VANCOUVER, British Columbia–What a bonanza. The U.S. Nordic combined team—which had never medaled in 86 years of Olympic competition—now has four medals in the three Olympic events.
“It definitely has not sunk in,” Demong said. “But every hour or so I get two seconds of a glimpse at that reality and it gives me chills.” Read the rest of this entry →
The young men of U.S. Ski Jumping, who I chronicled in a feature last week, didn’t win any medals at the Vancouver games, nor were they expected to. But they won something just as important: a bet with the Canadian team.
The wager? The losers of the ski jumping team competition had to chug a bottle of maple syrup. The U.S. finished 11th with 340 points. Canada finished last in 12th place with 294.6 points. Who knew Stephen Colbert would be so right when he jokingly called Canadians “syrup-suckers.”
“It’s just fun,” said Peter Frenette, the youngest male on the entire U.S. Olympic team; he celebrates his 18th birthday today. “Team events are always fun.” Read the rest of this entry →
U.S. Nordic Combined makes Olympic history again, winning a silver medal in the team competition.
Coming into the Vancouver games, the U.S. had never won an Olympic Nordic combined medal in 86 years of competition. But now, they’ve got two: first Johnny Spillane took silver in the Individual Normal Hill/10km Cross-Country pursuit. And now, Spillane along with Brett Camerota, Todd Lodwick and Billy Demong won silver in the Team/4×5 km relay at Whistler Olympic Park. Austria won gold; Germany took bronze.
“We’ve been dreaming about this day for four years,” said Lodwick of Steamboat Springs, Colo., who came out of retirement “to get some hardware.” Read the rest of this entry →
WHISTLER, British Columbia — Imagine jumping out of a 40-story building and gliding the length of a football field—and then some. In the large hill competition, ski jumpers soar for 410 feet from a hill 460 feet high in the air—at 60 miles per hour. It’s the closest thing to flying the Olympics has to offer. And the men of U.S. Ski Jumping love it.
When it comes to Olympic sports, not every team gets the fame and fortune. The U.S. Ski Jumping team is a young group of athletes gambling everything they’ve got on a dream. Without funding from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, these competitors have forged a program on their own, and put the rest of their lives on hold for the sport they love. Read the rest of this entry →
In 86 years of Olympic competition, the U.S. had never won a medal in Nordic combined—until now. Yesterday, Johnny Spillane of Steamboat Spring, Colo., became the first American to medal in the event, taking the silver in the Individual Normal Hill/10km Cross-Country competition.
“To have an Olympic medal is something you always dream about,” Spillane said. “It is everything I ever dreamed it would be.”
“How do you boil up 86 years of frustration?” said the team’s coach, Tom Steitz. “You don’t. Everybody starts crying. We are all going to sit around tonight and drink champagne and touch the medals.”
Spillane was in fourth after the Normal Hill ski jumping round at Whistler Olympic Park. With less than 800 meters to go in the cross-country portion, Spillane surged into the lead, but Jason Lamy Chappius of France edged him out by .4 seconds to finish in 25:47.1. It was the closest Nordic combined finish in Olympic history. Read the rest of this entry →
WHISTLER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — 1:20 pm: It’s Day 2 of competition and I’m coming to you from the Whistler Sliding Center. The second and final day of men’s singles luge competition has just gotten underway.
It’s rainy and dank here in Whistler. But the show must go on. So I’m coming to you from the Sliding Center’s Media Center. There are no tables out on the course and the viewing areas are standing room only and covered. While—unlike me—my computer is not made of sugar, it is made of many electrical bits that don’t like to get wet.
So unlike yesterday, I won’t be bringing you play by plays from the luge competition. But I hope I’ll be bringing you something just as good.
Welcome to my backstage media tour. Read the rest of this entry →
