Grazie Torino, Grazie Italia!!!
Thanks for a wonderful 2 weeks of fun, sports, and a celebration of humanity at its greatest!
The 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino came to a close last night at the Stadio Olimpico. And what a closing ceremony it was.
We had ‘Pagliacci‘ Clowns in a Carnival atmosphere, Italian Opera with Human Tarot Cards, dancers, Andrew Boccelli , Avril ‘call-me-sweetheart-and-I’ll-kick-your-ass’ Lavigne, [not forgetting] Ricky Martin shaking his ‘bon-bons, vintage Fiats, flying performers, and top top it off, fireworks that lit up the Torino night sky.
IOC president Jacques Rogge’s closing speech was briefly interrupted by an intruder who went …read more

There we go…no moh ohno jokes…
Apolo Ohno finally won his first Gold at these Winter Games by taking the Men’s 500m Short Track event.
All competitors were so pumped up for the ‘Superbowl’ of the Short Track event that there were two false starts. But as soon as the race started, Apolo clawed his way to an early lead in the first corner and was uncatchable.

It was a close battle for Ohno and the Canadians in the 500m event(Source: NBC)

The 2006 Winter Olympics is one Bode Miller wants to forget.
Coming in as the Poster Child of the American delegation, Miller exits the game, frustrated, ego-bruised, and empty-handed.

Some Miller would be great for Bode right about now… (Source: Newsweek Magazine)
This is not a slam on Bode, he is still a great athlete. But looking back, it would have been great had he exercised a little shrewd discretion, a little more caution.
So, what happened really?

The Czech Republic wins the Bronze in a lopesided game!!!
The Gold Medal Game between Sweden and Finland is tomorrow. DON’T MISS IT!!!

A tough fight for a Bronze Medal Finish (Source: NBC)
Czech Republic beats Russia 3-0

It will be an exciting day for Canada because by the end of the day .. Canada will have reached a historic 20 Medals here at the 2006 Winter Olympics, thanks to Brad Gushue and the rest of Team Canada Men’s Curling Team.
I thought I would refresh the Canadians out there reading this post, on past Olympic medal accomplishments. Lately, I keep hearing (even though it probably is true most times), that there have been a lot of disappointing moments so far by Canadian Athletes during these Olympics … 4th place, disqualifications, upsets, illnesses, and there’s no reason to mention …read more

O.K. , since nobody seems to think Figure Skating is a sport, much less want to cover it, I’ll do the readers a favor by writing the story.
Over the last couple of days, after a tough back-and-forth battle for first place between Sasha Cohen (U.S.) and Irina Slutskaya (Russia), many were stunned when Shizuka Arakawa (Japan) quietly took the Gold away from the two.

Cohen, Arakawa, and Slutskaya performing their programs(Source: NBC)

Xiaopeng Han’s (China) aerial acrobatics propelled him to first place in the Men’s Aerial Freestyle Skiing event. Han’s total score was 250.77, 2.09 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Dmitry Dashinski (Belarus), and 4.01 ahead of the bronze medalist, Vladimir Lebedev (Russia).

The ‘Hurricane’ a la Peterson (Source: AP Photo)

American Jeret “Speedy” Peterson’s signature move, the Hurricane, didn’t win him first place but inspired awe and admiration in all those present.

What is it with the Swiss and Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom (PGS)?
After the SHEER, “SCHOCHING” victories of the Schoch Brothers yesterday, Swiss Miss Daniela Meuli took the Gold at the same event today.

Meuli competing at a pre-Olympic event (Source: NBC)

American Rosey Fletcher took the Bronze, vindicating the U.S. Men’s defeat yesterday. By the way, though Tyler Jewell didn’t win the PGS event, his struggles and story of determination is a must-read.

Meuli went head-to-head with Fletcher in the semifinals. The former snowboarded to an easy victory after Fletcher fell. The same thing happened to her competitor, Silver Medalist …read more

The Schoch Brothers (SUI) of Philipp and Simon took HOME (literrally) the Gold and Silver in the Snowboarding Parallel Giant Slalom (PGS) event. No prize for guessing correctly for whom mom and dad rooted?

The victorious Schoch brothers (Source: NBC)

The results of the Men’s Hockey Quarterfinals are in:
Sweden (B3) beats Switzerland (A2) 6-2
Finland (A1) beats United States (B4) 4-3
Russia (B2) beats Canada (A3) 2-0
Czech Republic (A4) beats Slovakia (B1) 3-1

So, Finland meets Russia and Sweden meets the Czech Republic in the Men’s Semifinals on Friday (Feb. 24).