Olympics: Week Two

More highlights from the second week.

On the same day as the Daytona 500, there were several spectacular NASCAR-like crashes in Ice Dancing (shouldn't that be on Fox?). If people crashed like this more often, no one would question whether or not this is a sport. Incidentally, a Canadian, competing for the US, wins the silver. Nice job, eh?

Taking a page from the "Jeremy Wotherspoon: How to NOT compete" manual, Francois Bourque leads the first run of the GS, only to get too nervous and fall way off the pace in the second run. Finishing, in classic Canadian style, fourth.

The Canadian women defend their gold medal in hockey. There are some many Canucks in the building that when the anthem is sung, the singing overpowers the music. Very awesome.

Last week I mentionned the Canadian who won gold for Australia. As far as I'm concerned, the land of Oz can keep him. Turns out that he and his brother are millionaires, they own an internet company. Every day they send out over 20 million spam emails. That's right, he's a crook. Fitting that Australia, founded penal colony, would gladly adopt a criminal. Good on ya Oz.

Cindy Klassen blows away the field to win gold in the speed skating 1500. She wins by 1.5 seconds, a veritable eternity in this sport. It is her forth medal of the games (1 G, 2 S, 1 B). Klassen then cranks out her fifth medal, a bronze, of the games in the 5000 m. She wins the most medals of any athlete in Turin. Her fifth medal, sixth overall in two Olympics, also makes her the most decorated Canadian Olympian ever. How awesome is that?! And she's only 26. Good thing our hockey program is so deep and she got cut from the 1998 team, otherwise we might never have known about what great a speed-skater she is.

So Canada ends with 24 medals, our best ever. But still one short of the goal the Canadian Olympic committee set, thanks NHLer's for your choke job! I heard some impressive numbers that aren't reflected in the final totals: Canada got 42 top five finishes, 14 of those were fourth place. Of the 15 sports in the winter Olympics, Canada won medals in 10 of them, more than any other country. The US won 25 medals in nine sports and Germany won 29 medals in seven sports.

Vancouver 2010, here's to turning those forth places into gold, silver or bronze.

I'll miss the Olympics.