Apolo wins his 8th medal!

The women's curling gold medal game was really close. Sweden tied it up with Canada in the 10th (last) end (round), so they had to do an 11th. It came down to the last shot. Sweden's Anette Norberg made it a tough one for Canada's Cheryl Bernard, and she didn't quite get it. So Sweden won the gold. The crowd was loving it through the whole thing--they cheered, whistled, even did the wave. I was rooting for Canada, but at least they got silver!

In the 500m short track final, Apolo Ohno started out in 4th, but on the last lap, the Canadian in 3rd fell, and then the Korean in 2nd fell, so he passed them to get 2nd place. But Apolo had his hand on the Canadian's back as he fell, so he was disqualified. The thing is, though, skaters touch each other slightly like that all the time to prevent run-ins, and I really don't think Apolo caused the Canadian to fall. So that really sucks. Canada ended up 1st and 3rd, South Korea 2nd.

Katherine Reutter won silver in the 1000m, and Wang Meng of China won gold, which means China won gold in all the women's events this year. That's pretty amazing.

The US got bronze in the 5000m relay. It was a really close race. We were in 4th most of the time, but Apolo finished up and passed China at the end to win bronze. Now Apolo has 8 medals overall, the most of any short track skater and any US Winter Olympian.

Lindsey Vonn missed a gate in the women's slalom, so no more medals for her, but she got what she came to get--gold in downhill. And her bronze in super G was a plus. I'm happy for her. Her really good German friend Maria Reisch won gold, though. So cool!

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

Maybe now Plushenko's head will shrink a little

Evan Lysacek won men's figure skating! He only wobbled slightly on one jump, but otherwise--clean. His music was Rimski Korsakov's "Scheherazade," which is a great piece, and he even had cool sparkly snakes on his costume. His routine was significantly more impressive than Yevgeny Plushenko's. Plushenko made a lot of little mistakes on jumps, which is what dropped him down to second--he looked pretty irked at the medal ceremony. Daisuke Takahashi won bronze.

I really liked Johnny Weir's program. He had really cool music called "Fallen Angel." I was wishing he might medal, but he wasn't able to come up from 6th place. He did really well, though! He was satisfied.

I enjoyed Takahiko Kozuka's performance, as well (another electric guitar piece), but he was too. He got a personal best, and I bet he'll come back in 4 years and be really really good.

In the super combined (downhill + slalom), Maria Riesch of Germany won gold, Julia Mancuso won silver, and Sweden's Anja Paerson won bronze. Lindsey Vonn did well on the downhill, but she caught a ski on a one of the gates and fell in the slalom.

I love the US women's snowboarding team. They're chill. NBC had a special on Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler, and Hannah Teter--they're all really good friends. Gretchen Bleiler fell on a difficult trick in her first run of the finals, and then caught the lip on an easier trick in her second, so she didn't place. Kelly Clark rode with an iPod, and she started singing at the beginning of her second run (to get in the zone, I guess), and got a 42.2 to win her the bronze. Torah Bright of Australia had a really bad first run (score of 5.9), but her second was awesome, with at score of 45.0 (out of 50), winning her gold. Hannah Teter was in first position after the first run, but she wasn't able to beat Torah's score, so she took silver.