Olympic Gold

With the Vancouver Olympics now in the books -- capped in terrific fashion by the gold-medal hockey final -- the overall medal count revealed some interesting numbers.

Team USA had a fantastic Olympics by all accounts, breaking the all-time record for medals won by any country in a Winter Olympics with 37. Of those medals, 28 were silver and bronze. The U.S. excelled across the board, especially in sports such as alpine skiing and speed skating, not to mention the total surprise in Nordic combined.

As for Canada, the host country's financially-backed attempt to "Own the Podium" received a lot of scrutiny, and was mocked heavily when the Canadian team got off to a slow start. But Canada cleaned up in the last week of the Games, finishing with 26 total medals, good for third behind the U.S. and Germany. However, 14 of those medals were gold, breaking the record for most gold medals won by any country in a Winter Olympics. Canada clearly redeemed itself with the latter statistic, although it does raise an interesting question -- which is the more significant achievement? Is it the 37 total medals for the U.S. or the 14 gold medals for Canada? It could be argued that, in a way, Canada did "own the podium" based on head-to-head competition. What do you think?

One other noteworthy item from the medal count (aside from minor breakthroughs by countries such as Belarus and Latvia) was the disappointment of the Russian team, which happens to be the host of the next Winter Games in 2014 in Sochi. Russia won only 15 total medals and only 3 gold, placing them sixth in the overall standings. Russian athletic officials took a lot of heat for their performance in Vancouver, and they have 4 years to fix their internal and structural problems to avoid being embarrassed on home soil.

With the closing ceremony scheduled for tonight in Vancouver, there are still 2 more medals to be given away.

First up is the men's 50-kilometer mass start in cross country, which is designed as the Olympics' ultimate endurance test. It is a marathon on skis, except a little longer in terms of the distance covered. It's always a signature event for the Winter Olympics.

The final event, of course, is one that's been buzzed about for a week in Vancouver, and for much longer in some circles. It's been a week since the U.S. upset Canada 5-3 in men's hockey, and today both teams get a rematch for the gold medal. It is a chance for revenge for Canada, and an opportunity for the Americans to prove that the result in pool play was no fluke. Either way, it's been a fantastic tournament for the young U.S. squad, which is unbeaten and comes off a 6-1 trouncing of Finland in the semifinals.

Canada defeated the U.S. for the gold medal in Salt Lake City in 2002. The Americans haven't won gold since 1980 in Lake Placid. I've mentioned plenty of times before about how the men's hockey tournament is the single most important event of these Games to the Canadian public, and they expect their all-star squad to win gold. Period. Add in the rivalry factor between the teams, and this should be a classic matchup. The game gets under way at 2:00 CT.

It's my final morning here, packing everything up and preparing to check out of the hotel so I can leave for the airport and head home. My first Olympic experience has been an absolute blast from beginning to end. I've been very busy between blogging and writing for the daily paper, but if this was my full-time job, I'd probably never want a day off.

At any rate, I've really enjoyed sharing my experiences in Vancouver with you all, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading about them. This is a wonderful city with some extremely friendly people, and I wasn't able to come close to seeing everything I wanted to see. I'm definitely planning a trip back here in the future. Vancouver did itself proud with its hospitality during the past 2 weeks, and I don't think I'm just saying that because I walked around town with a media credential around my neck.

I really appreciate the hard work of my co-workers back at the DRC office, who were able to keep our daily machine humming along even with me being gone for 10 days during one of the busiest times of the year. The work ethic and positive attitude they showed is something for which I'm very grateful. For a journalist from a paper as small as the DRC to travel to a foreign country to cover the Olympics is unusual, and I also thank my bosses at the paper for the opportunity.

The Olympics aren't quite over, of course. There is plenty of competition still on tap today and tomorrow, and lots of medals still to be handed out before the closing ceremony. So I'll keep the blog going from the home front until the flame goes out here in Vancouver. Keep checking back, and leave comments as always.

What a great moment tonight for Jordan Malone and the U.S. short track speed skating team, which earned a bronze medal after a great race in the 5,000-meter relay behind Canada and South Korea in an electric atmosphere at Pacific Coliseum.

Earning a medal offered some redemption for Jordan after he was disqualified in the 1,500 and fell in the 500 preliminary heats earlier in these Olympics. He finally got to skate his race, to show the world what he can do. And to come home with a medal in his Olympic debut is something that very few of us will never experience, and a feeling we'll never know.

Jordan was absolutely elated, as you might imagine. He took one victory lap with a U.S. flag and another with a Texas flag. He pumped his fist upon receiving the medal, then rushed into the stands to give it to his mom, Peggy Aitken, who has always been his biggest supporter and who Jordan will tell you is the unsung hero in his Olympic journey.

After the race, Jordan told me what a great experience it was to share the medal with his teammates, who he considers family. Apolo Ohno is the most decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history. But the rest of his teammates - J.R. Celski, Travis Jayner and Simon Cho - are first-time Olympians like Jordan. Cho received a medal since he skated in Jordan's place in the semifinals.

Another thing he told me afterward is about how he has his sights set on the 2014 Olympics, which will be held in Sochi, Russia. He would be 29 by that time, but said he still has plenty of unfinished business when it comes to individual races in the Olympics, and has plenty of hunger to match.

It's the same hunger that has allowed Jordan to overcome numerous injuries and setbacks during his career. After all, he's short and skinny, and doesn't have the look of an Olympian until you see him with a medal around his neck. He has a work ethic and a resiliency that's unmatched, so don't be surprised if Jordan makes the team again in Sochi.

By the way, the U.S. team as a whole broke its record for short track medals in Vancouver with 6, including 4 in men's races. They certainly did their part for Team USA, which is poised to break the record for most medals won by any country in a single Winter Olympics over the weekend.

Jordan Malone and the U.S. 5,000-meter relay team won a bronze medal in the final, which just concluded moments ago. I'll be back with more about the race and Jordan's thoughts later tonight, after I've finished on deadline for the DRC. The medal ceremonies are taking place right now.

Canada won the gold and South Korea took silver. The Americans sat in fourth place among five teams for much of the race but made a late pass to get into medal contention.

The start list for the final of men's 5,000 relay has just been issued, and Jordan Malone is in the U.S. lineup that will race for a gold medal against teams from China, Canada, South Korea and France.

The American quartet also includes Apolo Ohno, J.R. Celski and Travis Jayner. That's a slight change from the preliminary information issued earlier today, which had 18-year-old Simon Cho racing instead of Jayner.

The race is scheduled to begin shortly before 10:00 CT.

Both U.S. entries in the semifinals advanced through their heats. Apolo Ohno just won his heat in the men's 500, and Katherine Reutter ran second in her 1,000 semifinal. Both will race for medals in just a while.

We've got our first break from the action here at Pacific Coliseum as we prepare for the semifinals of the men's 500 and the women's 1,000. For the U.S., Apolo Ohno advances to the semis in the 500, while Simon Cho was eliminated in the quarterfinals that just concluded.

On the women's side, Katherine Reutter of the U.S. advanced in impressive fashion in the 1,000 quarterfinals by winning her heat.

Tonight will be the final and biggest night of short track speed skating here in Vancouver. I'm at Pacific Coliseum, I believe in the exact same seat I had on Wednesday night, ready to see 3 medals handed out in the men's 500 meters, women's 1,000 and the men's 5,000 relay.

I'll blog with updates as often as possible, but with the late start time tonight of 8:00 CT, plus with all 3 medal ceremonies taking place at the arena tonight (for the first time -- usually they are held downtown at the BC Place stadium), I will under tight deadlines for tomorrow's DRC. So bear with me.

It's about 30 minutes until the action gets under way, and the skaters are on the ice warming up. Jordan Malone fans need to pay attention around 9:45, when the relay final is scheduled to start. Jordan is still expected to compete as part of the U.S. team, and I'll update you immediately if I hear otherwise.

The 2 individual events will have quarterfinal, semifinal and final heats tonight. Among the Americans in action will be Apolo Ohno and Simon Cho in the men's 500 and Katherine Reutter in the women's 1,000.

Time for me to make sure this Internet connection, which is acting a little balky tonight, is fully functional. So I'll return with more in a bit.

As we've alluded to before, both in the paper and on this here blog, Denton native Jordan Malone has one more chance to win an Olympic medal, and that comes tonight in the finals of the men's 5,000-meter relay. The Americans are one of 5 teams in the final, and it will be worth watching. Trust me.

A few people have asked me whether Jordan will actually skate tonight after he was pulled at the last minute from the U.S. lineup in the semifinals last week by head coach Jae Su Chun, who said he wanted to allow some other skaters to gain experience before the finals.

Obviously Chun wants to go with his best lineup for the finals, in which the U.S. will face medal favorites such as South Korea and Canada, and he's told me that Jordan is in those plans. The preliminary lineup for the U.S. includes Jordan along with Apolo Ohno, J.R. Celski and 18-year-old Simon Cho. That would leave Travis Jayner on the sidelines.

As soon as I get the official start list at the arena tonight, I will update accordingly on the blog. But I won't know until probably about 30 minutes before race time. The relay final is the final short track event at these Olympics, and it will begin sometime between 9:45 and 10:00 CT tonight. The medal ceremony will follow immediately at the venue instead of taking place the following day downtown at BC Place, as with most events.

I know Jordan is looking forward to redeeming himself, and more importantly showing his full capability on his sport's highest stage, after disappointing results in the 1,500 heats (disqualification) and the 500 heats (crash). Let's hope he gets that opportunity.

The conditions are horrendous today at Cypress Mountain, with steady rain and very limited visibility, leaving the PGS course bumpy and icy. The result has seen several competitors wipe out as the day has progressed, making things very unpredictable. It has also caused many of the spectators to flee the stands early, leaving a small but enthusiastic group for the final few races.

In the end, it was Nicolien Sauerbreij of the Netherlands who won the gold medal, beating out Russia's Ekaterina Ilyukhina. Michelle Gorgone of the U.S. was eliminated in the first round of the finals by Ilyukhina.

As for me, I've got a few hours to dry off, head down the mountain, switch shuttle buses and progress over to Pacific Coliseum for some short track speed skating.

It's my final full day here in Vancouver, and I'll head back to Texas tomorrow afternoon. I'm a little tired physically, with a blister on my foot to show for all the walking I've done here (although, it must be said, I'm doing a much better job of navigating the public transportation system here than I did in the first few days here), but mentally I'm still sharp and my spirits are still high, ready for another full day of Olympic competition.

My first stop today is the same as my last stop yesterday. It's Cypress Mountain, located geographically not too far outside the city but the elevation difference offers quite a change in climate. Plenty of snow on the ground here, but the conditions are foggy with a steady rain falling.

Today's event is snowboarding, and more specifically the women's parallel giant slalom. It's sort of a hybrid of snowboardcross and regular slalom skiing, where 2 people navigate a short slalom course on snowboards, side by side, and first one to the bottom wins.

First-round heats have just wrapped up, with the field narrowed down to 16 qualifiers for the final bracket, which gets under way in about 30 minutes, at 2:15 CT. The U.S. has only one entry today, and that's Michelle Gorgone, who did make it into the finals. Meanwhile, Germany and Austria have stacked the deck by putting four athletes apiece in the final 16, so we'll consider them the favorites. In particular, I'll keep an eye on Austria's Doris Guenther, 31, who competed in both PGS (as this is known) and snowboardcross in 2006 in Turin.

I'll head out to the finish line after a while, and report back with an update here in a bit.

I referred earlier to the country of Belarus being a powerhouse in men's aerials. It had won 3 medals in the event coming into Vancouver, more than any other country. I'm not sure why that is, and wasn't able to find out during my time at the venue earlier tonight.

But it seems fitting that the country's most veteran performer in the sport, 30-year-old Alexei Grishin, was the man to win the first-ever gold medal in a Winter Olympics for Belarus. He narrowly beat out American Jeret "Speedy" Peterson for the gold.

Grishin will be an Olympic hero when he returns home. This was his fourth Olympics (and he said afterward that he might return again for 2014), and he had earned a bronze in Salt Lake in 2002. And while Peterson had the night's most dazzling jump, it was Grishin's consistency that landed him atop the podium and earned him a place in history.

Everybody loves a good comeback story, and Jeret "Speedy" Peterson has one. He was the winner of the silver medal for the United States tonight in the freestyle skiing men's aerials event at Cypress Mountain. You can read my story about him in tomorrow's DRC.

But to summarize briefly, Peterson competed in Turin 4 years ago with high expectations but finished seventh. He then suffered the embarrassment of being kicked out of the Olympics by the USOC after he got into a drunken altercation the next day. It was part of a series of personal problems he was going through at the time.

Now 28, Peterson has since gotten clean and turned his life around. And he was able to exorcise his Olympic demons by landing the very trick that cost him a spot on the medal podium 3 years ago. It's known as "The Hurricane," and it's basically the highest degree-of-difficulty maneuver in a sport where judging determines score. He botched the landing in 2006, which dropped him from third to seventh. On Thursday, he landed it, which moved him from fifth to second.

I could tell in talking to him afterward that he not only was grateful for the second chance (actually, it was his third Olympic appearance), but also saw his medal as a symbol of his redemption. Good for him.

Everybody loves a good comeback story, and Jeret "Speedy" Peterson has one. He was the winner of the silver medal for the United States tonight in the freestyle skiing men's aerials event at Cypress Mountain. You can read my story about him in tomorrow's DRC.

But to summarize briefly, Peterson competed in Turin 4 years ago with high expectations but finished seventh. He then suffered the embarrassment of being kicked out of the Olympics by the USOC after he got into a drunken altercation the next day. It was part of a series of personal problems he was going through at the time.

Now 28, Peterson has since gotten clean and turned his life around. And he was able to exorcise his Olympic demons by landing the very trick that cost him a spot on the medal podium 3 years ago. It's known as "The Hurricane," and it's basically the highest degree-of-difficulty maneuver in a sport where judging determines score. He botched the landing in 2006, which dropped him from third to seventh. On Thursday, he landed it, which moved him from fifth to second.

I could tell in talking to him afterward that he not only was grateful for the second chance (actually, it was his third Olympic appearance), but also saw his medal as a symbol of his redemption. Good for him.

What an Olympics it has been for the U.S. team in the sport of Nordic combined. The sport, which has been part of the Games for more than 80 years, combines the disciplines of ski jumping and cross country skiing. Two weeks ago, the U.S. somehow had never won an Olympic medal in it. Now, it has 4.

That's right, Team USA took 4 of the 9 Nordic combined medals given away at Whistler Olympic Park. It's a phenomenal effort, particularly when you consider that the U.S. is not traditionally strong in either ski jumping or cross country skiing.

In today's final event, the large hill/10km combination, Bill Demong won the first-ever U.S. gold in Nordic combined, while teammate Johnny Spillane took silver. Spillane also won a silver in the normal hill event last week, and the Americans won another silver in the team event on Tuesday.

Let's hope this group, even though their sport is obscure compared to hockey or skiing or figure skating, is not overlooked when the story of these Olympics is told from an American perspective. Their contribution to the U.S. medal haul has been simply amazing.

After more than a week in Vancouver, I have finally made it to Cypress Mountain, which is part of Cypress Provincial Park, located just a short distance north of the city. Obviously we're at a much higher elevation here, and the rain that has fallen in Vancouver since Tuesday has resulted in significant snowfall here.

This is the venue for snowboard and freestyle skiing at the Olympics, and tonight's event is the finals of the men's aerials, which has been a full medal sport since 1994. It's a sport that requires a combination of skiing ability along with an X-Games sort of twist, as competitors will execute a jump that is judged on execution and degree of difficulty. It's fun to watch.

Tonight's competition is the medal round, and there are only 12 competitors, so expect the action to move quickly. That's a good thing, because the conditions here are pretty lousy, with rain falling and a thick fog setting in. While the clouds broke and gave way to sunshine in Vancouver today, that hasn't happened here. I'm not sure how this will affect the competition, but it can't be a favorable development.

This is the final freestyle skiing event on the Olympic schedule, following moguls and ski cross, which made its Olympic debut here in Vancouver. Lydia Lassila of Australia took gold in the women's competition last night. Australia, by the way, has won 3 medals so far at these Olympics, and all 3 have come at this venue.

The field of 12 includes athletes representing only 5 countries. There are two Americans in the field, including Ryan St. Onge, who is in second place after the first round. There are 3 competitiors each from China, Canada and Belarus, which is for some reason a powerhouse in this sport. The other medal contender comes from Switzerland.

The good thing about tonight is that we should see everyone's most difficult jumps, which are judged in a similar manner to diving, as best I can tell. The action will get under way in about 30 minutes, so I'll bundle up and get a spot at the bottom of the hill, then return afterward for some additional analysis.

Both women's curling semifinals have moved along at a quick pace, and it appears we're on track for a Canada-Sweden showdown in the gold medal game, as I expected.

Sweden, the defending gold medalist, has just finished off a convincing 9-4 win over China in one semifinal, while Canada is leading Switzerland 6-4 after 9 ends of play in the other, thanks to a great shot by skip Cheryl Bernard to give Canada a cushion. That game still could go either way, since Switzerland will have the hammer (or last rock) in the final end, so I'll stick around to make sure.

Tonight I'm planning to make my first trip to the Cypress Mountain area for some men's aerials competition in freestyle skiing. It should be a fun experience, so I'll check back in at that time, barring an upset here.

The women's curling semifinals are about to get under way, with the teams having completed their warmups and currently marching on to the floor with the usual bagpipe introductions that are pretty cool.

The matchups today include host Canada (which finished 8-1 in round-robin play) vs. Switzerland (6-3) and China (7-2) vs. Sweden (6-3). The winners will play for the gold medal tomorrow, and the losers for bronze. The men's semifinals are scheduled for 4:00 CT today.

It appears most in the crowd are focused on the Canada-Switzerland game for obvious reasons, but my seat is right next to the sheet for the China-Sweden game, so that's the one I'll probably track most closely. Sweden defeated China last week in the round-robin, but China is the only team to beat Canada, so it should be a good game. Sweden is the more experienced of the two sides, having won gold in 2006 in Turin, while China has never won a medal in curling.

On the other side, Canada is the favorite, and they will have the benefit of home-ice advantage, as they have for the entire tournament. The crowd noise at this intimate venue has caused quite a stir during the Olympics, with a raucous level of cheering that more resembles a hockey game than your usual curling game. The crowd is supposed to be quieter, especially as rocks are being shot, but the audiences here -- which are generally much younger than the average curling crowd, by the way -- have sometimes let their passion get the better of them. At one Canadian men's game this week, the crowd even began singing 'O Canada' during the middle of an end.

Some of the opponents have said the enthusiasm is good for curling, while others have complained. Either way, it makes for an interesting atmosphere. The spectators this morning seem more subdued than those at the men's game I attended the other day. We'll see if they stay that way later in the game.

Not the people this time, but the baseball team. I just took a stroll around Nat Bailey Stadium next door to satisfy my own curiosity. I wasn't able to do that previously since it was dark the last time I was here.

It's a small ball yard with a distinctly old-time feel. Nothing fancy about it by any means, and not a lot of seating, either. It does seem to have a lot of historial baseball signage and such, but some of it has been covered and/or obscured by fences and temporary buildings for the Olympics. There was an emblem signifying 100 years of minor league baseball in Vancouver, so I guess that's something.

Turns out the stadium was built in 1952, and has been used pretty continuously since then. It also has a manually operated scoreboard, one of the few of its kind still in use. The team plays in the Northwest League along with teams such as Boise, Spokane and Eugene.

So there you go! Something else for me to put down on my itinerary for a future trip to Vancouver.