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TagsWhile New Jerseyan Johnny Weir deals with fur troubles
BY BRAD NOLAN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
N.J. AT THE GAMES
VANCOUVER — And so it begins. The first day of competition began and ended without a hitch at the 21st Winter Olympiad in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The United States took an early lead in the medal count pulling ahead with a total of four over South Korea's two. Canada, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, France, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia and Austria have one medal a piece at the end of the first day of competition.
In Short Track Speed Skating Apolo Anton Ohno captured his sixth Winter Olympic medal placing second in the Men's 1500 meter competition with teammate J.R. Celski earning the bronze. The medals for both American's can be described as an accident. Going into the final turn on the final lap of the final heat, two South Korean speed skaters were in second and third until a sudden crash took both out of contention. Ohno first came to the Olympic stage at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City where he came home with gold and silver and again in Torino where he earned two personally and was on the team that won a third.
Ohno's teammate, Celski, recovered from a horrific accident this past September during competition that nearly wiped away all hoped of Olympic competition. While skating at the University of Michigan, Celski crashed into the wall while in the last event for the Olympic qualifier, when he came to a stop on the ice the extent of his injuries became apparent. Celski had his skate stuck in his leg. He was taken off the ice and rushed to the hospital. Sixty stitches and some recovery time later he was back on the ice. His doctors said that the blade missed the artery in his leg by less than an inch.Thirty miles away from Vancouver at Cypress Mountain, Freestyle Skiing started with the Ladies' Moguls medal round. A spectacular finish brought American Hannah Kearney to win the first gold for the United States. Canadian Jennifer Heil and fellow American Shannon Bahrke joined Kearney on the podium to hear the Star Spangled Banner played for the first time.
The other medal rounds of competition included the Men's 5000 meter Speed Skating, Woman's 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon, and the Normal Hill Individual Ski Jumping. Sven Kramer of the Netherlands beat out Seung-Hoon Lee of Korea and Ivan Skobrev to win the Men's 5000 meter Speed Skating while Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia topped Magdalena Neuner of Germany and Marie Dorin of France to win Gold in the Biathlon. Swiss Simon Ammann won gold over Adam Malysz of Poland and Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria.
Changes came to the Luge track as the initial spotlight of the games unfortunately made its way there after Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili died on a training run on Friday. His death is one of the only in a nearly forty year history of the International Luge Federation (FIL). All training was suspended while work was done to the track in an effort to slow it down. Both the IOC and FIL denied claims that the track was unsafe at any time. A large wall was built at the turn where Kumaritashvili was killed Friday in an attempt to prevent any repeat of the horrific accident. All the steel beams in the area were also padded so if an athlete was to leave the track, his or her impact would at least be cushioned. The most visible change that viewers at home will notice is that the men's competition will be starting almost two hundred yards farther down the track then before the accident. What used to be the Woman's starting gate has now turned into the Men's and the Woman's was moved even further down the track in an effort to keep top speeds down. Despite the changes and a change to the surface of the ice in some of the quicker sections of the track, top speeds still approached and exceeded 90 miles per hour.
A curse to some may be a blessing to Lindsey Vonn. A delay in the schedule at Whistler for the Men's and Woman's Alpine Skiing may turn out to be just the thing Vonn needs to get back on her feet. Heavy rain and snow canceled more training runs and the Men's Alpine Skiing Downhill at Whistler on Saturday and pushed the Men's event to Monday. The Woman's Super-combined is also to be pushed back from its time slot on Sunday to Thursday February 18th. Vonn, who is in "excruciating" pain from a shin injury that she sustained in Switzerland, has not been able to practice at 100% and even doubted her abilities to compete overall. She is expected to bring home at two medals for Team USA in the super-combined downhill and super G. Vonn recently was on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine and was featured in their swimsuit edition.
New Jersey's Johnny Weir from Lyndhurst was forced to change his accommodations from a hotel back to the Olympic village after threats from anti-fur activists. Weir, who is known for his eccentric outfits and outlandish behavior at times is known to wear large amounts of fur. He even wore a large fur hat during an official photo shoot.
Weir told the Associated Press, "All these crazy fur people. Security wise, to stay in a hotel would be very difficult. There have been threats against me. I didn't want to get hurt." Weir initially drew fire from activists when he wore a fox fur costume during the 2010 Nationals in Spokane Washington. He said that he was concerned about security at an off-site location when he came back to the Olympic village. He will be sharing a suite with American Ice Dancer Tanith Belbin.
Weir told the AP, "I felt very threatened, I'm not allowed to say how everything got through, but my agent got letters and faxes and e-mails. I got letters at the ice rink, somebody found my phone number." Weir placed fifth in the Men's Free Skate and third in the Short Program. He also stars in a documentary series on the Sundance channel entitled "Be Good Johnny Weir" that airs Mondays at 10:30 p.m.
When asked why him, Weir told the AP, "I'm just an easy person to pick on because I like fur,"
Valentine's Day will see a number of medal events to include the Biathlon, Freestyle Skiing, Luge, Nordic Combined, and Speed Skating.
