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Britain wins rare gold as Norway hauls in more
Source: Agencies |
February 20, 2010, Saturday
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AMY Williams claimed an extremely rare metal for Britain yesterday -- gold at the Winter Olympics -- won with four blistering runs in the frighteningly fast women's skeleton.
Face down and head first through the winding ice course, the 27-year-old Williams smashed the women's course record and claimed Britain's first individual gold medal at a Winter Games in 30 years, the last one in 1980 by skater Robin Cousins.
While Britain may garner only one gold at these Games, Norway continued to storm up the medals table on day seven of competition. It made Olympic history the day before by winning its 100th gold medal, the first nation to do so.
Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal flashed down Whistler mountain to win the men's super-G Alpine ski race and deny American Bode Miller an elusive gold medal.
Svindal's countrywoman Marit Bjoergen then became the first competitor to win two gold medals in Vancouver when she won the lung-bursting 15 kilometer cross-country pursuit after taking the sprint classic two days ago.
Svindal added a gold to the silver medal he won in the downhill earlier in the week with a breathtaking run inspired by Norwegian skiing greats who have made Norway the ruler in super-G.
"I don't think it's about Norway, I think it's more about amazing athletes," said Svindal.
The ice cool speed queen of England, however, had little tradition to slide on in her skeleton pursuit, unlike Canadian favourite Mellisa Hollingsworth, who finished a distant fifth.
"It's amazing. I feel like I am in a little bubble," said Williams, known as "Curly Wurly" for her curly hair.
On her way to victory, Williams first had to clear a hurdle thrown up by the US team.
The Americans accused her of having illegal aerodynamic features on the helmet used to break the skeleton track record at the Whistler Sliding Centre but their complaints were rejected by the International Bobsleigh Federation.
The United States remains at the top of the Games' gold tally with six medals to Norway's five. Germany follows with four, while host-nation Canada, South Korea and Switzerland have three apiece.
In Alpine skiing alone, these Olympic Games are increasingly becoming America's Games.
Miller did not win the super-G gold, but he did get silver and countryman Andrew Weibrecht got the bronze. They took the joint men's and women's medal count to six medals, the same as "Rest of the World" after three events.
"It's kind of like the US championships," said Ted Ligety, the defending Olympic champion in combined.
In skating, it was very much the United States versus Russia as the dispute over the men's figure skating gold spilled into day two.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin weighed into the bitter dispute between Yevgeny Plushenko and his American conqueror Evan Lysacek by declaring the Russian's silver medal as a gold in his eyes.
Plushenko said he did not regard Lysacek as a worthy winner because he was unable to perform a quadruple jump but the American was unimpressed by the former champion's rant.
"If it was a jumping competition, there'd be no music, they'd give you 10 seconds to do your best jump and that would be it," Lysacek told a news conference yesterday.
The International Ski Federation also dismissed an Austrian complaint about the boot bindings used by Swiss ski jumping champion Simon Ammann as the two rival nations traded insults.
Face down and head first through the winding ice course, the 27-year-old Williams smashed the women's course record and claimed Britain's first individual gold medal at a Winter Games in 30 years, the last one in 1980 by skater Robin Cousins.
While Britain may garner only one gold at these Games, Norway continued to storm up the medals table on day seven of competition. It made Olympic history the day before by winning its 100th gold medal, the first nation to do so.
Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal flashed down Whistler mountain to win the men's super-G Alpine ski race and deny American Bode Miller an elusive gold medal.
Svindal's countrywoman Marit Bjoergen then became the first competitor to win two gold medals in Vancouver when she won the lung-bursting 15 kilometer cross-country pursuit after taking the sprint classic two days ago.
Svindal added a gold to the silver medal he won in the downhill earlier in the week with a breathtaking run inspired by Norwegian skiing greats who have made Norway the ruler in super-G.
"I don't think it's about Norway, I think it's more about amazing athletes," said Svindal.
The ice cool speed queen of England, however, had little tradition to slide on in her skeleton pursuit, unlike Canadian favourite Mellisa Hollingsworth, who finished a distant fifth.
"It's amazing. I feel like I am in a little bubble," said Williams, known as "Curly Wurly" for her curly hair.
On her way to victory, Williams first had to clear a hurdle thrown up by the US team.
The Americans accused her of having illegal aerodynamic features on the helmet used to break the skeleton track record at the Whistler Sliding Centre but their complaints were rejected by the International Bobsleigh Federation.
The United States remains at the top of the Games' gold tally with six medals to Norway's five. Germany follows with four, while host-nation Canada, South Korea and Switzerland have three apiece.
In Alpine skiing alone, these Olympic Games are increasingly becoming America's Games.
Miller did not win the super-G gold, but he did get silver and countryman Andrew Weibrecht got the bronze. They took the joint men's and women's medal count to six medals, the same as "Rest of the World" after three events.
"It's kind of like the US championships," said Ted Ligety, the defending Olympic champion in combined.
In skating, it was very much the United States versus Russia as the dispute over the men's figure skating gold spilled into day two.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin weighed into the bitter dispute between Yevgeny Plushenko and his American conqueror Evan Lysacek by declaring the Russian's silver medal as a gold in his eyes.
Plushenko said he did not regard Lysacek as a worthy winner because he was unable to perform a quadruple jump but the American was unimpressed by the former champion's rant.
"If it was a jumping competition, there'd be no music, they'd give you 10 seconds to do your best jump and that would be it," Lysacek told a news conference yesterday.
The International Ski Federation also dismissed an Austrian complaint about the boot bindings used by Swiss ski jumping champion Simon Ammann as the two rival nations traded insults.
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