2006 Winter Olympics Report

– Steve Price, Inside Pulse Sports
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006
Exclusive to Inside Pulse

The XX Winter Olympics from Torino are in full swing now. With four full days of competition now complete, the medal counts are starting to rise for historical Winter Games powerhouses, like Norway. The United States, meanwhile, has staved off disaster by stringing together a slew of medals themselves, while nations like Canada and Finland strangely lag behind in the counts. Here now is a quick look at our top three countries via the medal count, along with a quick report on the status of Team U.S.A.

Leading Medal Counts
Norway
– One Gold Medal, Five Silver Medals, Five Bronze Medals –

Medalists
Biathlon 20km Individual – Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Silver Medal
Biathlon 20km Individual – Halvard Hanevold, Bronze Medal
Biathlon 10km Sprint – Halvard Hanevold, Silver Medal
Biathlon 10km Sprint – Frode Andresen, Bronze Medal
Cross-Country 30km Pursuit – Estil Frode, Silver Medal
Cross-Country Team Sprint – Jens Arne Svartedal & Tor Arne Hetland, Silver Medals
Freestyle Skiing Moguls – Kari Traa, Silver Medal
Nordic Combined Individual – Magnus Moan, Bronze Medal
Men’s Halfpipe – Kjersti Buaas, Bronze Medal
Ski Jumping Normal Hill – Lars Bystoel, Gold Medal
Ski Jumping Normal Hill – Roar Ljoekelsoey, Bronze Medal

Russia
– Four Gold Medals, Three Silver Medals, Two Bronze Medals –

Medalists
Biathlon 15km Individual – Svetlana Ishmouratova, Gold Medal
Biathlon 15km Individual – Olga Pyleva, Silver Medal
Cross-Country 15km Pursuit – Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova, Bronze Medal
Cross-Country 30km Pursuit – Eugeni Dementiev, Gold Medal
Cross-Country Team Sprint – Ivan Alypov & Vassili Rotchev, Bronze Medal
Figure Skating Pairs – Tatyana Totmiyanina & Maxim Marinin, Gold Medal
Men’s Luge Singles – Albert Demtschenko, Silver Medal
Men’s 500m Speed Skating – Dmitry Dorofeyev, Silver Medal
Women’s 500m Speed Skating – Svetlana Zhurova, Gold Medal

United States
– Five Gold Medals, Two Silver Medals, No Bronze Medals –

Medalists
Alpine Skiing Combined – Ted Ligety, Gold Medal
Men’s Halfpipe – Shaun White, Gold Medal
Men’s Halfpipe – Danny Kass, Silver Medal
Women’s Halfpipe – Hannah Teter, Gold Medal
Women’s Halfpipe – Gretchen Bleiler, Silver Medal
Men’s 500m – Joey Cheek, Gold Medal
Men’s 5,000m – Chad Hedrick, Gold Medal

Notables
Men’s Alpine Skiing Downhill – Bode Miller, 5th Place
Men’s Alpine Skiing Downhill – Daron Rahlves, 10th Place
Men’s Alpine Skiing Combined – Bode Miller, Disqualified
Men’s 500m Short Track – Apolo Anton Ohno, Semifinal Race

Analysis
Team U.S.A. is on pace to perform at the level anticipated by most analysts. Though surprisingly strong in the medal count this early in the Torino Games, the United States has suffered some very prolific setbacks in Italy. The highly-praised Men’s Alpine Ski Team, led by Daron Rahlves and controversial skier Bode Miller, finished well out of medal range in the downhill event, while the much-touted Miller found himself disqualified after straddling a gate during the slalom. Things have been salvaged somewhat by the Gold Medal performance of Ted Ligety in the Combined event. Elsewhere, defending 500m Short Track Gold Medalist from the Salt Lake City games, Apolo Anton Ohno slipped during his semifinal race and finished outside of the cut, ending the defense of his controversial 2002 medal. Also on the ice, U.S. figure skating legend Michelle Kwan, plagued by injuries for weeks, was forced to withdraw from the Winter Olympics after re-aggravating a groin injury. Though an underdog from the onset, Kwan’s departure dealt a serious blow to the focus on figure skating, historically a large draw for television.

The Women’s Curling Team is in poor shape after back to back losses to Norway and Canada, respectively. The Americans held the early advantage against a more experienced Norway in the first ends, but fell into a four point whole in the tenth and final end. The Johnson sisters, Cassie and Jamie, have shown brilliance at times on the ice, but need more seasoning before a medal is even discussed. Meanwhile, the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team continues to plow through the competition, en route to what appears to be a predestined showdown with arch-rival Canada in the Gold Medal Game. The Americans, surrendering only three goals (Finland) in three games in their pool, are trumpeted as the co-favorites alongside Canada, and should bolster the medal count for Team U.S.A. in any event. The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team is not expected to medal, but could surprise some contenders in the weaker Pool B.

So far in these Winter Olympics, the Americans have truly owned one sport – the Halfpipe. Gold Medal favorite Shaun White nearly missed the cut following an early bust, but after putting together two consecutive first-place runs, White watched as his competition failed to best his score. Danny Kass, another favorite to medal in the event, took home a silver medal for the second consecutive Olympics (he also silvered in the Halfpipe at Salt Lake City in 2002). Hannah Teter & Gretchen Bleiler both won gold and silver medals in the Women’s Halfpipe event, as well.

Two of the more positive outcomes in these Winter Olympics thus far for Team U.S.A. came in the form of two gold medals in men’s speed skating. Joey Cheek (500m) and Chad Hedrick (5,000m) both won gold to help push the United States into third place on the overall medal count. With their two gold medals, the United States also has claim to the most gold medals (as of this writing at 8:48 PM – 02/14/06) in these Winter Olympics, with five so far.

REMINDERS
* Men’s Ice Hockey begins tomorrow, with the U.S. and Latvia facing off at 9:00 PM Torino Time.
* U.S. Men’s and Women’s Curling continues Wednesday (Men vs. Italy, Women vs. Denmark)
* Doubles Finals – Luge, Speed Skating, Short Track, and Women’s Downhill on Wednesday
* Bobsledding begins Saturday

Check back with Inside Pulse Sports Saturday for an updated report on the injuries in Torino, the growing medal count, and a look at Team U.S.A. Hockey as both the men and women search for gold in the XX Winter Olympics. I’m Steve Price, and this has been your IP (Team USA) Winter Olympics Report. (Special thanks to Eric Szulczewski for the corrections, once again.)