Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
TagsVonn disappointed, Lysacek speechless, and the U.S. keeps marching on
BY BRAD NOLAN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
N.J. AT THE GAMES
The United States Olympic team performed better than expected in most sports on Thursday night, and not so well in others.
American Figure Skater Evan Lysacek claimed an upset win against the gold medal favored Yevegni Plushenko of Russia in the Men's Free Skate. Lysacek was placed in second at the end of the Men's Short program on Tuesday and was not expected to beat the now three-time Olympic medalist Plushenko. He pulled ahead beating his Russian competitor by less then one and a half points. New Jersey's Johnny Weir gave a performance that lifted the crowd off their feet. When it came time for the judges to give their thoughts, they didn't agree. Weir finished in sixth place while teammate Jeremy Abbot was able to salvage a ninth place finished after failing to deliver as he did at the U.S. Nationals.
In Woman's Snowboarding most of the American's did more falling then flying in the final round. An expected sweep of the medals did not happen as planned with gold medal favorite Gretchen Bleiler falling with less then half of the pipe left to board on. American's Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark were able to win silver and bronze respectively. Australian Torah Bright won gold on the pipe.One of the biggest surprises of the day took place during the Ladies Super Combined at Whistler Mountain. American Gold Medal favorite Lindsey Vonn came in too close to one pole and lost her ski immediately disqualifying her from competition. The United States wouldn't be left off of the podium at Whistler thanks to Julia Mancuso earning a silver. Vonn's best friend, Germany's Maria Riesch was able to win gold.
American Olympic sweetheart Vonn says she is ready for the Super G.
"I really have been training well. I just believed it was in there somewhere," Vonn told the media in regards to her performance on the hill on Thursday.
Vonn's Dad, Thomas Vonn, said that the Super G is Lindsey's second best event. Since she had already won her gold medal all of the pressure is off of her.
In other competition, both U.S. Hockey teams pulled off wins as expected. The Men's team was able to pull off a 6-1 win over Norway and continued their winning streak. They continue to dominate in the shots on goal category, clocking in at 39 to 11. New Jersey Devils Zach Parise was at the top of the statistics with two points and six shots on goals.
The Woman's hockey team continues their total domination in the round robin tournament taking their second shut out, this time against Finland. Team USA has been able to score a total of thirty-one goals in three games while having only one goal scored against them. Forward Jenny Potter has scored a total of six goals in the three games leading with a total of nine points. The US Woman's team will have one more preliminary round game against Sweden, on February 22nd.
MEDALS COUNT (CLICK)
The United States ended the first full week of competition with eighteen medals, six gold's, five silvers, and seven bronzes. The next nearest country remains to be Germany with a total of eleven medals, four gold's, four silvers, and four bronzes.
Friday will see another four rounds of medals being handed out. The Men's Alpine Skiing Super G will be the first medal round taking place at 2:30pm eastern. The Ladies Cross Country Skiing 15km Pursuit race, as well as the final rounds of the Men's Ladies' Skelton should be updated throughout the day on NBC. For information about specific programs, check your local TV listings.
