As of this writing, the US Olympic team has gathered 2 Gold and 1 Silver medals, a pretty paltry haul after some of the events which the US was exepected to medal in.
First, the Americans didn’t even register on the board in the women’s freestyle moguls. Then, Bode Miller and teammate Daron Rahlves finished 5th and 10th respectively. By the way, Bode, when your name is synonymous with wasted skiing, it’s probably not a good idea to be spotted at a bar downing beers, even you claim to only have had a couple and called it an early night.
Later, speedskater Apolo Ohno fell in the 1500m and didn’t even win Bronze, setting off a barrage of terrible “oh no” puns from major news outlets. You’d think headline writers could be more clever , like an allusion to “Walking on Thin Ice” or something. Well, at least more original, if not clever.
Finally, perhaps the biggest star in these Olympic games, Michelle Kwan, had to call it quits and a career because of a groin injury. Here’s a video of her training session. It’s amazing to see an end of a career caught on video, much like Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls.
Thank god for The Flying Tomato and Danny Kass who finished 1-2 in the halfpipe competition. Unfortunately, because this is snowboarding, we’re subjected to wannabe hip AP writers telling us that “Shaun White punked the competition.” Gnarly dude.
2 replies on “So far so bad for US Olympic team”
Olympian — I think we might be putting too much pressure on our athletes. If we don’t win a gold, we have to “settle” for silver or bronze. If we don’t win the gold, it’s failure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we have the best training facilities, and the best caoches, and all that, but you have to think, so do the other countries. They think the same way, too. To be in the Olympics representing your country should be the highest honor, winning a medal is added fun. Look at Shaun White, he was having fun when he had his turn what came to be his gold medal performance. Dude! He’s just a kid, and he’s having the time of his life. Look at Grandma Luge, in her 6th Olympics, she knows she’s not a favorite to win medals, but she’s an Olympian, and no one can ever take that away from her, and she’s still proud, as I am for her.
we are a success driven society — If you have a great career and don’t win the Super Bowl, were you really that great? Michele Kwan has won my championships than anyone (i think.. who knows… but she’s won a lot) and there’s always a footnote next to her name.
I think when it’s a minor sport like the luge, we’re ok with feel good stories. But when it’s a major (i.e. media hyped) event, we expect the Gold.