On Monday, the United States won their first Olympic medal in the 2-man bobsled since 1952, winning the bronze medal by .03 second. Russia-1 won the gold relatively easy, and Switzerland-1 won the silver medal. Russia-2 just missed out on a medal, finishing 4th, just behind USA-1. Steven Holcomb and Steven Langston broke the 62-year drought for Team USA in the 2-man bobsled. Holcomb will also drive in the 4-man bobsled competition that starts on Saturday.
Also on Monday, Charlie White and Meryl Davis won the first ever ice dancing gold medal for Team USA. Congratulations to them, but that’s not my thing. As much time as NBC devotes to figure skating and ice dancing, it must be very popular, but I fast forward through it, lol. I still want the Americans to win though, and they did.
On Sunday, Bode Miller of the United States tied for the bronze medal in the Super-G Alpine skiing race. Kjetil Jansrud of Norway won the gold medal, and Andrew Weibrecht of the USA won the silver medal, which was his first time on the podium in any race since his bronze medal in the 2010 Olympics. But the big story occurred after the race, in an interview with Miller, by Christin Cooper of NBC.
Cooper started the interview recognizing Miller’s accomplishment as the oldest American alpine skier to win a medal at 36, and he has also won the most medals (6) by a skier representing the USA. Then she switched the focus to the death of his younger brother Chelone, nicknamed Chilly, last April of an apparent seizure. Mentioning his brother is one thing, but she kept pushing him, even after tears were running down his cheeks, until he finally lowered his head in grief.
Here is the video below. Judge for yourself. Imagine if that was you in that situation. Not only did Cooper keep asking him questions until he broke down, but NBC kept the cameras focused on Miller over a minute after the interview ended. No wonder some people don’t like to talk to the media. Later in the day, Miller thanked everyone for their support, and asked them not to be so hard on Cooper, that she’s a nice person.
Back on Saturday in men’s hockey, the USA faced Russia. The game wasn’t quite as good as the miracle on ice in 1980, where the young Americans beat the powerful Russians, but it was close. After 3 periods the game was tied at 2, and remained that way after the 5-minute overtime period.
The shootout went 8 rounds before it was decided by T.J. Oshie‘s 4th goal on 6 shots, in the shootout. Unlike the NHL (National Hockey League), in the Olympics after the first 3 rounds of the shootout, if teams are still tied, each team can pick the same shooter for every round from then on if they wish. That’s exactly what Team USA did, and it paid off. Strangely, the Russians didn’t use NHL top goal scorer Alex Ovechkin for any of their shots. The teams matched each other in rounds 4-7, but Oshie’s goal in round 8 won it for USA. These teams could play again in the semifinals.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
