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

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

Heptathlete Jessica Ennis, triple jumper Phillips Idowu and Paralympian David Weir also make the list of 67 on the programme for the 2009/2010 season.
Meadows, 28, moves up from Development status with her award increased from around £8,000 to a maximum of £26,142.
There are no places for sprinters Mark Lewis-Francis and Christian Malcolm.
Coming on the back of UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos setting a target of 10 medals for GB to win at London 2012, the national governing body revealed the latest winners of their investment plans.
The programme, which runs annually from December to November, is split into two levels of funding – Podium and Development – each with strict criteria and standards which must be met in selection and maintained with the support of UKA staff.
Since a disappointing haul of four medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Britain’s athletes overall have performed impressively over the last 12 months with six medals at the Worlds in Berlin this summer.

Jenny Meadows

The Podium level of funding is split into three categories, including those who have medalled or had a top-eight finish at Olympic or World Championship level or are likely to be major championship performers, and also covers Podium relay teams.
World heptathlon champion Ennis and World triple jump gold medallist Idowu are at the top level, along with Meadows, 1500m silver winner Lisa Dobriskey and the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.

Wheelchair racer David Weir, winner of five medals at the 2008 Paralympics and is currently ranked number one in the world, also makes the list of top recipients.

It is fine reward for Meadows, who, two weeks after winning her 800m bronze at the Worlds in August, revealed how she and her husband coach Trevor Painter had struggled for two years on a single wage.
The Wigan runner added last month: “Lottery funding would allow me to stop the stress of how we are going to afford this and it will allow me to go away for a little bit longer to train. I am always having to hurry up because Trevor has a full-time job.”
With only 33 athletes receiving funding from the lottery programme last year, UKA head coach Charles van Commenee said the “dramatic” rise in podium athletes was “a direct result of their performances over the last 18 months, which clearly demonstrates increased levels of world class performance”.
Andy Turner, 110m hurdler, returns to the top level of funding, while sprint hurdler William Sharman (fourth in Berlin) and Swansea’s David Greene (400m hurdles World finalist) were promoted.
Turner, who won Commonwealth and European bronze medals in the 110m hurdles in 2006, was removed from the funding list a year ago and said at the time he had been harshly treated and challenged the decision.
However, the delighted 29-year-old said after the latest announcement: “Last year was a difficult time for me, but it was the wake-up call I needed.
“I definitely over-competed last year and that experience and the impact it had injury-wise made me realise just what a blessing lottery funding is by allowing us to peak for the big events and perform where it counts.
“I am looking forward to embarking on a winter of tough training and repaying the faith shown in my ability in 2010.”

Other athletes were not so fortunate.
The 27-year-old Lewis-Francis, part of GB’s gold-medal winning 4x100m relay team in Athens in 2004, is missing from the list, as is Welsh sprinter Malcolm, fifth in the Olympic 200m final in 2000 and 2008.
There are 65 athletes on the Development level list, which includes promising middle distance running talents James Brewer, Hannah England and Stephanie Twell.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/8328123.stm