Top-10 (or more) Olympic Moments/Memories

Ted Ligety winning gold in the Combined, and coming back from a 3-second deficit in the process.

Julia Mancuso upsetting the GS status quo with her remarkable skiing performance through a blizzard to win gold.

The Canadian arealist who lost both his skis as he left the jump and yet still completed his routine and almost landed it cleanly on "two feet!"

Kjetil Aamodt defending his Gold medal in Super-G, and winning the most fickle Alpine event for the third time in his five Olympics.

The Chinese figure skating pair who rebounded from what should have been a knee and pelvis- shattering fall to take silver.

The crowd's deathly silence after Giorgio Rocca fell in the first run of slalom.

The sound of Thomas Morgenstern's feather-weight skis slapping the snow as they touched down near the 140 meter line in the Large Hill Ski Jumping competition.

Live Curling.

The fact that Antoine Deneriaz pre-ordered champagne for himself in anticipation of victory after he won the final Downhill training run despite sliding his skis sideways twice before the finish line.

Shaun White's Stars and Stripes bandana that he wore around his face while he competed.

Attending a men's hockey game, and observing the pride with which the Swedes played for their country.

Listening through the awkward silence for Canadian figure skater Emmanuel Sandhu's response when Schlopy asked him if other guys "shoe-jumped," after we watched him work through some of his routine in the Olympic Village's weight room.

...possibly to be continued when I have another internet connection...

Olympic Hangover

After spending the entire day in the car yesterday, driving from Sestriere to Munich, and then watching the Closing Ceremonies on TV in my hotel room, I can accurately describe myself as suffering from an Olympic hangover.

It definitely wasn't a result of partying at the Olympic level though, and a certain someone might say I missed out on the experience as result.

No, my feelings were a byproduct of a tremendous emotional build-up for the Games, and my race in particular. Waking up each morning with my own preparation on my mind, and then juggling my schedule to accommodate my inner fan, so I would be able to watch the main events live each day.

The Olympics are truly the pinnacle of sport, both from an athlete's and a fan's perspective. Where else can you see such disparate events, all being contested in close proximity? And where else can you experience sport being contested (more or less) for the love of it?

Sure there are examples of commercialism (the IOC practices amateurism in much the same way that the NCAA does) and that's really another subject entirely, but those are by and large kept to a minimum as the athletes compete for the highest honor: to uphold the Olympic ideal of doing one's best.

That's all it is; beyond NBC and the rest of the press, who insist on focusing on some jingoistic medal count and the "marketable personalities," the Olympics are about simply competing, about taking part. This hangover stems from the realization that the Eden of spirit which existed for 17 short days in Torino has now come to a close.

H Gate

An H gate, correct me if I'm wrong because that's what we've been calling it, is two closed gates in a row, which are set something like this (or at least this is how it was in the 2nd run on Saturday night):

                I       I
           I
           I I
             I
I       I

So you ski through the first open gate on your left foot, and the ending open gate on your right foot, if that makes sense. It skis just like a hairpin, but with much more of a direction-change required in the middle. The strangest aspect is just the barrage of gates you see when skiing into it!

Olympic Slalom

Last night's Olympic slalom was an event I will remember forever, and an experience I will always look back on fondly. I have a lot to be proud of in making it to that point, and I am happy with the way I raced even though the end result was a little less than I had ultimately hoped for.

My first run was pretty good, especially in the middle section, and it left me in 15th place - only 1.3 seconds out. With that run under my belt, and some of the nerves out of my system, I felt I could ski even better in the 2nd run and have an outside shot at challenging the leaders.

Unfortunately though, I was unable to will a great performance. The 2nd run course set proved too difficult for me, and I moved back to 18th in the final stanings.

The result was especially surprising to me because I was so caught up in the moment that it never occured to me that the course did not suit my skiing style until many people confirmed it to me afterwards. The Croatian coach had set it to favor Ivica Kostelic, incorporating some crazy combinations - an "H" gate even - with a lot of speed the whole way down.

If I've learned anything over the years, it's that I tend to do better on courses with bigger turns, so in hindsight the outcome isn't too out of the ordinary. And while I was somewhat disappointed, that feeling is fading fast as I think back on the awesome experience of taking part in my third Olympics. In the true spirit of the Games, far beyond the medal counting, I feel that I honestly put forth my best effort and gave my race everything I had. For that I have a great deal to be proud of!

Today was relatively uneventful here in Sestriere, after the excitement of the Men's GS yesterday and before the rest of the technical events are held later this week.

Having taken the weekend off myself, I resumed training today with some slalom on the trail next to the race hill. I had skied through Friday in Madesimo, and then moved up here to rest for a few days and take in some events. Marina and I went to the Large Hill Ski Jumping on Saturday night and the USA vs. SWE hockey game on Sunday evening. They were both spectacular, and it was amazing to be so close to the action on each occasion.

Since I've been a bit delinquent with my posts, I won't rehash what I've done every day, but I will include a gallery of some of the photos I've taken during the last 10 days. To get there, just click here.

Ted and Dane

How about Valentine's Day for an emotional roller coaster? In the span of one evening we watched one teammate win an Olympic gold medal, and then heard that another teammate had hurt himself badly in a Nor-Am downhill.

Ted Ligety's accomplishment in the Combined was simply awesome. Olympic Gold is the ultimate achievement in sport, and he did it in commanding style. He worked his way back from a three-second deficit in the downhill, over the course of two ensuing runs of slalom. It was proof that he is the best slalom skier this year; there is no one else in the world who could have possibly made up that kind of time on the likes of Schoenfelder, Kostelic and Rocca. It was also exciting to see his smile afterwards, as his mind tried to come terms with what he had just done!

Then the news came about Dane Spencer: a broken vertebra and pelvis suffered in a nasty crash at Big Mountain, MT. The good news was that his spinal cord and head were both safe. But still, to think of such a good friend laid up in an ICU makes my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach.

In any other year, Dane would have qualified for the Olympics on the strength of his 12th and 20th place finishes in World Cup GS races this year. However, the US has an incredibly strong GS team this year and his results left him just shy of qualification.

So he was being a trooper, having agreed to go on the Nor-Am speed tour and work on his SG and DH while everyone else was competing in Torino, but really just biding his time until the World Cup tour picked up again in Korea in early March.

In light of that, it feels incredibly hollow that he injured himself in such a relatively meaningless event for him, before he even had a chance to get his revenge back at the top level of racing.

A gold medal and a bad injury in one day: a dramatic example of the highs and lows possible in alpine ski racing. I hope Ted thoroughly enjoys his crowning achievement, and my thoughts are with Dane, wishing him a smooth and relatively speedy recovery.

Madesimo

The day after the emotion-filled Opening Ceremonies, Jimmy Cochran, Erik Schlopy and I hopped in a car and drove three hours northeast to a small area called Madesimo, where we've been quietly training for the technical events on a water-injected hill.

Our coaches drove here directly to start working on the snow when we arrived in Europe last week, and their effort has paid off tremendously because we've had a great surface to ski on these last few days.

After Friday's session here, I'll head back to Sestriere to enjoy the Olympics a bit before I race.

Olympic Processing

After two weeks of delayed gratification, Erik Schlopy, Jimmy Cochran
and I arrived in Torino today for processing, which is the term the USOC
uses for getting your Olympic credential, receiving all the USA Team
apparel, and being briefed on procedures and what to expect in general.
It was a bit of an all-encompassing ordeal, roughly four hours long, and
with jet lag from the States heaped on top of it I am ready to hit the
hay tonight!

I will say this though, beyond the cool new schwag that actually looks
decent this year, it's a tremendous feeling to be back in the Olympic
Village. There are athletes from every nation milling about, eating
together and meeting one another, each respecting the effort it has
taken for everyone to make it to this point. Some of us will
distinguish ourselves and be crowned medalists over the course of the
next two weeks, but the overriding emotion of being simply being here,
of being an Olympian and taking part in the competition, is overwhelming.

Today was the last day of training here in Park City, where we've had a pre-Olympic camp during the last five days. Since most of the guys were over in Europe at the Downhill and Super Combined events in Chamonix last weekend, it was just Erik Schlopy and myself enjoying the home turf!

It should have been a great setup for us, but unfortunately the conditions were soft and warm the first four days. Until today that is because the skies cleared last night and the temperature dropped, which left us with a crisp beautiful day for GS training this morning.

Tomorrow we're boarding our flight for Torino, and I can hardly wait! It's been awesome to have been in the States these last two weeks, especially to have been back in Stowe. MMSC threw Jimmy Cochran and me a warm Olympic send-off party at the Rusty Nail, and the support was overwhelming. It was also great to catch up with friends and family during the break before I hit the road again for the next five weeks.

As an aside, I've had some press since making the team, albeit a bit less than Bode has had recently! One piece of note was an interview that Vermont Public Radio did with me last week, which you can find here.