Road to Torino

5:21:31 PM EST Kudos to General Mills for having the sense to choose two American heroes for their Wheaties boxes: speedskaters Joey Cheek and Apolo Anton Ohno. Their boxes will be arriving in stores near you within a couple of weeks.

 

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12:57:57 PM EST I love this!


US Olympic gold medal winners for speedskating, Shani Davis, left, and Chad Hedrick, right, sleep in an airplane during a flight from Turin to Amsterdam, the Netherlands on Monday, Feb. 27, 2006. (AP Photo/ Leo Vogelzang)


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6:21:50 PM EST

Thanks for a great games, and great memories! I'm headed home tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who has read or commented! This blog will continue to be updated but things will slow down a bit this coming week now that the Torino Games are history and I'm headed home.

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7:44:00 PM EST Right here is my Olympic highlight... watching Apolo Anton Ohno win the 500m here tonight in Torino was a dream come true.


Apolo raises his arms in triumph as he crosses the finish line in front of Canadians Tremblay and Bedard and Korean Ahn

What all the press coverage doubting Apolo after his rough start to the Olympics, it wasn't widely known that he arrived with an injury affecting his hip, hamstring and ankle. He brought his personal physician here to work on it but it wasn't until a few days ago that Apolo's physical condition returned to form. And I think he proved it tonight.

The casual reader won't know how amazing Apolo is when the chips are down. Year after year I've seen him fight his way back from early setbacks to triumph in competitions. So it's fitting that the Olympics was no different. Apolo is an amazing clutch competitor and I'm so proud of the way he won the 500m wire to wire -- it's an exceptionally difficult feat to pull off and he was helped by drawing lane 1.

After seeing Apolo lose the luck of the draw and wind up in lane 4 or 5 so many times of the years, I consider this some well-deserved karmic payback from the gods of short track.

Way to go, champ! Live it up, you deserve it with all your hard work and sacrifices!

Anyone interesting in reading and seeing more about tonight's short track competition in Torino, visit my other blog, Ohno Zone.

Me, Apolo and 2/3 of the hardware he won in Torino


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8:26:32 AM EST

Last night I learned that U.S. short track skater Kimberly Derrick lost her grandfather on the eve of her race in Torino. Kimberly's grandfather had travelled with other members of her family to watch her skate and share her Olympic experience. Last night Kimberly's grandfather suffered a heart attack and died at about 6pm local time (noon Friday on the east coast).

Kimberly Derrick skating in the U.S. Olympic Trials - December 2005

Kimberly is an up-and-comping star on the U.S. women's short track team. A relatively recent convert from inline racing to ice, she finished third overall at the U.S. Olympic Trials in December, and even qualified to skate an individual race in Torino - the ladies' 1000-meters.

Kimberly skated her first 1000-meter race Wednesday night, performing very well and qualifying to move on to the quarter finals that will take place tonight in Torino. As of this writing, Kimbery is planning to skate. Kimberly is also a member of the women's relay team that skated to a 4th place finish on Wednesday night.

Our condolences to Kimberly and the Derrick family, and best of luck to Kimberly in her races tonight. It can't be an easy thing to do, but no doubt it's what her grandfather would want her to do. Go Kimberly!

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8:07:59 AM EST

Bronze-medal winning aerialist Speedy Peterson was unceremoniously expelled from the Olympic Games yesterday after a brawl with an American (apparently not an athlete) in Italy.

This is how the U.S. Olympic Committee announced that it had sent Peterson packing:

At the request of the United States Olympic Committee and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, U.S. aerials skier Jeret Peterson (Boise, Idaho) has agreed to leave the Athletes’ Village and immediately return to the United States from Torino, Italy and the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

Earlier [Friday] in Sauze ‘d Oulx, Italy, Peterson was involved in an altercation with an acquaintance from the United States. Italian authorities are not pursuing charges.

“This type of conduct is irresponsible and will not be tolerated,” said 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Chef de Mission Jim McCarthy. “Like every athlete, Jeret had an opportunity to represent himself, his sport and his country in a positive manner. He chose to do otherwise, and because of his unacceptable actions, his Olympic experience is ending early.”

No word on how much alcohol was involved. I'd just like to point out that Peterson called Bode Miller an 'idiot' on Sports Bloggers Live last month. [listen to the clip]

Karma can be such a bitch.

Peterson finished 7th in men's aerials earlier this week after he failed to land his famed 'Hurricane' trick, considered the toughest trick to perform in his sport.

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12:05:40 PM EST

With just 2 days to go in the Winter Games, Team USA enjoyed a medal bonanza today along with some history to savor with our first ever Olympic medal in the sport of curling.

The first medal of the day was gold and went to America's Julia Mancuso in giant slalom -- an unexpected victory for an Alpine ski team that hasn't lived up to expectations. Mancuso's gold is just the 2nd Alpine medal for the U.S. ski team at these Games, following Ted Ligety's gold-medal slalom performance in week 1.

Julia Mancuso celebrates after winning gold during the flower ceremony for the Women's Giant Slalom at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Sestriere Colle, Italy, Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Next up, receiving the 2nd medal of the day, was America's men's curling team. They put away Great Britain 8-6 in the bronze-medal match. This was not only the 22nd medal of the Olympics for Team USA, it's also a historic one, on at least two counts: It's the first Olympic medal won by any U.S. curling team; and team member Scott Baird, who already was the oldest athlete in Winter Olympic history, now becomes the oldest medalist in Winter Olympic history! Baird is 54 -- way to go, Gramps!

United States skip Pete Fenson yells after a shot during the bronze medal curling match against Great Britain in Pinerolo, Italy during the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games on Friday, Feb. 24, 2006.(AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Finally, U.S. speedskater Chad Hedrick earned his 3rd medal of these games with his silver-medal effort in the 10,000-meters long track event. He was sandwiched by a pair of Dutch skaters who won gold and bronze. The silver gives him a full set of medals to bring home from Torino. Hedrick won the first American gold medal of the Games back on day 1 with his 5,000-meters victory and earlier this week earned bronze in the 1500-meters.

Well done, USA!

Chad Hedrick of the United States celebrates his silver medal win in the men's 10,000 meter speedskating at Oval Lingotto during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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5:59:44 PM EST

The Torino Olympic medals with the holes in the center are really shiny and incredibly beautiful -- and they weigh a ton! I think my neck would get tired out from wearing one of these suckers.

I had the huge honor of holding a couple of the medals tonight! Let me tell you, these babies are the ultimate in bling. I went down to the medals plaza to see the ceremony for the teams that won the women's 3000-meter relay in short track speedskating. South Korean won gold, Canada silver and Italy bronze - to the great delight of the home crowd!

Canadian and Korean women's short track teams on the medal stand
 

The medals are about the size of a compact disc (shape, too!) and they've got engravings of the individual sport on the front and some other stuff I don't remember because I was way too much in awe of the fact that I was touching an Olympic medal!

If you've been reading for a while, then you know what a fanatic I am for Apolo Anton Ohno and the U.S. short track speedskating team -- and I'm looking forward to posting more about him and the team this weekend!

I also have a big spot in my heart for the Canadian short track team, one of the world's best. I was ecstatic to see their girls get a silver medal in the relay - the next best thing to seeing our ladies on the podium!

Silver medalists Amanda Overland and Alanna Kraus of Canada

Me with gold medalist Sun-yu Jin of South Korea

I realize that most of my readers are going to be unfamiliar with these athletes since they are from other countries but this is too good not to share! With any luck, we'll get some similar photos to share of American skaters on Sunday. :)

Fireworks display over Piazza Castello in Torino closes out the medal ceremonies


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5:49:01 PM EST

I'm guessing this one too will be chalked up by our media as another disappointment, but I'm excited for Sasha Cohen, who won silver tonight in women's figure skating. For sure it would have been a huge thrill if she could have hung on to the lead she took after the short program earlier in the week but a silver medal is an amazing result and she should feel proud!

Nothing against Irina Slutskaya at all, but if Cohen couldn't get the gold, I was kind of glad to see it go to Japan's Shizuka Arakawa. I saw some Russian people out in a square earlier today playing with a broom, indicating their country was going to sweep the figure skating golds tonight. Didn't happen! It's hard to believe, considering their dominance of figure skating's other disciplines, but Russia has never won Olympic gold in the women's event.

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8:25:15 AM EST

Speaking of Chad Hedrick... I was out roaming the city and buying up all the chocolate supplies when I stumbled onto the Today show in progress as I was walking back to my hotel. 'Today' films in Piazza San Carlo, about four blocks from my hotel.

As I approached, I heard them announcing that Chad was there for an interview so I just randomly walked up towards the barrier and suddenly realized that he was a couple feet in front of me, shaking hands and posing for photos with the crowd. I had to dig around in my backpack to find my camera and managed to snap a few shots before he was summoned back to the set for makeup.

Chad Hedrick poses with fans at the Today show set in Torino
 

 

Naturally the whole interview was about Chad's feud with Shani Davis and yesterday's press conference where they traded sharp comments after their silver and bronze medal performances in the 1500m (see below for more!). Yes, the press is just blowing it up into something huge, but these guys are doing nothing to calm things down. When Matt Lauer asked Chad why he refused to congratulate Shani on his 1000m gold medal, Chad talked about how Shani betrayed him.

Dude, just be the bigger man and say, 'I did the wrong thing in the heat of the moment, I'm sorry.' As for Shani, he was invited to come on the show today as well but declined. Man, these two are cattier than girls!

Chad gets makeup while Matt Lauer and Katie Couric read the news from the States


The Today show set in Piazza San Carlo

And I think the Sports Bloggers Live guys are gonna kill me when they find out I was thereand didn't hold up an SBL logo for the Today show cameras!

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