice Hockey team defeated hometown favorite Canada in a Premliminary Round, 5-3.
-Nicknamed by some the U.S.’s 2nd greatest Olympic moment since the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. win over the Soviets in 1980, the United States beats out Canada in a Men’s Ice Hockey Preliminary round with a score of 5-3.
-Swedish biathlete Helena Jonsson, world champion and ranked number one, fails to even make the podium in the both women’s individual biathlon events, finishing 49th the 15K, won by Norwegian Tora Berger in 40:52.8, and 12th in the 7.5K sprint, where Anastazia Kuzmina won Slovakia’s first gold medal.
-The Slovakians continue their Olympic surprises with a heavy upset over Russia, a favorite for the gold medal, in a Men’s Ice Hockey Preliminary Round.
-A less arrogant American Bode Miller makes a comeback after his highly touted, disappointing appearances in Torino, shaking off the doubts to win gold (Men’s Super Combined), silver (Men’s Super-G), and bronze (Men’s Downhill).
-American Julia Mancuso adds to the United States’ skiing dominance in Vancouver with 2 silvers (Ladies’ Downhill and Ladies’ Super Combined), becoming the most decorated female American Olympic Alpine Skier with 3 medals (gold in Torino). Prior to Vancouver, she had not even cracked the top-three in World Cup competition in two years due to back problems.
-South Korean Lee Sang-hwa knocks off two overwhelming favorites in the women’s 500m short track speed skating, coming out on top of German world-record holder Jenny Wolf and China’s Wang Beixing. Her gold medal win added a South Korea sweep of the 500-m event in Vancouver to Asia’s unexpected dominance on the speed-skating oval.
-American Hannah Kearney’s win over reigning Olympic champion Canadian Jennifer Heil in Ladies’ Freestyle Moguls leads to a bittersweet silver for Canada’s favorite.
Have other ideas for the best thrills, spills, and surprises of Vancouver 2010? Comment below and let us know.
