Monday, March 1, 2010

Sara's Countdown to... Sochi? (The Recap)

So here are the last of the 2010 Olympics stats:
-The U.S. won 37 medals, a record for any country at a single Winter Olympic Games, and the first time ever that the U.S. has topped the medal count. (The U.S. tied for third in the gold medal count with 9.)
-Canada won the most gold medals of the Games, with 14 - also a record, for most gold medals ever at a Winter Olympics.

And now, on to my stats:
-114 posts
-94 + 17 days of blogging
-1764 unique visitors (not including today)
-7603 page views (not including today)
-Visitors from 46 different countries and 47 states
-Most viewed posts:
Gold: 50 Days with 196 viewers
Silver: 66 Days with 115 viewers
Bronze: Day 8 with 89 viewers
-Most commented post:
Gold: Day 14 with 15 comments
Silver: 50 Days with 11 comments
Bronze: 66 Days and 67 Days with 8 comments
-244 Google searches lead visitors to my blog, my favorite: "i saspect that plushenko was ingured,that why he lost mens figure scating. is there any different opinions?" If you're reading, no, I do not suspect injury to be the reason Plushenko lost the gold.

I'd like to thank all my readers, my poem contributors and all of those who sent me links to articles you thought I might find interesting or useful for the blog. And of course, the person who pushed me to make the countdown more than just a boring gchat status, Miriam L. You're right, you are like the skating mom who doesn't let her kids off the ice until they've perfected their triple axel. I aspire to be like you. Special shout out to my commenters:
Gold: Zehava with 14 comments
Silver: Ocho G and MNB tied with 12 comments
Pewter: RebeccaLunch with 10 comments
(Zev came in 5th and BobBeeBoop and Avi Z tied for 6th)

I think that if even just a few of you watched (and enjoyed) a little bit more of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics than you might have otherwise, then I've done my job.

And in case anyone was wondering, only 1438 days until the Sochi Olympics...

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Day 17

Disappointment of the Olympics: Lindsey Vonn. Missed a gate again. I know she won a gold and Julia Mancuso only won two silvers, but I'm on Team Julia, probably for the tiara.

Apolo Ohno won his eighth Olympic medal - the bronze in the relay team. This was his last race of the 2010 Olympics, so he ended up with no golds. Ohno has not yet decided whether he'll try for a fourth Olympic Games in 2014. Even though he won three medals, I can't decide if he's also a "disappointment of the Olympics" since none were gold. Canada did win gold in the relay, which put the country at the top of the leader board for most gold medals so far with 10.

Can we talk about snowboard parallel giant slalom for a second? I know, right? Who even knew this sport existed. You know a sport should not be in the Olympics when a)you don't even hear about it until the second to last day of the Games and b)they only show about 4 competitors and they only show them in the late night broadcast. I don't even know who won because my dvr cut off, and honestly, I don't even care. I also thought of something. You know how all the skiing races were postponed at the beginning of the Games because of bad weather? What happens when there's bad weather at the end of the Games? Do they postpone past the Closing Ceremonies? Has that ever happened?

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Day 16

Wow, the poem thing really seems to be taking off. Here's one from Avi Z.

She blogs about the Olympics in 2010
not only the females, but even the men.
While her passion is to skate
perhaps blogging is her fate.

Sport after sport she writes about them all,
the daily tales both short and tall.
Day after day she entertains us
with a writing style that has no fuss.

When the closing ceremonies finally commence,
what will Sara do to keep us in such suspense?
I am sure that she will find a way to have some fun
because honestly, this story is far from done.

The Canadian women's hockey team apologized today for spending about a half hour on the ice after they won drinking beer and smoking cigars. That apology seems a little unnecessary to me. I know they're supposed to be "role models" but they're all adults (unless they're not, but the legal drinking age in Canada is 19) and nothing was illegal.

Quote of the week: "I am sick of this stupid game." That was said by the U.S. men's curling captain after coming in last place.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Day 15

Who else had the bejesus scared out of them when American skier Sarah Schleper roared before she began her race? That's quite the way to psych yourself up.

Congrats to Jeret "Speedy" Peterson for winning the silver medal in freestyle aerials. I still can't tell the difference between Peterson's famous hurricane jump and any of the other jumps, but I'm happy he did well. Back in November, Peterson and some other skiers and snowboarders came to Rockefeller Center in N.Y. to celebrate the 100 day countdown to the Olympics and they did some of their aerial tricks on a trampoline. It was fantastic to see live.

Billy Demong made history last night by becoming the first American to win gold in the Nordic Combined. Johnny Spillane won the silver - his third of the games.

I am hating NBC right now. They showed only 10 figure skaters, three of which were not even in the top 12 after the short program. Why would they do that? I understand that they need to cut between different sports, but instead of going for the ones with cute little stories, show me 7th and 8th place. And seriously, why not show Demong's medal ceremony on the late night broadcast? I am thrilled that they made history, but that could have been an extra skater right there. Isn't women's skating supposed to be the premiere event of the Winter Olympic Games? Sigh.

To me, the performance of the night belonged to the bronze medalist, Canadian Joannie Rochette. She has a maturity and grace to her skating that the younger skaters, still in their teens, just don't have. That, combined with having her hometown crowd behind her, and the added emotion from her mother's death on Saturday made her mesmerizing to watch. But silver medalist Mao Asada's two triple axels (one in combination) is quite astounding to me as well. I do think that this is a similar situation to the quad controversy in the men's competition. That Asada's score came nowhere near Olympic champ Yu-Na Kim's is a little startling to me. Mao had just as much pressure from her country to win gold as Yu-Na did and she was clearly distraught during the medal ceremony. But talk about Yu-Na's score - she would have placed 9th in the men's program. That is ridiculously amazing.

Both American ladies skated really well. Mirai Nagasu had my second favorite performance of the night. And Rachael Flatt skated really well too - it's too bad her triple flips were downgraded. But as well as they skated, they broke a pretty amazing Olympic streak: At least one American woman has been on the podium at every Olympics since 1968...until last night.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Day 14

Let us begin with a rhyme written exclusively for this blog, by our very own Sol R.

If you like to watch figure skating
And always keep all your friends waiting.
If you feel as though it takes over your life
This may lead to feelings of strife.
If you feel the need to watch it in order
You might have an Olympics Disorder.

So let's discuss the women's skiing from last night. Because of the heavy snow, skiers started racing before the skier before them had completed the course. In her first run, Lindsey Vonn fell and broke her pinkie finger. American Julia Mancuso, who was the defending Olympic champion in this event, raced right behind Vonn, not knowing that Lindsey had crashed. Halfway through, the referees made Julia stop since Lindsey was still sitting on the course. At that point, Mancuso's time was among the leaders of the race. Mancuso was then brought back to the top to being the race over, at which point the conditions were a lot worse and she ended up way behind the leaders. The second run of the event will be raced today. It's too bad, and maybe the referees need to rethink the idea of having two racers on the course at the same time, especially in dangerous conditions.

Other than that, I'm gonna call yesterday the most boring day of the Olympics so far. Nothing else to report.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Day 13

The American men made more history yesterday in the Nordic Combined by winning the silver medal in the team event. This is the first team medal for the Americans and the second medal in the Nordic Combined - Johnny Spillane won the silver a few days ago in the individual event and was part of the team event as well.

Poor Sven Kramer. The Dutchman was way ahead of all the other skaters' times in the 25 lap race, and all set to win the gold, when he was disqualified for not changing lanes correctly. What's more, Kramer was in the correct lane, but his coach started yelling for him to move into the other lane, which turned out to be the wrong lane. Needless to say, Kramer was furious and could not be consoled. Speed skating is so huge in the Netherlands, that coach is never going to be allowed back into the country. At least Kramer already won a gold medal a few days ago.

Did you see the little clip they did about how famous Korean figure skater Yu-Na Kim has become in her home country? I can totally vouch for the fact that there is no exaggeration in any of that. When I was at Skate America in Lake Placid last November, fans had come from all over the world to see her and they went nuts for her. In all my years of skater stalking, I have never seen anything like it. She and Japan's Mao Asada certainly did not disappoint. Both of them have been having trouble with their jumps this season, so it was great to see Asada complete a triple axel-double toe and then Kim to follow that performance with a triple-triple combination. And what an emotional moment to watch Canada's Joannie Rochette skate a beautiful performance just days after her mother died suddenly of a heart attack. Even Scott Hamilton got all choked up. (Note, the man in the audience who NBC kept showing as Rochette's father was not actually her father, but a family friend.) The top 6 ladies are pretty much standing as expected with Yu-Na and Mao at the top and the Americans in the mix as well.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Day 12

Caught up on some Olympics from Sunday. Go Bode! His first Olympic gold medal. What a comeback after the disastrous 2006 Olympics he had. No American male skier has ever won 4 medals in one Olympics and Bode has two more races to go.

In Ice Dance, North American teams have not had much success. Belbin and Agosto's silver medal in 2006 was America's best result ever, and the first medal in thirty or so years. No North American team has ever won gold. Not only that, but since the Ice Dance event began in the 1970s, the Russians have won gold every time, but twice. (Brits Torvill and Dean in 1984 and France's Annisina and Peizerat in 2002 are the exceptions.) So just the fact that three North American teams are in the top four positions, let alone the top two is a turning point in the sport. Johnny Weir was interviewed a few days ago about how he placed in the men's competition and he made a comment that suggested that he placed lower than he should have for political reasons - that it wasn't in some countries' best interests to have two American men on the podium. I don't know if that's true, but the fact that Russia claimed the bronze medal over Belbin and Agosto makes me think back to Weir's comments. What was up with the ropes? In my mind, lifting your partner from the ropes wrapped around her waist is totally cheating. But back to the positive, Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were absolutely stunning last night. If anything has improved from the new judging system in figure skating, it's definitely ice dance. North American skaters could have NEVER won gold (from a political standpoint) even just a few years ago. Belbin and Agosto must be acknowledged for paving the way for this achievement. Virtue and Moir are also the fourth Olympic champions in figure skating for Canada and the first ice dance team to win gold in their first trip to the Olympics.

What the heck is a "full double full full"? I mean, I know not everyone totally understands the difference between a quad and a triple in figure skating, but the way the commentators call the aerials competition is ridiculous. This is absolutely a sport that no one watches in between Olympics. Try and teach us, would ya?

Monday, February 22, 2010

Day 11

Yesterday, I decided to take a break from watching winter sports and participate in one myself, so I went skiing. It was a great day and I ended up renting men's Head boots and skis, and felt just like Lindsey Vonn who also skis in men's gear. Some think she is actually racing in Bode Miller's old skis, and I would like to think the same for myself as well.

Ski cross made it's Olympic debut yesterday, with the men's competition. It's just as crazy and fun to watch as snowboard cross. I don't know how ski polls are legal in this sport; it would be so easy to take out an eye like that.

The mother of Canadian ladies figure skater (and medal contender) Joannie Rochette passed away on Saturday night. At this point, Rochette still plans to skate at the Olympics. The short program begins on Tuesday.

By the way, do you know how hard it is to stay away from the Olympics when you don't want to know what's happening? My sister's birthday party on Saturday night? The bar had t.v.s airing the Olympics. The ski lodge? Olympics. The pizza store for dinner? Olympics!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Day 10

Lots of history making over the last couple of days...

Norway's Simon Ammann made history yesterday by becoming the most decorated Norwegian Olympian - Summer or Winter. He won his fourth gold medal in ski jumping yesterday, his second of these Games. He became somewhat of a star in 2002 in Salt Lake City, more because he looked like Harry Potter than for his ski jumping accomplishments.

Bode Miller also made history on Friday by becoming the most decorated American skier when he won his fourth medal - this one a silver. He had two silver medals in 2002 and a bronze in the downhill a few days ago. Lindsey Vonn raced yesterday and won bronze, her second of this Olympics. (Note to those keeping track, Bode's race on Friday was the first alpine ski race of the 2010 Games that weren't spoiled for me before I watched it. A small victory right there.)

Shani Davis also won his fourth Olympic medal - a silver, which was the second medal for him in Vancouver. (He already won gold.) Davis will not be competing anymore at these Olympics.

And Apolo Ohno made the biggest history by becoming the most decorated American Winter Olympian with seven medals. He won bronze on Saturday night. Ohno has two more races to go this week.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Day 9

This is going to be a short post, since I haven't had a chance to watch Friday's activities yet.

Here's a men's figure skating stat for you.

The only skater to win 4 Olympic medals: Gillis Grafström from Sweden who won 3 golds in the 1920s and silver in 1932.

The only skaters to win 3 Olympic medals (very short considering two of them did it at these Olympic Games):
Sonia Henie - 3 golds in 1928, 1932 and 1936
Irina Rodnina - 3 golds in 1972 (with partner Alexei Ulanov) and in 1976 and 1980 (with partner Alexander Zaitsev)
Artur Dmitriev - gold in 1992 and silver in 1994 (with partner Natalia Mishkutenok) and gold in 1998 (with partner Oksana Kazakova)
Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko - bronze in 1984, silver in 1988 and gold in 1992
Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao - bronze in 2002 and 2006 and gold in 2010
Evgeni Plushenko - silver in 2002, gold in 2006 and silver in 2010

Stephen Colbert arrived in Vancouver a couple of days ago to support his US Speedskating team and apparently, he's found a new use for skates. Figure skating champion Brian Boitano has been known to use a figure skate similarly on his cooking show, What Would Brian Boitano Make.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Day 8: To spoil or not to spoil...

So I am now 0 for 3 so far in terms of not knowing who won the skiing events at the Olympics until it aired on NBC. On Tuesday, I was watching the figure skating preview show on Universal Sports and they interrupted their chat on the skating to let everyone that Bode won bronze. On Wednesday, I was signing off my email at work, and bam! there it was, Lindsay Vonn wins gold. And then yesterday, I was in the supermarket when I ran into someone who shall remain nameless who said, "can you believe she missed a gate!" so I knew Vonn did not win. (But yay for Julia Mancuso's second silver medal of the Games, which I did not know about in advance.) I have kind of come to terms with the fact that some events will be spoiled for me over the course of the Olympics, but it leads me to the following question: Who prefers to find out what happens right away and who prefers to wait until they can watch it play out on television? I think my thoughts on the subject are obvious, but if not, keep reading.

Let me tell you about my dedication (some might have other words for it) to the sport of figure skating. My friend Miriam B. came over to watch the men's long program with me last night. She had dinner plans earlier in the evening (happy birthday, Zehava) so we agreed to watch it a little late from my dvr. My roommate, Sara C. and my sister Rebecca both joined us as well. Over the course of the skating, both Sara C. and Rebecca managed to forget that we were not watching live and went online and accidentally found out the results. Miriam and I allowed them to keep watching with us provided that they observe my strict rules of no talking, making facial expressions or even breathing, lest they give anything away. As we watched each skater, the anticipation of watching the last performance of the night, Russia's Evgeni Plushenko grew - who would win, him or American Evan Lysacek. And then... my dvr stopped because the Olympics had run passed midnight and I forgot to record the News, even though I have been doing that every other night since the Olympics have begun. Sigh. After freaking out, Rebecca remembered that NBC reairs the Olympics at 2 am each night/morning, so I decided to wait until they showed Plushenko's performance at about 4:50 am. And it definitely paid off! Plushenko did the quad and a bunch of other jumps, but really had nothing else to offer. I was nervous that the judges were going to give it to him anyway since he's been so dominant this season, but once again props to them, the judging has been spot on so far. I think Evan deserved this one. I hope Plushenko doesn't feel like his entire comeback was a waste just because he didn't win. He is an exceptional skater who won his third Olympic medal: silver in 2002, gold in 2006 and silver last night as well. That's quite an accomplishment.

Anyway, back to me, I feel like Jimmy Roberts should do one of those sappy, emotional pieces on me about my dedication and perseverance to my sport. Talk about Olympic spirit.

I can't end this post without mentioning the Americans success in women's halfpipe, where Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark won the silver and bronze medals last night. Special shout-out to Torah Bright and her number one fan, Avi Z. for winning the gold.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Day 7

Anyone who knows me and has seen Julia Mancuso ski knows why she's my favorite skier. It's the tiara, of course! Mancuso got a lot of flack at the 2006 Olympics for wearing a plastic tiara on top of her helmet and a beaded necklace during her competition, but then won gold, forcing people to shut up. At this Olympics, she had a tiara painted onto her helmet, but the real thing was out in full force once she finished the race. Congrats to her on her silver medal in the downhill last night. I love that she wore it to the medal ceremonies - that's totally something I would have done. And of course props to Lindsey Vonn as well on winning the gold. Interesting that Vonn's secret weapon seems to be the fact that she races on men's skis.

When I watch Apolo Ohno skate, the first word that comes to mind is finesse. So cool that the 5000m relay final will have 5 teams - that's 20 skaters on the ice at once! I was also reminded just how much Ohno did for the popularity of the sport when I watched the women's short track events on the late night broadcast (not worthy of the prime time broadcast) and realized how little I care.

Congrats to our Americans racking up the medals last night. Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick won gold and bronze respectively in speed skating. Davis is the first to win back to back Olympic gold medals in the 1000 meters. And 2006 Olympic champion Shawn "flying tomato" White and Scotty Lago also won gold and bronze in the men's halfpipe event.

The 6 U.S. medals yesterday made U.S. history for the most Olympic medals in one day.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Day 6

Let's start with skating. Firstly, how many times is Scott Hamilton going to use the term, "the devil's in the details" to describe the deductions skaters receive on minor mistakes. We get it, find something new to say.

Last night's men's short program is the reason I love skating so much. After a night of falls in the pair's long program, the men really pulled it together when it counted. I love that the top three in the standings actually reflect the three best performances of the night. And I really love that American Evan Lysacek (the current World Champion) is in a virtual tie with Russian Evgeni Plushenko (the 2006 Olympic Champion) and Japan's Daisuke Takahashi without having attempted the quad toe loop. That just goes to show how strong the rest of Lysacek's skating skills are and I think that's a really good sign as to how he'll do in the long program. Biggest upsets of the night: Frenchman Brian Joubert and current U.S. National Champion, Jeremy Abbott. Both came into the competition as medal contenders but took themselves out of the race last night.

Skating factoid of the day: No reigning men's world champion has won the Olympics since American Scott Hamilton in 1984. That may not sound good for Lysacek but factoid number two: the only men to ever do that are all American. Of course, that should all be taken with a grain of salt, since they told Michelle Kwan in 2002 that all the ladies' Olympic Champions had been the World Champions the previous year, as she had been in 2001 and we all know how that worked out. (Not bitter at all...)

Once again, American Lindsey Jacobellis manages to disappoint. In 2006 in snowboard cross, Jacobellis was all set to win gold and on the last little jump of the course, she did a little victory trick and fell and had to settle for second. This year, she didn't even make it to the finals. But that made room for Canada's Maelle Ricker to win her country's second gold medal on home turf.

First reaction to the headline, "Pregnant Olympian a Rarety": don't know who this is, but she's really dumb for putting her baby's life at risk for the Olympics.

Second reaction: ...unless it's curling, which is pretty much the least active Olympic sport you could come up with. (Besides maybe ping pong, but that's a Summer sport.)

Which it turned out to be. Canadian curler Kristie Moore is 5 months pregnant. She's also the alternate on her team, so she's unlikely to compete anyway. But if her team makes the podium, she will win a medal as well. Moore is the second known athlete to compete at the Olympics while pregnant. The first was Magda Julin who won the gold in figure skating at the 1920 Winter Olympics while she was three months pregnant.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Day 5

OK, whose new favorite sport is snowboard cross? Just watching the qualifiers was super exciting. The course on it's own is nuts! In the qualifiers, the snowboarders run the course by themselves which looks like a crazy event on it's own - even the 2006 Olympic champion, American Seth Wescott wiped out, and that was without having to fight the other racers off. But then, having 4 competitors race the track at once, and watching Wescott start out in last place in the final heat and win the gold, that was pretty exciting. Wescott became the first snowboarder to win back to back gold medals at the Winter Olympics. (Also, what's with the siren that went off each time the racer would pass one of the turns in the qualifiers? You'd think that would be a little distracting.)

Figure skating factoid of the day: Newly crowned pairs champions and married couple Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao live in separate rooms in their training dormitory in Harbin, China. Compare that to non-married American couple Amanda Evora and Jeremy Barrett (both pairs skaters but with different partners) who do live together in Florida. By the way, can someone please tell the skaters that you're not supposed to fall at the Olympics? Just sayin'. Special shoutout to both American pairs who didn't fall, especially to Evora and Mark Ladwig for getting the highest scoring element in the entire competition with their last lift.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Day 4

I guess the Canadian curse is over. Alexandre Bilodeau became the first Canadian ever to win gold on home soil last night, when he won the men's freestyle moguls event.

Two brothers competed in the Nordic combined event (ski jumping and cross country skiing combined) yesterday, but for different countries. They're Norwegian born to Swiss parents. Tommy Schmid represents Switzerland while his older brother, Jan defected to Norway to be part of the strong Norwegian ski program there. They both train in Norway. Neither of them medalled, but congrats to America Johnny Spillane for winning the silver medal - the first Olympic medal for an American in Nordic combined, ever.

Figure skater Peggy Fleming, bobsledder Vonetta Flowers and Miracle on Ice hockey player Mark Eruzione were in a minor car accident yesterday when their car was rear-ended by another car. Their car was part of Vice President Joe Biden's motorcade and they were taken to the hospital as a precaution but are all fine. Fleming and Flowers later attended the pair's figure skating short program. V.P. Biden was in another car and was uninjured.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Day 3 (Oops, Yesterday should have been Day 2 and 0 Days should have been Day 1)

So apparently Day 1 of the Olympics was Friday, even though the only thing that happened was the Opening Ceremonies. Oops.

Congrats to Apolo Ohno on getting the silver medal last night, tying Bonnie Blair for most medals ever for a Winter Olympian. I'm sure it's nice for him to have the medal, but I can't imagine that he's happy with second place. I bet this motivates him for his next four competitions. Major props to J.R. Celski for winning the bronze. Did you see the footage from the Olympic trials when he cut his leg on his blade? Blood everywhere!

Latvian Haralds Silovs made history yesterday by becoming the first Winter Olympian to compete in two different sports in one Olympic Games. And in the same day. He had about 5 hours in between his long track speed skating competition where he placed 20th and his short track speed skating event where he made it to the semifinals.

Jenn Heil attempted to become the first Canadian to win gold on Canadian soil yesterday in the women's freestyle skiing competition. As the defending Olympic champion, she was the favorite going into the race. But American Hannah Kearney had other plans and forced Heil to settle for silver.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

2010 Winter Olympics: Day 1

What a terrible way to start the Olympics. 21 year old luger Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia (the country) died on Friday during a training run at the Whistler Sliding Center. His sled hit the wall of the track and he was knocked into an unpadded steel poll. This track, which will be used for the luge, bobsled and skeleton events is considered the fastest in the world and athletes have previously commented on safety concerns. This is the first accidental death during competition or official training at the Olympics since 1960. At "press time" it had not been determined whether the Georgian Olympic team would pull out or whether the luge competition would go on as scheduled.

I haven't had the chance to watch the Opening Ceremonies yet (don't worry, it's tivo-ed), but I'm sure they were spectacular. The truth is, I don't usually end up watching the Opening Ceremonies until after the Olympics, because between the actual events, preview shows, news shows, etc., I'm pretty much fighting to keep up before anything even happens.

Speaking of before anything even happens, how are there multiple figure skating scandals already? And honestly, it's all ridiculous.

The first one stems from an interview that Sasha Cohen gave to People Magazine, saying that the two American women, Rachael Flatt and Marai Nagasu are "good skaters, they're just not at the same level as the international girls" and do not have a chance to medal at the Olympics. I really don't know what this controversy is all about, because it's true. They are great skaters, but right now, there are better skaters out there. I'm predicting an all Asian podium for ladies figure skating.

The second controversy is a two-parter, with 2006 Olympic Champion Evgeni Plushenko stuck in the middle of each part. Part 1: The International Skating Union recently created educational videos and one of them featured a performance of Plushenko's in which commentators made some negative remarks about the presentation side. Team Plushenko got upset and demanded that the performance be removed from the video. Part 2: After winning the European Championships last month, Plushenko commented on the higher marks the judges gave to silver medalist, Frenchman Brian Joubert on some of the non-jumping aspects than Plushenko received. Plushenko seems to have suggested that judges don't base the presentation scores on reality since only the jumps matter. This lead American judge Joe Inman (who will not be judging in Vancouver) to send an email out to other judges reminding them to judge each aspect fairly. And for some reason, the French Skating Federation (same people who were involved in the pairs skating scandal in 2002) took that email to be part of a North American lobby. Yeah, I don't get it either.

Friday, February 12, 2010

0 Days! The Olympics starts tonight!

Mark Grimmette, a five-time Olympian in luge has been named the Flag Bearer for the U.S. team at tonight's Opening Ceremonies. Grimette previously won the bronze in 1998 and the silver in 2002. He is only one of four U.S. athletes to compete at the Winter Olympics five times. For more information on Grimette or any other U.S. Olympian, check out teamusa.org, the official website from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Other flag bearers include speedskater Clara Hughes for Canada, who is one of the few to win Olympic medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics and figure skater Stephane Lambiel for Switzerland, who won the silver medal in Turino in 2006.

Never before has a city hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The city of Munich, Germany is trying to be the first and will succeed if they win the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. They previously hosted the 1936 and 1972 Summer Olympics.

No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Olympic Games.

Canada has never won gold at the Olympics on their home turf.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

1 Day

With just one day until the 2010 Winter Olympics, America's star (or the American media's star) Olympian, skier Lindsey Vonn is injured and is unsure of her Olympic plans. As of now, she is still planning to compete in her events, but plans to skip her training sessions. Before this injury, Vonn was expected to go for gold in five different alpine skiing events.

At the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, silver medals were awarded to the winners and bronze to the second place athletes.

The U.S. placed first in the medal count once at the Winter Olympics, in 1932 in Lake Placid

The first Olympic Games to be televised was the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where events were shown on large screens around Berlin. The first Games to be televised worldwide was the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The first Winter Games to be broadcast in color was in Grenoble, France in 1968.

Vancouver will be the first Winter Olympics where some events are held at sea level.

The music played in all of NBC's promotional 2010 Olympics commercials is the song, One Day by Matisyahu featuring Akon. Listen to it here.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

2 Days

Forbes announced their list of the highest money-making athletes who will be competing at the 2010 Winter Olympics (professional athletes like NHL stars not included). The majority of their money comes from endorsements and sponsorships, as Olympic competitions aren't known for their huge paychecks.

At the top of the list is U.S. snowboarder, Shaun White who made $8 million in 2009. His top sponsor, Red Bull, even built Shaun his own half-pipe. White previously won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics, which certainly helped pick up endorsements coming into this Olympic Games.

Tied at number 1, is South Korean figure skater, Yu-Na Kim. As the 2009 World Champion, Kim is the favorite to win gold in Vancouver and has become a huge star in her home country.

3. Lindsey Vonn (U.S.A.) - skiing: $3 million
4. Ted Ligety (U.S.A.) - skiing: $2 million
5. Apolo Ohno (U.S.A.) - short track speedskating: $1.5 million
6. Bode Miller (U.S.A.) - skiing: $1.3 million
7. Gretchen Bleiler (U.S.A.) - snowboarding: $1 million
7. Lindsey Jacobellis (U.S.A) - snowboarding: $1 million
7. Hannah Teter (U.S.A.) - snowboarding: $1 million
7. Maria Riesch (Germany) - skiing: $1 million

In the Biathlon sprint and relay competitions, athletes stop 2 times at the shooting range.

U.S. speedskater Jennifer Rodriguez started out first as a Roller Skating Champion, and then later an In-line Skating Champion. In 1996, she switched to speed skating and made her first Olympic team only two years later, in 1998. She won two bronze medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

3 Days

I watched an Olympic preview show on the Universal Sports channel last night and learned about a medal prediction model that Professor Dan Johnson of Colorado College has created. Professor Johnson has had 94% accuracy from 2000 - 2008 with his model. Johnson projects each nation's total medal count and gold medal count based on per-capita income, the country's population, it's political structure, it's climate and home-field advantage. Here's what he's predicting for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Let's see if he's right:

Canada - 27 medals - 5 gold medals
U.S. - 26 medals - 5 gold medals
Norway - 26 medals - 4 gold medals

Russia - most gold medals, with 8

At the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, three national flags are each hoisted onto flagpoles one at a time while their respective national anthems are played: The flag of Greece (honoring the birthplace of the Olympic games), the flag of the host country, and finally the flag of the host country of the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games. The one exception was in 2004, when the Olympic Games were held in Athens and only one flag (that of Greece) was raised.

The U.S. is third on the all time winter medal count with 216 (78 gold, 80 silver, 58 bronze).

Monday, February 8, 2010

4 Days

Just 4 days before the 2010 Winter Olympics begin, the site of the Olympic half pipe competition is in serious need of snow. Officials have already cut the training days from 5 down to 3 and have been dumping snow via helicopter. The first half pipe competition is set for February 17 and so far no plans have been made to change the venue.

Only four athletes have ever won medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games: Eddie Eagan (USA - Bobsleigh/Boxing), Jacob Thams (Norway - Ski Jumping/Sailing), Christa Luding (Germany - Long Track Speed Skating/Track Cycling) and Clara Hughes (Canada - Long Track Speed Skating/Cycling).

No Winter Olympian has ever won four gold medals in the same event.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

5 Days

The only Olympian ever to medal five consecutive times in the same Olympic event is German Georg Hackl. In 2002, Hackl completed this streak by winning the silver medal in singles luge.

The velocity of the curling rock at top speed is 5 mph.

American speed skater Eric Heiden holds the record for most gold medals in a Winter Olympics with five in 1980. (He and Apolo Anton Ohno both have 5 Winter Olympic medals, the most all-time for an American man. As previously mentioned, Ohno can break that record in Vancouver.)

Saturday, February 6, 2010

6 Days

Speed skater Bonnie Blair has won six medals at the Olympic Winter Games. That's more than any other American athlete. Speed skater Apolo Ohno has 5 and is hoping to get at least two more to make him the most decorate U.S. Winter Olympian.

6 countries only have one winter Olympic medal: Uzbekistan (gold), New Zealand (silver), Slovakia (silver), Denmark (silver) and Romania (bronze) and Latvia (bronze).

In 2008, six countries won their first ever Olympic medal: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Mauritius, Sudan, Tajikistan and Togo.

Friday, February 5, 2010

7 Days

One week, friends, one week!!!

NBC's website is giving viewers the opportunity to judge the figure skating competitions at the Olympics. Whether viewers watch live, on dvr or online, they will be able to rate each technical element and overall presentation.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/judge/index.html

Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics 7 years ago, in 2003.

The Canadian hockey team has won the Olympic gold medal seven times. They didn't medal in 2006, but are favorites in 2010, especially with home-ice advantage.

7 athletes were caught using illegal substances at the 2002 winter Games, which was more than the combined total of all previous Winter Games since testing began in 1968.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

8 Days

Just two weeks before the Olympics, snowboarder Shaun White added his name to the list of injured Olympians, by slamming face first into the half pipe at X-Games practice. Luckily, he did not suffer a concussion and didn't only compete the next day, but won. Last Thursday, Australian snowboarder Torah Bright suffered her second concussion in three days. Snowboarding has seen an increase in head injuries this season, the most notable one being that of American Kevin Pearce who still remains hospitalized with brain injuries. His spill took place back in December.

At the Closing Ceremonies of each Olympics, the mayor of the host city transfers a special Olympic Flag to the president of the International Olympic Committee, who then passes it on to the mayor of the next city to host the Olympic Games. The receiving mayor then waves the flag eight times.

The record for the most medals in a single Olympics is five, which was accomplished by eight different athletes.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

9 Days

So the US Olympic team is set, with 216 athletes. 87 have previously competed at the Winter Olympics - three of whom will be competing in their fifth Olympics: luger Mark Grimmette, Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick and alpine skier Casey Puckett who is competing in ski cross this time. 31 athletes have won a combined total of 48 medals: 12 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronze. Short track speed skater Apolo Ohno is the most successful returning Olympian, with 5 medals. Curlers Tracy Sachtjen and John Benton are the oldest Olympians at 40 years, while freestyle aerialist Ashley Caldwell and figure skaters Mirai Nagasu and Caydee Denney are the youngest at 16.

Norwegian biathlete, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen currently has nine Winter Olympic medals, and is hoping to break the all-time record of 12 medals in Vancouver.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, had Michael Phelps competed as his own country, he would have finished tied for 9th in the gold medal count, ahead of countries including France, Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Argentina, Switzerland, Brazil and Mexico. Furthermore, the rest of the world combined won seven golds in men's swimming events. Phelps, of course, won eight.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

10 Days

NBC announced that they (NBC affiliates included) will be airing an unprecedented 835 hours of Olympic coverage over the course of the 2010 Winter Olympics in February.

With 10 days to go, instead of giving you stats with the number 10, here are my personal top 10 Winter Olympic athletes/moments. (Keep in mind, that I didn't start watching until 1994. Also keep in mind, while I love all - well, most - Olympic sports, figure skating is by far my favorite.)

10-At Skate America the season prior to the 2006 Olympics, Russian pairs skaters Totmianina and Marinin took a horrific fall during a lift and Totmianina landed on her head and was knocked unconscious. To come back from a fall that could have been devastating and win the Olympics a year later made for a nice feel-good story.

9-Remember when Bode Miller could ski and won Olympic medals?

8-In 1994, professional figure skaters were allowed to compete in the Olympics for the first time. A few attempted comebacks (Viktor Petrenko, Kurt Browning, Brian Boitano failed to medal, while legendary ice dancers Torvil and Dean won the bronze), but the only skaters to win were Gordeeva and Grinkov, who will probably go down in history as the best pairs team ever. Grinkov's death at the young age of 28 was a terrible loss to the skating world.

7-Let's face it. If it weren't for Apolo Ohno, nobody would care about short track speed skating except for the Koreans.

6-Who doesn't remember Dan Jansen taking a victory lap with his baby daughter in his arms after winning gold in speed skating after years and years of failed attempts.

5-I've mentioned this before, but for Austrian skier Hermann Maier to take such a spectacular fall and then come back to win a gold medal so soon afterwards is unbelievable.

4-The 2002 Canadian/Russian pairs skating scandal. While I'm not happy about what it did to the judging system (it pains me that future generations will not know what I mean when I award someone a 6.0 for presentation), it is worth noting that Canadians Sale and Pelletier are the only non-Russian or former Soviet team to win a gold medal in pairs figure skating since 1960.

3-American Tommy Moe winning gold and silver in skiing in 1994. I had a poster of him in my room for years. The first of many Olympic crushes.

2-With all the hullabaloo going on in skating in 1994 with the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding saga, it was Olympic champion Oksana Baiul's spunky show-tunes long program that really stole the show and piqued my interest in the sport. It's too bad it was all downhill from there for her.

1-Michelle Kwan. There's not much more to say. While I wish she would have won gold back in 1998 (she instead had to "settle" for silver to Tara Lipinski), as a Kwan fanatic, I am thankful for all the years of amazing skating we got to see from her that we might not have seen had she won and retired. Even without a gold medal, to me, she is the best skater in the history of the sport.

What are your favorite Olympic moments?

Monday, February 1, 2010

11 Days

The events of the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held at eleven different venues throughout Vancouver and Whistler Mountain: B.C. Place Stadium (Opening and Closing Ceremonies), Canada Hockey Place/GM Place (ice hockey), Vancouver Olympic/Paralympics Centre (curling), Pacific Coliseum (figure skating and short track speed skating), UBC Thunderbird Arena (ice hockey), Whistler Celebration Site (victory ceremonies and performances), Whistler Sliding Centre (bobsled, luge and skeleton), Whistler Creekside (alpine skiing), Whistler Olympic Park / Whistler Paralympics Park (cross country skiing, biathlon, Nordic combined and ski jumping), Richmond Oval (speed skating) and Cypress Mountain (freestyle skiing and snowboard).

Marjo Matikainen is a Finnish cross country skier who won the bronze medal in 1984 in the relay and two bronze medals and the gold in 1988 in Calgary. Eleven years after retiring, she went on to become a member of the European Parliament.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

12 Days

At the recent figure skating National Championships, Johnny Weir, who placed third and received a berth to the U.S. Olympic team sparked controversy over a piece of fox fur on his long program costume. Weir announced yesterday that he would remove the fur from his costume in order to stop the threats by animal activist groups of disrupting his Olympic performance.

The most medals won by any athlete at the Winter Olympic Games is 12 by cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie of Norway.

12 athletes have won Olympic medals while representing two distinctly different countries, but it has never happened at the Winter Games.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

13 Days

The most gold medals ever won by one country at a single winter games is 13. This occurred twice: at the 1976 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck by the U.S.S.R. and at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City by Norway.

Speed skater Kim Yun-Mi of South Korea is the youngest Olympic gold medalist of all time, having won the Women's short track 3000m relay at the 1994 Lillehammer Games at the age of 13 years and 83 days.

Friday, January 29, 2010

14 Days

Only two weeks left in the countdown to Vancouver!

Condolences to figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, whose father was buried yesterday. Kerrigan's father, Daniel Kerrigan, apparently died following a struggle with his son, Mark Kerrigan on Sunday. The family claims the death was unrelated to the struggle. Nancy won the bronze medal at the 1992 Albertville Olympics and the silver medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.

A Chinese newspaper reported that Russian officials are expecting their athletes to win at least 14 gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Russia won 8 gold medals at the previous Winter Games in Turin in 2006 and 6 gold medals in Salt Lake City in 2002. This seems to me like a useless statement. The Sochi Olympics are four years away. Also, clearly, all medal contenders are going to try for medals. Not just for their country, but for themselves. I'm not sure the added pressure from a statement like this helps anything.

British Olympian Phil Harries first competed at the Olympics in the 400m hurdle event at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. 14 years later, he returned to the Olympics, but this time the Winter Olympics in 2002 as a member of one of Great Britain's bobsled teams.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

15 Days

In 1928, Switzerland became the only host country to fail to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Canada (in 1988), Yugoslavia (in 1984) and France (in 1924) join Switzerland as the only host countries to not win a gold medal during the Winter Games.

Athletes will be competing in 15 sports at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Olympic Charter requires that there be a minimum of 15 Olympic sports at each Summer Games.

Canada won 15 medals at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, two more than the United States. It was the first time Canada topped the United States in the overall medal standings.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

16 Days

Roberto Carcelen is Peru's first Winter Olympian. He will compete for the first time at the 2010 Olympics in cross-country skiing. He grew up surfing and running in Lima, but now trains in Seattle. He's only been skiing for three years!

In 1988, the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days. The previous Olympics in 1984 were held over 13 days. And as we learned yesterday, the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics will span take place over 17 days. The Calgary Olympics were also the last ones to take place in a different location than the Paralympics.

U.S. swimming superstar, Michael Phelps has 16 Olympic medals: 14 gold and 2 bronze from the 2004 and 2008 Summer Games.

The first Winter Olympics was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. 258 athletes participated from 16 countries. Medals were awarded in 16 events.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

17 Days

Factoid of the day: Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, was president of the I.O.C. from 1925 until he died in 1937 in Geneva, Switzerland. He was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland but his heart was buried — as requested in his will — in a monument near the ruins of Olympia, Greece.

The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place over 17 days, starting in 17 days (duh) on Friday, February 12, with the Opening Ceremonies. The Closing Ceremonies will take place on Sunday, February 28.

Germany's Andre Lange is the man to beat in bobsled at the upcoming Winter Olympics. He's won three Olympic gold medals and holds the record for most Olympic and World medals in bobsled with a total of 17.

Bob Costas will host the 2010 Winter Olympics, his ninth on NBC. I am including this as the third stat, since I'm not sure if this is true or not, but Costas may or may not have won 17 Sports Emmy awards. Anyone want to do some fact finding? He may have more than that by now.

Monday, January 25, 2010

18 Days

The first sentence on the wikipedia entry for "Curse of LaBonte" describes it as "quite possibly one of the most famous curses in curling history." From what I can understand, (and I am the first to tell you I cannot for the life of me understand the rules of curling,) at the 1972 Curling World Championships, after the U.S. competed against the undefeated Canadians, it was unclear as to who had won. An American on the team, Bob LaBonte, thought the U.S. had won and jumped in the air to celebrate. As he landed, he accidentally knocked into a Canadian stone, moving it ahead of the Americans' stone, thus awarding the win to Canada. It took 8 years for Canada to win another World Championships, which sparked comments that LaBonte had put a curse on them.

The 2010 Winter Olympics come 18 months after the previous Olympics, the 2008 Summer games in Beijing. (This same time period applies between most summer and winter Olympics.)

Larrisa Latynina, a gymnast from the former Soviet Union, finished her Summer Olympic Games career with 18 total medals, the most in history.

18 Mormon athletes participated in the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, and they won one gold medal and one silver medal. That's 10 athletes and one gold medal more than that at the Salt Lake City Games, in 2002, a city founded by Mormon pioneers and currently headquarters to the Mormon church.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

19 Days

In 2006, skier Robel Teklemariam became the first athlete to represent Ethiopia in any event at the Winter Olympics. Robel was born in Ethiopia and moved to New York City when he was 9. He was never happy in the big city, so his mother sent him to a boarding school in Lake Placid, NY (home of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Games) where he learned to ski. At the age of 12, Robel began dreaming of competing at the Olympics when a spectator jokingly told him he could represent Ethiopia. 19 years later, that dream became a reality, as he competed in Turino and finished in 108th place. He also established and heads the first Ethiopian National Skiing Federation and is trying to raise awareness of winter sports in his home country. Robel plans to compete at the Vancouver Olympics as well. Good luck!

At the first modern Olympic Winter Games in 1896, the founder, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was opposed to including female athletes, thus none competed. However, only four years later, nineteen women competed at the 1900 Olympic Games.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

20 Days

The top Olympic ski jumpers fly about 20 feet (6.1m) over the ground. I've been to the top of a ski jump in Lake Placid. That is one sport I don't think I'll be trying any time soon.

It was unclear whether or not there would be a Winter Olympics in 1948, right after World War II. There was a twelve year break because of the war, but St. Moritz, Switzerland was chosen to host the Winter Games. This choice was made mostly due to the fact that St. Moritz had hosted the Winter Olympics 20 years beforehand, and their sports facilities were still mostly intact, as a result of Switzerland’s neutrality in World War II.

Everyone has heard of the "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY when the U.S. hockey team came out of nowhere to beat the Soviet team and then proceeded to win gold, which no one expected them to do. Well 20 years prior to that, there was a lesser known "Miracle on Ice" also on home turf, in 1960 in Squaw Valley, California. Another U.S. hockey team shocked everyone when they beat the Soviet favorites 3-2 and then went on to beat Czechoslovakia 9-4 to win the first gold medal for U.S. hockey.

Friday, January 22, 2010

21 Days

Factoid of the day: The Olympic podium was first used at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. American speed skater, Jack Shea was the first gold medalist to receive his medal from on top of the podium.

Here's an easy stat: The 2010 Vancouver Games will be the 21st Winter Olympics.

21 players were named to the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team, which included six Olympic veterans. U.S. Women's Ice Hockey has medalled in all three Olympic appearances to date: gold in 1998, silver in 2002 and bronze in 2006.

Thailand has won 21 Olympic medals, with the majority in boxing. Thailand's most successful Games was the 2004 Games in Athens, where Thai athletes won eight medals. Only one athlete, Prawat Nagvajara, has represented Thailand at the Winter Olympics. Many Thai winter sport athletes have qualified for their respective sports but their Olympic governing body has chosen not to send them, which happens when athletes of poorer countries aren't expected to do well.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

22 Days

The 2010 Winter Olympics is expected to be broadcast around the world in 22 languages.

The CTV (Canadian Television) network alone is promising 22 hours a day in coverage during the games. CTV's studios in downtown Vancouver are likely to be the broadcast headquarters for the coverage.

The calibre of the rifles used in biathlon is .22 inches. A biathlete's rifle must also weigh a minimum of 3.5 kilograms.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

23 Days

This is my favorite Olympic factoid of the day: During the 1920 Olympic Ladies figure skating competition, American Theresa Weld (who won bronze) was warned by the judges for making jumps "unsuitable for a lady," because her skirt rose to her knees. The horror!

23 players were selected for the U.S. hockey team, back on New Years Day. Only three of those players have previously played in the Olympics, which probably has to do with the fact the U.S. failed to win a medal at the last Winter Olympics in 2006.

In 2006, the U.S. Olympic team had 23 known minority athletes (out of 211) competing at Turino, which was more than double the number of minority athletes in Salt Lake City and four times as many who competed in the Nagano, Japan and Lillehammer, Norway games, held in 1998 and 1994, respectively. Minorities on the U.S. team are among the best in their sports, including short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and long track speedskater Derek Parra.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

24 Days

The Association of Freeskiing Professionals is attempting to debut halfpipe skiing at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The AFP was hoping to compete at the 2010 Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee did not approve it. At the past few Winter Olympics, we have seen other extreme sports make their Olympic debuts, so halfpipe skiing may very well be the next new Winter Olympic event.

The city of Vancouver spent $24 million to build a new curling rink for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

American swimmer Dara Torres' Olympic career spans 24 years. At age 41, swimmer Dara Torres obtained a spot on the 2008 U.S. Summer Olympic team, which was her fifth Olympic games. This was unprecedented for an American female swimmer, especially given the fact that she did not compete at the 1996 or 2004 Olympic games. In fact, she is the first woman in history to swim in the Olympics past the age of 40.

Monday, January 18, 2010

25 Days

Meet Nigerian American athlete Seun Adebiyi. Adebiyi is 26 years old and his plans for 2010 include creating the first Nigerian National Skeleton Team, passing the bar and beating Leukemia. Adebiyi, who had previously failed to make the Nigerian Swim team was preparing to be the first Nigerian Winter Olympian when he was diagnosed with cancer. He has now put his own Olympic dreams on hold to beat cancer. In search of a bone marrow donor, he has teamed with singer Rihanna to find 10,000 potential bone marrow donors. Adebiyi hopes to compete in skeleton in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

In 2008, per capita, China won one gold medal for every 25 million people in the country. (They won 51 gold medals, the most at the 2008 Summer Games.)

Twenty five corporate sponsors, governments and broadcasters of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games have joined forces to help make the Games carbon neutral by offsetting some of their own carbon emissions related to the Games, such as emissions generated by delegations travelling to and from the region.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

26 Days

Have you ever wondered why the official distance of a marathon is exactly 26 miles, 385 yards? I know I have. In 1908, the marathon standard was set at exactly 26 miles. However, at the Olympic marathon in London, officials couldn't find a good enough spot for the royal family to view the finish line. So organizers added an extra 385 yards to the race so that the finish line would be directly in front of the royal box. And it's been that way ever since.

At the 1968 Winter Olympics, an Italian woman won the gold medal in luge only because the East German woman who came in first place was disqualified for illegally heating the runners of her luge before the race. Twenty-six years later, in 1994, Italian Gerda Weissensteiner won the gold medal in luge without any pretenses.

In 2006, 26 countries won at least one medal in Torino, which is a Winter Olympic record. This topped the previous record of 24 countries which medalled at the last two games in 2002 and 1998.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

27 Days

Russian athlete, Yelena Isinbayeva is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in pole vaulting (in 2004 and 2008). She has broken the outdoor and indoor world records 27 times. Many consider her to be the greatest female pole-vaulter of all time.

Hurdler Edwin Moses won two gold medals in 1976 and in 1984 and a bronze in 1988. By July of 1984, Moses had completed the 400m hurdles faster than 48 seconds a record twenty-seven times. (Since then, the men's world record has been set at 46.78 seconds.)

Friday, January 15, 2010

28 Days

A first for the Olympics Games: There will be a place called Pride House for gay athletes and fans at the Vancouver Olympics. At the entrance, will be a sculpture of a nude hockey player (well, he's wearing hockey skates) called “Slapshotolus” by Canadian artist Edmund Haakonson. Here's a picture (from the back).

At a meeting in 2002, the International Olympic Committee added a rule to the Olympic Charter, limiting the number of sporting events at the Summer Games to a maximum of 28 events. They also decided on a limit of 10,500 athletes per summer Olympics.

The average slope gradient on an Olympic ski course is 28%.

The United States has won 78 Winter Olympic gold medals. The largest number, 28, have come in speed skating. (13 came from figure skating events and 12 in alpine skiing.)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

29 Days

Talk about sibling rivalry. There are two sets of siblings, Andrew and Posy Musgrave and Andrew and Sarah Young who are all friends, fighting to make the British cross-country ski team. There are only three spots available (two for the men and one for the women), so at least one of them will definitely not make the team. Andrew Musgrave, the one with the best chance of making the team said, "We all get on very well, so I'm sure there won't be too much jealousy." Um, yeah, right. As someone with sibling, I don't believe it for a second. The British team will be decided on January 18.

Germany has won the most medals at each of the last three Winter Olympics. Germans won 29 medals in Torino in 2006 (four more than the United Sates) including 11 golds. The Germans won two more medals than the Americans at the Salt Lake Games as (36 to 34) in 2002. And in Nagano, in 1998, Germany won 29 medals again. The Norwegians were the last country to lead the medal count before Germany at the 1994 Olympics 1994 Games which they hosted in Lillehammer, winning two medals more than the Germans (26 to 24).

Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, became president of the International Olympic Committee in 1896 and held that post for 29 years.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

30 Days

The latest Olympic controversy is regarding alpine skiing. Lately, skiing officials have been icing up alpine ski runs by water injection - hosing down the race course one or two feet deep, so that the course ices over and does not deteriorate as skiers race down the mountain or in the event of inclement weather. Skiers have been complaining that this is only making alpine skiing more dangerous (a number of Olympic hopefuls have been injured this season). Water injection is also used on the ski cross courses, which athletes aren't happy about either. Officials have not yet decided whether to use this system at Whistler Mountain for the Olympics.

It took 30 years for the U.S. to win a medal in ice dance, which came from Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto in 2006. (Before them, the U.S. team of Colleen O'Connor and Jim Millns won bronze at the 1976 Olympics, the first time ice dancing was an event at the Olympics.) While U.S. figure skaters have always been a threat in men's and ladies skating, ice dancers and pairs skaters haven't had the same success. Belbin and Agosto changed that for U.S. ice dancing when they won the silver medal in Turino and this year, the U.S. doesn't only have them to root for, but U.S. ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White who are also podium favorites as well. Never have two North American teams made the podium at the same Olympic Games, but between them and Canadian threats Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who knows what could happen in February!

On average, skiing officials use 30 km of safety netting on a race course.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

31 Days

I love it! Homer and Marge Simpson will be going for the gold in curling on a Simpson's episode that will air sometime in February, around the time of the Winter Olympics. I'm not really a fan of the Simpson's but I think it's great that the Olympics is popular enough to be the theme of a television show on a rival network. (The Olympics will air on NBC while the Simpson's airs on FOX.)

Ursula "Uschi" Disl from Germany is the most decorated athlete in biathlon, with 9 Olympic medals to her name. She competed and medalled in the past five Winter Olympic Games: in 1992 (silver), 1994 (silver, bronze), 1998 (gold, silver, bronze), 2002 (gold, silver) and 2006 (bronze). The 2002 Games in Salt Lake City was particularly special because she became the oldest female biathlete to win gold at the age of 31. Disl has retired and will not be competing in Vancouver.

The Olympic torch relay brings the Olympic flame from Olympia, Greece to the site of the upcoming Olympics, in this case, Vancouver. It is timed perfectly to arrive for the Opening Ceremonies, where the Olympic torch is lit and remains lit until the Closing Ceremonies at which point it is extinguished. This year's torch relay cost an estimated $31 million, which many feel is a bit much for a tradition that doesn't have much to do with the Olympics themselves.

Monday, January 11, 2010

32 Days

From the start of the modern Winter Olympics in 1924, Norway could not lose the gold medal in ski jumping. That is, until their streak was broken 32 years later, in 1956 in Cortina D'Ampezzo when Finland won the gold and silver medals. The two winning Finns changed the face of their sport, as they were the first to jump leaning forwards with their arms at their sides, which is how all ski jumpers jump today.

At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, 32 African countries boycotted the Games in protest of apartheid and that South Africa was permitted to compete.

I love how many times the number 32 appears in this one: At the 1932 Games in Lake Placid, New York, there had not been enough snow fall prior to the Games and snow had to be trucked in from Canada to help cover the cross-country ski course. Thirty-two years later, a similar issue arose in 1964 and 32,000 tons of snow had to be brought from higher altitudes to the Olympic venues in Innsbruck, Austria.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

33 Days

Lindsey Vonn has regained the lead in the World Cup standings, even with an injured arm, by winning two downhill races in a row, on Friday and Saturday. She has not lost a downhill race since February 2009. U.S. snowboarders Gretchen Bleiler and Kelly Clark have both earn spots on the Olympic team. Hannah Teter and a few other women will compete for the final spot in two weeks.

Of the 33 total medals won by Korean athletes (both North and South) in Winter Olympics events, 30 have been won in short track speed skating events. Similarly, 20 of China's 33 Winter Olympics medals are from the sport. Korea and China cannot be counted out in short track speed skating, but you can also bet that both China and Korea will be winning medals in figure skating in Vancouver. (Yu-Na Kim for Korea in ladies figure skating and pairs team Shen and Zhao for China, both front runners in their respective events.)

The first snowboard was created in 1965, when an engineer watched his daughter try and stand up on her sled while going downhill. He then took a pair of skis and attached them to create a snowboard for her. 33 years later, in 1998, snowboarding became an Olympic Sport at the Nagano Olympics.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

34 Days

The U.S. won a record 34 medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the most they've ever won at a Winter Games. That's more than double their previous high, which was 13. Four years later, in 2006, American athletes won 25 medals in Turino.

You know a course is tough when thirty-four of the best competitors (82 in total) in the world cannot not finish a ski course. That's what happened at the first of two runs on the men's giant-slalom course at the 2006 Olympics. American Bode Miller finished both races and placed sixth overall, in a race at which he was hoping to medal. Neither of the other two American medal contenders, Daron Rahlves and Ted Ligety, were able to finish. Austrian Benjamin Raich won, with Hermann Maier in bronze. Joel Chenal of France won silver.

Friday, January 8, 2010

35 Days

Liechtenstein is a small country made up of only 35,000 citizens. They became the smallest nation ever to produce an Olympic gold medal in 1980 when Hanni Wenzel won the slalom and giant slalom events. She also won a silver medal in the downhill at the same Olympics and had previously won a bronze medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics. The country has won nine Winter Olympic medals in total, all in alpine skiing, which gives Liechtenstein the record for most medals per capita, with one medal for every 3,888 citizens.

American Kristi Yamaguchi is the 1992 Winter Olympic Champion in ladies figure skating. (She's the Dancing With the Stars Champion as well. Totally the same thing.) At the beginning of her career, Yamaguchi split her time between solo skating and pairs skating. She competed in pairs skating with partner Rudy Galindo. In 1989, Yamaguchi became the first woman in thirty-five years to win two medals at the U.S. National Championships - silver in singles and gold in pairs. Shortly after that, Kristi stopped pairs skating to focus solely on her singles career (which was clearly a wise move). Her partner, Galindo, later went on to win the mens National Championships in 1996 and won the bronze at the World Championships that year as well.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

36 Days

Nike has unveiled a new sneaker in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Dunk Hi in red, white & blue and gold. They will be available beginning in February to coincide with the Olympics. What do you think?

The most medals ever won by one nation at one Winter Olympics is 36. Germany holds this record from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Handball debuted as an Olympic sport in the 1936 Summer Games and then was removed from the list of Olympic events right afterwards. 36 years later, it returned to the Olympics in 1972. Four years after that, in 1976, Women’s handball became an Olympic sport as well.

The Royal Canadian Mint has put 36 limited mintage Olympic and Paralympic themed collectors coins and sets into circulation to honor their home country Olympics in Vancouver.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

37 Days

Figure skater, Sasha Cohen basically swears she will compete at the National Championships next week, and make an attempt at qualifying for the Olympics. She hasn't competed since the 2006 Olympic season (she won the silver medal in Turino) and missed her two Grand Prix events this fall due to injury. At 25, she's considered an old timer in the world of ladies figure skating. She is definitely on the list of all time beautiful skaters, but she's never really been able to perform all of her jumps error-free. Only two U.S. women will make it to Vancouver this February, and no one really has any idea where Cohen stands in the mix of competitors, since most of them have only been competing on the Olympic level since she's been gone.

Even with an increase in television coverage, from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics to the 2006 Turino Winter Olympics, NBC saw a 37% decline of their prime-time viewers. Reality shows like American Idol and Dancing With the Stars stole many viewers away. The decline was also partially due to the time difference between the U.S. and Italy, as opposed to the Salt Lake City Games where much of it was aired live.

On the speed side of things, hockey is the fastest Olympic team sport, where players can skate up to 37 mph. On the individual sporting events side, speed skaters can attain maximum speeds of 60 km/h in some of the shorter distance races.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

38 Days

This isn't really Olympics related, but it's cool. Liquid Image Co. has created a pair of ski goggles with a built in video camera at the top so that you can take videos of yourself skiing. LED lights inside the goggles alert the skier to the mode of the camera. The goggles can take still images as well and will be available in the summer of 2010 for about $149.

Whistler Mountain, home of the skiing and snowboarding events at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, boasts 38 lifts: 18 chair lifts, 16 surface lifts and 4 gondolas.

Canadian athletes have won a total of 38 gold Winter Olympic medals. (8 in ice hockey, 6 in speed skating, 5 in short-track speed skating, 4 in alpine skiing, 3 in figure skating, 2 in freestyle skiing, bobsled, cross country skiing, biathlon, and curling and 1 each in snowboarding and skeleton.) Canada is in seventh place in the overall medal count, but ninth in the gold medal count. The host country is hoping to improve those numbers by having a great showing on their own turf in Vancouver in February.

Every Olympic host creates pictograms which represent the sports included in those Games. Here are the 38 pictograms for the 2012 Summer Games in London. I'm not sure these images are any less deserving of a "wooden spoon" than the 2012 Olympic logo is. (See 83 Days.)

Monday, January 4, 2010

39 Days

While we still don't know how many hours of Olympic coverage NBC and it's affiliates will air, there are new announcements from NBC's Olympic Sport's channel, Universal Sports. Throughout the two weeks of the Vancouver Olympics, the sports channel will air 5 hours of Olympic coverage from 10 am to 3 pm daily, showing news, highlights, previews and medal ceremonies. They will also have a 24 hour news ticker. I am so not going to have enough room on my dvr.

Alpine skier, Lindsey Vonn lost her lead in the World Cup standings this weekend after missing a gate in a slalom event and failing to finish the race. Vonn is still recovering from an injured arm.

39 of the 2985 athletes who participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics were representing Latin America and the Caribbean. The majority (2069 athletes) came from European countries.

In 2006, Canadian Duff Gibson became the oldest individual Winter Olympic Champion at the age of 39 when he won the skeleton event in Turino, Italy.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

40 Days

In Albertville, France, in 1992, Kjetil André Aamodt became the first alpine skier from Norway in forty years to win Gold at the Winter Olympics. He won a bronze there too and competed in the next four Olympics, medaling thrice (I love that word) in 1994, winning two more golds in 2002 and one more gold in 2006. With eight Olympic medals he is the most decorated alpine skier at the Olympics. Aamodt also has the distinction of being both the youngest and oldest male alpine skier to win a gold medal at the Olympics. (He was born in Sept. '71 - you do the math.)

NBC and it's affiliates aired 40 more hours of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turino than they did the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Here's hoping for 40 more hours this time around. The last time I checked, which was a while ago, I couldn't find the exact number of hours NBC plans to air of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Anyone want to help me out on that one?

Saturday, January 2, 2010

41 Days

Shout out to Kevin Pearce, a U.S. Olympic hopeful in snowboarding. In Park City, Utah the other day, Pearce fell and hit his head while practicing on the half-pipe. According to ESPN, Pearce had to have surgery to relieve fluid buildup on his brain. No word on how this effects his chances to compete at the Olympics. We seem to be hearing of a lot of injuries this season, leading up to the Olympics. I'm not sure whether these athletes are unlucky or if winter sports have gotten to the point where they are just too demanding.

A study conducted by the University of British Columbia found that Canadian medals increased by 41% in the time since Vancouver won the bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. Medals increased at the Olympics, World Championships and other international events, largely due to Canada's "Own the Podium" program promoting winter sports.

Friday, January 1, 2010

42 Days

At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan first and second place finish made them the first female figure skaters from one country to do that since 1956. Forty-two years earlier at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina D'ampezzo, another set of American women won the gold and silver medals: Tenley Albright and Carol Heiss. As an aside, Lipinski who was 15 at the time is the youngest Olympic figure skating champion in history.

Australia has competed in every Winter Olympics since 1952. Previous to that, they had only competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics. In Turino, Italy in 2006, with 42 athletes representing Australia, they won two medals, the most medals they have ever won in one Winter Olympic Games. (They won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics as well.)

Whistler Mountain, home of the ski and snowboard events at the 2010 Winter Olympics, was developed into a resort city with the intention of hosting the 1968 Winter Olympics. In 1968, Grenoble, France won the bid to host the Winter Olympics, but forty-two years later, they have finally received the chance to host the Olympics.