Results tagged “chadhedrick”

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.

Sasha Cohen dazzled the judges with her outstanding short program. Cohen was flawless and took a .03 lead over Irina Slutskaya. 16-year old Kimmie Meissner was impressive in her Olympic debut skating fifth overall. Long Island’s Emily Hughes was solid, finishing seventh overall. Four years ago her sister, Sarah, came from fourth after the short program to win the gold passing both Cohen and Slutskaya, so expect a lot of hype before Thursday’s final.

As the disappointment on the mountain continues, history was made in Torino yesterday in the premier event in speedskating. Shani Davis became the first African-American to win a gold medal in Winter Olympic history, and only the third black athlete to win a winter medal ever, as he skated to victory in the men's 1,000 meter race. The victory must have been especially sweet for Davis as he trained by himself in Canada, apart from the rest of the US Speedskating team. Davis and US Speedskating have had a bitter battle that included the organization pulling Davis' financing for training over the placement of a logo. Davis' mother pressed for her son to be removed from the organization's website. Joey Cheek, who earlier won the gold in the 500 meter race, finished 2nd and Chad Hedrick, the gold medal winner in the 5,000, finished 6th.

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.