2010 Vancouver Olympics Report – Part 2
The final week of the Vancouver games brought as much excitement and emotion as any Olympics, or sporting event for that matter, in recent memory. As we say goodbye to Vancouver, let’s take a look at the last week of events which gave us so many fantastic memories.
If someone asked me a few weeks ago what event I was going to be excited to discuss first, Nordic Combined probably wouldn’t have even been on my mind. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what Nordic sports were being combined until a couple of weeks ago. After not having a medal in the sport in over 80 years of its existence in the Olympics, the Americans broke out in a big way during these games. Johnny Spillane started the breakthrough with a silver in the first week’s event, where 2 other Americans finished in the top 6. This was a sign of things to come as the relay team event would get the US a silver. Then in the final event, Bill Demong won the first ever gold in Nordic Combined for the US while Spillane added another silver, giving him 3 total. In the past, the US was severely underfunded compared to elite nations in the sport and was never considered a threat. That began changing in recent years when Spillane, Demong, and company were just beginning their careers. I’m assuming that with this showing in these games, it is only likely that funding will continue increasing and the US will be a threat for years to come.
While Apolo Ohno has dominated short-track speed skating headlines here at home, and rightfully so, a young female skater from Champaign, Illinois had a historic moment herself in the 1000 meter race. Katherine Reutter won silver and became the first female short-track speed skater to medal in 16 years. Reutter met Olympic legend Bonnie Blair when she was just five years old, as Blair happens to also be from Champaign. She then became inspired to skate and is following in the 6-time medalists footsteps. Blair’s 6 medals were an American record in the winter games until Ohno came to Vancouver. He now has a record 8 total medals after the US won bronze in the relay. He still remains unsure whether or not he will compete in 2014 in Sochi, Russia to build upon that total.
The US 4 man bobsled team, led by Steve Holcomb, who looks more like an offensive tackle than a bobsledder, was coming into these Olympics already having made history. They were the first American team to win gold at the World Championships in 50 years and were favorites again in these winter games. Holcomb led four flawless runs to capture Olympic gold for the Americans for the first time in 62 years. The “Night Train,” which the four men have nicknamed their bobsled, had a four-tenths of a second lead going into the final two runs, a substantial lead in the world of bobsledding. In the end, Holcomb and company won comfortably and the other competitors were only fighting for the silver.
Other notable stories in the final week of the Olympics included Cross-Country Skiing, where the Norwegians treat their athletes like the Canadians treat their hockey players. One of the more interesting competitors was Norway’s Petter Northug, who has been known to be outspoken and always has a quote for the media. He was also the world’s number one ranked skier coming into the games. After a slow start, Northug went on to win the classic 50 kilometers (31 miles) race to give him a total of 4 medals. On the women’s side, Norway’s Marit Bjoergen went on to win 5 medals.
In one of the more strange events I have ever seen, Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer lost what seemed to be a clear gold medal when he forgot to change lanes during a lap in the race. Kramer, who already won gold earlier, was instructed by his coach to stay in the inner lane. At the last minute, although he seemed unsure about it, he listened to his coach who had been mistaken. Kramer missed out on his gold and was visibly upset with his coach, who later somewhat jokingly stated that he might not be allowed back into his native Netherlands after the Olympics. Kramer and his coach seemed to smoothed things over when Kramer had time to cool off and skated again in the team race, although they went on to lose to surprise silver medalists USA, led by veteran skater Chad Hedrick in his final Olympic skate.
After hockey, curling is probably the most popular sport on ice in Canada and the Canadian men and women both made it to the final. The women lost in a close match to defending Olympic champions Sweden to the disappointment of the crowd. The next day, the men would give the crowd something to cheer for when they defeated Norway to win the gold. Every day it seemed like there was a capacity crowd cheering on the home team in the 5000 seat arena. I have a greater appreciation for the sport after watching it day in and day out for the last two weeks, although I probably will wait until 2014 to get my curling fix again.
Although curling is important to Canada, there was no other way the games could have ended then with the Men’s Hockey gold medal game. Fittingly, it was the Americans battling the Canadians in a final which would live up to its great anticipation. The US had stunned the Canadians with a 5-3 win just a week earlier in a preliminary round match, which gave Canada a more difficult road to the final game. Canada, however, was coming off an impressive 7-3 win against powerhouse Russia and a win over Slovakia in the semifinal where they held on to a 3 goal lead to win by a single goal. The Americans were also coming in on a high after dismantling Finland where they had a 6 goal lead after the first 13 minutes of the game.
Canada was certainly the favorite, but the Americans had yet to trail in the tournament and were undefeated, largely due to the play of goaltender Ryan Miller, who would end up being the well deserved tournament MVP. The Canadians had a 2-0 lead in the second period when the US finally broke through on a goal from Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler to cut the lead to 1. The game would remain that way until late in the third period when the US pulled Miller in desperation. Their prayers would be answered when Zach Parise scored on a rebound with 24 seconds to go in the game to force overtime.
The overtime had chances early for both teams, but in the end it was the perfect storybook ending for Canada. On their home ice, probably the biggest face of current Canadian hockey and the NHL, Sidney Crosby would get the winning tally to send the fans home happy. The Americans were certainly disappointed about being so close to winning gold for the first time since the “Miracle on Ice” Olympics, but they should hold their heads high as they have nothing to be ashamed of and surpassed expectations. In what some people called, the most important hockey game in North American history, the teams certainly did not disappoint and it was the best hockey game I can remember seeing in a long time. The Americans were the youngest team in the tournament with an average age of 24 and their future certainly looks bright. It was a fitting end for these Olympics where the final gold medal was the most important for the hometown fans. This gold medal gave Canada a Winter Olympics record 14, coming after 2 previous home Olympics which totaled in zero gold medals. The game also came in with a 15.2 rating, which is the highest for a hockey game in 30 years.
There has been talk recently that the NHL may not allow players to compete in the 2014 games, which I think would be a terrible mistake. This tournament is the greatest display of hockey you can see in the world and is only an advantage for the NHL. More people have watched and discussed hockey during these Olympics than I can remember in a long time and this could be a great marketing opportunity for the league if they go about it in the right way. I know the players want to be in Sochi in 2014 and I hope the NHL listens to them.
Although the hockey final was certainly the most riveting and important event to the home fans, it was Women’s Figure Skating which brought perhaps the most memorable moment. Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette had lost her mother just two days before she was set to compete for a medal. She could have decided not to compete and nobody would have questioned her decision, but she chose to compete as she knew her mother would have wanted her to. When she took the ice in her first skate in the short program, the crowd gave her a rousing ovation. She skated remarkably well in the short program and when she finished her routine, the crowd rose up again and she was visibly and understandably overwhelmed with emotion. Any casual fan watching had to feel her emotion and at least get a little choked up.
In her long program skate, she was outstanding again and fans at home in any part of the world, as well as the hometown fans in the arena had to be happy when it turned out that she had won the bronze. South Korean superstar Kim Yu-Na would end up winning gold in a record performance, but for the casual viewer it was all about the hometown favorite. Skating with a heavy heart and with a lot of passion and emotion, Rochette’s performance had to be the most inspirational and heartwarming moment of these Olympic games.
At final count, although the home fans got to claim the most gold medals, it was the US who would come away with the most total medals. With the final silver medal in Men’s Hockey, the US won the total medal count with a Winter Olympic record of 37, beating the previous record of 36 held by the Germans. It was also the first time the Americans led the total medal count in the winter games since 1932. These games were wonderfully orchestrated by the Canadians and had some of the most memorable Olympic moments in recent memory. The next games are the 2012 Summer Olympics which are held in London, while Sochi, Russia is the next sight for the winter games in 2014. They will undoubtedly have incredible moments and stories of their own and one can only hope those games will be as outstanding and memorable as the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
Podcast Home
Podcast Directory
It’s really a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to stumble on such a nice article. I’ve read some of your posts here and they are pretty good. Hope to read more from your site.