Road to Torino

Thursday, February 2, 2006
6:40:00 PM EST Sports Illustrated's Brian Cazeneuve has come out with predictions for who will bring home the hardware in every event at the Winter Games.

Notable predictions:

Figure skating: Sasha Cohen will finally rise to the occasion when it counts most to win gold in ladies' figure skating over favorite Irina Slutskaya of Russia, who was the silver medalist in 2002. Otherwise Cazeneuve predicts a Russian sweep of the remaining figure skating events (men's, pairs and ice dance). Hear Cohen's interview on AOL's Sports Bloggers Live

Ice hockey: The U.S. men's ice hockey team will be shut out of the medals. The U.S. women will settle for silver behind Canada, as they did four years ago.

Halfpipe: The U.S. men won't sweep the halfipe medals in snowboarding, as they did in Salt Lake. But phenom Shaun White will clinch gold for the USA. Hear White's interview on AOL's Sports Bloggers Live

Speed skating: Cazeneuve predicts 8 medals for the U.S. in long track speed skating, matching long trackers' overall performance in Salt Lake 4 years ago. Bizarrely to me, he predicts Shani Davis will settle for a silver in his specialty - the 1000m. I predict Shani will take gold! As for Chad Hedrick, attempting to equal Eric Heiden's 1980 feat of 5 golds in one Olympic Games, Cazeneuve says he'll get 1 gold and 2 silvers in individual events. I agree - he won't win 5 medals, let alone 5 golds. I think he could wind up with multiple golds, though.

Short track: Now, I can't quibble too much with the picks for short track. But that's my pet event so I'll quibble a little. I've been following Apolo Anton Ohno and the U.S. short track team (also the Canadian team) around the globe the past 4 years. I dig Cazeneuve's prediction of a medal for Ohno in every event. And he's right on in predicting gold for Apolo in the 1500m, but I'd upgrade to gold the silver prediction for Apolo in the 1000m. Why not? And bronze or better for the U.S. men's relay team is very possible...

But the SI guy left the Canadian men off the men's relay podium. Is he smoking crack? They're by far the strongest relay team on the planet. Not only that, but I'd put a couple Canadians and/or Italians on the individual medals stand. The Italians really stepped up their game this season, and they'll be competing on home ice. The Canadian men should medal in the 500m at least.

See SI's full list of medal predictions


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This entry has 3 comments: (Add your own)

• #3 Comment from duk1e 
  2/9/06 12:59 AM | Permalink

  I think you are perhaps a bit too optimistic apropos of the likelihood of Ohno's medalling in every event.  Whilst surely his chances of making the final of each event are good, I think he's but a clear third favorite behind Lee Ho-Suk and Ahn Hyun-Soo in the 1000 and 1500 and properly behind Hyun-Soo, Li Jiajun, and Eric Bedard, inter al., in the 500, in which I have Ohno finishing fourth.  With respect to the relay, I certainly agree with your assessment of the Canadian team as a sure medallist, but I think South Korea and China will capture the first two spots.  Other interesting Cazeneuve omissions include Olga Pyleva (biathlon), to whom I give gold in the 15-km individual and bronze in 12.5-km mass start; Vincent Vittoz (cross-country [Nordic] skiing), to whom I give silver in the 30-km pursuit and bronze in the 15-km interval start; Brian Joubert (figure skating), my silver medallist in the men's event; Jeremy Bloom (freestyle skiing), who surely is a better medal bet than Dawson (I have Bloom winning the silver and Dawson taking the bronze); Byun Chun-Sa (short-track), to whom I give silver in the 1000 and 1500; Manuela Laura Pesko (snowboard), who will, I think, win the gold in halfpipe (BC leaves her off the medal stand altogether); Doreisa Krings (snowboard), same situation as Pesko, but here in SBX; Carl Verheijen (speedskating), my gold winner in the 10k and bronze winner in the 5k; and Claudia Pechstein (speedskating), who, though surely aged, will win the 3000 and 5000 meters.  
• #2 Comment from monponsett 
  2/7/06 12:05 PM | Permalink

  I plan on taking home the Sledding gold in 2010.
• #1 Comment from olympicsfan 
  2/2/06 9:49 PM | Permalink

  The SI staffer predicts close to 30 medals - a few short of the 34 USA won in SLC.  Notably missing from this list are add'l sledding medals that I believe are strong bets for the U.S. team - bobsled, luge, and skeleton.