Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Big air, big scares, and some Cheek.....
I watched snippets here and there of Olympic coverage over the weekend, but I did view all of the prime time NBC coverage last night. And it was quite memorable, with plenty of drama and excitement to be had. Of course, that may have been because I refrained from going online for "spoilers", heh heh.
One of the big scares came when Lindsey Kildow, who is from my home state, had a horrible crash on a downhill training run. It looked as though she could have broken legs, a back injury or worse. She was taken to the hospital, where, incredibly, x-rays and other scans revealed no major problems. She bruised the hell out of her hip, though, and it is unknown whether she will be able to compete in the women's downhill.
Another scare occurred during the finals of pairs ice skating. All eyes were on the Russian pair because a year ago, Maxim Marinin slipped and dropped Tatiana Totmianina onto the ice headfirst. But they skated a clean, if slightly tentative, performance this time, and they were in first place when the last Chinese pair to skate, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, took the ice. They had planned an amazing quad throw. But not only could Dan not land the quad, she fell forward onto her left knee and then hit the wall. She tried to stand, but couldn't quite. Her partner skated up to her and helped her to the edge of the rink where her coach and a doctor examined her. The music stopped. Dan was in tears, and it looked like the skate was over. Then, amazingly, she tentatively bent her knees to show the doctor that she could. She was given a tissue to wipe her eyes, and then she and Hao skated back to the center of the rink. By the rules of pair skating, they were allowed to continue their routine from the point they'd left off, but I don't think anyone expected them to actually finish it. Their music began again from the beginning, and they began to skate slowly around the rink. They picked up speed as the music progressed, and by the time they were right where Dan would have landed the quad, they were going full speed as though nothing had happened. They were not shaky or tentative, and most amazing of all, they did side by side triples! They in fact did all the rest of their routine as though she had never fallen. And best of all, they got the silver medal for their heroic efforts. That was the most inspiring moment of the Olympics so far for me.
A very pleasant surprise occurred in men's speed skating 500 meter. American Joey Cheek out-skated the favorites to win the gold. Unlike his competitors, who had their game faces on, Cheek looked so relaxed before his first skate that I wondered if he was even taking this seriously. But he was off like a bullet from the starting gun. And he was quite surprised by his time. And then no one else quite caught up to him.
I love snowboarding. In fact, had the sport existed when I was in my 20's, I would have learned how to do it. But at least I can live vicariously through the U.S. team's antics, right? So you know I was glued to the set when the women's halfpipe came on. Gretchen Bleiler is from my home state, so I was rooting for her, and she in fact did very well, taking second only to one of her teammates. But Kelly Clark competely blew me away. She did a final run the like of which I have never seen a woman do: a huge frontside air about 12 feet high, two moves called 540s, and then the crowning touch, a 900, which looks something like a helicopter propeller. But she skidded a bit and fell back. Still, she came in fourth and represented the U.S. well.
And now it's almost time for tonight's prime time broadcast. I won't see the whole thing, though, because Boston Legal is on ABC at 9pm. But I hope to at least catch most of the the highlights.
One of the big scares came when Lindsey Kildow, who is from my home state, had a horrible crash on a downhill training run. It looked as though she could have broken legs, a back injury or worse. She was taken to the hospital, where, incredibly, x-rays and other scans revealed no major problems. She bruised the hell out of her hip, though, and it is unknown whether she will be able to compete in the women's downhill.
Another scare occurred during the finals of pairs ice skating. All eyes were on the Russian pair because a year ago, Maxim Marinin slipped and dropped Tatiana Totmianina onto the ice headfirst. But they skated a clean, if slightly tentative, performance this time, and they were in first place when the last Chinese pair to skate, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, took the ice. They had planned an amazing quad throw. But not only could Dan not land the quad, she fell forward onto her left knee and then hit the wall. She tried to stand, but couldn't quite. Her partner skated up to her and helped her to the edge of the rink where her coach and a doctor examined her. The music stopped. Dan was in tears, and it looked like the skate was over. Then, amazingly, she tentatively bent her knees to show the doctor that she could. She was given a tissue to wipe her eyes, and then she and Hao skated back to the center of the rink. By the rules of pair skating, they were allowed to continue their routine from the point they'd left off, but I don't think anyone expected them to actually finish it. Their music began again from the beginning, and they began to skate slowly around the rink. They picked up speed as the music progressed, and by the time they were right where Dan would have landed the quad, they were going full speed as though nothing had happened. They were not shaky or tentative, and most amazing of all, they did side by side triples! They in fact did all the rest of their routine as though she had never fallen. And best of all, they got the silver medal for their heroic efforts. That was the most inspiring moment of the Olympics so far for me.
A very pleasant surprise occurred in men's speed skating 500 meter. American Joey Cheek out-skated the favorites to win the gold. Unlike his competitors, who had their game faces on, Cheek looked so relaxed before his first skate that I wondered if he was even taking this seriously. But he was off like a bullet from the starting gun. And he was quite surprised by his time. And then no one else quite caught up to him.
I love snowboarding. In fact, had the sport existed when I was in my 20's, I would have learned how to do it. But at least I can live vicariously through the U.S. team's antics, right? So you know I was glued to the set when the women's halfpipe came on. Gretchen Bleiler is from my home state, so I was rooting for her, and she in fact did very well, taking second only to one of her teammates. But Kelly Clark competely blew me away. She did a final run the like of which I have never seen a woman do: a huge frontside air about 12 feet high, two moves called 540s, and then the crowning touch, a 900, which looks something like a helicopter propeller. But she skidded a bit and fell back. Still, she came in fourth and represented the U.S. well.
And now it's almost time for tonight's prime time broadcast. I won't see the whole thing, though, because Boston Legal is on ABC at 9pm. But I hope to at least catch most of the the highlights.
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