The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver might be remembered for a long time, especially in this country. Some of the performances were incredible, but the Olympics began with an unfortunate tragedy.
Nodar Kumaritashvili, 1988-2010
While everyone was anticipating the start of the Games on Feb. 12, a dark cloud hung over the world when Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luger from the Republic of Georgia, passed away after a hard crash while practicing for the competition. I remember sitting down that night preparing to watch the opening ceremonies. At the beginning of the broadcast NBC, which televised the Games, showed the clip of the crash. When I first saw it, my jaw dropped.
In the next few days, I read several stories from many media sources debating if they should have shown it. My view was I understood why it was broadcast, because it was a news story. I did not have a problem with it, and I believe NBC was correct in putting a stop to it after the first couple of days.
Now with that out of the way, let’s get on with some happy moments from the Games.
Most of the sports in the Winter Olympics are a hard sell, because most viewers do not care about them besides the actual event. So in the months leading up to it, the network that will be televising the event tries to find athletes to promote in hopes of getting people to watch. Sometimes it works out, but there were examples of some athletes not living up to the hype. There were some surprises, too.
Short-track speed skater Apolo Ohno became the most decorated Winter Olympian in United States history with a couple of medals to run his total to seven. His first event, the 1,500 meters on Feb. 13, could be considered lucky. He was in fourth place heading into the final turn, but two South Korean skaters collided into each other. Ohno took advantage and by the time he reached the finish line, he tied the record with silver. He later won a bronze in the 1,000 to break the record.
The previous record was held by long-track speed skater Bonnie Blair, who won six medals, including five gold in three Olympics, 1988, 1992 and 1994. I remember watching her on TV, while in elementary school. One of the cool spots to hang out for that age group was the roller skating rink. While skating, I would put my hand behind my back and wave my arm in front of me like she did. She is one of the reasons I look forward to the Olympics.
Another speed skater that lived up to the hype was long-track star Shani Davis; he won gold in the 1,000 and silver in the 1,500. He now has four total medals.
Lindsey Vonn
From the ice to the slopes, the United States enjoyed success in Alpine Skiing as well, winning eight medals, the most in our history. Coming into the Games, Lindsay Vonn received the most hype out of the U.S. athletes. Even battling injuries, she had lived up to it. She won gold in the Downhill and bronze in the Super G.
On the other hand, Bode Miller had the hype coming into the 2006 Winter Games but went 0-for-5 in Turin, Italy. Four years later, hardly anybody talked about him heading into the Games. He won three medals, including his first career gold in the Super Combined. One of the sports that the United States historically never has a chance in is the Nordic Combined. The Nordic Combined is an event that has competitors ski jumping and then skiing on a cross-country course. Coming into these Games, the attitude had changed with three former World Champions representing the Americans. Bill Demong became the first United States athlete to win gold in the sport with a win in the Large Hill. The Americans also got silver in the team competition.
Several other American athletes also made their presence felt, including snowboarders Shaun White and Seth Wescott, who both won gold. White went back-to-back in the Half Pipe and Wescott did the same in Snowboard Cross.
In the end, the Americans had their best performance in terms of medals collected in a Winter Olympics that wasn’t held on home soil.
By the way, the hockey was amazing in both the men’s and women’s competition. Of the course, the best moment came when the men beat Canada 5-3 on Feb. 21 on their home ice. I hated that the game was on MSNBC, but it had the channel’s biggest viewership ever except for the night of the 2008 Presidential Election.
The women’s event was dominated by the United States and Canada. Coming into their Feb. 25 matchup for the gold medal, Canada outscored their opponents, 46 to 1, including an 18-0 win over Slovakia on Feb. 13. The four wins by the United States was by a combined 40-2, including 13-0 over Russia on Feb. 16.
Canada won its third gold medal out of the four Olympic tournaments with a 2-0 advantage over the Americans.
During the 2006 Winter Olympics, I was sports editor for the MTSU student newspaper so I didn’t get a chance to watch a lot of the events. I was so disappointed. This time I made an effort to watch as much coverage as I could without getting an overload.
I’m glad I did.
