I finally got to watch some curling

Canada won their curling match against Switzerland today 6-5, so they'll be in the gold medal match with Sweden tomorrow. I don't actually know all the rules of curling, but I know basically what's going on, and I never get to watch the sport any other time, so I like to catch as much as I can during the Olympics. What sucks is that the matches are mostly broadcast in the afternoons, which is when I have class and other stuff I have to do.

Canada won the gold in women's hockey against the US (silver) 2-0. That was their 3rd Olympic gold in a row. The men's team plays Sweden in a semifinal game tomorrow.

The US went one-two in nordic combined large hill. Bill Demong won gold, Johnny Spillane won silver. That mean Spillane won a silvers in all of his events, normal hill, large hill, and team. The sport has never been big in America, but maybe now it'll start to pick up. I really enjoy watching it. Here's a nice article on it.

American Jeret Peterson won silver in men's aerials. His first landing was pretty rough, but his second was nice and he pulled a bunch of points with a great trick called the "Hurricane."

Kim Yu-Na of South Korea won gold in figure skating, to Gershwin's "Concerto in F," another awesome music choice (with James Bond). She made her whole routine look super easy, but of course it wasn't. She got a record score again. Her country was putting a LOT of pressure on her to win, and she was the best by a long shot, so I'm really glad she got it. Mao Asada of Japan won silver with a program to Rachmaninov music. She became the first woman to land 3 triple axles in the same competition, but she made a couple other mistakes, so wasn't able to catch up to Kim. Joannie Rochette (the woman whose mom died) won bronze with a great program. What a great finish for her. American Mirai Nagasu skated to music from Carmen, and again, REALLY good spins. She got 4th place at her first Olympics, at 16 years old--that's pretty cool.

A long recap

Oh, man. I haven't been able to watch the olympics at all since last Thursday! I've been scrambling to get my film project done, and last night I went to bed at 6pm since I didn't sleep at all the night before (worked 9pm-11am). Well, that's all finished now (thank God), so now I have to catch up (via nbcolympics.com).

Bode won silver in the super G, and then the gold in the super combined. So that's a medal of each color (bronze in downhill) for him! Woot! He just kept getting better with each event! But then he missed a gate in the giant slalom 'cause he lost his balance. :( He's still got the regular slalom to go, though. Here's a great article on him. I frakin' love him.

Lindsey Vonn got a bronze in the super G. Now she has 2 medals. But she fell in the giant slalom (it was really foggy), breaking her pinkie. Julia Mancuso was skiing right behind her and had to stop her run and redo it. She ended up finishing 18th after the first run, which means she probably won't medal after the second. That really sucks, especially since this is a good event for Julia--she won gold in Torino. Apparently she now has somewhat of a grudge against Lindsey, which is kinda weird. Read about it here.

I'm sad I missed ski cross. This was the sport's olympic debut, and I'd never seen it before. But they have it online, just like everything else. Canada won gold in the women's, Switzerland in the men's. I'm really glad they added this event. Now skiiers get to race against each other at the same time, too.

The US got the first ever silver in the team nordic combined, second medal for the US in this sport period, which is awesome.

Shani Davis won silver in the 1500m short track, Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands won gold. Man, Tuitert was fast!

Katherine Reutter barely missed a medal in 1500m short track. She bumped one of the South Koreans and fell back to last place. She worked her way up to 4th, but wasn't able to catch the top 3. Zhou Yang of China won by a long shot. In the women's 3000m short track relay, South Korea won the race and the US got fourth, but South Korea got disqualified for contact with China, who was then awarded the gold. So we ended up with bronze. Sucks for South Korea for sure, but China is definitely celebrating.

Apolo Ohno won bronze in the 1000m. His semifinal race was great. In the final, he messed up a bit on a pass just as the South Koreans made their move and he fell back to 5th, but he worked back up to third as the Koreans took it away. Now Apolo is has the most medals of any American Winter Olympian.

Virtue & Moir of Canada won gold in ice dancing--their original dance was really good, and their free dance was really f-ing good, too, and very beautiful. They had some awesome lifts, and the crowd loved them (obviously). Davis & White of the US won silver--their original dance was a really cool Indian dance, and their free dance was to Phantom of the Opera. Domnina & Shabalin of Russia won bronze--their free skate was to Requiem for a Dream. Belbin & Agosto of the US got 4th.

Kim Yu-Na of South Korea leads after the women's figure skating short program. I really liked her performance, which was to James Bond music, and she scored a world record, too. Mao Asada of Japan is in 2nd. Joannie Rochette of Canada is in 3rd. She found out her mom died like a day before she had to compete, so it's pretty amazing she was able to compose herself to perform so well. Miki Ando of Japan in in 4th--she's a good jumper, but other than that, nothing special. Rachel Flatt of the US is in 5th. She's basically the perfect student athlete. Apparently she's a straight-A high school senior who is applying for a bunch of elite colleges. She skated a neat program to swing music. Mirai Nagasu of the US in 6th--her spins were really cool. She skated to a strange rendition of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Bobsled is fun to watch. The cameras cut so quickly because the sled goes by so freakin' fast--90 mph finishes! Germany dominated in luge and skeleton, but Canada and the US shut them out on women's two-man. Canada won gold and silver, US bronze. The top German team was in medal contention, but they flipped their sled on the last run (they were both alright).

I enjoyed watching women's aerials tonight, if for no other reason than to hear Jonny Moseley's commentary. But there was another reason--the jumping was excellent. No one fell! Lydia Lassila of Australia (the "Flying Kangaroo") won gold, interrupting the possible Chinese sweep. China did get silver and bronze, though.

Here's a weird little video: In Case You Missed It

Olympics time!

The opening ceremonies were last Friday. I enjoyed them a lot--more than Beijing, even. It wasn't too gawdy, but it wasn't too mediocre. I loved the special effects with the video projected onto the floor, especially when it looked like whales were swimming across what looked like a giant pool. There was also a lot of people spinning around in suspended in harnesses, which was impressive to watch. The tap dancing fiddlers were cool, too. Canada is a strange mish-mash of cultures--English, French, Scottish, Inuit.

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A lot happened on Saturday.

I was reintroduced to Chris Collinsworth, who always does the Olympics coverage with Bob Costas. (I love Collisworth. Costas, not so much.)

We won gold and bronze in women's moguls, which is always exciting to watch--4 people fell in the finals, including 2 Americans (no severe injuries).

The best part was the first short track speed skating event, 1500m. Americans Apolo Ohno and JR Celski were up against a slew of Koreans, and it looked like they were going to sweep the board, but 2 of them ended up falling, allowing Apolo to slip in for silver and Celski got bronze. That medal means Apolo is tied with Bonnie Blair as the most decorated US winter olympian. He'll probably end up being the Michael Phelps of this year's Winter Games.

Apolo in the semifinals: He likes to start in the back and sneak his way up to the front.

The worst part was the bad training accident on the luge track. Nodar Kumaritashvil from Georgia died in a bad crash. NBC decided not to air the footage, which I think was a good idea. You can find it online real easily, though, if you even want to see it. It's not pleasant. They changed the coarse a little because of it, and the start point is now lower.

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On Sunday, I was at the Collegian office all day, so I missed both the prime time coverage AND the late night replay (it was a long night). So I had to catch up online at nbcolympics.com. It's a great site. They have full replay videos on there, but I can't get to them because I don't pay for a cable service (you have to register your cable info in order to watch the premium videos). The recaps and highlights were pretty good, though.

American Bryon Wilson got the bronze in men's moguls, and Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada's first gold of the games, which is also their first gold won on home soil, which is neat for them. the silver went to Dale Begg-Smith, who is actually from Vancouver, but he competes for Australia--I guess 'cause he moved there. Kinda weird. Anyway, Jonny Moseley did the break down video on the website. (Moseley competed in Salt Lake City in 2002 with his new trick called "The Dinner Roll," which didn't win him a medal (he got 4th), but made him awesome.) I love Moseley--he's party of the reason why I first got into the Olympics way back when.

After the short program for pairs figure skating, the top Chinese team (a married couple--Shen Xue & Zhao Hongbo) broke their own world record score. They skated to a really cool instrumental version of Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever," and their jumps and choreography were spot on. They won bronze at the last 2 Winter Games, so it'd be kinda nice to see them finally win gold (I'm rooting for them), but the Germans are only .70 points behind them (I thought their program was kinda boring--they were dressed as mimey clowns, but the music and footwork was slow). The Russians are in third (their program was alright--the music was boring, though). 2 other Chinese teams, Pang & Tong and Zhang & Zhang are in 4th and 5th, respectively (their music was nice--the Chinese know how to pick good music... and costumes... and choreography).

Americans Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig are in tenth, which kinda stinks, but if they do amazingly in the free skate and some other teams mess up they could still have a chance to medal... maybe... (probably not). The other American team is in 14th place. :(

Johnny Spillane won silver for the US in men's nordic combined (ski jumping/cross country--jump score determines start time on race). He started with a pretty good jump, and then skied really well. The race had a really close finish--Spillane was leading until Jason Lamy Chappuis, a French guy, passed him in the last few meters. The highlight video is really funny. The commentator is screaming at the top of his lungs, he's so excited! And everyone collapses after crossing the finish line. Haha! They were definitely pushing themselves!

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P.S. - Sam and I had a good time celebrating Valentine's Day Eve on Saturday. We ate at Johnny Carino's, shopped at Vintage Stock, went to see The Princess and the Frog (which he liked), and watched the prime time Olympics coverage. It was nice.