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Ricker lifts gloom for under-fire host
Source: Agencies |
February 18, 2010, Thursday
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CANADA'S Winter Olympics came under further fire on Tuesday after a slew of problems - some man-made and others purely down to Mother Nature - threatened to take the focus away from a memorable home triumph.
Snowboarder Maelle Ricker won Canada's second Olympic gold medal on Day Four, a first for its women on home soil, by carving her way through a rain-soaked cross course where humiliating wipeouts were the order of the day.
The 31-year-old's triumph was one of the few bright spots for Winter Games host Canada, coming under increasing criticism for its handling of weather-wracked events and equipment mishaps like unreliable ice resurfacing machines.
Malfunctions affected athletes, fans and possibly even medals. Timing errors were reported in biathlon skiing, prompting one official to call it "the blackest day ever".
More fog and snow up at Whistler Mountain forced the postponement of the men's super combined slalom until Sunday and a major reshuffling in the men's Alpine skiing events.
On Cypress Mountain, the lightning rod for weather-related complaints after the warmest January on record, more than a dozen women snowboarders' careered off a course likened to "mashed potatoes" by American favorite Lindsey Jacobellis. She fell and failed to make it into the medal final.
While Games organizers said there was little they could do about the weather, they still faced a barrage of questions over mishaps and, far worse, the death of a Georgian luger in a horrific training crash last Friday. Adding to their woes, organizers refunded tickets for 28,000 standing freestyle and snowboard spectators due to unstable ground.
At Whistler's biathlon course, it was not weather, but rather problems with the stopwatch.
A timing error in the women's biathlon pursuit may have cost Sweden's Anna Carin Oloffson-Zidek a medal, since she left 14 seconds too late, and a similar blunder affected the men's race. Times were adjusted and should stand.
That overshadowed the biathlon gold medals that went to Germany's Magdalena Neuner in the women's race and to Sweden's Bjorn Ferry in the men's.
Finally, to complete this day of foul-ups a third-placed competitor in the women's luge was forced to delay her final run because a photographer had accidentally set off a hydrant, briefly flooding part of the course.
It was that kind of day and, to an extent, has been that kind of Games.
In women's speedskating 500 meters, South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa edged out world champion Jenny Wolf of Germany and Tatjana Huefner of Germany triumphed in the women's luge.
Those medals put South Korea and Germany at the top of the medals table with Switzerland on three golds apiece, while the United States, France, Sweden and Canada all have two golds.
Skating in the last pairing of the two-race competition, Lee held off the charging Wolf to continue a brilliant Olympics showing by the Koreans.
The bronze medal went to China's Wang Beixing.
Lee had a combined time of 76.09 seconds for a victory margin of just five-hundredths of a second over silver medal winner Wolf. Beixing had a cumulative time of 76.63.
Lee's sensational victory followed the unexpected gold medal triumph on compatriot Mo Tae-bum in the men's 500 on Monday and gave the Koreans a sweep of the sprint titles.
Ricker's win on the hills above her native Vancouver was sweet revenge for her compatriot Mike Robertson who was edged out by American Seth Wescott for gold the day before.
"I'm so overwhelmed, I can't even believe it," Ricker said after winning before a wildly-happy Canadian crowd. "The way my day started ... and the way it all went through."
Snowboarder Maelle Ricker won Canada's second Olympic gold medal on Day Four, a first for its women on home soil, by carving her way through a rain-soaked cross course where humiliating wipeouts were the order of the day.
The 31-year-old's triumph was one of the few bright spots for Winter Games host Canada, coming under increasing criticism for its handling of weather-wracked events and equipment mishaps like unreliable ice resurfacing machines.
Malfunctions affected athletes, fans and possibly even medals. Timing errors were reported in biathlon skiing, prompting one official to call it "the blackest day ever".
More fog and snow up at Whistler Mountain forced the postponement of the men's super combined slalom until Sunday and a major reshuffling in the men's Alpine skiing events.
On Cypress Mountain, the lightning rod for weather-related complaints after the warmest January on record, more than a dozen women snowboarders' careered off a course likened to "mashed potatoes" by American favorite Lindsey Jacobellis. She fell and failed to make it into the medal final.
While Games organizers said there was little they could do about the weather, they still faced a barrage of questions over mishaps and, far worse, the death of a Georgian luger in a horrific training crash last Friday. Adding to their woes, organizers refunded tickets for 28,000 standing freestyle and snowboard spectators due to unstable ground.
At Whistler's biathlon course, it was not weather, but rather problems with the stopwatch.
A timing error in the women's biathlon pursuit may have cost Sweden's Anna Carin Oloffson-Zidek a medal, since she left 14 seconds too late, and a similar blunder affected the men's race. Times were adjusted and should stand.
That overshadowed the biathlon gold medals that went to Germany's Magdalena Neuner in the women's race and to Sweden's Bjorn Ferry in the men's.
Finally, to complete this day of foul-ups a third-placed competitor in the women's luge was forced to delay her final run because a photographer had accidentally set off a hydrant, briefly flooding part of the course.
It was that kind of day and, to an extent, has been that kind of Games.
In women's speedskating 500 meters, South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa edged out world champion Jenny Wolf of Germany and Tatjana Huefner of Germany triumphed in the women's luge.
Those medals put South Korea and Germany at the top of the medals table with Switzerland on three golds apiece, while the United States, France, Sweden and Canada all have two golds.
Skating in the last pairing of the two-race competition, Lee held off the charging Wolf to continue a brilliant Olympics showing by the Koreans.
The bronze medal went to China's Wang Beixing.
Lee had a combined time of 76.09 seconds for a victory margin of just five-hundredths of a second over silver medal winner Wolf. Beixing had a cumulative time of 76.63.
Lee's sensational victory followed the unexpected gold medal triumph on compatriot Mo Tae-bum in the men's 500 on Monday and gave the Koreans a sweep of the sprint titles.
Ricker's win on the hills above her native Vancouver was sweet revenge for her compatriot Mike Robertson who was edged out by American Seth Wescott for gold the day before.
"I'm so overwhelmed, I can't even believe it," Ricker said after winning before a wildly-happy Canadian crowd. "The way my day started ... and the way it all went through."
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