Vancouver 2010 Medal Table Preview

[mr.x]

2010 Olympics setting up to be USA-Canada showdown

By Vicki Michaelis, USA TODAY

VANCOUVER — It won't be trumped up quite like the USA-Soviet Union showdowns of Cold War days or even the USA-China medals battle in last year's Beijing Games.

IMPROVING: Canada has been getting better at winter games

But the U.S. Olympic team definitely has a new rival, one you might not guess: our easygoing neighbors to the north, the ones who, when it comes to sports, always have seemed content to be best at playing hockey and watching hockey and little else.

The Canadians want to be No. 1 at the Winter Olympics they'll host in Vancouver, starting Feb. 12, 2010. Not just in hockey. They want to lead the overall medal count.

If their results over the last week are any indication, they're well on their way. John Kucera became the first Canadian skier to win a downhill world title. Figure skaters won a gold medal and three silvers in the Four Continents championships. Canada brought home three golds and a silver from the World Allround Speed Skating Championships. Canadians won five of six golds in World Cup freestyle skiing held at the 2010 venue.

Even they acknowledge it's rather un-Canadian of them. "There's sort of a natural humility that's sort of embedded in the Canadian DNA," says John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee. "We get up on the podium and we wonder if we belong there. I think we're kind of getting past that."

Their newfound ambition also could end up being rather un-neighborly of them.

Nearly every Canadian medal could mean one fewer for the USA, since the countries are competitive in many of the same winter sports. They finished second and third in medals in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino behind Germany, with the USA leading 25-24.

"They'll certainly impact our results," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Jim Scherr says of the Canadians in 2010.

Compound the Canadian threat with the ever-widening distribution of medals among all countries, as well as lackluster recent results from all but a handful of potential 2010 U.S. Olympians, and the U.S. outlook for Vancouver is subdued at best.

"Overall, I think we'll field a very strong team," Scherr says. "But to maintain the 25 medals we had in Torino, it's going to be much harder."

USA surged as host in 2002

When the USA last hosted the Winter Olympics, in 2002 in Salt Lake City, it used home-ice advantage as a springboard to 34 medals, nearly tripling its highest-ever winter medal haul of 13.

The 2002 total, just one off No. 1 Germany's 35, seemed to herald the USA's Winter Olympics coming-out. The U.S. winter athletes appeared ready to start matching the success of their summer counterparts, who have led the medal count in the last four Summer Olympics.

The Vancouver Games could be the comedown, the potential of world champion Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn (who added downhill gold Monday), nearly invincible speedskater Shani Davis, luger Erin Hamlin's historic world title last weekend and the USA's usual pack of superior snowboarders notwithstanding.

In world championships in Winter Olympic sports last season, U.S. athletes won 15 medals, fifth among nearly 30 countries. Germany led with 43, Norway was second with 29 and Canada third with 26. Russia won 19. Eleven countries had at least 10.

The USA has little hope of derailing Germany, Norway and, to some extent, Russia, because they are dominant in medal-rich sports such as biathlon and cross-country skiing. Germany rules the bobsled and luge tracks.

That leaves Canada, which, like the USA, historically has had success in figure skating, long-track speedskating and hockey and has built its medal potential by excelling in newer Olympic sports such as short-track speedskating, freestyle skiing and skeleton.

"Practically everywhere we're strong, the Canadians are, too," says Chris Vadala, senior director of sport partnerships at the USOC.

Canada will have a home crowd to please and an ignominious history to reverse. The Canadian team didn't win one gold medal in either Olympics the country already has hosted — the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary — and in Calgary won five medals overall.

"Trust me, I know all about that," says Brian Orser, who, after winning silver in men's figure skating in the 1984 Olympics, entered the 1988 Games as Canada's best gold medal hope but finished second again, behind the USA's Brian Boitano. "It haunts me. I'm sure whoever is our first gold medalist here in Vancouver is going to be a superhero."

Among the events on the first day of competition for the 2010 Games are the men's downhill and the women's moguls, where Canadian Jennifer Heil is the reigning Olympic champion.

"They've built a whole base of athletes like we had going into Salt Lake City, that, if everything hits and there's a little magic, with a home-court advantage, they could have a pretty substantial performance and possibly rival Germany," Scherr says.

New ambition

Canada's history of coming up short on home soil led to pointed discussions and planning almost immediately after Vancouver won the 2010 bid in 2003.

"We essentially said, 'We can't let this happen again,'" Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) chief executive officer Chris Rudge says. "At the end of the day, in a country, an Olympic Games will only be seen to be successful if the home team does well."

In consultation with Jim Page, the USOC's managing director of sport performance in 2002, the Canadians created the Own the Podium program.

"It was built on the tenets," Scherr says, of the USOC's Podium 2002 program for the Salt Lake City Games. The USOC invested an extra $18 million over the four years leading into the 2002 Games for equipment, coaches and athlete stipends.

The COC, Vancouver organizing committee and government committed a collective $110 million to Own the Podium. The funds were targeted at helping athletes with the most medal potential, similar to the USA's approach for 2002.

Canada's plan was questioned at first in the court of public opinion, Rudge says.

"We're a country that historically has suffered from a certain egalitarian angst, where we want to be all things to all people and give everybody a fair chance to get to the top," he says. "And we've always found it difficult to direct our resources to only those that have the best chance to medal and to wave the flag a little bit and say, 'We want to be No. 1.'

"We've often been accused of a certain American jingoism when we've done that in the past. That's not to denigrate Americans. They're the best neighbors anyone could have in the world. But we need more of your attitude."

Now that the Canadians have more of that attitude, they're winning more medals.

Their 24 medals in Torino were a 41% increase over their 17 in 2002. They haven't set a specific medal goal for Vancouver, but Rudge figures it will take in the high 20s or low 30s to top Germany. "It's going to be a tough row to hoe to catch them," Rudge says. "That's our objective, and if we only come second and do better than we've ever done, it will still be a great

Of course, in all the striving to be No. 1 next year, the Canadians haven't forgotten their first and enduring love. And some of their most intense matchups in hockey could come against the USA.

The Canadian and U.S. women have met for nearly every world championship and Olympic gold medal. Canada beat the USA in the 2002 Olympic men's final.

The Canadian feeling the most pressure a year from now undoubtedly will be Steve Yzerman, who played for the 2002 team and now is its executive director. He knows all this No. 1 talk will mean less if Canada is not wearing hockey gold at the end.

"I think everybody takes pride when any Canadian comes home successful," Yzerman says. "But hockey is the one sport that kind of unifies the entire country."

Maybe the neighbors haven't changed so much after all.

[Faster]

Since its a year to go, here our my predictions:

Alpine Skiing - 1 bronze, not sure where, maybe men's downhill.

Biathlon - none

Cross Country Skiing - 1 Silver women's spring, 1 bronze women's spring relay

Bobsleigh - Gold 2 men, Bronze in 4-men, Bronze in 2-men

Curling - double gold

Figure skating - bronze in ice dance, silver in men's, bronze in women's

Freestyle skiing - gold in women's and men's moguls, gold in men's aerials, bronze in men's ski cross

Ice hockey - gold in men's, silver in women's

Luge - not a hope in hell

Nordic Combined - same as above

Short Track - silver women's relay, gold men's relay, silver in women's 500m, 1000m and gold in men's 1000m and 1500m, bronze in men's 500m and men's 1000m

Skeleton - gold and silver in men's, silver and bronze in women's

Ski Jumping - not a hope in hell

Snowboarding - silver in women's boarder cross, silver in men's PGS

Speed Skating - gold in men's 500, 1500, and team pursuit, silver in 1000m, women's gold and bronze in 1000m, gold and bronze in 1500m, gold, silver and bronze in women's 3000m and gold and bronze in 5000m, gold in team pursuit.

Optimistic much.

19 Gold, 13 Silver and 13 Bronze for 45 medals.

Tough I think 36 is around what we are going to win.

[Fox334]

Alpine Skiing

Women's Giant Slalom

G: Kathrin Hölzl (GER)

S: Tina Maze (SLO)

B: Tanja Poutiainen (FIN)

4: Denise Karbon (ITA)

5: Michaela Kirchgasser (AUT)

6: Kathrin Zettel (AUT)

7: Tessa Worley (FRA)

8: Maria Pietilä-Holmner (SWE)

The Biathlon World Championships starts tomorow whit the men's and women's sprint. Also the World Cup FIBT Bobsled and Skeleton finale are underway in Park City (Salt Lake City). Here are the overal world cup winners so far:

Men's Skeleton: Alexander Tretiakov (Russia)

Women's Skeleton: Marion Trott (Germany)

Two Men Bobsled: Beat Hefti (Switzerland) in his rookie season as a pilot (if the name is familiar its because he won three Olympic bronze medals as a brakemen).

Traditional power Finland gets on the board.

After 16 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Austria 3 1 3 7

United States 3 0 2 5

Germany 2 2 0 4

Canada 2 1 1 5

Norway 2 0 1 3

Switzerland 1 4 3 8

Italy 1 2 1 4

China 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

France 0 4 1 5

Australia 0 1 0 1

Slovenia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 1 1

Finland 0 0 1 1

Poland 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[Fox334]

Alpine Skiing

Men's Giant Slalom:

G: Carlo Janka (SUI)

S: Benjamin Raich (AUT)

B: Ted Ligety (USA)

Women's Slalom:

G: Maria Riesch (GER)

S: Šárka Záhrobská (CZE)

B: Tanja Poutiainen (FIN)

The top-three finisher from the first run all fell during the second run.

Biathlon

Women's Sprint:

G: Kati Wilhelm (GER)

S: Simone Hauswald (GER)

B: Olga Zaitseva (RUS)

Men's Sprint:

G: Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR)

S: Lars Berger (NOR)

B: Halvard Hanevold (NOR)

Norway finishes 1-2-3-4. Bjørndalen has now won this event 4 times in 6 years, plus Olympic gold in 2002 (he won bronze the two years he didn't win gold).

Germany takes the lead and Russia enters the board (I don't expect them to be tied for last for too long ^^)

After 20 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Germany 4 3 0 7

Austria 3 2 3 8

Norway 3 1 2 6

United States 3 0 3 6

Switzerland 2 4 3 9

Canada 2 1 1 5

Italy 1 2 1 4

China 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

France 0 4 1 5

Australia 0 1 0 1

Czech Republic 0 1 0 1

Slovenia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 1 1

Finland 0 0 2 2

Poland 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

Russia 0 0 1 1

[cube]

Germany -

where we belong

[Fox334]

Alpine Skiing

Men's Slalom:

G: Manfred Pranger (AUT)

S: Julien Lizeroux (FRA)

B: Michael Janyk (CAN)

Biathlon

Women's Pursuit:

G: Helena Jonsson (SWE)

S: Kati Wilhelm (GER)

B: Olga Zaitseva (RUS)

Men's Pursuit:

G: Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR)

S: Maxim Tchoudov (RUS)

B: Alexander Os (NOR)

Norway now has 5 out of 6 Biathlon medals in the men's side.

Sweden enters the board and Russia moves up quite a bit. Canada nows actually has five medals (thank you Fisher for pointing out my mistake)

After 20 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Germany 4 4 0 8

Austria 4 2 3 9

Norway 4 1 3 8

United States 3 0 3 6

Switzerland 2 4 3 9

Canada 2 1 2 5

Italy 1 2 1 4

China 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

Sweden 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 1 6

Russia 0 1 2 3

Australia 0 1 0 1

Czech Republic 0 1 0 1

Slovenia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 1 1

Finland 0 0 2 2

Poland 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[Fox334]

Biathlon

Men's Individual:

G: Ole Einar Bjørndalen

S: Christoph Stephan

B: Jakov Fak

I have to said that I must have said "Fak? Fak!" about 40 times when I watched the race replay... Huge upset from the Croatian! Oh, and Ole Einar Bjørndalen is now 3 for 3 at this year's worlds.

After 20 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Norway 5 1 3 9

Germany 4 5 0 9

Austria 4 2 3 9

United States 3 0 3 6

Switzerland 2 4 3 9

Canada 2 1 2 5

Italy 1 2 1 4

China 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

Sweden 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 1 6

Russia 0 1 2 3

Australia 0 1 0 1

Czech Republic 0 1 0 1

Slovenia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Finland 0 0 2 2

Poland 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[Fox334]

Forgot to put the country codes

Biathlon

Men's Individual:

G: Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR)

S: Christoph Stephan (GER)

B: Jakov Fak (CRO)

[Fox334]

Biathlon

Women's Individual

G: Kati Wilhelm (GER)

S: Teja Gregorin (SLO)

B: Tora Berger (NOR)

Germany retakes the lead after losing it yeasterday. Both Germany and Norway reached the 10 medals milestone. Amazingly, Germany has yet to win a bronze

After 22 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Germany 5 5 0 10

Norway 5 1 4 10

Austria 4 2 3 9

United States 3 0 3 6

Switzerland 2 4 3 9

Canada 2 1 2 5

Italy 1 2 1 4

China 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

Sweden 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 1 6

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Russia 0 1 2 3

Australia 0 1 0 1

Czech Republic 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Finland 0 0 2 2

Poland 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[Fox334]

And here it goes again (I love that song...)

Cross Country Skiing

Men's 15km Individual:

G: Andrus Veerpalu (EST)

S: Lukáš Bauer (CZE)

B: Matti Heikkinen (FIN)

Women's 10km Individual

G: Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN)

S: Marianna Longa (ITA)

B: Justyna Kowalczyk (POL)

After 24 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Germany 5 5 0 10

Norway 5 1 4 10

Austria 4 2 3 9

United States 3 0 3 6

Switzerland 2 4 3 9

Canada 2 1 2 5

Italy 1 3 1 5

Finland 1 0 3 4

China 1 0 0 1

Estonia 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

Sweden 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 1 6

Czech Republic 0 2 0 2

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Russia 0 1 2 3

Australia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Poland 0 0 2 2

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

In other Nordic Skiing news

Two non-Olympic events have already been held at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, both for the first time.

Men's Mass Start (Nordic Combined)

G: Todd Lodwick (USA)

S: Tino Edelmann (GER)

B: Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA)

The US Nordic Combined team is looking quite strong, whit both Lodwick and Bill Demong being serious medal treats heading into Vancouver.

Women's Normal Hill (Ski Jumping)

G: Lindsey Van (USA)

S: Ulrike Grässler (GER)

B: Anette Sagen (NOR)

Lindsey Van becomes the first world champion in women's Ski Jumping. Oh, and amazingly the USA currently leads the medal table... Probably won't last long, tough...

[Fox334]

Today is a really busy day when it commes to World Championships finals...

Biathlon

Men's Mass Start:

G: Dominik Landertinger (AUT)

S: Christoph Sumann (AUT)

B: Ivan Tcherezov (RUS)

Women's Relay:

G: Russia (Svetlana Sleptsova, Anna Boulygina, Olga Medvedtseva, Olga Zaitseva)

S: Germany (Martina Beck, Magdalena Neuner, Andrea Henkel, Kati Wilhelm)

B: France (Marie Laure Brunet, Sylvie Becaert, Marie Dorin, Sandrine Bailly)

Bobsled

Two-women

G: Great Britain I (Nicola Minichiello, Gillian Cooke)

S: United States I (Shauna Rohbock, Elana Meyers)

B: Germany II (Cathleen Martini, Janine Tischer)

This is only the second time that Germany dosen't win the World Championships in this event (the other time being 2001). It is also the first time Great Britains wins a Bobsled world title in over 50 years.

Cross Country Skiing

Women's 15km Pursuit

G: Justyna Kowalczyk (POL)

S: Kristin Størmer Steira (NOR)

B: Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN)

Ski Jumping

Men's Normal Hill

G: Wolfgang Loitzl (AUT)

S: Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT)

B: Simon Ammann (SUI)

Austria re-gains the lead and Germany FINALY wins a bronze medal

After 29 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Austria 6 4 3 13

Germany 5 6 1 12

Norway 5 2 4 11

United States 3 1 3 7

Switzerland 2 4 4 10

Canada 2 1 2 5

Italy 1 3 1 5

Russia 1 1 3 5

Finland 1 0 4 5

Poland 1 0 2 3

China 1 0 0 1

Estonia 1 0 0 1

Great Britain 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

Sweden 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 2 7

Czech Republic 0 2 0 2

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Australia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[Fox334]

Biathlon

Women's Mass Start

G: Olga Zaitseva (RUS)

S: Anastasiya Kuzina (SVK)

B: Helena Jonsson (SWE)

The Russian womens are doing quite well considering that they lost there two best members due to a doping violation...

Men's Relay

G: Norway (Emil Hegle Svendsen, Lars Berger, Halvard Hanevold, Ole Einar Bjørndalen)

S: Austria (Daniel Mesotitsch, Simon Eder, Dominik Landertinger, Christoph Sumann)

B: Germany (Michael Roesch, Christoph Stephan, Arnd Peiffer, Michael Greis)

Ole Einar Bjørndalen won four of the five titles in play this week, and he is now a fourteen-time world champion (plus a five-time Olympic champion). Austria continues this season's good relay showings.

Bobsled

Two-men

G: Switzerland II (Ivo Rueegg, Cedric Grand)

S: Germany I (Thomas Florschuetz, Marc Kuehne)

B: United States I (Steven Holcomb, Curt Tomasevicz)

Ivo Rueeg comes out of the shadow of his compatriot Beat Hefti to win the Two-men world title (he also won the four-men back in 2007).

Nordic Combined

10km Individual Normal Hill (Why couldn't they just keep the Gundersen and the Sprint?)

G: Todd Lodwick (USA)

S: Jan Schmid (NOR)

B: Bill Demong (USA)

The Lodwick and Demong also went 1-3 in the non-Olympic Mass Start event. The US now has two of the best Nordic Combined athletes in the world... Oh, and the US is currently leading the medal table in the FIS Nordic Skiing World Championships... Seriously

After 33 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Austria 6 5 3 14

Norway 6 3 4 13

Germany 5 7 2 14

United States 4 1 5 10

Switzerland 3 4 4 11

Russia 2 1 3 6

Canada 2 1 2 5

Italy 1 3 1 5

Finland 1 0 4 5

Poland 1 0 2 3

Sweden 1 0 1 2

China 1 0 0 1

Estonia 1 0 0 1

Great Britain 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 2 7

Czech Republic 0 2 0 2

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Australia 0 1 0 1

Slovakia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[Fox334]

I frogot one

Cross Country Skiing

Men's 15+15km Double Pursuit (a.k.a. 30km Pursuit)

G: Petter Northug (NOR)

S: Anders Södergren (SWE)

B: Giorgio Di Centa (ITA)

Norway gains the lead

After 34 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Norway 7 3 4 14

Austria 6 5 3 14

Germany 5 7 2 14

United States 4 1 5 10

Switzerland 3 4 4 11

Russia 2 1 3 6

Canada 2 1 2 5

Italy 1 3 2 6

Finland 1 0 4 5

Poland 1 0 2 3

Sweden 1 1 1 3

China 1 0 0 1

Estonia 1 0 0 1

Great Britain 1 0 0 1

Japan 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 2 7

Czech Republic 0 2 0 2

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Australia 0 1 0 1

Slovakia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

[mr.x]

Thank you for all the updates!

[Fox334]

Speaking of updates, I won't be doing any for the next eleven days (roughly). Don't worry, tough, I'll catch up fast enough when I come back to Canada (I'm going to the Dominican Republic to build a house whit Habitat for Humanity. Wish me luck ).

[Fox334]

I'm back!!!

Anyway, I'll update the Bobsled and Skeleton results after I watched the races (I don't want to spoil myself, although I know Holcomb won the four-man... Thanks, ESPN )

Cross Country Skiing

Men's Individual Sprint

G: Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR)

S: Johan Kjølstad (NOR)

B: Nikolay Morilov (RUS)

Men's Team Spring

G: Ola Vigen Hattestad and Johan Kjølstad (NOR)

S: Axel Teichmann and Tobias Angerer (GER)

B: Sami Jauhojärvi and Ville Nousiainen (FIN)

Men's 50km

G: Petter Northug (NOR)

S: Maxim Vylegzhanin (RUS)

B: Tobias Angerer (GER)

Men's 4x10km relay

G: Norway (Eldar Rønning, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Tore Ruud Hofstad, Petter Northug)

S: Germany (Jens Filbrich, Tobias Angerer, Franz Göring, Axel Teichmann)

B: Finland (Matti Heikkinen, Sami Jauhojärvi, Teemu Kattilakoski, Ville Nousiainen)

Women's Individual Sprint:

G: Arianna Follis (ITA)

S: Kikkan Randall (USA)

B: Pirjo Muranen (FIN)

Women's Team Sprint:

G: Virpi Kuitunen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FIN)

S: Anna Olsson and Lina Andersson (SWE)

B: Arianna Follis and Marianna Longa (ITA)

Women's 30km:

G: Justyna Kowalczyk (POL)

S: Yevgeniya Medvedeva (RUS)

B: Valentina Shevchenko (UKR)

Women's 4x5km Relay:

G: Finland (Pirjo Muranen, Virpi Kuitunen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen)

S: Germany (Katrin Zeller, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, Miriam Gössner, Claudia Künzel-Nystad)

B: Sweden (Lina Andersson, Britta Norgren, Anna Haag, Charlotte Kalla)

Nordic Combined

Men's 10km Large Hill:

G: Bill Demong (USA)

S: Björn Kircheisen (GER)

B: Jason Lamy Chappuis (FRA)

Team:

G: Japan (Yusuke Minato, Taihei Kato, Akito Watabe, Norihito Kobayashi)

S: Germany (Ronny Ackermann, Eric Frenzel, Björn Kircheisen, Tino Edelmann)

B: Norway (Mikko Kokslien, Petter Tande, Jan Schmid, Magnus Moan)

Ski Jumping

Men's Large Hill:

G: Andreas Küttel (SUI)

S: Martin Schmitt (GER)

B: Anders Jacobsen (NOR)

Men's Team:

G: Austria (Wolfgang Loitzl, Martin Koch, Thomas Morgenstern, Gregor Schlierenzauer)

S: Norway (Anders Bardal, Tom Hilde, Johan Remen Evensen, Anders Jacobsen)

B: Japan (Shohhei Tochimoto, Takanobu Okabe, Daiki Ito, Noriaki Kasai)

Norway's lead grows quite a bit

After 48 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Norway 11 4 6 21

Austria 7 5 3 15

Germany 5 13 3 21

United States 5 2 5 12

Switzerland 4 4 4 12

Finland 3 0 7 10

Russia 2 3 4 9

Italy 2 3 3 8

Canada 2 1 2 5

Poland 2 0 2 4

Japan 2 0 1 3

Sweden 1 2 2 5

China 1 0 0 1

Estonia 1 0 0 1

Great Britain 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 3 8

Czech Republic 0 2 0 2

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Australia 0 1 0 1

Slovakia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Ukraine 0 0 2 2

[Chateau Petrus]

In the next few days, Canada will go up a lot in the medal board with the Short Track Speed Skating WC and Acrobatics Skiing WC events.

Possible 1-2-3 sweep at the Men's Moguls led by Alexandre Bilodeau.

[Fox334]

In any case I have to say I am impressed by the showing of the US Nordic Ski Team. They won both individual Nordic Skiing events that will be held at the Olympics (whit two different athletes) and they might have won a medal in the team event was it not for the disqualification of Bill Demong in the Ski Jumping portion (due to not wearing his bib). Furthermore the US won its first ever medal in women's Cross Country Skiing. As for Canada, we won no medals in Nordic Skiing, although the official expectation is to get two XC Skiing medals.

[Faster]

Our best skier has been injured all season what do you expect.

[Faster]

And we've already won 4 medals in the Freestyle World Championships in Olympic

Men's Ski Cross

Gold - Andres Matt - Austria

Silver - Thomas Zengrel - Austria

Bronze - Davey Barr - Canada

Men's Aerials

Gold - Ryan St. Onge - USA

Silver - Steve Omischl - Canada

Bronze - Warren Shouldice - Canada

Women's Ski Cross

Gold - Ashleigh McIvor - Canada

Silver - Karen Huttary - Austria

Bronze - Meryll Boulangeat - Frace

Women's Aerials

Gold - Nina Li - China

Silver - Mengtoa Xu - Choina

Bronze - Jacqui Cooper - Australia

too bad Ski halfpipe isn't a medal event because Canada won both Silvers.

[Chateau Petrus]

And we've already won 4 medals in the Freestyle World Championships in Olympic

Men's Ski Cross

Gold - Andres Matt - Austria

Silver - Thomas Zengrel - Austria

Bronze - Davey Barr - Canada

Men's Aerials

Gold - Ryan St. Onge - USA

Silver - Steve Omischl - Canada

Bronze - Warren Shouldice - Canada

Women's Ski Cross

Gold - Ashleigh McIvor - Canada

Silver - Karen Huttary - Austria

Bronze - Meryll Boulangeat - Frace

Women's Aerials

Gold - Nina Li - China

Silver - Mengtoa Xu - Choina

Bronze - Jacqui Cooper - Australia

too bad Ski halfpipe isn't a medal event because Canada won both Silvers.

Add to that :

Men's Moguls : Bronze for Vincent Marquis

Women's Moguls : Silver for Jennifer Heil

[Fox334]

I am now up-to-date

Bobsled

Four-man

G: United States I (Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, Curtis Tomasevicz)

S: Germany II (André Lange, Alexander Rödiger, Kevin Kuske, Martin Putze)

B: Latvia I (Jānis Miņins, Daumants Dreiškens, Oskars Melbārdis, Intars Dambis)

Freestyle Skiing

Men's Ski Cross

G: Andres Matt (AUT)

S: Thomas Zengrel (AUT)

B: Davey Barr(CAN)

Men's Aerials

G: Ryan St. Onge (USA)

S: Steve Omischl (CAN)

B: Warren Shouldice (CAN)

Men's Moguls

G: Patrick Deneen (USA)

S: Tapio Luusua (FIN)

B: Vincent Marquis (CAN)

Women's Ski Cross

G: Ashleigh McIvor (CAN)

S: Karen Huttary (AUT)

B: Meryll Boulangeat (FRA)

Women's Aerials

G: Li Nina (CHN)

S: Xu Mengota (CHN)

B: Jacqui Cooper (AUS)

Women's Moguls

G: Aiko Uemura (JPN)

S: Jennifer Heil (CAN)

B: Nikola Sudová (CZE)

Skeleton

Men's Skeleton

G: Gregor Stähli (SUI)

S: Adam Pengilly (GBR)

B: Alexander Tretiakov (RUS)

Women's Skeleton

G: Marion Trott (GER)

S: Amy Williams (GBR)

B: Kerstin Szymkowiak (GER)

After 57 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Norway 11 4 6 21

Austria 8 7 3 18

Germany 6 14 4 24

United States 8 2 5 15

Switzerland 5 4 4 13

Canada 3 3 5 11

Finland 3 1 7 11

Russia 2 4 4 10

Italy 2 3 3 8

Japan 3 0 1 4

China 2 1 0 3

Poland 2 0 2 4

Sweden 1 2 2 5

Great Britain 1 2 0 3

Estonia 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 4 9

Czech Republic 0 2 1 3

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Australia 0 1 1 2

Slovakia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Ukraine 0 0 2 2

Latvia 0 0 1 1

[Chateau Petrus]

I am now up-to-date

Not really

Here's the link you need to add Short Track Speed Skating results :

http://www.shorttrackwch-vienna2009.com/wch09/index.php

One Gold and two more Bronze for Canada

Edited March 7, 2009 by Chateau Petrus

[Fox334]

Ya, I actually realized it not to long ago. Time to put Korea on the board

Short Track

Men's 500m

G: Charles Hamelin (CAN)

S: Kwak Yoon-Gy (KOR)

B: Olivier Jean (CAN)

Men's 1500m

G: Lee Ho-Suk (KOR)

S: Kwak Yoon-Gy (KOR)

B: J.R. Celski (USA)

Women's 500m

G: Wang Meng (CHN)

S: Liu Qiuhong (CHN)

B: Jessica Gregg (CAN)

Women's 1500m

G: Kim Min-Jung (KOR)

S: Zhou Yang (CHN)

B: Shin Sae-Bom (KOR)

Whit twenty-six events left, can Norway be overtaken?

After 60 of 86 events:

Country #G #S #B T

Norway 11 4 6 21

Austria 8 7 3 18

Germany 6 14 4 24

United States 8 2 6 16

Switzerland 5 4 4 13

Canada 4 3 7 14

China 3 3 0 6

Finland 3 1 7 11

Russia 2 4 4 10

Italy 2 3 3 8

Japan 3 0 1 4

South Korea 2 2 1 5

Poland 2 0 2 4

Sweden 1 2 2 5

Great Britain 1 2 0 3

Estonia 1 0 0 1

France 0 5 4 9

Czech Republic 0 2 1 3

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Australia 0 1 1 2

Slovakia 0 1 0 1

Croatia 0 0 2 2

Ukraine 0 0 2 2

Latvia 0 0 1 1

[Ruling Czar]

My Gawd.......I'm sooooooooooo glad for This U.S.A - we dominate everything! I mean, if national performace was sexual performance? Canada would be divorced as many time as they were Olympic games.