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.
DAY 3/4/5
The Games are now at full-tilt in Torino, Cesana and Sestriere (yes, they are taking place in more locations than just Torino)… and your sleep-deprived blogger has been doing his best to keep on top of everything Olympic.
So in case you missed anything…
American Struggles Continue
Week 1 of the Torino Games has not been kind to the Americans. Earlier struggles by Anton Apolo Ohno, Hannah Kearney and Bode Miller have now been matched by Jeremy Bloom, the doubles luge team and even Miller yet again.
Don’t be fooled by the medal count, we’ve won a few ‘good’ events… but most of our hardware has come in events that are as American made as the US athletes themselves. More on that later on.
Bloom and Miller, whose biggest fans are apparently Bloom and Miller, were supposed to be the ‘studs’ of the Games. Bode would be out drinking and partying with the elite while Bloom was prepping for either another Maxim photo shoot or his upcoming stint at the NFL Draft Combine. By the way, how many NFL teams do you know of who are in the market for a 5’8” defensive back?
I can’t really fault Bloom as much if his weak effort was due to a lack of focus. He does have a slim chance of hooking an NFL contract as a kick returner. So if he ended up spending more time angling for the hundreds-of-thousands of dollars he stands to gain from that instead of practicing as hard as he could to win another gold medal (he already has one from Salt Lake)… I can forgive him at least a little bit.
Miller, as I mentioned in the earlier blog, is poised to be the goat of the Games. He’s already oh-fer in his early events… and the continued reports of sleeping in past equipment check-ins and cavorting in the German Haus hospitality center at night aren’t going to help.
Aside from those two, most of the American struggles have just come from bad luck.
Lindsey Kildow, the American downhiller we all saw ragdolling through the air actually made a valiant return to the finals two days after her nasty fall. The fall likely cost her any realistic shot at a medal, but it was amazing she made it back into the start gate at all.
Same for the men’s luge doubles team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin. They’d medaled in the last two Games, and were given a good shot to medal again. But the luge track at Cesana has been ugly, claiming plenty of victims all week long.
With more favorites still to come, there are still plenty of chances for the US athletes to shine. Then again, they could continue to fall apart… but I’ll stay optimistic.
Miller’s Demise = Ligety’s Big Break
As Bode Miller’s left ski clipped a pole in the slalom, it killed the loudmouth favorite’s chances, but it blew the door of opportunity off its hinges for unheralded Ted Ligety.
Ligety was three seconds behind after the downhill portion of the Alpine Combined. That’s an eternity in skiing. Making up three seconds in the two slalom runs couldn’t possibly have been in Ligety’s mind as he rode the chairlift back to the start gate. He had to be figuring, “Well, I’m a slalom specialist, so I’ll do ok… but I’ll just go after it and if I get lucky… maybe I can snag a bronze or something.”
Ligety’s two runs were so good, few in the crowd or announcing the event really noticed his time was holding up. It was almost as if they were still resigned to Ligety landing a silver or bronze until the very moment that final skier and event favorite Benjamin Raich missed a gate and pulled off the course.
Ligety’s US teammates dogpiling him in the finish area is already one of the signature moments of the Games.
He seems like a good guy, too… so big ups to Ted.
Men’s Hockey is Underway… someone tell the American team
The US hockey team didn’t exactly burst out of the gate, either.
Facing should-be walkover Latvia in their Olympic opener, the US looked fine early on marching out to a fairly easy 2-0 lead. But the Latvians, having just two players with NHL experience, rallied to score the next three goals outskating, outhustling and capitalizing on the Americans’ carelessness.
Only a third period fluke goal by Jordan Leopold salvaged the tie for the United States. Tampa Bay Lightning goalie John Grahame looked very shaky in his Olympic debut, leaving some questioning if Rick DiPietro might get the start in Game Two.
The US did right the ship in their second game, getting ahead of Kazakhstan 3-0 in the first period, and keeping them at arm’s length the rest of the 4-1 win.
The early story in men’s hockey has been the play of the underdogs. Germany and Italy, not regarded as any threat at all this Olympic tournament, have played over their heads. Meanwhile the Swiss hung in close in their opener, then rode red-hot goalie David Aebisher to an upset of gold-medal co-favorite Slovakia in their second game.
Curling rules!
If you’re not on the curling bandwagon… hop on!
Curling is one of the, if not the only, Olympic sport that you and I can sit back and say, “Hey, I can do that.” It’s not especially athletic, and the strategies that unfold during the course of a match are fascinating.
I’ve curled before, and I assure you it’s not anywhere as easy as these guys make it look at the Olympic level. Think of downhill skiing. You can ski, I can ski… but we’re nowhere close to where the Olympic guys are. While the curlers aren’t in danger of crashing through fences or launching 30 feet into the air… they still possess a skill level way ahead of us common folk.
If you don’t watch Curling because you don’t understand it… it’s very easy to get. It basically follows the same scoring method as horseshoes or bocce. Each team throws eight rocks, and you get points for how many of your stones are closest to the center of the target without any opponents’ rocks being closer. There are obviously other rules, nuances and strategies in play, but that’s basically all there is to it.
And if you’re wondering… the guys who are furiously sweeping their brooms in front of the sliding rocks are doing so to affect the way the rock travels. The friction of the sweeping slightly melts the ice in front of the stone, which makes it slide a little faster and curl a little less. When they don’t sweep, the rock will slow and take slightly more hold on the ice. That allows the slight turn put on the rocks to cause it to “curl”… hence the name of the sport.
All of the US men’s and women’s curling matches are televised live, so you may need to stay up later or get up early to watch one… but I definitely recommend giving it a look.
One last tip… treat it like an NBA game or a NASCAR race… the early part of the match isn’t too important, or exciting. The real action happens in the second half of the match when every point becomes critical.
Try an online Curling game by clicking: Basic game… slightly more advanced (look for the game link on the left… “Championship Curling Game”)
Another tale of Olympic Bravery
In an earlier blog, I referred to some great feats of courage in Olympics past that have molded me into the Games fanatic that I am.
The Torino games have already given us a similar moment.
It was the final night of the Pairs Figure Skating competition. The heavily favored Russian pair of Tatyana Totmiyanina and Maxim Marinin held the lead with one last pair to skate.
Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao from China took the ice to begin their program looking to be the first non-Russians to win the Olympic gold since 1964. Their first element was a quadruple salchow… which may not mean much to the figure skating illiterate. The best I can offer is that it has never been landed in a competition… it’s that hard.
Zhang and Zhang tried to pull of the amazing aerial feat, only to have Zhang Dan come crashing to the ice, landing in an awkward split, injuring her leg.
The pair stopped their routine, and Dan was helped off the ice by Hao… with their Olympic dreams apparently smashed.
After a lengthy consultation with officials and training staff, the pair was allowed to re-take the ice and begin their program again.
The pain on Dan’s face was obvious. Yet somehow she found the strength and will to fight through the pain and complete the routine. Dan and Hao finished the routine, too gingerly to surge into winning gold, but strongly enough to take the silver.
After the routine, Dan was barely able to put weight on her injured leg as she graciously acknowledged the thunderous ovation by skating a cautious lap around the ice. Her knee was heavily taped as she took the medal stand to receive her silver medal.
Regardless of any amazing tricks, triumphant rallies hereafter… this should go down as the most impressive effort of the Torino Games.
The Phenom vs The Freak
The much-hyped men’s figure skating showdown between 3-time world champion Yevgeny Plushenko and up-and-coming eccentric American fashionista/skater Johnny Weir never materialized.
After Plushenko hung massive scores in the short program, any would-be Cinderella would have to make up a lot of ground with a perfectly executed highly technical program.
The critics are already blasting Weir for being far too cautious, performing only one combination trick. Even if Weir had been flawless in his program, he still likely wouldn’t have had enough points to pass Plushenko. Weir’s score landed him in fifth place, and he stormed out of the sitting area when the judges’ marks were revealed.
Weir faulted a change in the Olympic Village bus schedule for throwing his pre-skate routine off. He claims the buses had been running every ten minutes, but switched to every half-hour, causing him to arrive at the venue late.
“I was late getting here and never caught up. I never felt comfortable in this building. I didn't feel my inner peace, I didn't feel my aura. Inside I was black,” said the always quotable Weir.
Weir landed with both feet on one jump, had another poorly executed turn, and landed wobbly on a third. The poor execution only multiplied the negative effect of his simplistic program.
Many other contenders also wobbled or fell, handing the gold to Plushenko.
Plushenko completes one of the most dominant performances in Olympic skating history… earning Torino gold to go with his Salt Lake silver. Russia has claimed five straight golds in Olympic figure skating events.
Who’s this Emily Hughes girl I keep hearing about?
Hey, have you heard that Sarah Hughes’ sister Emily is going to take Michelle Kwan’s place?
Just a little joke there. If you’re reading this blog… you’re probably as tired as I am of hearing the story.
The younger Hughes has finally arrived in Torino after squeezing in some last-minute practice sessions at her home Long Island, NY. There is an urban legend going on that says her frantic effort to get to Torino as quickly as possible following Kwan’s announcement was delayed by the ‘Nor’easter’ storm that hit New England. I’m hearing this isn’t true, that Hughes would have remained in New York for her training sessions just as long even if the weather had been perfect. Her coaches and family wanted to keep her away from the media circus over in Italy as long as possible. She flew over at a time that allows sufficient time to settle-in, but late enough that the media crush won’t be as bad as it would have been had she arrived for the Opening Ceremonies.
But she’s in Torino now, so the world can go back to its normal rotation.
US Wins Gold*** (***in a lot of events that we invented ourselves)
Two decades ago, European’s skittering around Alps resorts would sooner be caught driving a Chevy than sliding down the slopes on a snowboard. (Note: There’s a reason “downhill skiing” is also known as “Alpine” skiing… see that word “Alp” in there? That’s the name of those big mountains they’re hurtling down this week.)
Slowly, the sport spread from Jake Burton’s garage in Vermont and made its way across the United States. That took about a decade. It’s just now starting to gain widespread fervor overseas. This basically means the US has a ten-year head start on the rest of the world in establishing snowboard supremacy. It’s no shock that most of the US’ medals have come on the single-plank snowboard rather than the classic two-plank skis Austrians, Italians and Swiss children are practically born wearing.
The US is now 3-for-3 in golds over the course of the snowboard events that have been completed. Seth Wescott’s gold in the men’s boardcross gave the US the hat trick.
Does that temper the emotion and esteem of seeing punkers like Shaun White’s eyes fill with tears on the medal stand? Certainly not. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
I’ll venture to say the US won’t see serious competition in snowboard events until the 2014 Games… just a guess.
First Doper Ejected
There was one significant news item to develop, and it had to happen sooner or later… just one of the sad facts of contemporary Olympic Games.
The first athlete was kicked out of the Games on Thursday and stripped of a medal after failing a post-competition drug test.
Russia’s Olga Pyleva was thrown out of Torino and her 15km biathlon silver medal taken back after a positive test flagged the banned stimulant carphedon in her urine.
Pyleva was set to start the 7.5km sprint Thursday, but was taken off the start list when the test failure was made official.
Russian officials are blaming a medication used to treat an ankle injury that Pyleva suffered earlier this winter. A physician said the medication did not reveal it contained the banned stimulant.
NBC-2 Sports Blog Viewing Guide
All the Olympic TV schedules can be found HERE
THURSDAY (Day 6)- >Featured Event: Figure Skating: Men’s Free Skate Final
>Best of Primetime: Men’s Snowboard cross gold medal final
>Top US Hopes: An American will definitely win the boardcross event.
>What I’ll be watching: USA Men’s Curling (9am) and Hockey (3pm) on USA.
FRIDAY (Day 7)- >Featured Event: Figure Skating: Ice Dancing Finals
>Best of Primetime: Men’s Skeleton Final… it’s luge, but face-first.
>Top US Hopes: Another snowboard event should equal another US gold
>What I’ll be watching: 4am on USA/3pm on MSNBC… Women’s Hockey semifinalsSATURDAY (Day 8)- >Featured Event: Alpine Skiing: Men’s Super-G Final
>Best of Primetime: Men’s 1000m Speedskate (Chad Hedrick)
>Top US Hopes: Bode Miller is due to medal, should do well in Super-G
>What I’ll be watching: More curling / hockey, but also love the 2-man bobsled (primetime on NBC)
Che Cosa? (According to AltaVista, that’s Italian for “What?!”)
We received a phone call on this today… so I thought everyone might be interested (we found it by doing a Google search):
Neve and Gliz are the two official Torino 2006 mascots. Their role is to present the XX Olympic Winter Games, conveying the universal Olympic values and the spirit of Italy.They are born from a snowball and an ice cube. She has rounded forms, inspired by the snow and dressed in red; he wears blue, with squarer lines which are more typical of ice.The two mascots convey the Olympic values of participation, respect, friendship and loyalty. But at the same time, their spirit and personality reflect the spirit and unique nature of the Italian Olympic Games: passion, enthusiasm, culture, good taste, the environment and sport. And passion, another of the key values of the Torino 2006 Olympics, is conveyed by everything that Neve and Gliz think, feel and do.The style invented by Pedro Albuquerque for the two mascots - like Neve's fluid, rounded shape, inspired by the snow - is an expression of elegance that reflects the imaginative, sensual element of Italian design, art and entertainment. The angular, smooth shapes of Gliz, inspired by ice, are an expression of strength and they provide a surprising, sharp contrast with Neve's lines, complementing them perfectly.
So there you go.
Feel free to e-mail any questions or comments to chrisl@water.net. He’ll make every effort to respond to your inquiries, and possibly include them in later blog entries. Please check back every few days as the Games unfold… and then after the Games when this blog will turn to the more ‘routine’ items in the world of sports.
