South Korea’s Kim Yuna shrugged off the weight of expectation from her homeland to win figure skating gold on Thursday but Canada’s Joannie Rochette won most hearts by overcoming heavy personal grief to claim a bronze medal.
An extraordinary day of raw human emotion and unrelenting drama at the Vancouver Winter Olympics also saw Norwegian cross country skier Marit Bjoergen become the first triple gold medallist of the Games and Canada win the women’s ice hockey to join Germany and the United States at the top of the medal standings.
The Canadians beat the U.S. 2-0 to trigger wild celebrations at Canada Hockey Place—and add to the suffocating pressure on the men’s team to emulate their feat in the final event of the Games on Sunday.
It was the evening figure skating, however, which provided Thursday’s icing on the cake after another day of enthralling action on all competition arenas.
Yuna, 19, showed poise and grace beyond her tender years to win the women’s figure skating gold with a record total of 228.56 points, well clear of Japan’s Mao Asada, who finished second, and Rochette, who maintained her composure to win the bronze just four days after her mother suddenly died.
“I do not see myself as a hero. When I stepped on to the ice I knew I had to be as cold as possible. My legs were shaking but my mother was there with me, giving me strength,” an emotional Rochette told reporters.
“It was almost like a relief going on the ice. I needed to be in a state of mind where I was Joannie the athlete and not Joannie the person. I was shaking but I knew that I would leave everything on that ice.”

Joannie Rochette (Amy Sancetta)

ROYAL APPROVAL
Earlier, Bjoergen, 29, skied the last leg of the 4x5km relay in front of a packed grandstand where Norway’s King Harald V was watching. She grabbed a Norwegian flag and skied without using poles in the final few metres to her fourth podium finish in four events.
“This has been so great. I had a dream of winning one gold medal and now I have three so this has been a wonderful Games for me,” said Bjoergen.
With three in the top four after Wednesday’s first run, the Austrians had looked set to win their first Olympic gold in the Alpine events at Whistler mountain but again came up short.
German Viktoria Rebensburg unexpectedly won the women’s giant slalom, which was delayed 24 hours because of fog, after her parents had flown home following Wednesday’s opening leg when she was in sixth place.
Elisabeth Goergl was first after the opening leg but found a soft course on the second run and ended up with her second bronze of the Games.
The silver went to Slovenia’s Tina Maze, who finished just 0.04 seconds behind Rebensburg, a former junior world champion yet to win a World Cup race on the senior circuit.
Rebensburg weaved her way to the front with a dazzling second run to become Germany’s first women’s giant slalom champion in 54 years and second youngest Alpine gold medallist.
“It sounds so strange, it’s unbelievable,” she said. “I think it’s going to take a few days for me to realise it.”

TWO GOALS
After Finland beat Sweden 3-2 to claim the women’s ice hockey bronze medal, Canadian forward Marie-Philip Poulin scored both goals in the first period of the final against the U.S.
Canada’s men, watching from the stands, play Slovakia in Friday’s men’s semi-finals while the U.S. face off against Finland, setting up the possibility of a dream north American final on Sunday.
On the curling rink, Canada’s women continued to clean up, advancing to the final against Sweden by beating Switzerland in a tense semi.
The Canadian men also booked their place in the final with a 6-3 win over Sweden to extend their unbeaten run. They next play Norway, who have developed a cult following in Vancouver with their diamond-print pants.
Belarus collected their first Winter Olympic gold when Alexei Grishin won the men’s freestyle aerials at Cypress Mountain. Jeret Peterson of the U.S. took silver and China’s Liu Zhongqing the bronze.
American Bill Demong won gold in the Nordic combined as the U.S., Germany and Canada ended the 13th full day of competition with eight golds each and the U.S. ahead on overall medals.
Away from the ice and snow, the U.S. Olympic Committee confirmed that American bobsleigh crew member Bill Schuffenhauer had been arrested and then released to compete in Friday’s event.
Vancouver police had earlier said a U.S. Olympian had been arrested on Wednesday for assaulting his common law partner but did not name him.
A South Korean man was arrested too in Seoul for threatening to blow up the Australian Embassy after an Australian judge disqualified the South Korean women’s short track team on Wednesday.

source: sports.yahoo.com

Kim Yuna of South Korea leads after the short program of the women’s figure skating event on Tuesday at the Vancouver Olympics. Yuna, who skated to a James Bond medley, scored 78.50 points.
Mao Asada of Japan is in second place with 73.78 points after she skated to the “Waltz Masquerade” by Aram Khatchaturian.
Canada’s Joannie Rochette, whose mother passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on Sunday, received a lengthy standing ovation after she finished. She skated to “La Cumparsita” and received 71.36 points, putting her in third place.
Miki Ando of Japan skated to “Requiem” by Mozart and finished with 64.76 points, good for fourth place.
Rachael Flatt of the U.S., skating to “Sing Sing Sing,” is in fifth place with 64.64 points
Mirai Nagasu of the U.S., skating to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” soundtrack, is in sixth place with 63.76 points. Her nose started bleeding midway through her performance.
“Halfway there I felt stuff running down my nose and thinking ‘don’t think about it just keep going.’ My performance tonight wasn’t as good as nationals, I’m a little disappointed but I think the next Olympics I’ll know how to feel.”

Photo: Kim Yuna of South Korea competes during the short program Tuesday night. Credit: Richard Mackson / U.S. Presswire

source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

Kim Yu-na

For Kim, gold is the goal.
She arrived in Vancouver with the greatest expectations of any single athlete. The reigning world champion is a rock star in her native South Korea, dubbed “Queen Yu-na” and so wildly popular she can’t leave her parents’ house without bodyguards. Though South Korea has piled up plenty of medals – 10 here in Vancouver, as of Tuesday night – the country has yet to win anything in any winter sport besides speedskating and short track.
But if Kim was feeling the heat, she didn’t let it show.
“I didn’t think that this is the Olympics or I have to be perfect,” said Kim, who trains in Toronto and competed in Vancouver a year ago. “It wasn’t that special a feeling, it was the same as other competitions. So I was very comfortable, like the other competitions.”
Skating right after Asada, Kim showed no reaction when she heard her rival’s marks. When the rowdy cheers finally faded, she simply took her spot at the end of the rink, slowly unfurled one arm, cocked her index finger like a gun and turned her head to give the judges a sly, seductive smile.
“It was perfect that she skated right after Mao,” Orser said, “because she’s a competitor. She’s very fierce.”
Kim doesn’t have Asada’s triple axel – few women in the world do – but her jumps are no less impressive. She goes into them full speed and her triple lutz-triple toe combination was done with perfect timing and smoothness, like a rock skipping across the water. Her spins show so much flexibility they’d make Gumby green with envy.
But what makes her so captivating is her presentation. Anyone who complains that figure skating has lost its sizzle hasn’t seen Kim skate. She played the Bond Girl to the hilt, rubbing her hand up one thigh while she was in front of the judges, fixing them with a flirtatious look.
When she saw her marks – 2.22 points better than her previous record – she gave an easy smile as if she expected it all along.
“It was a really good vehicle for her, because she likes to skate a character piece, especially for the short program because it can be such a nerve-racking experience,” Orser said. “She likes to show off. She certainly did, she was beautiful.”
Asada’s program was in sharp contrast to Kim’s, playful and light. The highlight was, of course, that triple axel, which she did in combination with a double toe. The jump is so difficult few women even try it, yet Asada rips it off like it’s a single. She’s not just a jumping bean, though.
She was so in tune with her “Masquerade Waltz” that, during her footwork sequence, she did a little hop and an illusion – swooping her head and torso down while her leg is kicking up – just as the music lifted. She beamed during her spiral sequence, which seemed to go on forever.
Asada clasped her hands together and hopped up and down when she finished, giving the cheering crowd a slight bow as she left the ice. She looked stunned when her marks were announced, turning to coach Tatiana Tarasova as if to say, “Is that good?”
“I was nervous at the beginning but then I realized I’m here at the Olympics and I’m skating,” Asada said. “That made me very happy and confident.”

source: sports.yahoo.com

source: sports.yahoo.com

Kim is from South Korea.

So not only do you have two Asian nations with a legion of pony-tailed pipsqueaks rushing to the nearest rink, but you also have two Asian nations that don’t exactly care for one another and consider no greater ignominy than to lose to the other in anything. You have plenty of little girls dreaming of becoming an ice queen, and plenty of money and motivation to cultivate them.
Entering the 2006 Games, Asian women had won two figure skating medals — a silver by Japan’s Midori Ito in 1992 and a bronze by China’s Chen Lu in 1994. Now Asian women are forecast to sweep the podium this week and claim gold for the second straight Games while a U.S. team led by Del Mar’s Rachael Flatt is not expected to win a ladies single medal for the first time since 1964.
“The conclusion is that I was right,” said Ottavio Cinquanta, the Italian president of the International Skating Union who a decade ago pushed to promote Asian skating by sending more high-level events there. “Countries have understood skating is a sport for Asian athletes, better than basketball or soccer.”
It makes sense for all disciplines of figure skating — the bronze here by Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi was the first Asian to medal in men’s singles, and China went 1-2-5 in pairs — but especially with the women, the sport’s marquee event.
You have a massive female population with small physiques, low-fat diets, an increased emphasis on jumps since the elimination of school figures in 1990, and little dilution of the talent pool by other women’s sports. And perhaps something else.
“I think the Asian population — including Japanese, Chinese, Koreans — has respect for the aged, respect for the elderly,” Japanese national coach Nobuhiko Yoshioka said yesterday. “They will practice and do whatever their teacher or coach tells them to do. Perhaps that’s what has enabled these young athletes to diligently and seriously embody what they are told to do.”
“This is the type of sport that in the past the Anglo-Saxons, the Caucasians, were very adept at. Now the Asian population is very adept at it.”
Russia’s Nikolai Morozov concurs. He coaches Japan’s Miki Ando, the 2007 world champion who was the first woman to land a quadruple jump in competition.
“Japanese skaters have a very good body structure for skating,” Morozov told Japanese media last month. “They have a little bit lower center of gravity. So it’s much easier for them to jump.

Miki Ando

“And Japanese have great discipline, so when you tell them what to do, they just listen and do it. Americans (who are) 15, 16 years old won’t do this. They want to go out. They want to go to the movies.”
Of the last nine women’s medals at the annual World Championship, Asian women won seven. Kim’s toughest (and maybe only) competition here is thought to be Ando or Mao Asada, the 2008 world champion who plans to do the elusive triple axel in both her short (Tuesday) and free (Thursday) programs. Akiko Suzuki, the third member of Japan’s team, finished third at the Grand Prix final and is considered a medal contender as well.
The real impact, however, might not be felt for another decade, when all those girls idolizing Kim and Asada and Ando fill all the rinks being built.
Kim is considered South Korea’s most famous athlete, with an annual $8 million endorsement empire that includes Nike, Hyundai, a bank, electronics firms, a jewelry line, even a bakery. Samsung launched a special “Yu-na” touch-screen mobile phone last spring and sold a reported 500,000 in the first 80 days. A major department store chain orders branches to play her short and free program music at least 20 times a day to put shoppers in a good mood.
Asada was considered the queen of figure skating four years ago but missed the Olympic age cutoff by three months. Now that she’s here, a South Korean is favored to win the gold.
Kim, Asada recently said, “has been a good source of inspiration for me.”

source: www.signonsandiego.com

Torah Bright

Highly fancied US snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, silver medallist in Turin, only managed 14.7 after falling both times.
The United States has taken every Olympic gold in men’s and women’s halfpipe since the Nagano Games in 1998.
US star Shaun White took gold in the men’s competition Wednesday.

source:www.vancouver2010.com

Germany currently leads the medals table at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, with three golds, four silvers, and two bronzes, after a string of successes in Tuesday’s competition.
First, Magdalena Neuner added a second gold to Germany’s medal count, winning the women’s biathlon 10-kilometer pursuit at Whistler Olympic Park in British Columbia.
The 23-year-old Neuner completed the course in 30 minutes 16 seconds, 12.3 seconds ahead of Slovakia’s Anastazia Kuzmina, to claim her first Olympic gold medal. Marie Laure Brunet of France took the bronze.
Neuner won silver in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint on Saturday, then coming in behind Kuzmina. That silver was Germany’s first medal of the Games.
Neuner, a six-time world champion, is a native of Wallgau near Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, the site of the 1936 Winter Olympics.

Magdalena Neuner

More gold, and a silver lining on the ice
In the luge, German favorite Tatjana Huefner claimed gold in the women’s singles. Another German hopeful Natalie Geisenberger grabbed bronze, and Austrian Natalie Reithmayer came in second, almost half a second adrift of Huefner.
Reithmayer becomes the first non-German woman of this century to win an Olympic medal in the luge singles event, after German racers locked out the podiums at both Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin four years ago.
On Sunday, 20-year-old German Felix Loch won the men’s singles, so Germany – usually dominant in this discipline – will shoot for a luge “grand slam” in the doubles later this week.
But heavily fancied German speedskater Jenny Wolf just missed out on gold in the women’s 500 meter event. South Korea’s Lee Sang-Hwa won the first race starting on the outside lane and managed to maintain her aggregate advantage when the skaters switched sides, despite world record holder Wolf setting the fastest single time of the competition: 37.84 seconds.
Lee’s combined time over the two races was 76.09 seconds, just five hundredths of a second quicker than Jenny Wolf.
The second quickest pair racing head-to-head in the final, China’s Wang Beixing and Margot Boer of the Netherlands, secured third and fourth places, respectively.

source: www.dw-world.de

Sunday’s downhill training session was canceled, which means Vonn has received a generous five-day reprieve since voicing her concerns about competing with a shin injury she sustained more than a week before the Games were slated to begin. The five additional days will give Vonn almost two full weeks to rest her shin.
“For her, it’s definitely not a bad situation to get those training runs [canceled],” said coach Alex Hoedlmoser. “It gives her more rest to heal. She’s good – she’s ready to go. Even if the training runs wouldn’t have been canceled, she would have been fine. But it has been good to give that shin more rest. Maybe it won’t bother her so much anymore.”
Had it not been for the delays due to Whistler’s soggy weather, Vonn’s first race would have taken place Sunday. Now, she won’t have her first medal test until Wednesday, when – weather permitting – she’ll compete in the women’s downhill. That also happens to be the race that will put the least amount of pressure on Vonn’s shin.

Lindsey Vonn

Other than skiing during course inspection, Vonn hasn’t taken part in any aggressive runs since arriving in Vancouver. She also skipped walking in the Opening Ceremony, instead watching from her Whistler lodging and noting on her Facebook page, “I wish I could be there with all my teammates!” On Saturday, she posted on Facebook that she once again spent the day off skis, getting in a workout and therapy.

“My shin is feeling better and better each day,” she wrote. “I am excited to get a chance to test it out tomorrow.”

Hoedlmoser said coverage of Vonn’s health has been overblown by the media, ignoring the fact that it was the athlete herself who sparked doubt about her status when arriving in Vancouver on Tuesday.

“Everybody jumped on the shin [injury], but the fact is, it’s not like it’s a season-ending injury,” he said. “It’s something that hurts and bothers somebody. It’s not nice to have, but it’s not like it’s an ACL injury where you’re done. It’s something that’s painful, but I think there was a lot of press involved in the whole thing and everybody blew it up a little more.”

With Vonn’s status improving, much of the Alpine focus shifted to the weather in Whistler, with postponements raising the specter of how long events can be delayed before the schedule pushes beyond the Closing Ceremony. But race officials said Saturday they anticipated these early delays and are confident they will be able to complete their full slate of competition by the end of the month.

“I think we can all see that it can be extremely difficult here,” said Peter Bosinger, who oversees Alpine skiing at the Vancouver Games. “But we also know that there’s every possibility to stay positive to get what we need done to accomplish ski racing here.”

source: sports.yahoo.com/olympics