Olympics Coverage and Articles

[mountaineer]

What the women were experiencing last night is the sort of conditions that caused me to screw up my knee up at Mammoth Mountain spring skiing - hardpack up at the top and then the slushy corn snow at the bottom, it transitions quickly and in my case I lost it, did a spiral turn and my left ski didn't come off, the slush grabbed hold and tore my knee.

My sister had such an injury recently while skiing in icy/slushy conditions. The surgery was extensive and recovery is painful.

[Rapunzel]

My sister had such an injury recently while skiing in icy/slushy conditions. The surgery was extensive and recovery is painful.

Worst surgery I've experienced. My hysterectomy was a piece of cake by comparison.  I had surgery up at Century City hospital on a Friday.  When I left the hospital after the surgery (with crutches) I felt no pain and wanted to go eat - which we did... and then we got on the freeway for home. Friday night traffic is a nightmare on the LA freeways.  We had a van and I was able to prop my leg up on the drive home, when we got near our house George wanted to stop and fill my pain prescription. I told him no, because "I didn't have any pain and was certain I wouldn't"  Went to bed and around midnight my left started to throb  and then really throb worse and worse... so I went downstairs to the sofa as to not wake George. I was in agony... he came downstairs about 5 a.m. to see where I was and by then I was in tears and of course the pharmacy didn't open for several hours yet. He got some peas out of the freezer and I applied to the knee - didn't help much - and at 8 a.m. he went to the pharmacy to fill the prescription (after a couple of I told you so's). 

Unfortunately it is a double-edged sword with me.  Pain pills make me sick.  Anyway, he had to drive me back up to the doctor for a check on Monday and they drew a LOT of fluid out of the knee - which helped some - but I was on crutches for over a month. Thank goodness I didn't weight a lot so I didn't have to deal with extra weight causing me more difficulty in the healing process.  The surgery was in January - we went to Colorado skiing in March.  Wasn't a lot of fun for George as I'd take one run and then sit out the next run and then go up with him again.  It also affected my waterskiing in the summer since the knee just never felt that stable to me after the injury and surgery. 

What really made me mad was we always had a rule when we called last run we quit at the bottom, but we'd been having such a good day and we got to the bottom and said what the heck, let's take ONE MORE..... it was that one more that got me.

[Rapunzel]

It was Amerian Jacki Hernandez. She received a concussion - her second concussion in two months

[Rapunzel]

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/meryl-davis-charlie-white-of-us-lead-olympic-ice-dancing-021614


Davis and White of US lead Olympic ice dancing


FEB 16, 2014 2:02p ET

SOCHI, Russia -- Charlie White threw his arms in the air in celebration to try to describe how he'd felt Sunday morning.

After four years, the moment had finally arrived for White and Meryl Davis, seeking to win the United States' first Olympic gold medal in ice dancing.

"I definitely woke up today ready," Davis said. "And yes, it's great to wake up with a smile on your face."

They were grinning even more broadly after their short dance, when they set an international personal best with 78.89 points to lead training partners Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada by 2.56.

Davis and White won silver at the 2010 Games when Virtue and Moir became the first Olympic ice dance champions from North America. The free dance is Monday, and Davis and White, both from Michigan, are one performance away from gold.
 

"I told Charlie in the middle of the program I felt like I was in a dream," Davis said. "It is such a surreal experience."

Virtue and Moir rebounded from a shaky performance in the team event, but the Americans, skating last, have overtaken their rivals over the last four years, and it was no different Sunday.

A Russian team was in third, though it wasn't world bronze medalists Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev. Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov were 3.29 points behind Virtue and Moir.

France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat were fourth, just 0.26 out of the bronze position, with Bobrova and Soloviev fifth.

Davis and White will again skate last Monday.

Their twizzles are at another speed from the rest of the field, and yet they spin across the ice in perfect unison. Skating to "My Fair Lady," they gaze at each other and into the crowd with an exuberant bliss.

"They fly," said their coach, Marina Zoueva, who also works with Virtue and Moir. "And you can see at the same time where they are strong. And they are so light at the same time and so flowing."

With White's tuxedo and tails and Davis' gauzy pink dress, they were decked out for a coronation.

"They really did the best this program can be done, with joy," Zoueva said. "Total joy."

When it was over, they held their embrace for a few extra seconds.

"We kept in the moment and neither of us was pushing it," White said. "We were out there enjoying each other's company. This was special for us."

The other American teams, Madison Chock and Evan Bates and siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani, were eighth and ninth.

Virtue had a bobble on a twizzle during the team short dance, but on Sunday, she and Moir looked much more like the couple that charmed the home crowd in Vancouver four years ago. Their footwork again crisp, they seemed to bounce over the ice as they performed to jazz standards from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

In his black bowtie and suspenders, Moir, ever the showman, smiled coyly from start to finish, eyebrow arched. Virtue's face beamed brighter than the sparkles on her flapper-style dress.

With the two still posed cheek to cheek just like the lyrics to the final song in their medley, Moir shouted out "Yes!" and pumped a fist. He whirled across the ice in celebration, then lifted Virtue into the air, burying his face in her shoulder.

"That was more like it," Moir said afterward.

The week between their programs seemed to drag on forever -- Moir called the waiting miserable.

"I just wanted my chance to be on the stage and do that," he said.

So when the music ended, he let out all that tension, though Virtue teased him: "You left me."

"I didn't get the memo on that," she joked later of his extra little dance.

"I get a little emotional after we skate like that," he explained.

Both couples have been together since they were little kids, and each talked about wanting to revel in the moment of these Olympics. That was accomplished Sunday.

"We've been together 17 years and that plays a huge part in just how comfortable you are on the ice in big moments," White said. "We have been through so much together in competitions and in life. It's just having that consistency in our training and our approach, and when it comes to big competitions, being a little bit nervous. You want to be able to count on that."

[Rapunzel]

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/olympic-viewing-sagging-ratings-costas-to-rescue-021614


Olympic Viewing: Sagging ratings, Costas to rescue
AP

FEB 16, 2014 5:02p ET

Highlights from television coverage of the Sochi Olympics:

RATINGS: After a quick start, NBC's ratings for the Sochi Olympics are fading. Saturday night's prime-time telecast was seen by 17.1 million viewers, the smallest audience so far and smaller than any night of the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. The Saturday telecast opened with the compelling story of the U.S.-Russia men's hockey game, but things quickly went downhill, and there were few notable performances by Americans to keep home team fans interested. The comparable Saturday in Vancouver had 26.7 million viewers, and the Turin Games in 2006 had 19.7 million. The hockey game on the NBC Sports Network was seen by an average of 4.1 million people, swelling to 6.4 million during the shootout, strong numbers that indicated how word spread quickly about what was going on.

EYE ON COSTAS: Ol' Red Eyes is coming back! NBC said that Bob Costas will return Monday night as host of the network's prime-time telecast, with Matt Lauer filling in one last time on Sunday. That means Costas will have missed seven days because of a stubborn infection that reddened first one of his eyes, then the other, and left him sensitive to light.

WEIR WARDROBE WATCH: Skating analyst Johnny Weir had a bright green jacket with white shirt, and a green and gold headband. Or maybe it was a tiara.

ICE DANCING: Weir is warming to his job, firing off some good lines during the ice dancing competition Sunday. ''They sold that program like the rent is due tomorrow,'' he said of one pair. ''With ice dancing being the peacock of our sport, we need some plumage,'' he said, urging Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates on.

HOCKEY HANGOVER: NBC's hockey team was quick to call out the U.S. men for looking energy-deficient during part of the game against Slovenia on Sunday, probably a natural hangover from the previous day's excitement. The announcers were a little less inviting to the non-hockey fanatics, with repeated references to a ''natural'' hat trick without explaining the phrase. We'll assume it has nothing to do with hairstyles.

CURLING: Was it just us, or were there some long, lingering closeups on competitors in the Russia-Sweden women's curling match?

---

[Rapunzel]

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/16/bode-miller-olympics-alpine-skiing/

Bode Miller happy with Sunday's results
By Mark Zeigler11:04 a.m.Feb. 16, 2014

United States' Bode Miller comes to a halt at the end of the downhill portion of the men's supercombined at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 14, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer) United States' Bode Miller comes to a halt at the end of the downhill portion of the men's supercombined at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 14, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer) The Associated Press

   

SOCHI, Russia — Bode Miller won his sixth career Olympic medal in alpine skiing on Sunday, a bronze in the super G at Rosa Khutor. From strictly a performance standpoint, he called it “worse than any of the other five medals I’ve won.”

And from an emotional standpoint?

The stout, unflappable Miller collapsing into his wife’s arms afterward and sobbing answered that question.

“Some days medals matter,” Miller said. “Today it mattered.”

Kjetil Jansrud of Norway won in 1 minute, 18.14 seconds, but that shouldn’t be a surprise. Norway has now the last four super G golds, three by guys named Kjetil.

American Andrew Weibrecht was second at 1:88.44 after never having been on a World Cup podium, but that shouldn’t be a surprise, either. He did the same thing four years ago, coming out of nowhere in the super G to win a bronze.

And in third were Canada’s Jan Hudec and Miller, tied at 1:18.67. They’ll both get bronze medals.

Maybe that’s no surprise, either. Miller is the most decorated alpine skier in U.S. history, with one gold, three silvers and two bronzes now. And he has made a career of sneaking onto the podium at the Olympics just when you think he won’t, just when you think that no one older than 34 has medaled in alpine skiing might apply to him.

Apparently it doesn’t. Miller is 36.

“I’m happy,” he said, “to still be kicking around.”

These have been a tumultuous four years for Miller – the nasty, cross-country custody battle over his 11-month-old son, the knee injury that nearly ended his career, the plastic surgery for his wife after he hit her with a golf ball, the death of his younger brother Chelone last year as he tried to make the Olympic team in snowboarding.

“Losing my brother was really hard,” Miller said. “He wanted to come to these Games. For him to pass away the way that he did, it sort of connected with my journey coming back. Today I felt that was all very connected and raw and emotional.

“In the finish (area), it all kind of came out.”

Shortly after the race, he tweeted: “Thanks for all the support, today was one of the most emotional days of my life. I miss my brother.”

Miller raced like he always does, which means he took audacious risks on the Rosa Khutor course and nearly lost it all. Teammate Ted Ligety, one of the race favorites, made a major error in the course’s middle section and finished 14th. Miller avoided that pratfall but made a mistake on the bottom that could and maybe should have cost him a medal.

“When you get older and go through a lot of stuff, you always have those moments where you want to quit when things just don’t go your way,” said Miller, who spent much of the last four years living on a yacht in San Diego Bay. “Especially when you have a lot of accomplishments, it’s a scary process to put yourself out there again when you have that resume. People expect the best.

“Today was disappointing on the one hand that I didn’t ski better, but under the circumstances it’s a miracle.”

The slalom and giant slalom still remain at Rosa Khutor, although Miller is not expected to contend in either. He talked about skiing next season with the World Championships in Vail, Colo., where he raced his first worlds 17 years ago.

And then? If he can win a medal at 36, why not 40?

“Beyond that,” he said, “it’s really hard to tell.”

[Rapunzel]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adamdavis/nbc-correspondent-repeatedly-asks-bode-miller-about-his-brot

NBC Correspondent Repeatedly Asks Bode Miller About His Brother’s Death During Post-Race Interview

Following his bronze-medal winning run in the Super-G competition, Bode Miller was asked several questions by NBC reporter Christin Cooper about his recently deceased brother. Many viewers felt the questions were too invasive. posted on February 16, 2014 at 11:12pm EST
Adam Davis BuzzFeed Staff
 
American alpine skier Bode Miller won the bronze medal in Sunday’s Super-G competition, giving him a total of six Olympic medals over his career — the most of any U.S. skier.



American alpine skier Bode Miller won the bronze medal in Sunday's Super-G competition, giving him a total of six Olympic medals over his career — the most of any U.S. skier.
Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

Miller, far right, on the podium with, from left to right, silver medalist Andrew Weibrecht of the United States, gold medalist Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, and co-bronze medalist Jan Hudec of Canada.


Miller’s bronze also made him the oldest alpine skier to win a medal, at age 36.

    NBC Olympics @NBCOlympics

    .@millerbode stopped by earlier and snapped a #SochiSelfie with his sixth Olympic medal:
    10:14 PM - 16 Feb 14


During Miller’s post-race interview with NBC, journalist Christin Cooper asked Miller about his brother Chelone, who died of an apparent seizure in 2013.



Miller became noticeably emotional during Cooper’s line of questioning, which continued until Miller crouched to the ground, seemingly unable to continue with the interview. USA Today’s FTW site has the transcript.



Many viewers, reacting online, felt Cooper went too far.

    Thomas J. Forestier @tforestier

    @NBC Olympics Mr Lauer should apologize to Bode Miller when he interviews him and NBC should implement sensitivity training
    10:04 PM - 16 Feb 14

   
    Young Pandas @YoungPandas

    What I just saw from NBC reporter Christin Cooper interviewing Bode Miller was completely tasteless and unacceptable. #Olympics #NBCFail
    10:03 PM - 16 Feb 14

     
    ewellsie @ewellsie

    In another Olympics full of failure, that interview of Bode Miller was the worst thing yet. Shame on you @NBC. #Sochi2014 #NBCFail
    10:03 PM - 16 Feb 14


    Carina MacKenzie @cadlymack

    Christin Cooper @ NBC Sports is the absolute worst. There was no journalism in that interview w/ Bode Miller, just badgering & scrounging.
    10:03 PM - 16 Feb 14


    Alan Robinson @arobinson_Trib

    Thought questioning of obviously emotional Bode Miller way over the line. Who do you think he was pointing to? Let picture tell the story.
    10:03 PM - 16 Feb 14



   
    Рыан Худсон @ry_hudson

    Sounds like there was a terrible interview with Bode Miller ...
    10:02 PM - 16 Feb 14

       
    Ana Gasteyer @AnaGasteyer

    Nice work getting bode miller to break down douchebag reporter.
    9:52 PM - 16 Feb 14


    Graham Gano @GrahamGano

    Sad that the reporter kept asking Bode Miller q's after he was emotionally distraught. I know that's her job, but have some respect...
    9:55 PM - 16 Feb 14



    Sage Rosenfels @SageRosenfels18

    Keep in mind that NBC did that interview with Bode Miller about 10 hours ago, saw the result, and still ran the entire fiasco. #smh
    10:32 PM - 16 Feb 14

     

Miller’s wife Morgan was seen comforting him after the interview.




Afterwards, Miller himself tweeted about the emotional day.

    Bode Miller @MillerBode

    Thanks for all the support, today was one of the most emotional days of my life. I miss my brother.
    4:17 AM - 16 Feb 14

[Rapunzel]

I watched this and was yelling at this dumb woman to leave him alone, they had the camera real close to his face and you could see him tearing up and she just kept pushing and pushing...

[Rapunzel]

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/02/bode-miller-brother-nbc-interview/


Bode Miller broke down in NBC interview talking about his late brother

By Chris Chase   

After winning a bronze medal in Sunday’s super-G and becoming the oldest medalist in Olympic alpine skiing history, Bode Miller stood for an NBC interview. He was asked how his sixth Winter Games medal felt different than the rest. The resulting talk with NBC’s Christin Cooper was as raw and emotional as an interview at a sporting event can get, as Miller talked about his younger brother Chilly, who died last year of an apparent seizure thought to be related to a brain injury from an old motorcycle accident. The camera zoomed in tight as Bode spoke.

Miller: This was a little different. With my brother passing away, I really wanted to come back here and race the way he sends it. So this was a little different.

Cooper: Bode, you’re showing so much emotion down here. What’s going through your mind?

Miller: (Long pause) A lot, obviously. A long struggle coming in here. And, uh, just a tough year.

Cooper: I know you wanted to be here with Chilly experiencing these games, how much does it mean to you to come up with a great performance for him? And was it for him?

Miller: I mean, I don’t know it’s really for him. But I wanted to come here and uh — I don’t know, I guess make my self proud. (Pauses, then wipes away tears.)

Cooper: When you’re looking up in the sky at the start, we see you there and it just looks like you’re talking to somebody. What’s going on there?

After that question, Miller fell to his knees and rested himself on a fence separating him from Cooper. The NBC interviewer could be heard whispering “sorry” and gently put her hand on Miller’s shoulder before he walked away a few seconds later.
photo (1)



(NBC screenshot)

Cooper was the subject of some criticism on Twitter for pressing with the interview after it was clear Miller was getting emotional. Though the chat could have stopped when Miller shed a tear after what would be his last words, it was Miller himself who initially brought up his brother and appeared interested in talking about him during the interview. When that proved too hard for Miller, Cooper backed off and offered her hand.

Later, Miller sent a tweet in which all the words he couldn’t say were summed up with one heartbreaking line.

Bode Miller        ✔ @MillerBode
Follow

Thanks for all the support, today was one of the most emotional days of my life. I miss my brother.
2:17 AM - 16 Feb 2014

[Rapunzel]

Why Bode Miller was so emotional after making history as oldest Olympic Alpine medalist
Charles Robinson
By Charles Robinson 16 hours ago Yahoo Sports


KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia – Bode Miller has spent the balance of his career brushing off numbers. Wins, losses, podiums, seconds … he has strived to keep such digits from defining him.

But age, even on fast skis – perhaps especially on fast skis – is inescapable.

Now the clock is catching up to Miller, and he's beating it back with numbers he has historically shunned. A few hundredths of a second here, one more podium there, and Miller made history on Sunday in the Sochi Games. At 36 years and 127 days, he became the oldest Alpine medalist in Olympic history, winning bronze in the super-G. That surpassed Kjetil André Aamodt, an all-time Alpine great who won super-G gold at the 2006 Turin Games at 34 years and 170 days.

So now Miller's name is forever linked with Aamodt, whom he grew up watching and whose total medal count of eight is the only one that surpasses Miller in Alpine. And Miller hears that he trails only speedskater Apolo Ohno's eight total medals on the United States' all-time count.

What does it mean?

"It means I'm old," Miller said in a wry tone.

Humor aside, Bode understands the ramifications. Sunday's bronze was special because it means Miller is still battling, still shredding, still hanging in with the best in the world. And he's done it through one of the toughest periods of his life, following a knee injury that sidelined him in 2013 and the far more devastating death of his younger brother Chelone in April.

Those events could be seen through the window of Miller's skiing in Sochi, where he has put up some of his best training runs in several years, but displayed frustration at mistakes that kept him off the podium in the downhill and super-combined. And it was particularly evident on Sunday, when after finishing his run and realizing he'd secured another medal, Miller could be seen wiping tears from his face.

"Losing my brother this last year was really hard for myself, my family, our sort of whole community," Miller said of the emotional moment. "It was just, yeah, a lot of emotion."

It's not the first time Miller has reacted with open emotion in these Games. He failed to hit the podium in the downhill after looking like a gold-medal contender in practice runs, and spent almost 10 minutes at the bottom of the hill in a single-man huddle, sorting through his thoughts. After Miller once again missed a medal in the super-combined, his wife, Morgan, could be heard demanding he take a more positive view of the performance.

While Miller would be loath to admit it, he looks like a skier who knows he's gone over the last pitch in his career and is in his final tuck, heading toward the inevitable end. He seems ever so slightly reflective, and even shared a story of how after collecting a large portion of his trophies over the summer, he was able to see the bigger picture of his accomplishments.

"That was one of the times where it kind of sunk in," Miller said, "where when you look at your body of work – of basically my adult life – in a phrase or in one sort of visual context the way it was with my trophies, it sort of makes it a little more raw for you emotionally."

It was appropriate that Miller won his sixth and possibly final medal in the typical Bode way, going all out on a difficult top portion of Sunday's super-G course. A top portion that led fellow American Ted Ligety to call the run unremarkable only in that it showcased what Miller still has left.

"You know he has that kind of speed," Ligety said. "His speed this year has always been there."


But that speed was undone by something Miller has done so often in his career – inexplicably and unnecessarily pushing a line too far and giving back time. Miller did it again Sunday at the bottom of the course, saying he believed the mistake cost him as much as five- or six-tenths of a second. That margin could have ultimately been the difference between the .53 that separated his bronze and the gold won by Norway's Kjetil Jansrud.

"My mind was still looking for hundredths of a second and I pushed too hard," Miller said.

But that disappointment didn't last. It never does. Miller found history and a silver lining.

"I've never been so stuck on counting [medals]," Miller said. "For me, I've put in a lot of work and this was a really hard year and a lot of effort coming back to get fit and get ready and just battle through everything that life throws at you. …It's almost therapeutic for me to be in these situations where I really have to test myself.

"If not the most important of my life, [this race was] right there with it. I had a lot to show today."

[Rapunzel]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jacobellis-falters-again-women-39-1001130


Tough-luck Lindsey falls again at Olympics
By EDDIE PELLS (AP National Writer) 11 hours ago AP - Sports

Tough-luck Lindsey falls again at Olympics

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) -- Same sting, different day for Lindsey Jacobellis.

The woman who has dominated her sport for a decade came to the Olympics for the third time Sunday, in search of the gold medal she gave away once and lost in one of those so-called ''racin' deals'' the other time.

Far ahead of the other five riders in her semifinal heat on a sunny, slushy afternoon at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Jacobellis misjudged the second-to-last turn on the course, flew over a jump too fast, lost her balance and skidded onto her back.

She raised her hands for leverage as she skittered into the middle of the course, hoping the momentum might pull her back to her feet. But the snow was too soft and Jacobellis was stuck. She moved to the side and trudged down the hill, snowboard in hand.

''It's how the wheel turns,'' she said. ''It just so happened not to work out. It's hard to accept that.''

Moments after her latest hard-luck loss in the Olympic version of NASCAR on snow, she overcame a slow start and dominated the field in what they call the Small Final - the race that decides seventh place.

Jacobellis now has second-, fifth- and seventh-place finishes in her three Olympic trips. Yes, it keeps getting worse.

Her first Olympic loss, eight years ago in Italy, was a sheer matter of showboating. Out in the clear with two jumps left, she tried a showy grab of her board and tumbled, then got passed for the victory and held up for ridicule in some corners, derision in others.

Four years ago in Vancouver, she collided with Canadian Maelle Ricker, the eventual winner, on an early turn in the semifinal round. That put her off balance and she couldn't regain control before she rode completely off course. She won the consolation heat - then a four-woman race - that day, as well.

This time, it was a cruel melding of human error and the randomness of snowboardcross that combined to ruin her day.

Jacobellis was well in the lead when she headed into the second-to-last turn and set herself up for a set of four gentle bumps - called ''rollers'' in snowboard parlance. The traffic behind her - bunched in a four-way scrum for what looked like the last two spots in the final - wasn't bearing down, but Jacobellis wasn't sure, so she pushed things as she headed to the corner.
…

The last roller shot her blindly into the final turn and she lost her balance.

Within seconds, the entire field passed her.

''There's a lot out there you can't control, but unfortunately, what I could control today was what didn't work,'' she said. ''That's the unfortunate part.''

Over a career that began when she was a teen, the 28-year-old Jacobellis has a record of putting things together when it counts. She won her eighth Winter X Games title last month, and also has 26 World Cup victories and three world championships.

Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States reacts after winning the small final of the women's snow …

''People don't understand how much pressure is on her,'' said her American teammate, Faye Gulini, who finished fourth. ''It breaks her heart because I think it takes the fun out of it for her. Just for this event. She loves the sport. She's a phenomenal snowboarder. But it's in her head, with that much pressure on you. I've never had that kind of pressure but I know it just breaks her as an athlete.''

Another American, Nate Holland, was on hand a day before he tries to end his own 0-for-2 Olympic drought.

''A little bit of heartbreak, for sure,'' Holland said.

Jacobellis, who made this Olympics after a full recovery from a pair of knee operations in 2012, acknowledged that heartbreak but said it wasn't pressure that did her in.

''It's not that I'm over-amped, or over-excited,'' she said. ''I was really happy with how the course was coming together for me. It just didn't work out. I don't really know how else to say it.''

Jacobellis will be 32 in 2018. There's talk the Olympics might add a team snowboardcross event for the Games in South Korea - essentially a relay. Jacobellis has been excited about the prospect of racing with her American teammates instead of against them.

It would've been so much easier to take one last trip with a gold medal in her pocket.

But it wasn't to be. Again.

''There are worse things in life than not winning,'' Jacobellis said. ''A lot worse. And, of course, it's very unfortunate this didn't work out for me.''

[Rapunzel]

We're tied with Russia for medals - 16 each - Russia has more silver.  Norway is in first place.

[NavyCanDo]

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/02/bode-miller-brother-nbc-interview/


Bode Miller broke down in NBC interview talking about his late brother

By Chris Chase   

After winning a bronze medal in Sunday’s super-G and becoming the oldest medalist in Olympic alpine skiing history, Bode Miller stood for an NBC interview. He was asked how his sixth Winter Games medal felt different than the rest. The resulting talk with NBC’s Christin Cooper was as raw and emotional as an interview at a sporting event can get, as Miller talked about his younger brother Chilly, who died last year of an apparent seizure thought to be related to a brain injury from an old motorcycle accident. The camera zoomed in tight as Bode spoke.

Miller: This was a little different. With my brother passing away, I really wanted to come back here and race the way he sends it. So this was a little different.

Cooper: Bode, you’re showing so much emotion down here. What’s going through your mind?

Miller: (Long pause) A lot, obviously. A long struggle coming in here. And, uh, just a tough year.

Cooper: I know you wanted to be here with Chilly experiencing these games, how much does it mean to you to come up with a great performance for him? And was it for him?

Miller: I mean, I don’t know it’s really for him. But I wanted to come here and uh — I don’t know, I guess make my self proud. (Pauses, then wipes away tears.)

Cooper: When you’re looking up in the sky at the start, we see you there and it just looks like you’re talking to somebody. What’s going on there?

After that question, Miller fell to his knees and rested himself on a fence separating him from Cooper. The NBC interviewer could be heard whispering “sorry” and gently put her hand on Miller’s shoulder before he walked away a few seconds later.
photo (1)
Cooper was the subject of some criticism on Twitter for pressing with the interview after it was clear Miller was getting emotional. Though the chat could have stopped when Miller shed a tear after what would be his last words, it was Miller himself who initially brought up his brother and appeared interested in talking about him during the interview. When that proved too hard for Miller, Cooper backed off and offered her hand.

Later, Miller sent a tweet in which all the words he couldn’t say were summed up with one heartbreaking line.

My wife and I were yelling at that nosey reporter to "Shut Up".....    It was like her mission was to make Bode cry on camera, and she didn't get what she wanted with her first set of question so she kept the questions coming until he broke down.

[NavyCanDo]

I have a new favorite womens down-hiller.   Austria's Anna Fenniger "the Cheeta Girl".    WOW! is she Ho..........  at the risk Mrs. NavyCanDo reads this the previous description has been omitted, and changed to she is a really good skier. 

[Rapunzel]

I have a new favorite womens down-hiller.   Austria's Anna Fenniger "the Cheeta Girl".    WOW! is she Ho..........  at the risk Mrs. NavyCanDo reads this the previous description has been omitted, and changed to she is a really good skier.

 

[Chieftain]

I have a new favorite womens down-hiller.   Austria's Anna Fenniger "the Cheeta Girl".    WOW! is she Ho..........  at the risk Mrs. NavyCanDo reads this the previous description has been omitted, and changed to she is a really good skier.

Is she one of the few who have managed to make it all the way down the slope without a massive wipeout??  I hear the slopes are so poorly planned and the snow quality so bad that things are outright dangerous....

[Rapunzel]

Is she one of the few who have managed to make it all the way down the slope without a massive wipeout??  I hear the slopes are so poorly planned and the snow quality so bad that things are outright dangerous....

It's probably the worst conditions I can remember at the winter games.

[NavyCanDo]

"Olympic ice dancing due Charlie White and Meryl Davis won the U.S. its first-ever dancing gold medal on February 17 in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Soche Russia. They defeated their archrivals, Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who came in 2nd place and Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia took 3rd place. Charlie and Meryl finished with the final score of 195.52. This win makes the U.S. 15th gold in Olympic figure skating and the country's very first in ice dancing. Congrats to Charlie and Meryl. I'm sure they are overjoyed about this."

As much as I was pulling for the American’s and Canadians to win Gold and Silver consecutively, which is the way it turned out, the Russians Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov had  an OMG jaw-dropping performance that had my wife and I saying “Wow” on several occasions during their  powerfully dark rendition of “Swan Lake.”   As flawless and the White/Davis performance was two teams later it seemed anti-climatic and a bit boring  in comparison to what we just witnessed from the Russian team. Not taking anything away from them because I know nothing about how ice dancing is scored and the NBC announcer was not breaking  down each performance like they did in the preliminaries, but  I was expecting the Russians to score far higher than they did.
Still congratulations to Charlie White and Meryl Davis.

[Lipstick on a Hillary]

The "Swan Lake" Russians didn't score higher because it was explained that their choreography wasn't as difficult or as well-executed as that of the higher-scoring teams.   Judges award higher points to correspond with degree of difficulty and complexity of the dance as a whole.

  That young Russian team nailed their required elements beautifully,  which is why they looked so awesome, but their skating moves in-between them was not up to what the better teams scored.   They are the Ice Dance up-and-comers this Olympics.  They will likely be one of THE teams to beat 4 years from now.

[NavyCanDo]

Yea I think you nailed the explanation ,which should have been NBCs job. The Russian’s performance had the beautiful  “wow factor” choreography of a Stars-on-Ice performance but lacked the little details that effect the judges score that go unnoticed by us novices looking at the broader pitcher. Details  like how close their skates come during the quick-step session. The closer they are and more fluid and flawless the steps are the higher the score.

With that said the medal distribution seems right.

[NavyCanDo]

Watching the Russians and Team USA  in their exiting Hockey shootout did it seem more like the NHL’s version of the Pro-Bowl to anyone else?  Seemed nearly every player on both teams play professional Hockey in the US or Canada and they face each other individually in games all season long.   It didn’t seem like it was so much as where you live, train, or play hockey  that determined if you played for the team USA or Russia, but more on your last name.    A total  different feel that the 1980 Miracle on Ice when the Team in red had a big CCCP across their chest and truly did represent the Evil Empire.

[Rapunzel]

And our two-man bobsled team won their first medal since the 1950's! 

[Rapunzel]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/winter-olympics-2014-ice-dancing-finale-leaves-hurt-feelings/

February 18, 2014, 12:15 PM
Ice dancing finale leaves hurt feelings in Sochi

SOCHI, Russia - Like bruises from falls and cuts from blades, split loyalties come with the icy territory in figure skating.

"We sometimes felt like (Zoueva) wasn't in our corner," Moir said, more in the way of stating a fact as he and Virtue perceived it than as a complaint. "We had some odd things happen this year that hadn't happened before. For the first time, she wasn't there."

Zoueva is the acknowledged master of the craft, and like many mothers, she'll never say which one of her “children” she likes best, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

Moir mentioned Zoueva not being at the Canadian championships this year. That event coincided with U.S. nationals, which Zoueva did attend. Each couple won its national title.

Zoueva told CBS News she did not choose between the two, adding “I love and respect both teams.”

The routines she created for the two pairs are completely different in character. The Canadians' is smooth, subtle, artistic  -- the qualities that won them gold last time.

The American routine is fast, athletic, exciting, and has been scoring well all season on the circuit, and was judged good enough for gold here.

That didn't happen for the 2010 gold medalists, although they insisted they understood why Zoueva spent so much time with Davis and White, and they praised Zoueva for how she handled the dicey situation.

"The shoe was on the other foot," Moir said.

"Whatever differences we had to take care of on our own," Virtue added, noting the support the couple got from the Canadian federation.

Zoueva said after the short dances that working with the world's two best ice dance teams, as well as with many other highly ranked duos, "is a balancing act."

"I keep both couples in my heart," the renowned Russian coach said Sunday, when Davis-White stood first and Virtue-Moir were second heading into the free dance. "They train together nine years, in the same group and on the same ice with each other since they were babies. They are like a generation, and they are still skating together and grew up and made the same progress and go on together."

When Virtue and Moir won the Vancouver Olympics ahead of Davis and White, they were on the cutting edge of ice dance. But the Americans overtook them in the last four years and came to Sochi as world champions and Grand Prix Final winners.

There were times in the last year when Virtue and Moir had to re-evaluate their relationship with the coach. Moir said they went to Zoueva "on countless occasions" to tell her they would not be happy with a silver medal.

"We felt a little bit like it was getting away from us," Moir said. "We were trying to get balance. She listened to us and kind of reshaped our programs. She's an artist, too, and wanted to keep her vision."

The Canadians, who have not yet announced future plans but are expected to retire from competition, were not downgrading the silver after it was in their hands. They admitted to being thrilled with how well they skated.

"We couldn't have asked for more about our performances," Virtue said. "It's nice to be satisfied and content with our job. We've managed to create the Olympic moment."

Many skaters griped about the scoring this year. The performances are evaluated for subtleties not visible to normal people.  Many in the skating twittersphere thought the Canadian pair was technically superior but marked lower.

Losing skaters were left to wonder whether the results were predetermined -- a naughty word in scandal-plagued skating -- because the winner's style was currently in favor.

[Lipstick on a Hillary]

Yea I think you nailed the explanation ,which should have been NBCs job. The Russian’s performance had the beautiful  “wow factor” choreography of a Stars-on-Ice performance but lacked the little details that effect the judges score that go unnoticed by us novices looking at the broader pitcher. Details  like how close their skates come during the quick-step session. The closer they are and more fluid and flawless the steps are the higher the score.

With that said the medal distribution seems right.

Due to bad weather on the east coast, I spent much of Sunday watching ice dance during the day on one of the adjunct NBC channels.  The expert commentators were Johnny Wier and Tara Lipinski.  They were EXCELLENT.  They did the job the experts are supposed to do--connect the viewer with the intricacies of the sport.  That's the only reason I told you what I did--I learned it from them.  That insipid evening ice dance commentator is useless.   Scott Hamilton and his Cannuck sidekick aren't much better, but I know they'll reappear for ladies singles later this week, unfortunately.

 I wish they'd kick them out and put Lipinski and Weir on during primetime.  Both smart and articulate and very informative without being talky.

[Rapunzel]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is over Scotty Hamilton.