Results tagged “bodemiller”

With thanks to a disqualification of a Chinese short track speedskater, Apolo Anton Ohno won a gold medal in yesterday's 500m final. Ohno had finished 3rd in the semifinals where only the top two advance, but officials ruled that he was impeded by Li JiaJun. In the finals, Ohno jumped to the front after the start and never trailed - only looking back to see where the competition was. He defeated a tough field which included his rival from South Korea, Ahn Hyun Soo who finished 3rd. Shortly after the 500, Ohno and his American teammates won bronze in the team 5,000m relay.

When Gothamist was in college, we remember watching curling on the CBC and thinking that it was the coolest sport ever. We just couldn't get enough of it. Good thing we could watch the CBC. When we came back to New York, we were out of luck - no curling. Yesterday, the United States men's curling team won its first Olympic curling medal ever. Led by Pete Fenson, the United States defeated Great Britain, 8-6. Fenton, who owns two Minnesota pizzerias, sealed the bronze medal for the Americans in the 10th inning. And is it us, or has curling become really popular? So much so that there was even a casino sponsored streaker. Canada won the gold while Finland won the silver medal.

After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this...

It was an ugly end for the U.S. hockey team. They came out of the gate flat, fell behind 2-0, took some stupid penalties and then complained about a lack of free airline tickets after their 4-3 loss to Finland. While the result is disappointing, it is not surprising since the U.S. team clearly didn’t have the talent they did in 2002. Finland advances to the semifinals along with Sweden, the Czech Republic and Russia who finished off Canada 2-0.

It took more than 30 years and an act of Congress, but an American pair has finally won another medal in the ice dancing competition. Last night Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto won the silver medal despite a mistake on a technical aspect of their performance. Belbin, a former Canadian citizen, moved to the United States in 1998, when she was 14 but did not become a citizen until January when about 100 other "aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics" were also granted early citizenship. Those aliens are always trying to invade. The law has since been changed to eliminate the hang-up in the process that required the special act.

Bode Miller was true to form yesterday as he failed to finish the slalom portion of the men's combined. The event combines the speed of the downhill with the technical expertise of the slalom. While Miller led the field after the downhill run by more than two seconds, it was the slalom that stymied him again. On the World Cup circuit this year, he has failed to finish all but one slalom race. Miller was disqualified after the first of two slalom runs for straddling a gate (one of his skis went on the wrong side of the gates that mark the turns). With Miller's disqualification, Austria's Benjamin Raich took the lead heading into the final trip down the slalom course.

In the premiere men's alpine skiing event, the downhill, the American men were thought to have a great chance at winning a medal - maybe even a gold. Daron Rahlves was a gold medal favorite going into Sunday's competition and Bode Miller, a defending World Cup champion, was a medal favorite as well. Neither one won a medal when all was said and done. The winner was Antoine Deneriaz, a Frenchman who was the last to race after winning the final practice run on Saturday. Deneriaz's finish stunned the Austrians in the crowd, who were chanting for Michael Walchhofer, the eventual silver medalist. Deneriaz finished .72 seconds ahead of Walchhofer, the largest margin of victory in the Olympic downhill since 1964. Miller finished 5th and Rahlves finished 16th, not quite a picture perfect day for the pair of Americans. Miller's finish might cause some to question his off-mountain lifestyle again as the NY Times reports that he has been spotted in nighclubs this week and didn't take a survey of the course before hand like many other racers.