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Vonn-couver readies for the Games
Source: Agencies |
February 13, 2010, Saturday
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INJURED American skier Lindsey Vonn might get her groove back in time for the Winter Games after the downhill favorite said on Thursday she could possibly race through the pain.
Just a day before the Olympics open (Saturday morning 10am Shanghai time), fog and snow kept skiing's leading lady from schussing down Franz's downhill course in Whistler in her first training run - a delay that conveniently gave her more time for her painful shin to heal.
Down the mountain in Vancouver, another female athlete garnered unwanted attention. Russian ice hockey player Svetlana Terenteva became the first athlete to test positive for a banned substance at these Games, but will be allowed to stay.
The IOC said the prohibited substance would not have affected her performance because it would have been completely out of her system before her team's first game on Monday.
As pre-Games drama and fog swirled, some 5,000 athletes and officials were set to descend on Vancouver for the opening ceremony, the first indoor curtain raiser at a Winter Olympics.
The stadium spectacle will be a welcome novelty as rain pours on Vancouver and melts Wednesday's long-awaited snowfall on Cypress Mountain, the nearby snow-challenged freestyle skiing and snowboard venue.
Up on Whistler, the day after Vonn dropped the bomb of her shin injury and the possibility that she may not compete, the 25-year-old took painkillers, donned skis and got in a warm-up run that made her smile. "The pain level had gone down from a sharp debilitating pain to something that I feel I may be able to grit my teeth through," she said on Facebook.
Only two downhill women contenders hit the course before the training was scrapped. The second, American Stacey Cook, crashed into the safety fence and had to be taken by helicopter to a hospital.
Ironically, poor conditions could pay off for Vonn - and the success of the so-called "Vonn-couver" Games that have so much staked on the golden girl of skiing. "Generally I am disappointed when a training run is cancelled, but in this situation, I definitely welcome the extra day to heal," Vonn said.
While the women skiers' training was scrapped, the men managed to complete their downhill training on a nearby course, keeping their Saturday downhill race on schedule. Saturday is also the first day of moguls competition on Cypress, where organizers staged a massive snow lift to build the courses there after the warmest January on record.
Apart from doubts over Vonn, weather and doping, organizers say everything is set for a successful Olympics - "the most ambitious sporting event ever held on Canadian soil," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
On the final day of the 45,000km trek across Canada, the Olympic torch will be carried through Vancouver by notable athletes like California Governor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is a much-guarded secret who Canada will choose to light the Olympic cauldron, with speculation ranging from hockey great Wayne Gretzky to an anonymous aboriginal athlete.
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