Another Crash Dampens U.S. Hopes
Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger won the gold medal in doubles luge Wednesday, while the American team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin crashed during their opening run to end any chances of winning a third Olympic medal.
The Lingers finished the two-run event in 1 minute, 34.497 seconds. Germany's Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich won the silver. Italy got its second luge medal of the Turin Games.
But the Americans, Grimmette and Martin — who are presumably in the Olympics for the final time, saw the same trouble that befell skier Lindsey Kildow and slider Samantha Retrosi. They were trying to become the first Olympians ever to win bronze, then silver, then gold, in that order.
Instead, they capped a medal-free Olympics for the U.S. luge program. Preston Griffal and Dan Joye, the other American team in the doubles competition, finished eighth.
"It's a shock," Martin said. "Any time you crash, it's a shock."
On Tuesday night, the men of the American figure skating team tried their best to beat an unstoppable Russian, but fell short in the short program, CBS' Manuel Gallegus reports.
Winning a gold is likely out of reach for any American skater as long as Russian Evgeni Plushenko is around.
"Realistically I don t think anybody will beat him unless he really makes mistakes," said U.S. skater Johnny Weir. Competition continues for the men Thursday.
Check the schedule of upcoming events.
Track the current medal count here.
In related developments:
The American luge team crashed in turn 14, near the same spot of the track where 20-year-old American Samantha Retrosi wrecked on Monday, the opening day of the women's event.
Retrosi sustained a concussion and needed stitches to close a cut on her chin. She was hospitalized overnight before being released on Tuesday.
"That run, up until the point where we had problems, was probably one of the better runs we'd had all week," Grimmette said.
They slid for several seconds, but both were able to walk away apparently uninjured. Both were clearly distraught and disappointed afterward, with Grimmette interrupting himself twice while talking with reporters because he was unable to keep his emotions in check.
"It's very disappointing," Grimmette said. "But we tried hard. We did our best. It's a tough end."
The most decorated luge team in U.S. history didn't want to immediately speculate on their future. Asked if it was too early to talk about what may come next, Martin simply said, "Yeah," and stared ahead.
"It's a tough thing to come up on the wrong side of the line and get stopped short," Martin said. "But that's what happens some days."
Shortly after Grimmette and Martin crashed, the Ukrainian team of Oleg Zherebetskyy and Roman Yazvinskyy was involved in a frightening accident near the finish line.
The Ukrainians smashed into the upper wall of the track and then flipped. The front right runner of their sled broke off and flew away when they made impact with the ice.
A drape was pulled over the ice as medical personnel tended to Yazvinskyy, who was loaded into an ambulance. Zherebetskyy sat on the track wall and watched, his head in his hands.
Yazvinskyy was conscious and had a head injury, according to Niccolo Canteni, the venue's press manager. He was taken by a helicopter to a hospital in Pinerolo.
Also in the opening doubles round, Russia's Dmitriy Khamkin and Vladimir Boitsov flipped their sled entering a high curve close to the finish. Both appeared unharmed.
Russia made winter sports a national priority after winning just 13 medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games — and it appears to have paid off.
The country had nine medals — including four golds — through the first four-plus days of competition in Turin. Now comes word that Russian President Vladimir Putin is monitoring the results in northwest Italy.
Norway was tops with 11 medals; the United States was tied with Germany for third with eight medals, including a Games-high five golds.