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Olympic Capsules: Lysacek nails his moves, Vonn stumbles
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — On a day when Lindsey Vonn crashed and Canada's pride-and-joy hockey team nearly went down, Evan Lysacek stood up strong.
In the biggest event of his life, Lysacek — the reigning world champion in men's figure skating — didn't try the most daring routine, but he hit nearly every move he picked. He knew it, too, repeatedly screaming "Yes!" as his music faded.
"It was definitely my best, and that's what I came here to do," Lysacek said.
He earned the highest score of his career and it held up for the gold medal, topping defending champ Evgeni Plushenko and providing the United States with its first champion in this event since Brian Boitano in 1988. He also gave his coach, the widely respected Frank Carroll, his first gold medalist.
Lysacek's victory let the United States close Thursday still way ahead in the medals races. Through 34 events, Americans have claimed six golds and 17 overall. Germany is second in both categories, with four and 11.
Vonn wasn't able to add to the total.
Seeking her second gold medal in as many days, she led the super-combined after the downhill portion, then failed to slip a ski inside a gate during her slalom run and wound up tumbling down the snow.
A bruised right shin that was "killing me" wasn't to blame. She just made a common mistake trying to catch up to her best friend Maria Riesch of Germany and teammate Julia Mancuso.
"I was disappointed, but I went down fighting," Vonn said. "I had to give it everything I had."
Mancuso became the first American woman to win a medal in women's combined or super-combined since Gretchen Fraser got silver at the 1948 St. Moritz Games. She also became the first U.S. woman with three Olympic medals in Alpine skiing, matching Bode Miller for the most Alpine medals by an American.
The biggest drama that played out Tuesday involved Canada's men's hockey team.
A squad of NHL greats supposed to win gold in a sport that means about as much to Canadians as football, baseball and basketball combined mean to Americans let a two-goal lead dissolve into a tie with Switzerland. It stayed that way after regulation, after overtime and after three rounds of a shootout. Then Sidney Crosby scored and the entire host country exhaled.
A loss would've been more humiliating than damaging to Canada's chances of winning the Olympic tournament. Still, this way-too-close of a call — with an own goal clinking in off the skate of Patrick Marleau and goaltender Martin Brodeur not even coming close to stopping a shot he saw the entire way — is sure to have the country buzzing and the rest of the teams wondering whether the pressure is getting to the guys with maple leafs on their jerseys.
Other noteworthy events Thursday:
— Two gold medals for women named Tora/Torah: Tora Berger's victory was part of a sweep of biathlon events by Norwegians. Hers also gave Norway the nifty milestone of being first nation with 100 Winter Olympics gold medals. Torah Bright became the 2010 champ in women's halfpipe by beating the last two gold medalists, both Americans — '06 champ Hannah Teter (silver) and '02 champ Kelly Clark (bronze).
— The U.S. men's and women's hockey teams remained undefeated, with Summer Olympics golden boy Michael Phelps cheering the guys from the stands.
— The U.S. men's and women's curling squads remained winless.
MEN'S HOCKEY
The U.S. squad will take a 2-0 record into its clash with Canada on Sunday. That's significant because the Americans were 1-4-1 at the Turin Games.
The latest victory was 6-1 over Norway, with Phil Kessel and Chris Drury getting the club going with first-period goals. The defense was so good that goaltender Ryan Miller needed to make only 10 saves, with Phelps sitting four rows above center ice and trying to stay out of the spotlight.
Canada beat Norway 8-0, yet any method of comparison was rendered moot by what happened between the Canadians and the Swiss.
Canada took a 2-0 lead early in the second period against a club with only two NHL players and a mostly new, younger collection of Canadians seemed poised to avenge a 2-0 upset loss to Switzerland in 2006 that ranks among the greatest in Olympic history. It was even the 4-year anniversary.
They almost blew it. Victory wasn't secured until Crosby put a wrist shot past Jonas Hiller on his second attempt of the shootout, then Brodeur stopped a shot by Martin Pluss.
WOMEN'S HOCKEY
Stunning news from the U.S. match — Jenny Potter didn't have a third straight hat trick. Heck, she didn't have a single point.
The Americans still cruised by Finland 6-0, getting a goal and two assists from captain Natalie Darwitz to cap an undefeated run through the preliminary round.
"We've got one task in sight, and we think we are in pretty good position going forward," U.S. defenseman Caitlin Cahow said.
HOCKEY & THE OLYMPICS
The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation is defending the lack of depth in the women's field and practically begging NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to let pros play in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
"For our game, our fans, Gary, we need you, 100 percent," IIHF president Rene Fasel said at a news conference Bettman attended.
As for the imbalance in the women's field, Fasel called the teams from Canada and the United States "on another planet" and urged the rest of the world to catch up.
HALFPIPE
After all sorts of flying and falling, Bright showed that someone could tame this course, stringing together five technically superior jumps for just the fourth gold medal ever won by an Aussie at the Winter Olympics — enough to earn her a phone call from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Of course, it all came after a wipeout during her first run.
SKELETON
With two of four skeleton runs in the books, the leader is Britain's Amy Williams, who hasn't even won a medal on the World Cup circuit this season.
"The sport is so tight between each person that anything can happen," she said.
All three medalists from 2006 are in the field, with Canada's gold-medal favorite Mellisa Hollingsworth in third, just nine-hundredths of a second behind.
American Noelle Pikus-Pace is fifth.
A Japanese slider was disqualified because her skeleton lacked a mandatory sticker.
BOBSLED
The slick track at the Whistler Sliding Center is causing problems again.
At least 11 two-man bobsleds have spilled sideways in the first two days of training. This season's World Cup two-man overall champion from Switzerland and an Australian were held out of practice Thursday following crashes Wednesday night.
Practice wrecks happen in bobsledding. But when they happen within a week of a luger dying in a training accident that causes things like Thursday's decision to add extra training runs.
CURLING
Attention everyone watching curling and thinking, "I can do that."
The U.S. teams might need you.
Americans remained 0-for-Vancouver following losses by the men and women, both to Denmark by the score of 7-6.
At 0-4, the men are on the brink of elimination; they must win their remaining five matches to get to the semifinals.
"Something magical would have to happen for us to make the medal round," U.S. lead John Benton said.
The women are 0-3.
SPEEDSKATING
Canada's Christine Nesbitt figures she's had better 1,000-meter skates. But never one more important.
And few that were any closer. She won by two-hundredths of a second.
Jennifer Rodriguez was the top American, finishing seventh.
Meanwhile, five-time gold medalist Claudia Pechstein of Germany won't be competing here after the top court in international sports rejected her appeal of a suspension for showing abnormal blood levels.
BIATHLON
Emil Hegle Svendsen won the men's 20-kilometer individual event, denying his mentor, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, his sixth Olympic gold. With a silver, he became the first Olympic biathlete to medal in the same event in three straight Winter Games.
American Jeremy Teela was a late scratch after waking up with sinus problems. Tim Burke was the top American at 45th.
Berger dominated from start to finish in the women's 15-kilometer individual race, becoming the first Norwegian woman to win an Olympic race. Lanny Barnes was 23rd, best by an American since 1994.
SKICROSS
Injured Americans Daron Rahlves (dislocated right hip) and Casey Puckett (dislocated shoulder) say they're healthy enough to compete on Sunday.
"When you're motivated to get healthy, it's really impressive, when you do everything you can, how quickly you can come back," Puckett said.
SKI JUMPING
Could it be — ski-jumping subterfuge?
The Austrians are griping that Switzerland's Simon Ammann — who won the normal hill event — has improper bindings and wants him to use different ones for the large hill competition.
The Austrians aren't challenging his win, but will file a protest if he trots them out Saturday. The head of the Swiss team says there won't be a change and predicts that a protest would be rejected.
TV RATINGS
A night after Fox's "American Idol" drew nearly 4 million more viewers than NBC's broadcast from Vancouver, the athletes outdrew the entertainers by a whopping 11.7 million in the hour the two overlapped Wednesday night. It was the first time in six years that "Idol" was topped by a program in its time slot.
Thursday's Vancouver Olympics developments
Developments Thursday, Day 7 of the Vancouver Winter Olympics:
GOLDEN AGAIN IN CANADA: Evan Lysacek won the first U.S. men's figure skating gold medal since Brian Boitano at Calgary in 1988. Lysacek upset defending champion Evgeni Plushenko by skating a flawless if somewhat conservative performance. Daisuke Takahashi of Japan won the bronze.
VONN TRIPPED: Lindsey Vonn failed to get her ski tip around a gate and fell in the slalom run of the super-combined. That allowed her best friend and rival, Maria Riesch of Germany, to win the gold.
U.S. CURLERS REELING: The U.S. men's curling team lost to Denmark 7-6, all but squashing its medal chances with an 0-4 start. The American women also fell to Denmark by the same score, making them 0-3. By contrast, both Canadian men's and women's teams are undefeated.
MEDALS RACE: After just over a third of Vancouver's 90 medal events, the U.S. led with 18 medals and six golds. Germany was next with 11, including four golds. Norway was third — eight overall, three golds. The biggest disappointment is Russia, which has just four medals, one of them gold.
HALF-A-LOAF IN THE HALFPIPE: U.S. women earned two medals in the halfpipe, with Hannah Teter taking silver and Kelly Clark bronze behind Australia's Torah Bright.
CROSBY STILLS GNASHING OF TEETH: Sidney Crosby scored the only goal of a shootout in which an entire nation of nervous Canadians hung on every shot, giving the hosts a 3-2 victory over Switzerland. After a five-minute overtime, the first three shooters for each team in the shootout failed. Crosby put a wrist shot past Jonas Hiller with his second attempt, and the game ended when Canada goalie Martin Brodeur stopped Martin Pluss' shot.
NORTHERN HIGH-LIGHTS: Tora Berger reached a milestone for Norway, winning the country's 100th Winter Olympic gold medal in the 15-kilometer individual biathlon race. A short time later, Emil Hegle Svendsen won the 101st, taking gold in the men's 20K individual biathlon. ... The U.S. women's hockey team shut out Finland 6-0. ... Amy Williams of Britain was a surprise leader at the midway mark of the women's skeleton competition. ... Christine Nesbitt won Canada's first gold medal at the Richmond speedskating oval when she beat Annette Gerritsen of the Netherlands by two-hundredths of a second in the 1,000 meters.
Lysacek upsets Plushenko for skating gold medal
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Evan Lysacek of the United States won the men's figure skating gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics on Thursday, upsetting defending champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia.
Daisuke Takahashi finished third and became the first Japanese man to win a figure skating medal at the Olympic Games. Lysacek is the first U.S. man to win the Olympic gold since Brian Boitano in 1988.
Lysacek, also the reigning world champion, looked almost dazed when he stood on the podium and heard the first notes of the "Star Spangled Banner." But as he watched the flag rise, he broke into a wide grin.
"I saw that American flag go up," Lysacek said, "and I couldn't believe it was for me."
Plushenko came out of retirement with the goal of making history of his own with a second straight Olympic gold medal. Bothered that Lysacek won despite not doing a quadruple jump, Plushenko took off his silver medal as soon as he left the ice.
"If the Olympic champion doesn't know how to jump a quad, I don't know," Plushenko said. "Now it's not men's figure skating, now it's dancing."
Plushenko also hinted his career is not over, saying through a translator "after this defeat, I'm not going to put my hands down and stop." At 27, he already is considered old for the sport, but the next Winter Olympics are in his home country of Russia, which could entice him to keep skating.
"I was positive that I won," he said. "But I suppose Evan needs a medal more than I do. Maybe it's because I already have one.
Lysacek, meanwhile, made no apologies for what he did — and didn't — do. He's done the quad before and originally planned to do it here, but didn't want to risk further damage to the left foot he broke last spring. After feeling pain in the foot again after last month's U.S. championships, he decided one element wasn't worth the risk of getting hurt and having to miss the Olympics.
"If it was a jumping competition, they'd give you 10 seconds to go do your best jump. But it's about 4 minutes and 40 seconds of skating and performing from start to finish," Lysacek said. "That was my challenge tonight, and I feel like I did quite well."
Lysacek finished with a career-best score of 257.67, 1.31 ahead of Plushenko. When Plushenko's scores were posted, someone in the arena screamed out, "Evan Lysacek has won the gold!" Backstage, surrounded by longtime coach Frank Carroll and pairs gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, Lysacek threw back his head in disbelief and utter elation.
Lysacek was the first of the top skaters to go. He played it safe for the first three minutes of his 4 1/2-minute program, but everything he did was technically perfect. His jumps were done with the control and dependability, and his spins were so well-centered you could see the tight little circle of his tracings clear across the ice.
He didn't skate with his usual flair and charisma, but when he landed his last jump, a double axel, Lysacek let loose. His face was expressive, and he fixed the judges with a kingly glare during his circular steps.
The last note of his music was still fading when Lysacek pumped his fists up and down and screamed "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" He clapped his hands and skated to center ice, throwing his arms out wide to the crowd and blowing kisses. He put his arm around the shoulder of Carroll, who had yet to coach a gold medalist despite a distinguished list of past and present skaters.
Plushenko skated with his usual flair and dramatics, drawing laughs from the crowd with his saucy, seductive tango. No one loves the limelight quite like Plushenko, and he was in his element. He preened and posed and skated as if he was sure another gold medal was his.
But Plushenko, who can do jumps in his sleep, was just a bit off. He needed good instincts to pull off more than one landing, costing him the bonus points that are the difference between silver and gold. His spins weren't quite as good as Lysacek's, either, and he got lower levels for one of his sections of footwork.
Much had been made about of Plushenko's transition scores, the mark given for the steps connecting the elements, as well as his other component scores — the old artistic marks. But those didn't cost him the medal.
Lysacek edged Plushenko on the mark for their technical elements — jumps, spins and footwork. That's the score where the three-time Olympic medalist and three-time world champion has pretty much made his trademark.
"Plushenko was brilliant in the jumping. He did some brilliant, very difficult things," Carroll said. "But if you think of his skating, he was very brilliant, then down. And very brilliant, then down. It was going in waves. Evan just sort of stayed in a straight line and kept going at a certain level from the start to the finish."
Plushenko, also a silver medalist in 2002, returned from a three-year retirement seeking to become the first man to win consecutive figure skating gold medals since Dick Button in 1952.
After the medal ceremony, someone handed Lysacek a U.S. flag. He took a victory lap, waving it a couple of times before twirling it above his head like a lasso. He held his flowers aloft in his right hand and clutched his gold medal in the left.
Takahashi was wonderfully expressive in a fast, energetic and very entertaining program. He played to both the judges and the crowd, taking them along for the ride. His only flaw was a fall on his opening quadruple toe loop — a jump he hadn't landed all week.
"I am really, really happy right now," Takahashi said. "When I knew that I had won a bronze medal, I was so emotional. I was in tears."
-- Nancy Armour
Vonn fails to finish race; Mancuso wins 2nd silver
WHISTLER, British Columbia — Lindsey Vonn stepped gingerly in her brown hiking boots, a grimace betraying the pain in her bruised right shin and the sting of a fall that prevented her from completing Thursday's super-combined race at the Olympics.
As Vonn moved from the finish area toward a throng of autograph-seekers, a chant rang out from fans a few yards away: "Ju-li-a! Ju-li-a! Ju-li-a!"
The cheers were for Vonn's teammate, Julia Mancuso, who was making her way over after finishing second to Germany's Maria Riesch in the super-combined to earn her second silver in two days. Yes, make room for another U.S. skiing sensation at these Winter Games.
"I didn't expect that," Mancuso said. "Such a great feeling of accomplishment and really just believing in everything I was doing."
It's the nearly forgotten Mancuso, not the much-hyped Vonn, who owns two 2010 medals. It's the recently mediocre Mancuso, not the World Cup-dominating Vonn, who now is tied with Bode Miller for most career Olympic Alpine medals by a U.S. skier, with three.
Mancuso gave the United States its first medal in women's Olympic combined or super-combined since 1948. And her best event is yet to come — next Wednesday's giant slalom, the race the 25-year-old from Squaw Valley, Calif., won at the 2006 Turin Games.
Hip surgery after those Olympics led to back problems that made her something of an afterthought. Meanwhile, over the past two World Cup seasons, Vonn has claimed 18 race victories en route to two overall titles. Mancuso hasn't won any World Cup race since March 2007.
But, as she put it, "I just came to these Olympics trying to put the past behind me and rip it up."
Consider it done.
"She's just attacking. She has a lot of intensity, and I think her struggling in the past few years is maybe motivating her more. And she's coming in here as an underdog. No one's really expecting her to do anything, and I think that helps," said Vonn, who has raced against Mancuso since they were kids. "When you don't have any pressure, it helps to ski aggressively. It definitely is a lot different, you know, when you have everyone looking at you and expecting you to do things."
That last part refers, of course, to Vonn herself, pegged to dominate these Olympics. She won the downhill gold ahead of Mancuso on Wednesday, but three runs in a little more than 24 hours might have been too much for Vonn's injured leg.
"It's killing me," she said, but she went out of her way to make clear that it wasn't why she lost.
No excuses.
Instead, a common skiing slip-up derailed her bid for a second gold in as many days. She simply failed to get her right ski around a gate during the slalom leg after entering that portion of the super-combined in first place. Vonn was 0.33 seconds ahead of Riesch and 0.80 ahead of Mancuso in the morning's downhill leg.
"I hooked a tip, and that happens in ski racing all the time," Vonn said. "I just wish it wasn't at the Olympic Games."
She's planned all along to participate in all five Alpine events, but there's no guarantee her leg will allow that.
"Nothing is for sure, one way or another. Right now the schedule is to do everything, and I anticipate she will do everything," said Thomas Vonn, who serves as a coach and adviser to his wife. "But anything can change in 10 minutes."
On a split-second.
As Thursday's early leader, Vonn was the last of the top 30 skiers to do the slalom, a discipline that's toughest on her tender shin because of all the tight, back-and-forth turns through the gates.
With Riesch — who happens to be Vonn's best pal, in addition to her biggest rival at the moment — and Mancuso having raced already, and no one else having been close to perfect, Vonn figured that if she played things safe, a medal was a sure thing.
But she wasn't interested in merely any medal.
"She was definitely going for the gold, and when you do that you're taking chances," Thomas Vonn said. "We discussed a game plan prior to her going and we both agreed, 'Go for the gold. You're at the Olympics. That's where it's at.'"
Explained Vonn herself: "I definitely was risking."
It didn't work out. Instead, Riesch forgot about her admittedly nervous, error-strewn, eighth-place downhill finish Wednesday to complete Thursday's two runs in a total time of 2 minutes, 9.14 seconds.
"The information our coaches gave up to the start on the radio was just 'Attack.' Nothing else. Just 'Attack the course,'" said Riesch, who's at her first Olympics. "And so I knew, OK, there's no one having problems probably, and so, just 'Full gas.'"
Mancuso was 0.94 seconds slower overall on a slope changed overnight to try to make things safer after a series of scary spills Wednesday. A machine was used to slice off part of the takeoff for the last jump, and the downhill course was shortened at the top to reduce the amount of speed racers would generate heading into the slickest section.
Sweden's Anja Paerson recovered from Wednesday's most frightening crash to take the bronze for her record-tying sixth career Olympic medal in Alpine skiing.
"In a word: amazing," U.S. women's coach Jim Tracy said. "That was a fall that probably would have taken 98 percent of the field out."
Vonn now will take Friday off, resting and treating her injury before Saturday's super-G, the third of her five events and the last in which she will be the outright favorite. She also is entered in the giant slalom and slalom next week.
All eyes were on Vonn in the run-up to the Olympics, and Mancuso acknowledged, "She deserved the attention." But she added: "I think that our ski team, in general, deserved a little more attention, because a lot of the media was all about Lindsey."
Now Mancuso is sure to see more and more of the spotlight, something she seems to enjoy — as do other members of her rambunctious family.
Mancuso often dons a tiara after races, because, as she said, "It's just about celebrating your inner princess."
She's been promoting her new lingerie line called "Kiss My Tiara," and on the morning of the downhill race, family members were raising a ruckus in the back of a bus on the way to the course. Mancuso's sister, April, turned the trip into a promotional stunt, pulling down her tights to display a piece of the product line to fellow passengers, then bursting into laughter.
That same spunkiness characterizes Mancuso's skiing, particularly when the stakes are the biggest.
After tearing through her slalom run, punching gates out of the way, she celebrated by yelping and jumping and falling on her back, then kicking up her legs.
"I know that she felt like she was due a bit more interest. ... But it's hard being with a superstar like Lindsey, because Lindsey has won everything this year, and she deserves the attention she's got," said British skier Chemmy Alcott, a friend of Mancuso's. "It's hard for Julia, without the results recently, to compete with that. But I think that now, they've both earned their spot."
-- Howard Fendrich
Lifetime of choices pays off in gold for Bright
WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The journey began a decade ago when Torah Bright and older brother Ben decided to ditch theirs skis for a snowboard.
It was a choice that forced them to leave their native Australia and hop from continent to continent in search of facilities, competition and sponsorship, because snowboarding just isn't something they do much Down Under.
Maybe they will now.
The gritty 23-year-old soared to gold in the women's halfpipe Thursday, shaking off a fall during the first run of the finals to end the United States' run atop the podium. In the stands, her parents Marion and Peter made a surprise appearance to watch the biggest night of her life.
Bright posted a score of 45 to beat defending champion Hannah Teter by 2.6 points Thursday. Kelly Clark was third, giving her a bronze medal to bookend the gold she captured at the Salt Lake City Games eight years ago.
In a final filled with falls and lacking in the fireworks provided by Shaun White in the men's competition 24 hours earlier, Bright provided the drama.
She cruised through qualifying, posting the top score and earning the right to go last in the finals. Then her momentum vanished moments into her first run, when she washed out and received a 5.9, worst in the 11-rider field.
The low score mean she had to go first on the second run, giving her less than 10 minutes to regroup. Not that there was much need for a head check.
"I was like, 'Oh well, can't change that,'" she said. "I tell myself the same things going into any run, any event. It's just to have fun and I looked down and I was like, 'We're going to put on a good show and I'm going to do what I know how to do best.'"
Namely, win.
Throwing together a series of tricks that have put her at the leading edge of the sport, she told the rest of the field "come and get me."
Nobody did.
Not Clark, considered the favorite coming in for her ability to soar higher than her competitors. She struggled during her first run and a couple of wobbles on the second relegated her in third.
Not Teter, who led after the first round but landed awkwardly twice during her second run.
Not 2006 silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler, who stumbled in the finals and finished 11th.
Nobody could beat the girl who moved away from Coomba, New South Wales a decade ago, intent on pursuing her passion even if it meant becoming a snowboarding nomad.
She's gotten used to it, and it's helped she's had Ben — who also serves as her coach — at her side.
"We've sacrificed a lot for this moment, traveling the world and leaving home at such a young age," Ben Bright said.
Peter and Marion offered to bring a little bit of Australia to Vancouver, but she told them to stay in Coomba and save their money to attend her wedding to fiance Jake Welch in June.
After a decade watching their children roam the earth, Peter and Marion weren't going to let a little six-hour drive north to Sydney and 20 hours on a plane keep them from Cypress Mountain.
Their trip remained a secret to Torah and Ben, but keeping it wasn't easy. When the two popped into the house they're staying at for the games on Wednesday afternoon, Peter and Marion ducked into a closet.
Bright didn't see her folks until she'd completed her final run. She clasped her hands over her mouth in shock.
The surprises were just starting.
Clark came in as the favorite. She'd dominated the competition in the run-up to the games and was riding as well as ever. Yet the 26-year-old couldn't summon enough magic during her second run.
Teter took the lead following her first run and was hoping to knock Bright off the top of the podium. It didn't happen, though the medals by Clark and Teter gave the United States 14 of the 24 medals since the halfpipe debuted in Nagano 12 years ago.
This time, however, the top of the podium belonged to an Aussie.
"Torah was 'on fi-yah,'" said Teter, who will donate the money she receives from the U.S. Olympic Committee for her silver medal to Haitian disaster relief.
Bright is considered one of the most physically gifted riders in the world, one that's unafraid to tackle some of the toughest tricks.
She's been tinkering with a "double cork" — a move that requires riders to flip twice — though she didn't do it in Vancouver because the walls offered little room to stick the landing. The trick is popular with the guys, but no girl has been able to land it in competition.
At least, not yet.
Bright will keep it in her back pocket for now. She didn't need it to win gold. She will if she wants to keep her spot at the front of the line.
"I guess you'd call her a captain of industry at the moment for the girls," her brother, Ben Bright, said. "She's progressive with the products that she brings to the sport and she's progressive with the tricks."
All that risk has taken a considerable physical toll. Bright has struggled to stay healthy, suffering through a shoulder injury that required surgery last year and the road back has been bumpy. She returned to competition in October but had to skip the X Games after slamming her head twice in three days.
Bright hugged her brother after clinching the gold while a crowd of fans — one of them holding a sign that read "Torah, we adore ya" — roared its approval.
The fan club quickly grew. As Bright made her way through the interview area following the flower ceremony a phone rang. On the other end was Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, and Bright said they had a brief "lovely" chat.
This doesn't happen at the X Games.
"The Olympics is something special, no doubt about it," Bright said.
So is having your parents there to watch it. It made up for the long stretches away from Australia, a land known more for its white beaches and surfing than shredding through the snow.
That all might change now.
Asked what Bright's victory means for her homeland, teammate Holly Crawford said "every girl in Australia is going to want a snowboard."
-- Will Graves
Olympic hockey: U.S. men beat Norway 6-1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — This U.S. win already was secured by the time Michael Phelps left his rinkside seat. Then it turned into a rout.
A big surge in the final minutes helped the American men's hockey team complete a 6-1 win over outmatched Norway on Thursday, but now the club will dive into the deep end of the pool against heavily favored Canada on Sunday with a bye into the quarterfinals on the line.
With Phelps, the U.S. Olympic swimming star watching from four rows off center ice, the Americans improved to 2-0 in these games. Phelps didn't see all the scoring because he left with 5½ minutes remaining, just after the U.S. made it 4-1.
Nursing a two-goal lead for much of the final two periods, the Americans broke it open when defenseman Brian Rafalski scored twice in the final three minutes.
"We've got some work to do still, there's no question about that," U.S. captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We're making far too many mistakes we can't be making against Canada."
Phil Kessel and Chris Drury had first-period goals, Patrick Kane stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second, and Ryan Malone added his second of the tournament to back seldom-tested goalie Ryan Miller.
The Americans held a 39-11 edge in shots over Norway, which has been outscored 14-1 in two games.
Rafalski netted a power-play goal with 3 minutes remaining and then finished the late outburst in the final minute. The Americans will have a day off Friday from games and practice. The U.S. was 1-4-1 at the Turin Games four years ago and can make a Phelps-like splash should they upset the Canadians.
"Come the Canada game, we've got to play playoff-type hockey — dump the puck in," Malone said. "It's not rocket science."
With only a 3-1 victory Tuesday over Switzerland, the U.S. was facing tiebreaker danger should it fall to Canada. Four teams clinch spots in the quarterfinals, while the other eight countries will play for the other four spots. Goal differential is a key tiebreaker, so lopsided wins are beneficial.
"We're definitely confident," forward Zach Parise said. "There's still room for improvement. I don't think we've played near our best hockey.
"We're not concerned about what Canada did against them. We want to get out of that qualification round, where plus-minus is a big thing."
The Americans held a 15-2 shots advantage through the first period and 23-9 after 40 minutes. But Miller was beaten for a short-handed goal by Marius Holtet in the second.
That gave the Norwegians, seeded 11th in the 12-team tournament, something to celebrate after an 8-0 loss in their opener to Canada on Tuesday.
"We were in it for 55 minutes," Holtet said. "They were controlling the game, but we were hanging in there and probably should have scored on a couple more of our other chances."
Chants of "USA USA" broke out less than 20 seconds in and before the Americans recorded their first shot. Unlike Wednesday, when ABBA music was played during stoppages of Sweden's game against Germany, U.S. artists — Bruce Springsteen, John Denver, Bon Jovi — were on the playlist.
Not to be outdone, many fans decked out in red — Norway and Canada varieties — yelled support for the decided underdogs with loud chants of "Let's Go Norway!"
"Ha!" Miller said with a laugh. "There had to be a few Canadians in there. That's fine. The whole house will be against us on Sunday."
The Americans' top line connected in the second period for its first goal. Kane slipped a pass to Parise at the left point and charged to the net as Parise fired a shot. Pal Grotnes, who despite allowing four goals called the loss to Canada the best game he ever played, left a big rebound off his pad that Kane steered into the open right side to make it 3-0 at 5:52.
Grotnes didn't finish the game against Canada and was said to have leg cramps.
"We just tightened up the defense a little bit from last game," Grotnes said. "We're confident with the fact we created some chances."
The U.S. had numerous chances to put the game away on its power play, but only scored once in five advantages. Kane made a nifty move deep in the zone to get around a defender, drawing oohs from the crowd. But instead of shooting, he tried to pass to Langenbrunner on his left wing.
The puck missed its target, and Holtet led a 2-on-1 rush the other way. Holtet zipped a drive from the right circle that eluded Miller's blocker and found its way in off the post at 8:37 to bring Norway within 3-1.
"They wanted to try and put a little whipped cream on top of the plays they're making, and it doesn't always work," U.S. coach Ron Wilson said.
Miller was better with 4:22 remaining in the period when he did the splits to stop a redirected shot off the stick of Anders Bastiansen that barely caught his pad before it could find its way into the net.
The Buffalo Sabres star goalie, who Wilson said will start every game barring something drastic, faced only two shots in the first period, but both were prime scoring chances for Jonas Andersen. The second was a one-timer from the right circle that had Miller darting across the crease.
Kessel gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead just 2:39 in when he received a pass in the neutral zone from Joe Pavelski and snapped off a laser shot that caromed in off the crossbar before Grotnes had a chance to stop it. Drury, whose selection to the U.S. team received some criticism because of a lack of recent scoring production, validated the move at 13:04.
David Backes, who scored an end-to-end goal Tuesday, sent a pass to Ryan Callahan for a shot that bounced off his pad to New York Rangers teammate Drury for an easy putback that made it 2-0.
Miller started the rush and earned an assist in the third when he sent Jack Johnson on a 2-on-1 that Malone cleaned up with a rebound goal with 5:41 remaining.
NOTES: Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick served as Miller's backup, taking the place of Boston's Tim Thomas, who had that role in the Olympic opener. ... Norway is 0-4-1 against the U.S. in Olympic play and has been outscored 20-10. The teams hadn't met since the 1988 Calgary Games.
-- Ira Podell
Women's hockey: U.S. routs Finland 6-0 behind Vetter
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Anne Helin skated in on Jessie Vetter for the penalty shot, urged forward by sympathetic Canadian fans who knew it was probably Finland's last, best chance to score on the American goalie.
"This is when Jessie does great," backup goalie Molly Schaus said to forward Julie Chu.
Although Helin's wrist shot was quick, Vetter handled it with ease. None of Finland's best efforts were nearly enough to alter the U.S. hockey team's course toward Canada.
Vetter made 23 saves, captain Natalie Darwitz had a goal and two assists, and the U.S. women completed their undefeated run through the Olympics' preliminary round with a 6-0 victory over Finland on Thursday.
After three routs apiece by the U.S. and Canada, the North American powers are just one victory away from ensuring their long-anticipated meeting for a gold medal next week. The Americans, who outscored their three opponents by a combined 31-1, will face Sweden in Monday's semifinals, while Canada — which had a 41-2 scoring edge — will take on Finland.
"The tournament started today for us," said Darwitz, who leads the Americans with 11 points in three games. "We feel ready."
Molly Engstrom had a goal and an assist for the Americans, and Hilary Knight got her first Olympic goal among their six scorers. Even a fairly strong performance by the highly regarded Finns couldn't even generate a stumble by the Americans or Vetter, who capped her perfect day by stoning Helin with 5:43 left.
"Jessie was awesome," U.S. defenseman Caitlin Cahow said. "You know, it's what we've come to expect. We're anxious to get going. We've got one task in sight, and we think we are in pretty good position going forward."
With a four-goal first period, the Americans advanced to another showdown with Sweden, which upset them in the semifinals four years ago in Turin with a 37-save effort by goalie Kim Martin, who will face them again Monday.
Finland will take on the Canadians, who outscored their three preliminary opponents 41-2, in the other semifinal.
Noora Raty stopped 36 shots for Finland, which had reason to believe it could compete with the Americans. Finland beat the U.S. team 3-2 in the opening game of the Hockey Canada Cup tournament on Aug. 31, but the Americans went on to win the tournament. They haven't lost to the Finns in five meetings since.
"We were a little sloppy in our own zone," defenseman Emma Laaksonen said. "We weren't like we have to be against a team like the United States, but I'm really proud of the team and how we played."
The Americans beat Finland twice in exhibitions in Colorado Springs by a combined 13-3 earlier this month, and they blamed their slow start on that familiarity. Finland controlled play for much of the first eight minutes before Chu scored the Americans' first goal.
"I think sometimes it's tough when you play a team many times before," Vetter said. "Especially Finland, which we've played several times in the last couple months. At times it's tough to get the intensity up. It helps when we score early like that to get going."
Although the Americans weren't seriously threatened thanks to Vetter, the U.S. effort probably won't scare Canada coach Melody Davidson, who pecked away on her phone while watching the game from the stands. Finland controlled the puck for long stretches, a stark change from the Americans' easy wins over Russia and China.
Yet the U.S. team went ahead eight minutes into the first period on a Harvard connection: Angela Ruggiero's slap shot from the point was deflected home by Chu, a three-time Olympian and fellow former Crimson star. Engstrom's slap shot then ricocheted in off Linda Valimaki's stick during a U.S. power play, and Meghan Duggan scored 42 seconds later.
When Darwitz deflected a shot past Raty, her fellow Minnesota Golden Gopher, late in the period, the Americans already had more than enough for another win.
"For 40 minutes we played really well, but the first period was just brutal," Raty said. "They got some nice goals and put us behind. We tried to get back, but they had too much momentum."
Knight, the Americans' leading scorer during its exhibition games leading up to Vancouver, finally connected on a cross-ice pass from Darwitz midway through the second period.
Vetter was outstanding during a 5-on-3 penalty-kill in the third period, and when Helin was hauled down from behind by Darwitz a few minutes later, Vetter got her blocker on the shot. Karen Thatcher added another goal in the closing minutes.
-- Greg Beacham
Lookahead
Cross-country thriller? It's not an oxymoron
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — At the Olympics, no sport has a monopoly on drama.
Even cross-country skiing, an event that doesn't always make for riveting television, featured one of the most exciting moments of the Vancouver Games on Wednesday when Nikita Kriukov edged Russian teammate Alexander Panzhinskiy in a photo finish.
"It was really unbelievable. In fact, Nikita is my roommate and we've trained together many years," Panzhinskiy said after the race. "It is really a dream for us to be together on the podium and we didn't know it was going to happen today."
NBC can only hope the remaining cross-country races are as compelling as that one. The women's 15-kilometer pursuit will be televised Friday, and the men's 30-kilometer pursuit will follow Saturday.
Unlike some other athletes at the Olympics, cross-country skiers stay close to the ground in a grueling but not always thrilling trek in the woods. The sport isn't a candidate for too many play-of-the-day awards, so check elsewhere for graceful jumps or excessive speeds.
As an endurance test, though, the event stands out, rivaled only by its cousin, the biathlon, and some of the longer speedskating races. It's not uncommon for cross-country skiers to collapse in exhaustion after crossing the finish line, giving the viewer a clear picture of the price paid in pursuit of Olympic glory.
In recent years, cross-country skiing has become better suited for television. Kriukov and Panzhinskiy dueled in the individual sprint, a relative newcomer to the sport that features a quick pace.
In the women's race, Petra Majdic of Slovenia won the bronze medal despite a frightening accident in a training run. She fell in a sharp curve and tumbled off the course, sliding on her back down a three-meter slope and onto some rocks.
Majdic won Slovenia's first medal of these games, and Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk is in a similar spot, trying to win her country's first gold medal at the Winter Games since 1972. She's a legitimate contender Friday in an event in which she won the world title last year.
Kowalczyk won a silver medal in the sprint, which she said isn't her strong suit.
"It's really good to be second," she said. "It's like a dream for me."
The pursuit races combine classical and freestyle skiing techniques. It's a mass-start race, with athletes beginning simultaneously. That can give an advantage to the top sprinters, who can tag along behind others and wait patiently for the fight to the finish.
Norway's Petter Northug will try for his first Olympic gold in the men's pursuit after winning two individual world championships last year. He took the bronze in the sprint Wednesday.
Also on Friday, NBC will televise the men's Alpine super-G, with Bode Miller trying for his second medal of these Olympics. Miller was the world champion in that event in 2005 but slammed into a gate and failed to finish at the Turin Games the following year.
"Skiing is not relaxing. It's an on-edge sport. Just because you win a medal doesn't mean you cruise to the next podium," Miller said after winning bronze in the downhill this week.
Switzerland's Didier Defago, the downhill champion, is expected to contend in the super-G as well. He finished eighth in it at last year's world championship.
The other two medal events on a relatively light day Friday are in the skeleton, with competitors hurtling down an icy track headfirst at speeds approaching 100 mph. NBC will show the skeleton, the super-G, ski jumping and ice dancing's compulsory program in prime time. The women's cross-country race is earlier in the day.
-- Noah Trister
A look at the Vancouver Olympics on Friday
Bode Miller won a bronze medal in the men's downhill this week, one more medal than he took at the Turin Games in 2006. If Miller keeps skiing well, perhaps his Turin debacle will become a more distant memory. He's now won three Olympic medals, including two silvers in 2002. He'll ski in the super-G on Friday, a day that also features cross-country skiing, ice dancing and the skeleton on NBC.
BODES WELL? Miller was once a world champion in the super-G, although that was in 2005. He didn't finish when he raced in the event at the 2006 Olympics.
CROSSOVER: Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk is a favorite in the women's 15-kilometer pursuit, an event that combines classical and freestyle cross-country skiing techniques.
SAVE THE LAST DANCE: Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir will be the last of 23 pairs to compete in ice dancing's compulsory program. Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White will skate 17th.
DIVING IN: Medals will be awarded in men's and women's skeleton, in which athletes go headfirst down the mountain on the same track used for luge and bobsled.
Notebook: Vonn's home remedy not just a cheesy trick
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Workers at a cheese store in Vienna have confirmed it: People really do use "topfen" for medicinal purposes.
"Topfen can't replace a doctor but it definitely has healing properties," Maria Scharf said while standing behind a cheese-filled counter.
Topfen is the Austrian curd cheese that's become part of the Winter Olympics lexicon thanks to Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn. Her exploits, however, have not translated into a surge in topfen sales in Austria.
The cheese clearly is a delight for many, but Vonn has wrapping it around her right shin to help keep swelling down from a bruise suffered Feb. 2 in — where else? — Austria.
Such treatment has been described as a home remedy, and the cheese store workers have their own tales. Scharf recalls an elderly woman who stopped by one store every week for years to buy a kilo of the curd to soothe her sore knee.
"If the weather was bad she'd maybe skip a week," Scharf said. "But she swore by it."
Helene Harrer, Scharf's co-worker, said her mother got "Topfen" packs in the hospital after infusions caused her arm to swell.
"It really helped," Harrer said.
Vonn won the downhill Wednesday, but fell during the slalom portion of the super-combined Thursday. She came away saying her injury was "killing me."
She's off until the super-G on Saturday, and might be in the market for another shipment of topfen.
HAPPY HALFPIPERS: What looked to be a disaster in the making turned out just fine at the halfpipe on Cypress Mountain.
At the start of the Vancouver Games, the halfpipe itself was a mushy mess, caused by a combination of rain and warm weather. Soft conditions make it harder for snowboarders to pick up enough speed to effectively do their toughest tricks.
But by competition time — the men went on Wednesday night and the women were on Thursday — the pipe was in great shape, according to some of the riders.
"It's perfect," Torah Bright of Australia said after her qualifying run Thursday afternoon.
Cooler temperatures and clearer skies have helped. For both the men's and women's qualifying the pipe was bathed in bright sunshine.
"It was crazy," said American Scotty Lago, who won bronze in the men's event. "The first two days it was like one of the worst pipes we've ever ridden. Then, overnight, it turned into one of the best."
SCANDINAVIAN STANDOFF: Swedes and Norwegians are obsessed with measuring themselves against each other. The Winter Olympics takes that exercise to a new level.
After Sweden won a gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics, the Norwegian daily Dagbladet ran the cover of its Olympics insert in blue and yellow — the colors of the Swedish flag — with the plaintive headline, "Can't we get a gold too?"
When Marit Bjoergen finally won a gold for Norway, in the women's cross-country sprint Wednesday, Norwegians were equally thrilled that Swedish favorite Emil Jonsson's failed to reach the men's sprint final.
"The most important thing today was not win Olympic gold, but to beat Emil Jonsson," Norway's Petter Northug told Norwegian TV2. Northug wound up with bronze.
The rivalry is rooted deeply in history. Norway was forced into a union with Sweden that was dissolved only a century ago. During World War II, "neutral" Sweden looked the other way when German troops on leave used Swedish railways to travel home from Nazi-occupied Norway.
Norway is smaller than Sweden, but usually dominates its regional rival at the Winter Olympics. Not always, though.
Swede Bjorn Ferry surprisingly won the 12.5-kilometer biathlon pursuit, and Norwegian medal favorites Ole Einar Bjorndalen and Emil Helge Svendsen missed the podium. The Norwegians congratulated Ferry, but Svendsen still got in a dig.
"It's embarrassing," he said, "to lose to a Swede."
White is ready for things to 'get weird'
WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Olympics conquered once again, Shaun White says he's ready for things to "get weird." And it's already starting.
An hour after the snowboarding superstar provided one of Vancouver's signature moments by landing his Double McTwist 1260 during a celebratory run down the halfpipe, a reporter asked White if he had designs on the movies.
"Only action-packed ones," he said with a laugh while raising his slight arms in the air. "Slo-mo running. Flying off buildings."
Hey, he's had plenty of practice.
There are no plans to go Hollywood. At least not yet. His goals in the near future are considerably more grounded: Sleep. A little surfing. Some skateboarding. Maybe hang with the president.
"I'm free for dinner," White said.
Considering White's celebrity — ratings for his gold-medal run on NBC eclipsed Fox juggernaut "American Idol" — President Barack Obama might want to find a hole in his schedule.
Four years ago, White was a fresh-faced 19-year-old who was known as much for his red locks and his hipster nickname, "The Flying Tomato," as for his ability on the halfpipe.
Gold in Turin made him an instant celebrity. He's spent the interim becoming his sport's first true crossover star, complete with a video game, clothing line and million-dollar smile that Madison Avenue covets.
That sun-splashed day in Italy seems like a lifetime ago. The sport has changed since then. He has, too.
The decision to raise the height of the halfpipe from 17 to 22 feet in 2008 offered riders a new canvas on which to paint their gravity-defying tricks. And staying at the sport's forefront has sometimes come at a price.
Kevin Pearce, a friend of White's and another star in the sport, was seriously injured on New Year's Eve while practicing a difficult double cork — a trick that sends riders hips over helmet twice.
White has spent a year working on his own take of the double cork — the Double McTwist, also known as the Tomahawk, in which he packs two flips inside 3½ twists.
Perfecting the risky maneuver has been painful. He injured his ankle while taking the first tentative steps toward it last summer, and did a horrific face-plant while trying to throw it down at the X Games last month.
Hours later he popped back up and nailed it to win gold. It's what he does.
"I think what separates Shaun from the majority of the snowboarders is his focus and his motivation," said bronze medal winner and teammate Scotty Lago. "He's a perfectionist, and that's what makes him one of the best."
One of the best showmen too. Standing atop the pipe at Cypress Mountain on Wednesday night, gold medal already in hand, White could have opted to play it safe.
That's just not him. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he put together one last electrifying routine, nailing the Tomahawk — barely — at the end as flashbulbs popped and Guns N Roses blasted over the speakers.
Paradise City indeed.
How can he possibly top it? Even he's not sure.
"I'm sure that we've hit this spike and we'll now kind of mellow out," White said. "I'm hoping. I'm not planning on pushing it too hard. I just pushed myself to the furthest and I deserve a break I think."
Not quite yet, though.
After doing the media rounds Thursday morning, White planned to watch the U.S. women's halfpipe team compete, part of an effort by the admitted loner to embrace being on a team.
It's an experience he said he enjoyed four years ago. He was fibbing.
"I didn't feel the whole team vibe," White said. "I would say in interviews that I felt like being a part of the team and the whole deal and I didn't feel that way until this time around."
He's got the video to prove it.
White recorded the halfpipe team going crazy after snowboardcross teammate Seth Wescott won his second gold medal with an electrifying comeback in the finals.
He put his arms around fellow halfpipers Lago, Louie Vito and Greg Bretz during the opening ceremony, pointed to the crowd and asked "this isn't like X Games in the slightest, is it?"
Hardly.
Maybe it says something about how much White has bought into the team concept that he seemed as happy about Lago — a longtime rival — hitting the podium as he was about collecting his second gold.
White joked about carrying Lago through the streets of Vancouver in celebration on Wednesday night, and while he's eager for the vacation he's put off while training for the Olympics, he has no plans on going anywhere.
He's not ruling out a return to the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. Who knows what the halfpipe will look like then. He'd like to stick around and find out.
"Pushing the sport, that's what you do it for," he said. "We try to break the boundaries and see what we can do. I think the double corks have just touched snowboarding within halfpipe. I think we're just tapping into what is possible."
And at 23, he's just tapping into who he will become. After spending the last four years becoming an icon, he's still trying figure out who he is. Feel free to sit back and watch.
"Being me is a strange thing sometimes, and I'm just trying to get a grasp on it even now," he said. "I don't know. I have fun. I have dreams, I have goals and I set out to do them, and it's basically gotten me this far, and it's going to take me further."
-- Will Graves
