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February 27, 2010

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Home » Sports » Olympics

Canada joins medal toppers

Source: Agencies | February 27, 2010, Saturday | Print Edition

CANADA claimed one of the two Olympic titles in the sport that matters most in the host nation, beating the United States 2-0 in the women's hockey final on Thursday to join the Americans and Germany atop the gold medal standings.

Three days after conceding its "Own the Podium" program might have been overly ambitious for the overall medal count, a resurgent Canada is back in contention to top the gold medal count at the Vancouver Games.

Canada, Germany and the United States each picked up their eighth gold medals of the games on Day 14, while Norway improved its haul to seven when Marit Bjoergen become the first triple gold medalist here by anchoring her team to victory in a cross-country relay. Whistler's problematic weather threw up more surprises when German outsider Viktoria Rebensburg won the giant slalom, which was contested over two days due to a dense fog.

The Americans won their first ever gold medal in the Nordic sports when Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane finished with gold and silver in a Nordic combined large hill competition that was marred by bad weather at the Whistler Olympic Park. The snow and rain which forced a restart of the ski jump section cut any advantage for the stronger jumpers.

Demong clinched the win by winning the 10-kilometer cross-country leg in 25 minutes, 32.9 seconds.

The Canadian men's hockey team has to beat Slovakia to reach the gold medal match but its convincing win over Russia on Wednesday has the locals buoyant again, helping overcome the shock of an earlier loss to the United States. With men's and women's into the curling finals, where they're expected to deliver gold medals in the second national sport, Canada could lift its gold medal count into double figures.

Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals and Shannon Szabados made 28 saves as Canada beat the United States in a battle between the two most dominant teams in women's hockey.

"This is an incredible moment," goaltender Szabados said. "I looked up in the stands and saw a sign that said, 'Proud to be Canadian.' That's what I am today."

Unbeaten Canada advanced to the gold medal match against Norway in men's curling with a 6-3 win over Sweden, while the Canadian women will play defending Olympic champion Sweden after ousting world champion China in the semifinals.

The Norwegian men, wearing the colorful diamond-print pants that have become the fashion statement of the Vancouver Games and made them a Facebook hit, beat Switzerland 7-5 in the other semifinal.

Norway, with more medals than any other country in the history of the Winter Games, is making a comeback after a disappointing Olympics in Turin, where it only won two gold four years ago.

Bjoergen has contributed almost half those, and added a bronze medal, to lift her career haul to six Olympic medals and set a national women's record for the Winter Games.

Bjoergen led the 4x5-kilometer cross-country relay to victory over Germany and Finland, crossing in 55 minutes, 19.5 seconds.

"It has been so great, I would never have dreamed of one gold medal and now I have three, so this has been a wonderful Games," she said. "It was a big day for me and the last lap was awesome. I'm flying."

On the slopes at Whistler, Rebensburg, who had never won a major race, had a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 27.11 seconds. Her second run finished just before a thick fog descended, making it even more difficult for the first-run leaders.

She held off Slovenia's Tina Maze by 0.04 seconds. It was a second silver here for Maze, who was second in the super-G. First-run leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria added another bronze, 0.14 back, repeating her downhill result.

The 20-year-old Rebensburg was sixth after the first run of the giant slalom, which was also marred by dense fog on Wednesday, forcing organizers to reschedule the second run to a second day.
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