Chris Long is posting regular blogs packed with news, opinion and observation on world, national, regional and local sports. The blog makes its debut during the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, and will focus on all things Olympic throughout the Games.
Up and down
That’s not just a description of the cross-country, luge or halfpipe tracks over in Torino… but rather the theme of the first weekend from the perspective of America’s representatives at the Games.
There were a few spectacular successes, some crushing disappointments, and one surprising announcement that may end up the biggest story of the 20th Winter Olympiad.
The newest version of our NBC2 Sports Blog has more on the highs, lows and that thus-far defining moment… as well as a tale of how sausages and college answering machines can co-exist in a story relevant to the Winter Olympics.
Read on, friends.
Kwan bows out
The biggest story of the first 48 hours of the 20th Winter Olympics was the sudden departure of Michelle Kwan from the Games. The 9-time US Champion and 5-time World Champion once again comes up short in her elusive pursuit of an Olympic gold medal.
It has been rumored and assumed Kwan would retire following the Torino Games. If that holds true, she will remain the most decorated woman in figure skating history… but she’ll retire never having won Olympic gold.
To get to Torino in the first place, Kwan needed a medical waiver after missing the Olympic Trials due to the same injury she eventually succumbed to. After marching in Friday’s Opening Ceremonies, Kwan fell on a triple-flip attempt in her Saturday practice session. The fall either aggravated, or was a result of, the nagging groin muscle injury she had been fighting for several months.
Kwan made a long statement at her press conference that recounted the events between her practice injury and her eventual decision to withdraw, "I did only about three jumps on the ice and that was triple toe and then I tried the triple flip and when I flipped out of it I knew I had done something, but I then attempted it again and then I fell on it. I tried to skate it off and ended up getting off the ice and just felt, at the time, I didn't feel like I did something immediately.”
She continued, “After that, I still felt uncomfortable and went back to the village. I got some physio, ice and got some ultra sound. Then later on the afternoon I went to see my parents and had dinner with them. I went back to the village and by 11-12 o'clock I just didn't feel right… didn't feel good, so I made a few phone calls and talked to the doctor around 2:15 in the morning. I tried to evaluate my body and just had to make a decision. Its one of the toughest decisions I had to make, but I know it’s the right one."
In an odd precursor, a reporter asked Kwan earlier in the week about her role as the alternate back in 1994. That’s when, at the age of 13, Kwan was the top alternate to the US skating team that included Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. “You have to be prepared, I remember being the alternate in Lillehammer… and I was doing my program all the time,” Kwan said.
That’s likely what this year’s top alternate, Emily Hughes has been doing at her home on Long Island, NY. Hughes finished third in the Olympic Trials, but was bumped from the team when Kwan was granted her medical waiver. Ironically, it was Hughes’ older sister Sarah that beat Kwan for the gold in Salt Lake City.
Emily Hughes departure from New York is being delayed by the heavy snow blanketing the Northeast. She still has plenty of time to get to Torino, as the women’s figure skating doesn’t begin until next Tuesday.
USOC chief Peter Ueberroth gushed praise upon Kwan as he spoke after her announcement to withdraw, “Michelle Kwan means more to the USOC than maybe any athlete who has ever performed. She’s been a leader, she’s been gracious, and she’s a big loss to all of the USOC, the US and all of the world, and she’s made a very gracious decision.”
Kwan wrapped up an interview on NBC saying, “When I was 7 or 8 years old, my first dreams… I still see it today with tears in my eyes… you dream of winning gold,” she said. “Maybe gold wasn’t meant to be and I have to accept it. Gold is something that’s out there, but my love of the sport is most important.”
It’s a love that fans of figure skating return tenfold, gold medal or not.
Star so far
The US earned only three medals in the first two days at Torino, two of them coming in the Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe.
Known as the “Flying Tomato” for his long, unkempt bright-red hair, White was the heavy favorite... both of the crowd and the competition. He won the six most recent competitions this season leading up to Torino.
But on his first preliminary run, White caught the back of his deck as he landed a backside 900. The heavy favorite barely avoided a complete wipeout. The bobble even prompted usually mild-mannered White to shout an obscenity as he unbuckled his boots following the run. He stood seventh after the first of two preliminary runs… failing to give him the automatic bid to the Finals that goes to the top six finishers in the first set of runs.
In his second heat, White stormed back with a dazzling amplitude-packed and highly technical trip that earned him 45.3 points, highest in the second set of prelims.
There was far less drama in the finals.
Breaking from the start to AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’, White unleashed a spectacular run in the first of his two possible runs. His initial launch into the halfpipe resulted in massive air on his first trip above the lip. The high-flying start provided enough speed and power for back-to-back 1080 grabs followed by a combo of frontside and backside 900’s.
White attributed his high 46.8 point score to the backside 900, saying very few boarders had been trying the trick in the event.
The score was the highest of the finals, which allowed White to be scheduled last in the second round of Finals runs. White stood by as no other boarder beat his score so when the last opponent, eventual bronze-winner Markku Koski of Finland, fell… White officially earned the US’ second gold of the Games.
He still took his second Finals run, with nothing to lose or gain. He slipped and fell in the final run as he looked to be setting up for a highly-anticipated backside 1080. White got up and casually slid to the end of the halfpipe, where he celebrated the win.
American Danny Kass took the silver and Mason Aguirre finished fourth meaning Koski’s bronze was all that prevented the USA from a second straight Olympic medal sweep in the event.
First Gold has local tie
Chad Hedrick will likely end up one of the biggest American stars these Games, and he kicked off his Torino run by winning gold in the 10,000 meter speedskate on Saturday. It was the US’ first medal of the Games.
It’s odd to think there are local ties to any aspect of the Winter Games, but Hedrick’s pursuit of a possible five golds will be made gliding on boots designed in Cape Coral.
David Simmons has been designing boots for Hedrick ever since he was a world-class rollerblade racer. Simmons lived in Kansas a decade ago when he first started with Hedrick, but moved to Cape Coral as Hedrick was switching from the pavement to the ice.
“My family is there on the medal stand (with Hedrick)… we’re there,” Simmons said as Hedrick earned his gold.
Hedrick is out to tie the record for golds by an American in a single Winter Games that was set by Eric Heiden in 1980 at Lake Placid.
What’s wrong with the Americans?
Anton Apolo Ohno… Bode Miller… Hannah Kearney.
They may not be household names, but they were supposed to be after this Olympic Games.
Ohno, known for a controversial gold medal in Salt Lake City made a terrible tactical error in the final lap of the 1500m short-track speedskating preliminaries Sunday. Miller turned in a so-so run that wasn’t awful, but wasn’t brilliant either. And Kearney had top-billing on a women’s mogul team that was touted as the deepest in the world.
All three failed to reach the medal stand in their events over the weekend.
Ohno needed only to finish in the top three of a preliminary heat in the short-track speedskating. His first heat had no other skater with any significant international prestige, and Ohno won easily. In his semifinal heat, Ohno was running second approaching the turn into the final lap of the race. His brain should have said, “Hold here, finish where you need to, and fight the big fight in the Finals”. But heart overruled head and Ohno’s drive to win took over. Any attempt to pass for first was at best unnecessary and without any true reward for success, Ohno’s hubris cost him the Finals. As he shifted wide for the pass, he went to place a hand along the ice for support as he leaned into the turn. Instead of landing on the ice, his hand accidentally landed on the back of the leaders skate. With his balance thrown off, Ohno jerked out of his crouch, and swung wide. He remained upright, but had lost all his momentum entering the all-important final lap. He finished fifth of the six skaters, as one other skater crashed out on the final lap. Ahn Hyun-Soo of South Korea won the gold, avenging a stunning disqualification in Salt Lake that gave Ohno his controversial 2002 gold.
Miller, who is the least susceptible to the “choke” label of these three disappointments, simply couldn’t cash the check his mouth had written in pre-Olympic hype. Miller’s runs typically finish one of two ways: winning the race or wiping out in spectacular fashion. For some reason, his run in the downhill finals lacked the ‘throw caution to the wind’ aggressiveness that customarily puts Miller in first… or on his keister. The shocker here isn’t so much that Miller missed a medal, but that he did it by skiing an uncharacteristically conservative race. It didn’t help that Miller passed on taking an inspection run as part of his preparation. NBC’s reporter said Miller, “…just rolled out of his RV and went to the hill.” Miller also was rumored to be out late at Torino bars last week. This all sounds more like Jeff Spicoli on the first day of school in ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ than a favored Olympian preparing to chase gold. Real nice, Bode. He also inexplicably changed to brand-new untested skis for his downhill finals run having skied on them just once, in the training run, before the downhill finals. Relative unknown Antoine Deneriaz of France took the gold. Miller’s US teammate Daron Rahlves was in the starting gate set to go on the same skis Miller switched to. But after hearing Miller’s slow time, Rahlves then switched again to another different pair at the last second. They were even slower... Rahlves finished 10th.
As for Kearney, it’s tough to say she did anything less than choke under the massive pressure of the Olympic Games. She’s only 19, so it’s fair to say inexperience may have been the culprit. She did handle the disappointment with class, holding her head up as she explained the two mistakes she made in her sub-par run. Her first twitch in the top section of the course could have been overcome. Slamming over, as opposed to between, moguls on the bottom half proved to be too much. She said she was just going too fast to remain in control, again, nobly admitting she simply made a mistake.
Hockey superpowers gaining steam
A big bright spot so far for the US has been the Women’s Hockey team. The US ladies have steamrolled to wins in their first two games, beating Switzerland 6-0 and Germany 5-0.
If you’re a fan of hockey, but don’t think the Olympic ladies are worth a look… let me urge you to reconsider. The women’s game does lack the break-neck contact and lightning speed of the men’s game, but some of the goals this US women’s team has tallied have been spectacular. I had the pleasure of watching Krissy Wendell play her high school hockey in Minnesota, and got to cover Jenny Potter play college hockey at Minnesota-Duluth. They were both incredible then, but the chemistry the two have created in Torino has been dizzying. No fewer than three of their connections this weekend left me with my jaw agape, as the passes were razor-sharp… bang-bang goals that any hockey fan, men’s or women’s, would marvel at.
Forward Katie King’s second-period goal against Germany was her 10th career Olympic goal, tying her with legendary Cammi Granato for the all-time US lead.
Impressive as the US women have been, they are clearly in the shadow of the Canadian team. Canada has burst out of the gates with 16-0 and 12-0 wins over Italy and Russia respectively. The 16-goal margin is the largest in Women’s Hockey history.
No team other than the US or Canada has ever won the gold in Women’s Hockey… and it appears the two are on a collision course to battle for gold once again in Torino.
Coming up
MONDAY (Day 3)-
>Featured Event: Pairs Free Skate finals
>Best of Primetime: Japan’s Joji Kato, world record holder in the 500m speedskate named Americans Joey Cheek & Jeremy Wotherspoon as threats to steal gold.
>Top US Hopes: Gretchen Bleiler in the women’s halfpipe could lead US sweep.
>What I’ll be watching: I’ll be watching easy-on-the-eyes Bleiler sailing above the women’s the halfpipe… then putting a pot of coffee on so I can see the US Men and Women open Curling competition vs. Norway at 3am. Curling rules!
TUESDAY (Day 4)-
>Featured Event: Men’s Short Program Figure Skating
>Best of Primetime: Men’s combined alpine (downhill/slalom) finals
>Top US Hopes: If Bode Miller stays on his skis through the one downhill and two slalom runs in the combined, he should be in the hunt for gold.
>What I’ll be watching: The US Women’s hockey team taking on Finland. May be the only real test in the prelims for the American women.
WEDNESDAY (Day 5)-
>Featured Event: Freestyle Skiing: Men’s Mogul Finals
>Best of Primetime: Alpine Skiing: Women’s Downhill Finals
>Top US Hopes: Men’s mogul team, including NFL-wannabe Jeremy Bloom, should sweep.
>What I’ll be watching: I’m into the 6-game TV marathon that marks the first day of men’s hockey. I’ll flip from the 12 hour run (5am-5pm) of live games on MSNBC only for the live airing of USA vs. Latvia on USA at 3pm.
Che Cosa? (According to AltaVista, that’s Italian for “What?!”)
Georg Hackl, the German luger who had made medal podiums in five straight Winter Games, concluded a legendary career finishing seventh in the men’s singles final. Italy’s Armin Zoeggler earned a second straight gold in the event racing on his home soil, repeating his gold victory at Salt Lake City.
But back to Hackl, and why he’s getting a mention here. He won silver in his Olympic debut in 1998 at Calgary, then won consecutive golds at Albertville (’92), Lillehammer (’94) and Nagano (’98). He was bumped to silver at Salt Lake City four years ago but stands as the only athlete, Summer or Winter, to win medals at five straight games.
But here are the two things that will stand out in my mind about Hackl… aside from the fact that he’s in the luge, yet I still know who he is:
I still vividly remember his quote when he won gold in 1992. It was so funny to hear him utter the words in his deep-toned German-accented voice that my college roommate at the time actually did an impression of it on our telephone answering machine’s outgoing message.
Hackl said, “It is a great night for me, it is a great night for Germany, and now I am going to party all… night… long,” with perfectly-timed delays between all… night… long. I think my roommate’s version went, “It is a great night for me, it is a great night for my roommate Chris, and now we are going to party all… night… long.” Maybe it was funnier if you actually heard it.
Well if that didn’t give you a chuckle… this will: Hackl’s nickname is the “Flying White Sausage”. Honest. I couldn’t make that up.
So congratulations on your amazing Olympic career, Mr. White Sausage… you’ll be remembered fondly… for several reasons.
CHRIS LONG is the Weekend Sports Anchor for NBC2. He invites your feedback, questions or suggestions at chrisl@water.net. He will make every effort to respond by e-mail or in future blogs to any e-mails he receives.
