Replies to post #253 on TORINO 2006 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES, Feb 10-26

[BullNBear52]

A Night of Nerves Is Settled on a Turn of Elegance
By LYNN ZINSER
TURIN, Italy, Feb. 23 — The biggest prize of the Olympics went to the figure skater who carried her burden lightest of all. The American Sasha Cohen could not manage her demons, fell on her first jump and ended up stunned to take home even a silver medal. Irina Slutskaya of Russia, crushed to have fallen and ruined her opportunity, threw her bronze medal in a locker.

It was only Japan's Shizuka Arakawa who did not struggle, despite being counted on to win her country's first medal at these Olympics, and she gently plucked the gold from their grasp Thursday night.

Although Arakawa skated an elegant program, one filled with spectacular spirals, to Puccini's "Violin Fantasy of Turandot," it was not the transcendent gold medal performance the Olympics often produces. So, ultimately, this competition will be remembered as much for who did not grab the gold medal as for who did.

Cohen, the 21-year-old top American hope, had her confidence escape her at the moment she needed it most. Having fallen twice in her warm-up, she took the ice slowly and with a petrified look. She fell on her first jump, the gold medal slipping away as her skates sailed out from under her.

"I was kind of in shock," she said. "It was difficult. I was in a good place and I didn't feel nervous, but physically I just couldn't execute when I needed to."

Cohen, who had skated magnificently to win the short program by three-hundredths of a point over Slutskaya on Tuesday night, smiled bravely at the end. When she left the ice, she took off her red velvet skating dress, not expecting to be summoned back for a medal ceremony. But as the skaters following her faltered, Cohen was told she had salvaged a silver.

"I'm really excited," Cohen said after she found out. "I think it was a gift."

Slutskaya did not take her fate quite so well. The Russians had already won the first three figure skating gold medals at these games — the pairs, men's and dance — and Slutskaya could have completed the sweep.

Slutskaya had lost narrowly to the American Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, a contentious result that was protested by the Russian federation, which cited "unobjective judging." On Thursday, Slutskaya had the added burden of skating last and was breathing hard as she took the ice.

At 27, she knew this was her last Olympic chance. She started cautiously, wobbled on some moves and then fell on a triple loop, a jump she said she can do almost automatically.

"Of course I am disappointed," she said. "That jump, it is exhibition. It is no problem for me. But it is competition. It is life."

But while Slutskaya said at her news conference that she was happy with a bronze, she was not wearing it. After the medal ceremony, she stalked into the dressing room and threw her medal aside. Mikhail Kusnirovich, a close friend, said she was sobbing. Kusnirovich, the deputy chef de mission of the Russian Olympic delegation, put the medal in his pocket.

Later, Slutskaya left the Palavela arena crying, surrounded by family and friends.

The only uncomplicated happiness found here was from Arakawa, a 24-year-old former world champion who had retired from the sport after her world title in 2004.

"I can't find the words for this," she said through an interpreter.

As each skater after Arakawa failed to top her score, cameras showed her smiling and laughing with her coaches backstage.

"There was no unbelievable performance," said Hughes, who was here watching her sister Emily. "No one skated the performance of their life. It was a more subdued final. But every Olympics can't have that one amazing night."

But that is what figure skating fans have come to expect. Sarah Hughes's spectacular, seven-triple-jump performance lifted her from fourth to first. In 1998, Tara Lipinski dazzled the crowd with a near-perfect skate that snatched a gold from the favorite Michelle Kwan.

Arakawa did skate cleanly but downgraded two planned triple-triple jump combinations to triple-doubles. She also doubled another solo triple later in her program. But she did not fall — which nearly all of her pursuers did — and she won over the judges with seemingly effortless spins and spirals that were clearly ahead of the field.

And she did not seem nervous, which may have been her biggest accomplishment. "She expected to win the first medal for Japan," Arakawa's interpreter said, paraphrasing her answer. "She didn't feel any pressure."

Arakawa also did not have to battle perhaps her toughest competitor, Mao Asada, who is Japan's top skater but, at 15, was a few months too young to compete in the Olympics.

Cohen, however, has battled the pressure of the big moment her whole career, and her nerves have had a terrible habit of failing her. In her first Olympics, in 2002, she had also skated beautifully in the short program but was visibly nervous to start the long and fell early. She fought through her disappointment to finish fourth.

This time, with Kwan having withdrawn from what would have been her final Olympics, Cohen had a chance to skate out from her shadow and grab the spotlight for herself. Still, she seemed relatively at peace with what had happened.

"I have learned it's not about the medal," Cohen said, holding up her silver. "All my other medals, I don't even know where they are. They are in shoeboxes somewhere. This is very nice. I'm sure my friends and family will want to see it back home, but to me, it's just another medal."

Cohen said she savors the performance, enjoys enchanting a crowd, and her feelings about these Olympics will always be bittersweet. She fought through her disappointment and performed as best as she could. But she also fell, just like at the last Olympics.

Slutskaya could also be having flashbacks to Salt Lake City, when she also skated last and had a chance to upstage Sarah Hughes. Instead, she lost her nerve, bobbled her jumps and rushed through her program.

"I am happy I got a medal," Slutskaya insisted. "Other girls, they come here and finish 18th or 20th and they have nothing."

But those skaters also do not face the pressure of a gold medal that dangles just out of reach.

Juliet Macur contributed reporting for this article.

[BOREALIS]

U.S. curlers sweep pass Brits, capture bronze
Americans survive late rally to win first Olympic medal in sport


The U.S. skip Pete Fenson releases the stone during the Britain vs U.S. match in the men's curling battle for bronze at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games.
U.S. edged Great Britain, 8-6.
John Macdougall / AFP via Getty Images

Updated: 1:44 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2006

PINEROLO, Italy - Pete Fenson wanted the curling bronze medal to come down to the final shot, and he was ready to take it.

The U.S. skip bent his rock into the target area, where it came to rest inside of Britain’s best hope and clinched the Americans’ first-ever Olympic curling medal. Only then did the usually stone-faced Fenson break into a grin and raise his broom in victory.

“Our job’s done here,” he said Friday after winning 8-6 for the first American curling medal in a major men’s competition since 1978. “It’s always nice to come to a world event and perform well. It adds to the credibility for us. ... Hopefully it will have a great impact in the States.”

A gentlemanly sport with etiquette about when and how to celebrate, the Olympic tournament has witnessed more than the usual amount of fist-pumping, cheerleading and even a thrown broom. But Fenson, a Minnesota pizzeria owner who was sarcastically dubbed “Hollywood” by his teammates, has remained stoic in steering the U.S. team, rarely showing as much as a smile.

“On the ice, he’s nerves of steel,” American second Joe Polo said. “He has fun out there, but he just likes to stay as focused as he can.”

The object of Fenson’s focus was an international medal slump that, the U.S. curlers believe, limited the sport’s appeal in their homeland. In addition to three Olympic shutouts, the American men had not medaled at the world championships in almost three decades.

“The drought’s finally over,” said U.S. national team coach Ed Lukowich, a former world champion. “Bronze, for the U.S., is like winning the gold.”

While the Olympic medal raises the team’s profile for non-curlers back home — and in the United States, that’s pretty much everybody — the Americans say they actually had their coming out party at last year’s worlds. Though they didn’t medal, they finished in a six-way tie for first place before losing a tiebreaker that kept them out of the semifinals.

“We didn’t surprise anybody out there,” U.S. lead John Shuster said, pointing to the ice at the Olympic venue about 45 miles outside of Turin. “That’s for sure.”

But even their own national governing body set a lower bar for the men, making their goal a medal of any sort. For the U.S. women, who won the worlds in 2003 and came in second last year, anything less than gold was officially dubbed a disappointment.

“Everybody was not expecting us to do well here,” U.S. third Shawn Rojeski said. “But we were pretty confident coming in that we could be contenders. We were definitely OK with coming in here and not being the No. 1 favorites.”

The Americans will share the podium with two more traditional curling powers, Canada and Finland, who played for the gold medal later Friday. Britain was shut out of a medal one Olympiad after Scottish housewife Rhona Martin threw the “Stone of Destiny” to win the gold medal in Salt Lake City.

“It’s massively disappointing,” said British skip David Murdoch, whose team is also from Scotland, the birthplace of curling.

Though the sport requires a soft touch and a smooth delivery, curling is also about strategy, and that’s how the Americans beat Britain. Taking a 4-1 lead on Fenson’s double takeout in the third end — or inning — they turned defensive and worked to get into the final frame with a lead and the big, last-rock advantage known as the hammer.

Britain’s best chance to win came with the hammer in the ninth, but it could only manage one point — essentially holding serve.

“As soon as that shot stopped,” Fenson said, “I knew I would be drawing for the win. The guys just had to keep it open so I would have a path.”

The hammer went over to the Americans in the 10th end, and they kept Britain from building any protection that would keep Fenson from putting the last rock into the scoring zone. Murdoch had one rock in the target area, and he put his last rock out front as a guard.

But Fenson had an open draw around the right to get inside of Murdoch’s rock and give the U.S. the bronze.

“That’s the shot we always work for the win,” Shuster said.

The victory was especially emotional for Rojeski; it was the second anniversary of his mother’s death. The U.S. third carried a picture of his mother, Bonnie, with him throughout the tournament.

“I knew it was going to be an extremely difficult day for me today,” he said. “This team is extremely satisfied with the way they played today — and for myself, it’s that much of a better moment, for sure.”


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11540054/

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/winter_sports/4744334.stm

Britain's men's curlers lost bronze-medal match 8-6 to USA
to go home empty-handed from Pinerolo.


Britain's men's curlers are left devastated after losing their bronze-medal match 8-6 to USA at Pinerolo

Last Updated: Friday, 24 February 2006, 15:25 GMT
BBC Sport at the Winter Olympics

Great Britain's men's curlers failed to land the bronze medal after an 8-6 defeat in their play-off with the USA.

After a heartbreaking 4-3 semi-final loss to Finland, Britain set up another thrilling climax as they battled back from 6-2 down after six ends.

British skip David Murdoch's superb three-point haul on end seven reduced the deficit to 6-5 with three to play.

Each side added one more but the USA, who held last-stone advantage, sealed a comfortable victory on end 10.

In reality, Britain had always been chasing the game after American skip Pete Fenson's dramatic double take-out in the third end scored three and put his team 4-1 ahead.

Fenson scored two more in the sixth to leave Britain with a mountain to climb to get back into the game.

Murdoch's last-stone double take-out in the seventh gave Britain a triple but the Americans stayed clear and took the last-stone advantage into the final end.

Despite Britain's best blocking efforts, Fenson held his nerve to draw in his final stone for 8-6 and spark celebrations among the American fans.

It was a sad finale to a promising tournament for Great Britain, who consisted of Murdoch, Ewan MacDonald, Euan Byers, Warwick Smith and alternate Craig Wilson.

Murdoch's men had led the round-robin stage with six wins from their first seven matches before running into bad form, finishing with four defeats in a row.

Britain's women, skipped by former defending champion Rhona Martin, failed to make it to the semi-finals.