2006 Winter Olympics

[DudeAsInCool]

Turin Gets Ready to Welcome the World

Italian gymnast Jury Chechi, playing a metropolitan shaman, hits the golden anvil to launch the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin.

TURIN, Italy (AP) -- The thick layer of smog that envelops this gray industrial city lifted Friday, giving residents a rare peek of the Alps that will be the focus of the Olympics for the next two weeks.

But while the temporarily clear sky provided an optimistic note in the hours leading up to the opening ceremony (scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. EST), the first day of the Turin Olympics was clouded by the first suspensions of the games.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-...artner=homepage

[method77]

something to finally see on tv

[DudeAsInCool]

:scratchin:

[method77]

first day of watching the Olympics today. Nice

[DudeAsInCool]

Here's a review from yesterday:

http://www.slate.com/id/2136002/entry/2136223/

[DudeAsInCool]

Article on the return of the dreadful berets

http://www.slate.com/id/2135972/

[DudeAsInCool]

Americans eliminated in quarter finals of speed skating

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino200...ov=ap&type=lgns

[method77]

I was watching hockey today which I like. They never show that here on free tv. You have to pay for cable to watch sports like that

[DudeAsInCool]

Slate on How to Watch the Winter Olympic Games

http://www.slate.com/id/2136002/entry/2136169/?nav=tap3

[method77]

"Did you catch any of the women's biathlon? Those targets they shoot at are so small and uninteresting. It would be a much more entertaining sport if they were shooting at 78-year-old attorneys."

[The Hunter]

Ouch, although by the explanation I read at the Globe and Mail, the chap that was shot broke with the proper prcedure for hunting, and while going to retrieve a bird, crossed into his friends designated shooting area. Biathlon while being a tough event, is surely not a spectator sport, as only target shooters would enjoy it. Im really waiting for the hockey to heat up with some more even matches.

[DudeAsInCool]

American Wins First Olympic Snowboardcross

Published: February 16, 2006

BARDONECCHIA, Italy (AP) -- American Seth Wescott used a sweet little slide move to nudge into first place and become the first Olympic champion in the wild sport of snowboardcross Thursday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/16/sports/o...-snowboard.html

[DudeAsInCool]

Maverick Miller unfazed by medals

Fame is almost a poison - I couldn't care less

American skiing star Bode Miller says he is not particularly interested in winning Olympic medals and would be happy to walk away from the sport. Miller, the overall World Cup champion, won two Olympic silver medals in 2002.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_spor...rts/4720784.stm

[DudeAsInCool]

Google Your Country's Medal Count

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/google/...ount-155285.php

[DudeAsInCool]

Plushenko crowned Olympic champion

Russia's Yevgeny Plushenko was crowned Olympic champion when he crushed his opponents to claim gold in the men's figure skating competition.

The 23-year-old led all the way to take the only title missing from his collection ahead of world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland with Jeffrey Buttle of Canada snatching bronze after the free skate final.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/16/0...5.dboor938.html

[method77]

probably the best skater ever. Always a pleasure watching him

[DudeAsInCool]

Troubled U.S. Skeleton Team Comes Up Empty

Canada's Duff Gibson won the gold medal today in the men's skeleton event.

CESANA, Italy (AP) -- Canada owns the ice in more than hockey. Its skeleton team can bang the boards, too. That wasn't the case for Team Turmoil, aka the embattled U.S. squad. The Americans were bad to the bone.

Duff Gibson, a firefighter from a family of Olympians, blazed to a gold medal and teammate Jeff Pain slid to silver as the Canadians staked claim to world skeletal supremacy Friday, four years before they host the games in Vancouver.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-...artner=homepage

[DudeAsInCool]

I Messed Up': Board Grab Costs Jacobellis

BARDONECCHIA, Italy (AP) -- Alone in the clear, Lindsey Jacobellis could have practically crawled to the finish line and won. After an Olympic-sized flub, she probably wishes she had.

Coasting to what should have been a runaway victory Friday, the 20-year-old American grabbed her board on the second-to-last jump before the finish line. Inexplicably - and some say inexcusably - she fell.

"I was caught up in the moment," Jacobellis said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLY...-02-17-20-28-45

[method77]

Medals so far. Gold, Silver, Bronse and Total

Norway 1 6 6 13

Germany 5 4 2 11

Russia 5 2 4 11

Canada 2 4 5 11

United States 6 3 1 10

Austria 3 2 1 6

Switzerland 2 2 2 6

China 1 2 3 6

Italy 2 0 3 5

Finland 0 2 3 5

Sweden 2 1 1 4

France 2 0 2 4

Netherlands 1 2 1 4

Estonia 3 0 0 3

South Korea 1 1 1 3

Czech Republic 0 2 0 2

Australia 1 0 0 1

Bulgaria 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 1 0 1

Great Britain 0 1 0 1

Slovakia 0 1 0 1

Latvia 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[DudeAsInCool]

Davis’s Focus on His Event Is Paid Back in Gold

TURIN, Italy, Feb. 18 — – The first episode of speed skating’s soap opera ended Saturday with the American Shani Davis of the United States skating around Oval Lingotto wearing a big smile, with a largely Dutch crowd standing and applauding a spectacular gold-medal-winning performance in the 1,000 meters Saturday.

The 23-year-old Davis became the first African-American black to win an individual gold medal in a winter Olympics, an accomplishment he did not seem to grasp in the minutes after the race.

http://nytimes.com/2006/02/18/sports/olymp...artner=homepage

[DudeAsInCool]

Scalpers Squeezed - Seats Go Unfilled

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/sports/o...r=1&oref=slogin

[DudeAsInCool]

Russians Leading Ice Dance; U.S. Pair 2nd

TURIN, Italy (AP) -- Fiesta time on ice turned into an Olympic fallfest.

With three of the final five couples taking spills, including local favorites Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy, two-time world champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia surged into the lead in ice dancing Sunday night.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-OLY-...artner=homepage

[Shawn]

That was the same outfit my grad date wore.

[DudeAsInCool]

Updated Medal Count

[Shawn]

Interesting take. I know in Canada and Norway the emphasis is on total medals won, not golds. :P