Olympic Opines

Ski Jumping - Team Event:

• Not much different from the individual events. They just add all the scores together.
• Americans did not make it into the finals.
• Tried to figure out why there are little plants all over the place peeking out of the snow. Maybe it is to measure distance but it's kind of odd.
• It's nice to see countries do well that you normally don't hear about at the Summer Olympics. Such as Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Freestyle Skiing - Men's Aerials Qualifications:

• This is like ski jumping meets diving. Crazy acrobatics! Like go up a ski jump to launch yourself high enough to do 2-3 flips with 2-3 twists then landing upright.
• A couple of Americans made it into the finals.

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Free Dance:

• Wow, the teams were on top of their game! Lots of best scores for the season and jobs well done. I enjoyed this final dance a lot.
• The top four teams were from three different countries but all train together in the USA. Well kind of, the Canadian team trains with one American team and the Russian team trains with the other American team. So odd how sports work these days with where they train, live and who they compete for.
• The Canadians so badly wanted to win a gold at a home Olympics, well, they have 5 now! And that's half of their total medals so far.
• The standings did not change from the previous round of dances so the gold went to Canada, silver to the US National Champions, and bronze to Russia. The other American teams remained in 4th and 11th.
• This is sort of related but the 2011 US Figure Skating National Championships will be in Greensboro, NC. I want to go to at least a couple events since I did not go when I was a poor college student living in Atlanta a few years back.

Alpine Skiing - Men's Giant Slalom:

• No American medals this time but still fun to watch. Bode got off course so DNF'd. I think the physical intensity from competing in a number of events already finally caught up with him.

Nordic Combined - Men's 4x5km Team:

• A sport that I know the U.S. won it's first ever medal in a week ago in the individual version but that is about it.
• Apparently, this is the first time the U.S. has had a competitive team and was actually in contention for the gold but ultimately finished with a silver!
• I'm surprised but the cross country skiing portion is kinda fun to watch! It's kinda like cross country running but on skies in snow. Beautiful scenery!

Bobsledding - Women's Two Man (Heats 1 & 2 of 4):

• Once again the Germans were being touted as the country most likely to dominate. Also, competitive teams from Canada and the U.S.
• One U.S. team won the silver medal in the 2006 Olympics and is hoping to improve to gold. However, it's the U.S. team #2 that is in silver medal position after two heats while the prior silver medalist is several positions back.

Long Track Speed Skating - Men's 10,000m:

• The longest distance for long track and the speed skating loving country of the Netherlands was hoping for a repeat gold. However, something unusual happened. The lead skater headed for his repeat gold was well ahead of everyone when his coach told him to go the wrong direction! Since two skaters are on the track at a time they alternate between the inner and outer lanes. The skater was going the right direction when his coach pointed to him to get in the other lane which he does at the last second then gets DSQ'd! He was very frustrated and rightly so!

Freestyle Skiing - Women's Ski Cross:

• This was the last race of the cross events and Canada gets yet ANOTHER gold! They now have more golds than their other medals combined.
• No Americans made it to the final races.
• I'm glad these events were added to the Olympics because they're fun to watch.

Figure Skating - Women's Short Program:

• THE event of the Winter Olympics. I had mixed feelings coming into this event which has always been my favorite. Not really sure why but maybe because the Americans do not have much hope for a medal and I'm not that familiar with the top skaters.
• Really enjoyed that the majority of the skaters had clean programs and turned in personal bests.
• Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. was the first of the likely top skaters to go. Her score put her into first place and would actually hold for quite a while ultimately landing her in a very respectable 6th place going into the long program. Her spins caused enough force to make her finish with a nosebleed!
• The other American and current U.S. champion Rachael Flatt finished in 5th. So impressed that even though the U.S. only qualified two skaters instead of the usual three, they still finish both skaters in the top 6 after the short program.
• Joannie Rochette of Canada made me cry! Her mother unexpectedly passed away just two days prior to this event. She skated with so much heart and emotion. I'm not sure she was focusing too much on turning in a competitive performance so it was so so neat to see the Canadians support for her and for her to perform so well. She is definitely a skater that would have been competing for a medal before this sad circumstance so it was great to see her still do her best!
• The Japanese probably have the strongest team of skaters in the world and finished 2nd, 4th, and 11th. Including one woman who is the only female competing a triple axel AND does it in combination with another jump!
• South Korean Kim Yu-Na is the closest to a figure skating prodigy I've ever seen. Great talent! She's a huge celebrity in her country, so much so, that she now trains in Canada to get away from the media and pressure. If she does as well in the long program as she did in the short, she definitely deserves to win the gold.