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It's the end of an Olympic era as an emotional Michelle Kwan has pulled out of the 2006 Winter Olympics because of injury. Kwan's withdrawal means that Long Island native (and sister of 2002 Gold Medal winner Sarah Hughes) Emily Hughes, will be heading to Italy as the alternate for the team. Doubting her ability to compete at 100%, Kwan said, "I respect the Olympics too much to compete and I don't feel I can be at my best.'' While some may question whether Kwan should have been there in the first place, Gothamist feels that withdrawing like this is a classy act by the two-time Olympic medalist.
The first gold medal of the games for the United States went to Chad Hedrick in the men's 5,000 meter speedskating event. Those following the Olympics are already familiar with his much-publicized story. Hedrick, a Texas native, was in Las Vegas playing blackjack and watching Derek Parra win a gold medal at the 2002 games - the two were former inline skating rivals. After that, he returned to speedskating and entered the games with the possibility of winning 5 gold medals.
In snowboarding, as expected, Shaun White blew away the competition in the halfpipe. Nicknamed "Il Pomodoro Volante" (The Flying Tomato) by the Italians because of his red hair, White won the competition on his first run in the finals where he completed consecutive 1080 grabs followed by a frontside 9 and a backside 9. In his last run, White was too tired to attempt his backside 1080. Danny Kass, the 2002 silver medal winner, finished second again.
Image from NBCOlympics.com
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I think that means "The Flying Tomato", not "The Red Tomato".
It's hard for the US to lose in the winter olympics seeing that they're the only country who have the money to finance bullshit "sports". If it snowed in Nigeria, the nigerians will win everything...including figure skating.
go super eagles!
ha! yes, flying.
Yes, Molly, volante means flying: from the verb "volare" to fly. Like the old song "Volare"...
"Volare...whoaoo...cantare....wo-o-way-o!" (Jerry Vale?)
Red is rosso.
Please correct this. Let's face it The Red Tomato just makes us Italians look dumb because the average tomato IS red. The Flying Tomato is cute.
And this is just an FYI, not a criticism at all. Being a multi-cultural New Yorker I always make an effort to say/translate something correctly when attempting to speak outside my native tongue.
Grazie Mille!
Um, wierd, last time I looked my post about volante meaning flying was up, but Tien's WASN'T & it wasn't corrected.
At any rate, GRAZIE for the correction, Tien! :)
yeah, i changed right when you first commented. sorry about that.
IT WAS UNFAIR FOR KWAN TO EVEN BE THERE.
NOW EMILY HUGHES MISSED THE CHANCE TO MARCH IN WITH THE REST OF THE USA TEAM IN THE OPENING CEREMONY, SOMETHING KWAN HAS DONE 3 TIMES. SELFISH! TOTALLY SELFISH!!
NOW EMILY IS HAVING TROUBLE GETTING TO ITALY DUE TO THE SNOW HERE IN GREAT NECK!!
GO EMILY GO! BRING BACK THE GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please. Emily Hughes has no chance of gold. But it'll be an accomplishment if she makes the top ten. I think even with Kwan's withdrawal, it proved that it was the right decision to send Michelle. At her healthiest, she's a good chance at a medal and if not, she would withdraw (which she did). She upheld her promise.
Does anyone really give il vaffanculo volare?
Damn! I was rooting for Scottie Pippen,Um I mean Michelle Kwan too!
Taking advantage of a rule designed to allow a skater that was subjected to an outside influence (read: Kerrigan's knee being bashed in) in order to get around a pre-existing injury is poor sportsmanship, and Michelle Kwan and the entire American Olympic Committee should be embarassed at their behavior. While they've been busy kissing Kwan's ass, Emily Hughes has been at home, practicing, and she's reacted to this whole mess with grace and style, even though she won't get onto Olympic ice until scant days before the competition begins.
David's comment above that she "has no chance of gold" demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of the Olympics. The medal platform has three spots, sir, and I'd rather see Emily Hughes skate her heart out, and come in a happy last, than Kwan go out tripping over her groin injury in a misguide attempt to recapture glory days long gone.
Kwan. Whatever.
Slutskaya's just gonna smoke all their asses anyway.
that scottie pippen comment - best ever sports comment.
Sternal -
What rule are you citing?
There is a rule which simply states that the USFSA may consider placing on the Olympic team skaters who do not compete at the U.S. National Championship. Nothing about outside influences, and it certainly wasn't written with Kerrigan in mind as it was already in place when it was last invoked in 1994.
"...glory days long gone"
Right, I mean 2005 was like forever ago, eh? No worries, I understand, it's been almost 12 months since Michelle won her 8th straight national title (9th overall).
FWIW, if Kwan doesn't finish 4th at Worlds last March, the U.S. would have only had 2 spots in Turin instead of 3. The 5 time world champion deserved the opportunity to fill that last spot.
J,
hahhaa, you're good...