Vancouver Winter Olympics - News and Views

[Sheriff Roland]

medal standing, early day 14              (bold indicates new victories in previous 24 hours)
          
                            gold  silver  bronze  total
1  United States     8     12     12        32
2  Germany             8     11      7         26
3  Norway               7      6       6         19
4  Canada               8      6       3         17
5  Russia                  3      4        6         13
6  Austria               4      3       5         12
7  South Korea       6      4       1         11
8  France                  2      3       5          10
9  China                   4      2       3          9
10 Switzerland           6      0       2          8
10 Sweden                4      2       2          8
12 Netherlands          3       1       2         6
13 Czech Republic      2      0        3         5
14 Poland                  0      3        1         4
14 Japan                  0      2       2         4
14 Italy                      0      1        3         4
17 Australia               2       1       0         3
17 Slovakia                1       1       1         3
17 Belarus                1       1      1         3
17 Slovenia               0      2       1        3
17 Finland                 0       1       2        3
22 Latvia                    0       2       0        2
22 Croatia                  0       1       1        2
24 Great Britain          1       0       0         1
24 Estonia                  0       1       0         1
24 Kazakhstan            0       1       0         1

[CellarDweller]

The little 16 year old American skater Nagasu was robbed.  She was far and away the better skater than the bronze medalist. 

But I guess being Canadian and having her mother die four days earlier earned the bronze medalist the sympathy vote.

This is nothing new in the sport of figure skating.

1995 World Championships, Michelle Kwan was at her 2nd World Championships at 14.  I believe she was the youngest competitor.

She skated cleanly, and landed 7 or 8 triple jumps.  However, the judges were not impressed with her lack of maturity or her lack of speed, and placed her 4th.

Even the commentators sounded surprised at the results.

[Jeff Wrangler]

But I guess being Canadian and having her mother die four days earlier earned the bronze medalist the sympathy vote.

Well, that answered my question. I'm not following these things, but I thought I heard it said on the morning news that she had won a medal, but I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly, and I hadn't heard which medal.

[Sheriff Roland]

medal standing, early day 15              (bold indicates new victories in previous 24 hours)
         
                            gold  silver  bronze  total
1  United States     8     13     13        34
2  Germany             9     11      7         27
3  Canada              10      7       4         21            Leading in the gold medal category for the 1st time - ever
4  Norway               8      6       6         19
5  Austria               4      5       6         15
5  Russia                 3     5        7         15
7  South Korea       6      6       2         13
8  China                   5      2       4         11
9  France                  2      3       5          10
10 Sweden              5      2       2          9
11 Switzerland          6      0        2          8
12 Netherlands       4      1        2         7
13 Czech Republic   2      0        4         6
14 Poland                  0      3        1         4
14 Japan                   0       2       2         4
14 Italy                      0      1        3         4
17 Australia               2       1       0         3
17 Slovakia                1       1       1         3
17 Belarus                 1       1       1         3
17 Slovenia                0      2        1        3
17 Finland                  0       1       2        3
22 Latvia                    0       2       0        2
22 Croatia                  0       1       1        2
24 Great Britain          1       0       0         1
24 Estonia                  0       1       0         1
24 Kazakhstan            0       1       0         1

[Front-Ranger]

Awesome!!

[Berit]

Proud as I don't know what.......Swedish ladies curling team won!! Hurray!!

[Marge_Innavera]

Canada's #1 with gold medals -- way ta go!   

[Sheriff Roland]

And now, there are two more gold medals: one in parallel grand slam (snowboard) and another in speed skating (team pursuit).

making it 12 gold medals

And men's curling and hockey have yet to be factored in!!!

There's a good possibility for us to reach 14 gold medals - and I believe that that would be a record for any country at a single Winter Olympic!

[Sheriff Roland]

Not quite yet, but

http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2010/02/27/riding-a-late-surge-canada-breaks-record-for-most-gold-medals-by-any-winter-olympic-host-80049/

Riding a late surge, Canada breaks record for most gold medals by any Winter Olympic host

Triumphs by the men’s pursuit speedskating team and by slalom snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson gave Canada 12 golds — breaking the host-nation mark of 10 shared by the United States in Salt Lake City in 2002 and Norway in Lillehammer in 1994.

It also marks the most gold medals Canada has won at any Olympics — winter or summer. Its previous high was 10 at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, which were boycotted by the Soviet Union and its allies.

There may be more golds to come. Both the men’s curling team and the men’s hockey team have reached the gold-medal matches in their events. Should Canada win both, it would have 14 golds — breaking the Winter Olympics mark of 13 achieved by the Soviets in 1976 and by Norway in 2002.

[Sheriff Roland]

And then there was the record maker, a gold medal in Men's Curling

13 gold medals

Now onto the main event ... the Men's Hockey tomorrow, for the record breaking 14th gold medal (hopefully).