Great Day For U.S.A, Three Golden Olympians
The U.S.A. is cleaning up in medals in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics — and they are doing it with grit and determination. Oh, and little bit of style.
Yesterday was a stellar day in Olympic competition for the U.S. team, with downhill skier Lindsey Vonn winning gold in a treacherous course, with some of the top athletes crashing their way to the finish. Vonn, who not only won the gold (her first Olympic gold), did so with a serious shin injury she sustained during pre-Olympic warm-ups. Vonn was reduced to tears after just beating out her teammate and sometimes rival, Julia Mancuso, to take the top spot.
Vonn and Mancuso made for an aesthetically pleasing trip to the winners podium. Both ladies proudly received their gold and silver medals respectively during the outdoor ceremony in Whistler village last night, but don't let their beauty fool you, these girls are TOUGH as nails.
The quiet and somewhat reclusive speedskater Shani Davis defended his title last night and shared the spotlight with fellow teammate and former arch-rival Chad Hedrick in the 1000-meter race. Davis won gold in that race in Turin four years ago, amid an air of nasty rivalry between he and Hedrick. The feud has thawed some in the last four years, and the two shared the spotlight on the winner's podium, with Shani receiving his second gold (the first skater ever to do so back to back) and Hedrick winning the bronze. The two great skaters held up the U.S. flag together, a small, but wondrous step.
The final icing on the sweetass cake of victory for the U.S. came late last night thanks to the inimitable and irrepressible snowboard phenom Shaun White. Snowboarding is to the Olympics what punk is to rock music: freedom of expression. Throw in some cutting edge moves and a willingness to take serious risks for glory and you have a winning combination. Plus, culturally, it's fun as hell.
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