Sunday, February 14, 2010
“Older and Better, Chinese Couple Dominates Pairs Short Program - New York Times” plus 3 more
Posted by giant at 11:19 PM
“Older and Better, Chinese Couple Dominates Pairs Short Program - New York Times” plus 3 more |
- Older and Better, Chinese Couple Dominates Pairs Short Program - New York Times
- First gold goes to 2002 double ski jump winner - Eagle-Tribune
- Metro Detroit ice skating clubs dominate Olympics - Detroit Free Press
- Why I spent my Valentine's Day with the Men's Freestyle Skiers and a ... - Seattle Post Intelligencer
| Older and Better, Chinese Couple Dominates Pairs Short Program - New York Times Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:49 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, pairs figure skaters from China, did not have to be at these Olympic Games. They could be happily retired now, living together in China after marrying in 2007, the same year they stopped competing. They had already been to three Olympic Games. They had won two bronze medals, one from 2006 and the other from 2002. Yet for the couple that has skated together since 1992, that was not enough. Shen, 31, and Zhao, 36, came out of retirement last year to try for the Olympic gold that had eluded them for so long. And now, after their record performance in the short program Sunday, they appear headed to achieve their goal. Skating to the song "Who Wants to Live Forever," by Brian May, they performed a clean program that was so beautiful, it alternately hushed the crowd, then roused it into a tizzy. The judges were just as impressed, giving them a score of 76.66, as well as the victory in the short program. It was not only their best score ever, but it also set a world record for a short program. When the music stopped, Zhao smiled and pumped his fist several times to celebrate the performance. Shen flashed a shy grin. "We are happy with our performance today," said Zhao, who is the oldest figure skater at the Olympics. "It was a nice Valentine's Day present." Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, the two-time reigning world champions from Germany, finished in second, with 75.96 points. Dressed as two clowns — with Savchenko in white and Szolkowy in black — they performed to the song "Send in the Clowns." Several times, they caused the crowd to gasp because their lifts and throws looked so dangerous. Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov of Russia finished third with 74.16 points. "It's just the beginning," Kavaguti said of the event, which continues with the long program Monday. "But we're very pleased with how we placed." Both American pairs teams were also happy with their performances, though those performances were not perfect. With Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. watching from the stands, Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig — who train in Ellenton, Fla. — finished 10th with 57.86 points. Evora's smile did not disappear for a second as she and Ladwig landed their jumps and throws, skating to music from the movie "Love Actually." "I feel like it was our destiny to skate well today," Evora said, mentioning that it was Valentine's Day and the Chinese New Year, and also that the sun had finally come out during a gloomy week here. "It was meant to be a good day for us, no matter what. I just had that feeling inside." Ladwig was pleased with the performance, too. At the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City he had been a volunteer, giving people directions to different competition sites downtown. Unexpectedly, Evora, 25, and Ladwig, 28, finished higher than the top American pairs team, the 2009 national champions Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett. Denney and Barrett — who train with Evora and Ladwig — are in 14th place with 53.26 points. Barrett said he had been nervous about the performance until he heard the crowd chanting for them. Then he could not wait to get on the ice. But Denney, a 16-year-old who is known for hitting her jumps, could not help but show her nervousness. Her jitters revealed themselves when she doubled a triple loop, which led to a lower overall score. "This Olympics isn't really about placement for us," Barrett, 25, said. "It's about showing that the U.S. had a great future in pairs, and I think we did that." Later, when Denney was told that Shen and Zhao had been skating together longer than she had been alive, her eyes grew wide. "Wow!" was all she said. Last fall, Shen and Zhao said they did not feel as old as they are. While jet lag bothers them more than it used to, they said, they feel as if their skating is better than ever. Their results have shown it. They won both of their Grand Prix assignments last fall — their first competitions since 2007 — and also won the Grand Prix final. "We have not competed much in the last two years, and we came back to compete at the Olympic Games as it is our dream to win an Olympic gold medal," Zhao said. "We are happy with it. It was a brand-new start for a brand-new year." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| First gold goes to 2002 double ski jump winner - Eagle-Tribune Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:42 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The first gold medalist of the 2010 Winter Games is the guy who won two golds in Salt Lake City eight years ago. If the name Simon Ammann doesn't ring a bell, maybe this will: He's the Swiss ski jumper who looked a lot like Harry Potter. Now 28 — and no longer a double for the boy wizard — Ammann is again the best in the world. He won the individual normal hill title yesterday for the honor of being the first of 86 champions to be crowned at the Vancouver Games. The first Olympic record was set by Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer in winning the 5,000 meters. Kramer's time of 6 minutes, 14.60 seconds shaved six-hundredths of a second off Jochem Uytdehaage's record set at altitude in Salt Lake City in 2002. Another first was expected to come last night — the first gold won at home by Canada. The host nation was shut out in Montreal at the 1976 Summer Games and in Calgary at the 1988 Winter Games. Now, moguls skiers Jenn Heil and Krsti Richards, and speedskater Charles Hamelin all have a good chance of setting off a spirited rendition of "O Canada." Competition at the 21st Winter Olympics opened yesterday with all eyes and heavy hearts on the Whistler Sliding Center. Sliders resumed training on a repaired and slightly reconfigured track the day after a 21-year-old luger from the republic of Georgia died following a crash on the last turn of a training run. They also all started from a new spot farther down the track in hopes of slowing speeds and improving control. The men have been moved to the women's start ramp, while women and doubles are shifted to the junior start ramp. Officials say this was done to help with the "emotional component" of athletes, and the IOC says it is "completely satisfied" with how things have been handled. Men's downhill Alpine skiers woke up yesterday to news of another day of delays. The competition-opening men's downhill was called off about 4 a.m., with officials realizing their slopes would be too slushy. It wasn't much of a surprise because the women's super-combined, originally planned for today, was postponed Friday afternoon. The International Ski Federation is considering throwing out its schedule and starting from scratch, with a new plan featuring seven straight days of racing. So far, the only decision is that the men's event will (hopefully) be tomorrow, at 10:30 a.m. PST. The women's event — featuring American sensation Lindsey Vonn — had not been rescheduled as of yesterday morning. Vonn is about the only one pleased with all the delays because it gives her more time to recover from a bruised shin. How much trouble has the slush caused? They've been able to finish only one of six downhill training runs. Protesters Hannah Kearney waited four years to overcome her bitter disappointment. Canada will have to wait at least one more day before it can really let loose. The 23-year-old from New Hampshire slashed through the rain and the moguls last night — a remarkable run that gave America its first gold medal of the Vancouver Games and denied Jenn Heil the honor of becoming the first Canadian to win gold on home turf. Heil came in as the favorite on paper — winner of her last four World Cup events — but this one really wasn't close. Kearney scored 26.63 points to win by .94 — a wide margin in a sport often decided by tenths and hundredths. She won in a blowout four years after coming in as the favorite but stumbled in qualifying for a 22nd-place finish that left her crying at the bottom. Shannon Bahrke took bronze to add to her silver from 2002 and push America's medal total to three after the first full day of competition. Apolo Anton Ohno took silver in speedskating earlier. Figure skating Johnny Weir didn't like living at the Olympic village four years ago in Turin. So why he is he staying at the Vancouver version? Safety. Weir said he received "very serious threats" from anti-fur activists after adding white fox fur to the left shoulder of his costume for the free skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last month. He could have had bodyguards at a hotel, but it was easier to stay in the village, where security is always at a premium. Note the anti-fur folks: Weir won't be wearing any animal skins in Vancouver. "It was not because I was pressured to change it," he said. "I'm just switching back to another costume." Women's hockey The reigning silver medalists from Sweden beat Switzerland 3-0 in the first match of the women's hockey tournament. Goalie Kim Martin, the star of Sweden's semifinal upset of the U.S. in Turin, preserved the shutout with several sharp saves in the third period against a Swiss team that has risen to prominence since the last Olympics and features Northeastern University's Florence Schelling in goal. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Metro Detroit ice skating clubs dominate Olympics - Detroit Free Press Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:42 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Nechaeva and Chesnichenko built their dance school from the ground up. They are the only coaches that Samuelson, 19, and Bates, 20, have ever had, and the ice dancers are their first Olympians. "We are very proud for us and the club," Nechaeva said. Punsalan and Swallow had captured one U.S. ice dance title (in 1991) when they moved from Colorado Springs to Bloomfield Hills in the summer of 1992 to be coached by Shpilband and his collaborator at the time, British-born teacher Elizabeth Coates. Shpilband was in the early stages of his coaching career after defecting from the Soviet Union. In Coates, he had the perfect technician to go with his strength, artistry. Punsalan and Swallow, married in 1993, were Shpilband's first major team. "Liz and I were just talking about this the other day, about the deciding factor in why we went with Igor and Liz Coates," Swallow said. "One of the reasons is that they saw that we hadn't reached our potential yet. We were wrapped up in the political depression of it all, of working so hard and not moving up, that they helped our focus. They were like, 'Let's focus on what you can improve -- your skating -- and we'll be able to sell your talent to the rest of the world.' " Punsalan and Swallow won four U.S. titles under Shpilband, and competed in four world championships and the 1994 and 1998 Olympics. They were seventh at the 1998 Nagano games. That was a bonanza year for the Detroit Skating Club. Shpilband also coached the second America ice dance team, while Richard Callaghan coached Tara Lipinski to the Olympic ladies gold medal and Todd Eldredge to a fourth-place finish in the men's event. "He's always had a unique, creative eye," Swallow said of Shpilband, now a U.S. citizen. "When he puts a program together, it stands out as compared to other ice dancers. It's a distinctive look that he can produce." For the last nine years, Zoueva has been working with Shpilband, and her influence -- and organizational skills -- have strengthened the quality of their teams in Canton. "We have a common goal," he said. "We want our skaters to be the best. That is what we strive for every day together." Swallow said he always was amused when coaches and others associated with the sport think that there was a rivalry among metro Detroit's three top clubs. "Everyone has grown strong enough that we all can stand on our own," he said. "There's a respect there between each of the clubs because of the quality that's being produced. There's a good history among all of us. "From an international point of view, I'm sure people think that because of our unique situation, they wonder why there's not more competition. Well, we don't have to play those games. "We know how hard we all work." Contact JO-ANN BARNAS: 313-222-2037 or jbarnas@freepress.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Posted: 14 Feb 2010 09:59 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.
Nor did my husband, Mr. T. Happy Valentine's Day, honey! You are the best husband that ever husbanded! Have I mentioned that? Look! I got you some Women's 3,000 Meter Speed Skating to show you how much I love you! Which is what we will begin with tonight. And I assume that because Apolo Ono isn't competing tonight, we're just cutting to the chase and beginning mid-competition, not bothering to fuss with the preliminary heats or any of the lamer racers. The Czech Republic and Japan are up first and apparently, Japan and Czech Republic crashed into one other pretty badly about a year ago on this same track so NOW IT'S A GRUDGE MATCH. But not really. And wait, what is going on with the Japanese skater's suit? I feel like I'm seeing a lot ... more of her than I should be through that gold spandex. Happy Valentine's Day, y'all! Here's Miss Japan's ... area. The announcers keep warning me that there is A LOT MORE SPEED SKATING TO GO, which, while I like skating fine, only comes off more as a threat than anything. The Czech Republic wins probably because she wasn't having to worry about people seeing her lady business. A Canadian skater, Kristina Groves, is skating against some German and O LOOK! DONALD SUTHERLAND! He's here because he's Canadian! Which we learned in the Opening Ceremonies as he intoned some poetic somesuch over whales and maple leaves and You Tube slam poets. The big story is that Canada would very much like to get a gold medal on their home territory, something that has never happened, and were really really close to doing it last night UNTIL THAT HANNAH AMERICAFACE STOLE JENN HEIL'S BIG MOMENT. GAH. Always ugly, the Americans, with their lack of respect for Canada's Big Moment. But, not only does the Czech Republic lady beat Groves' time, but a German does too, so no gold for Canada. Not just yet. (And you can't blame the Americans this time around, Canada. Also, note that the Czech Republic lady celebrated by running around with her flag. So it's not just another jerky American thing that Americans do, it's kinda a thing that everyone does at the Olympics.) Ooh! Figure Skating! The Pairs Short Program! Which is one of like a zillion figure skating competitons that we will have in the next couple of weeks. Which is fine, because figure skating with the outfits and the divas and the bedazzled and the prissiness is what the Olympics should be about, frankly. Apparently, one of the Chinese couples, Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue, are the big favorites in tonight's competition amongst the judges and NBC, what with Their Story: They're old! They're married! It's Valentine's Day! It's Chinese New Year! IT'S DESTINY! Listen, I don't know much about figure skating. True fact: I've never put on ice skates in my life. So, I am completely dependent on Scott Hamilton to let me know if everything is going alright, and he's yelling a lot about the Chinese team nailing it, so I suppose it's going well. Seeing as no one fell, I guess he's right. Sure enough, Zhao and Shen rack up the highest scores in the history of ever, so yay! ????! Luge happens. I have a hard time watching this for a number of reasons: 1. The obvious 2. I really don't get luge. How much control do these guys have? Isn't it all about momentum? Can they see where they're going? 3. I'm terrified to drive 88 miles an hour, it gives me heart palpitations to watch someone go that fast on a sled wearing socks and a helmet. A bunch of Germans win. And we have yet another tribute to Nodar, and more talk about how his death has tinged the games with sadness and how he didn't really think he'd win anything but that he wanted an opportunity to fight well in the games and I am crying all over again. Bring back the figure skating. American figure skaters, Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett! And LOOK! Joe Biden! Peggy Fleming! Jeremy Barrett is apparently dating Amanda Evora, who is on the other American team, so happy Valentine's Day to them! Scott Hamilton isn't shrieking about how they're "nailing it," so I guess they're not doing that well, and everyone is talking about how Caydee messed up but, as long as she didn't land on her face, I think she did pretty great. Some Russian figure skating pair comes out and sorta half-performs and they aren't particularly in sync, or seemingly even interested in being there and I'm not saying that Mr. T and I could have done a better job except that that's exactly what I'm saying. O LOOK! More Dreamworks Next up in the Pairs Figure Skating: US silver medalists, Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig! Fun fact: Mark Ladwig has a lot of jobs! He's struggling to make ends meet! Isn't that funny! NBC thinks it's hilarious that in these hard economic times, our Olympic atheletes have to find work as zamboni drivers and DJs! HARDEE HAR HAR, NBC. As for Amanda Evora, girlfriend of other American skater guy, she's from Sugar Land! H-townish represent! Oh, and also, she had so many bruises as a child from skating practice that her teachers thought she was abused. HAR HAR HAR! Child abuse is funny. EXCEPT THAT IT TOTALLY ISN'T, NBC. Amanda and Mark are not skating to "Endless Love," but I wish they were because that would be awesome. Scott Hamilton is pretty excited about their jumps and spins and lifts and stuff and as far as I can tell they look as good as the Chinese but the announcers are saying things like "well they had fun!" and "they did as well as they could have hoped to!" so I guess it wasn't as good as I thought it was? But then they're suddenly in second place which shouldn't be shocking considering how blah the Russians were, but this surprises our announcers very very much in any event. Now the Canadians, Anabelle Langlois & Cody Hay who have "courage" and "toughness" because Anabelle broke her ankle once. We spend a lot of time exclaiming over the jumps and how they relate to Anabelle's ankle. The crowd is very proud of Anabelle's ankle who promptly knocks our Americans into third place. Men's Moguls! But before we get to that, here we go again. Boo hoo. Jenn Heil didn't win gold last night. She was supposed to. And the Americans ruined everything. Wah. The men do all the mogul craziness with the hopping and the flipping and the speeding and as a very limited skiier that begins whimpering at the mere sight of a mogul, I have nothing but respect for these crazy people who do this. They are crazy crazy people with little to no regard for their personal safety or their knee cartilage. Bob Costas interviews Hannah Kearney because we just want to rub rub more salt into Canada's Heil wounds. For laffs. Back to the crazies over at the Men's Moguls. So here's an awesome story: the handsome "Australian," mogul skiier, Dale Begg-Smith, has a dual citizenship with Canada, but he skiis for Australia. See, when Dale was 15, he started a spam business (booo! hisssss!) that made him piles and piles and piles of cash. But his Canadian ski coaches were haters and questioned his commitment to skiing. Dale was like, you know what? Fine. Smell ya later, Canada. And took his skiis and skillz and his handsomeness and his millions to Australia, and won the gold for them in 2006. NBC keeps insisting on calling him an "international man of mystery," mostly because he doesn't like to do press conferences, and they make a big hoo-ha about how this Canadian-now-Australian will do tonight. Have I mentioned how much I love these packages that NBC does? Because I looooove them and I'm not even lying. Once the competiton begins, the Americans take turns wiping out on the moguls, and the Candians make amazingness, but then Dale Begg-Smith shows up and knocks the Canadians out of first place, and then Bryan Wilson from America manages to not fall on his face, and finds himself in second, but then Alexandre Bilodeau of Canada comes and does a bunch of jumps that were absolutely stunning and he moves into first place, AND CANADA MIGHT FINALLY HAVE ITS HOME TURF GOLD, BUT WAIT! There's one more competitor! Just like last night, when the Americans came and STOLE JENN HEIL'S MEDAL! But this time it's a Frenchman! And he's good! And fast! Really fast! So fast, in fact, that he has the fastest time down the mountain yet! BUT! DRAMA! The Frenchman doesn't grab his ski or something in his fancy jump, so what will happen? WHAT WILL HAPPEN? And after a moment as Canada's hearts collectively stop while they wait for the judges, the announcement is made! Canada wins it! Canada finally wins its first gold medal on home soil, ever! And look at me, I'm actually happy for Canada. Yay, Canada! Hey! Have you ever heard of this Apolo Ono fellow? Well, NBC would like to spend 6 or 7 minutes telling you about him in case you somehow had no idea who he is. Back to pairs skating: Russian skaters Maria Mukhortova & Maxim Trankov apparently hate one another so much they have to see a sports psychologist. This strikes me as hilarious. Also, I suspect that they're going to be spending some more time in the shrink's office after Maxim splats on the ice. I see some anger issues in Maria's future. Still, they knock our Americans out of third place which is kinda nonsense, but whatever. The Ukranian skaters come out in shiny Sue Sylvester track suits, and the dude falls and then Scott Hamilton says a bunch of catty things about him and what is this music they are skating to which the moaning and crying? Weird. Yet another set of Russians come out, Yuko Kavaguti & Alexander Smirnov, wearing some sort of bird outfits which since they're skating to "La Cygne" is not particularly original or anything, but they're lovely and they don't fall on their faces, and they score well, despite the lack of originality in those outfits. Jessica Dubé & Bryce Davison, who are Canadian to the delight of the crowd, come out, and she falls, but they're cute and charming as Canadians are wont to be, and they score really well to everyone's shock. The last two Chinese pairs come out and perform close to flawlessly, although some of the moves the last pair performed with the legs and the were, um, "dynamic" as they announcers like to say. Happy Valentine's Day! The Germans, Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy, NOT ONLY ARE WEARING HARLEQUIN COSTUMES, BUT ARE SKATING TO "SEND IN THE CLOWNS." And now I am in love with the Germans. Not only did they embrace the kitsch, they journeyed through the thick of it, and came out the other side into awesomeness. And landed themselves in second place for their trouble. And then we're apparently done with that, because here we are at Hannah Kearney's medal award ceremony, but Bob Costas and this other chucklehead are burbling about how moving it will be to hear the Star Spangled Banner instead of just SHOWING US THE CEREMONY, but then once it does play, Pinkie, the Bronze medal winner, steals the show by screaming the words behind Hannah Kearney. Way to go, Pinkie! I guess you didn't get enough attention for your X-TREME hair color? And then Bob Costas starts yammering about how much he bets Jenn Heil wishes she won the gold, AND O RLY, BOB? YOU THINK? YOU THINK JENN HEIL WISHES SHE HAD WON THE GOLD INSTEAD OF THE SILVER? That is some gold-medal commentary right there, Costas. Gold-medal. Check in with us tomorrow for Pairs Free Skate, Alpine Skiing, more Speedskating and DUDE, SNOWBOARDING. - Posted by Therese Odell Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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