USA's Bode Miller Wins Silver in Super-G
Bode Miller always likes a good party. So it's a good thing he came to the Vancouver Olympics.
Instead of retiring, the 32-year-old Miller decided to compete in one more Winter Games and on Friday he collected his second medal in as many events, this time getting a silver in the super-G and adding to a stash of prizes that's really worth celebrating.
Andrew Weibrecht, who'd never finished higher than 10th in a World Cup race, snagged bronze in the super-G, giving the United States six Alpine medals, already its best at any Winter Olympics.
Special Report: 2010 Winter Olympics
Vancouver Daily Dispatch
With the total medal haul up to 20, the U.S. delegation is closing in on its total from Turin (25) — and there are 54 events and nine days left.
Americans have won six gold, six silver and eight bronze. You can add just two of those colors and it would still be several more than any other country.
Germany has the second-most overall medals with 11. Norway has the second-most golds with five.
Norway's total was boosted by victories in the first two events decided Friday. Aksel Lund Svindal won the super-G and Marit Bjoergen won the women's 15-kilometer pursuit. Bjoergen also became the first winner of multiple gold medals in Vancouver and the first with three medals.
The other medals to be decided Friday were in men's and women's skeleton.
Alas, all is not well for the U.S. delegation. There's a crisis in curling.
After an 0-4 start that's made the Americans the only winless club in the field, the men's team changed its skip. John Shuster, a bronze winner in 2006, was benched for the match Friday against France.
Shuster understands. After the latest loss, he said, "I've let my teammates and USA Curling down."
San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis, the team's honorary captain, showed up Friday and joked, "Oh, yeah, I'll go in. I'll be ready, man."
At least the women finally broke the ice, so to speak.
Skip Debbie McCormick bumped out a Russian stone with her last rock, giving the U.S. a 6-4 victory — its first after an 0-3 start that had put her stewardship in jeopardy, too.
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SUPER-G
When Miller took bronze in the downhill, he was all smiles at the end of the race. He looked more worn out this time.
After finishing, he let out a big breath of air and quickly shook his head. Then he leaned forward, resting his helmet on forearms still locked atop his poles. Once his lungs stopped burning, he took out his mouthpiece and gave a little fist pump.
"I feel really tired," Miller said. "I was really working hard to get the skis coming around like that. No big mistakes, a couple of little bobbles and the line got loose."
There's more for Miller to toast in the Whistler nightlife: With his fourth career medal, Miller regained the title of most decorated American Alpine skier, a day after Julia Mancuso tied him for that honor. (The title could keep changing hands with the men's super combined and slalom still to come; Mancuso has two events left and Lindsey Vonn has three.) Also, this is the first time two Americans got medals in the same Alpine event since brothers Phil and Steve Mahre went 1-2 in slalom at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.
Weibrecht found himself in first place after his run, something that had never happened before. He kept waiting to get bumped way down, but that never happened.
"I've been knocking on the door all year and to come out here and do it just feels unbelievable," Weibrecht said.
Svindal made it four golds for Norwegians in the seven times since this race joined the Olympic program at the 1988 Calgary Games.
The race was marred by more horrific wipeouts. The most serious involved 40-year-old Patrik Jaerbyn flying through the air, landing on his back and bouncing hard on the icy surface before sliding to a stop, his face bloodied.
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MEN'S HOCKEY
The defending gold medalists from Sweden avenged a monumental upset against outmanned Belarus — and avoided another one.
The Swedes led 3-0, then were up by only one goal with 5:10 remaining. A goal with 10.4 seconds left padded the final margin.
Belarus has only two NHL players, Sweden 19.
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BOBSLED
Two Swiss competitors have withdrawn from events following scary crashes, including a strong medal contender.
Swiss driver Daniel Schmid, who was not a medal favorite, pulled out of the two-man and four-man bob for "safety reasons" after two practice crashes. On Friday, his sled overturned during training and his brakeman was taken from the track in an ambulance, then flown to Vancouver for observation. A team doctor said there were no serious injuries.
Earlier, Swiss-1 driver Beat Hefti, a World Cup champion, withdrew from two-man because of a concussion in a crash Wednesday. He hasn't decided whether to race in the four-man, which starts next Friday.
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SKI JUMPING
Normal hill winner Simon Ammann of Switzerland can keep using the modified bindings that anchor his boots to his skis.
He can keep his gold medal, too.
The International Ski Federation dismissed complaints by the Austrians that Ammann was breaking the rules, and gave him permission to stick with the equipment for Saturday's large hill event.
Wearing his now-controversial equipment, Ammann flew past his main rivals in the qualifying session Friday. He jumped even farther in the trial round, then playfully turned his skis around when holding them up to the camera to hide the bindings.
"I am in such awesome shape, it makes me a bit nervous," he said.
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SHAUN WHITE
Having already won a pair of halfpipe gold medals, Shaun White would love the chance to double his collection at the 2014 Olympics.
White said he'd consider competing in halfpipe and slopestyle if that event was added to the mix for the Sochi Games.
In slopestyle, riders do huge tricks while going down the mountain and through "features" — rails, big jumps and bumps. At ski resorts, slopestyle is widely thought of as an easier way for amateur snowboarders to do cool tricks than on a halfpipe.
White likes the idea of being in the spotlight a little longer. Odds are NBC would like to have him around more, too.
"It's a strange thing going to the Olympics, where so many people have four, five events and we just have the one big night," he said.
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FIGURE SKATING
On his first day as an Olympic champion, Evan Lysacek said he's not even thinking about retirement.
Defending his world championship next month in Turin? Well, that's still to be determined.
The 24-year-old American also said he was a "little disappointed" his long program was criticized by silver medalist and reigning champion Evgeni Plushenko. He added that Plushenko congratulated him with "a strong handshake."
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CROSS-COUNTRY
Bjoergen pulled away midway through the freestyle portion of the race and was never threatened the rest of the way.
Anna Haag of Sweden won a three-way sprint for the silver, with favorite Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland getting bronze in a photo finish.
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TIGER TALK
Yes, even at the Olympics, folks took a break to watch Tiger Woods talk Friday.
Snowboarder Shaun White says people will soon realize Woods made mistakes but isn't such a bad guy. Figure skater Evan Lysacek thinks Woods' remarks offer a teaching moment on how to handle one's self. Skier Julia Mancuso questioned his sincerity on Twitter: "come on Tiger! give us some reality here."
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SECURITY
The task force overseeing security for the Winter Olympics has done a good job protecting athletes and their families. They're also keeping a close eye on each other.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said 11 officers have been sent home for breaking rules, including two officers whose cases are being investigated by Vancouver police.
The security task force includes more than 4,000 members of the Canadian military and more than 6,000 police officers from across Canada.
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DRUG TESTING
All quiet on the doping front.
As of Thursday night, 1,363 doping tests had been conducted — about two-third before competition, one-third after they competed — and there'd been only one violation. A female Russian hockey player was reprimanded but escaped a ban after testing positive for a stimulant before the games.
"Clearly," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, "it's good news if athletes aren't doping."