Medal Madness
The U.S. leads the Olympic medals race, with 26 trips to the podium so far
By Suzanne Zimbler
It has been a breakthrough Olympic season for the Americans. For the first time since 1932, the U.S. could collect more medals at the Winter Games than any other country. Will the winning streak continue? Here's an update.
Ice Dance
On Monday night, for only the third time since ice dance became an Olympic sport in 1976, the gold medal did not go to a Russian or Soviet team. Instead, Canadians Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue took home the top prize. They are the first North American ice dancers to win a gold medal. "I'll probably wear it in the shower," Moir said. "I'm not going to take it off all week."
Another North American team, U.S. ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White, won the silver medal. "North America has really come into its own in terms of ice dance," Davis said.
Russia's Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin came in third. Shabalin, who has struggled with a knee injury for the last few seasons, was content with the win. "We are happy with the bronze medal," he said. "It was a long, difficult way for us, and we are happy we did it."
Nordic Combined
Nordic Combined—a sport that combines ski jumping with cross-country skiing—has been part of the Winter Olympics since the Games first started, in 1924. But the U.S. team had not won a single medal in the sport, until now.
This year, the U.S. has won two silver medals in the sport: one in the first event, on February 14, and another in the second event, on Tuesday. The gold medals in the two events went to France and Austria. "To be second is fine with us because the only reason you can be disappointed with second is if you didn't give it your all," team member Johnny Spillane said.
On Thursday, the U.S. team will have one more shot at gold, when they compete in the third and last Nordic Combined event.
Women's Figure Skating
The women's figure skating competition got started on Tuesday. In the short program, the first of two events, each figure skater performs a routine no longer than 2 minutes and 50 seconds.
Yu Na Kim of South Korea came in first place. American Rachael Flatt placed fifth. Her U.S. teammate, Mirai Nagasu, came in sixth. Sixteen-year-old Nagasu was glad to place that high, considering that her nose bled for half of her routine. " You have to deal with what you've got," she said.
Flatt and Nagasu will complete in the second event, the long program, on Thursday. Each athlete could still win a medal, but Nagasu is keeping her expectations in check. "From today's performance, I don't think I can reach the podium," she said.
Unlike the Summer Olympics with many events that athletes compete medals in the hot summer, there’s also Winter Olympics too! It only has a few events, but it will be great to see as the Summer Olympics. In this time’s Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, every country is very competive, but this time America got more medals as other countries. For over 70 years, America has not strong enough to get many medals in the games. This time many good players got medals for their country. Still not strong enough to get gold, America mostly got silver or bronze in the games. But I think every country will be competive and get a few medals!
