[Sly Fox]

It didn't take long but a guy from right by my house won his first gold medal of the Winter Games.

Chad Hedrick is a guy who dominated the inline skating world for a decade. 4 years ago, one of his inline buddies named Derek Parra won a gold at the 2002 Games in Park City. It inspired him to try on speed skates for the first time. Now he is on pace to tie his team doctor Eric Heiden for five gold medals in one Olympic Games.

Since I work for an NBC station, we are blowing Chad up bigtime down here. He's cocky guy but he can back up his extreme confidence. He went to high school with my brother-in-law and Olympic gold medalist diver Laura Wilkinson.

Obviously ESPN is just getting adjusted to Olympic coverage. They misspelled Chad's last name on the front page of ESPN.com calling him "Hendrick".

[SuperJon]

We're covering the Olympics in my sports history class. I hafta follow Italy. Me and the Canadians (aka hockey players) have already started talking crap and it didn't help me any that Canada beat Italy 16-0 in women's hockey earlier today.

[Sly Fox]

Just remind the hockey players that all the "Italians" are the scrubs from Canada & US who couldn't make the rostesr o ftheir own countries. No sweat.

[Hold My Own]

I must say I havent been keeping up with it this year but is that Apolo guy still a speed skater? that dude was a hot item back the last Winter Games took place

[Sly Fox]

He's a short track guy where they do that stupid little positioning deal. Long track is where they flat out go as fast as they can and that's what Chad is the king of right now.

[PAmedic]

I'm glad you started this thread- I was hoping someone else cared. Noticed today that one of our premier luge (sp?) or bobsledders got canned for illegal substance use- a hair restoration product that can also be used to disguise doping. yeesh!

[Hold My Own]

I feel kinda bad for that guy PA...he was directed to a site to inform in of what he can and cannot take and what he took was on the list of approved substances....oh well


Sly, it sounds like you dont like what Apolo has to offer, or the sport he's in...that dude was a marketing dream though as smooth as it gets

[PAmedic]

evidently the guy wasn't from TX

[Sly Fox]

He basically came across as a punk. Perhaps he has grown up a little since the last Olympics.

Don't get me wrong, Chad has a HUGE ego. But at least he's in an event that is a little legitimate than that short track business.

[Hold My Own]

see though, it just seems that long distance is so effortless, doesnt the Sprinting seem more athletic?

[Sly Fox]

Long track doesn't necessarily mean long distance race ... it just meand the track they race on is longer in distance than the hockey rink size that short track uses. The next couple of days they have the 500m on long track. That's pure speed. Tonight was the second longest distance that the long tracker run.

If you are wondering why some Texan knows all of this about speedskating, its because I've been covering Hedrick the last couple of years and I had to learn it.

[Hold My Own]

alright, so my first question is are those on the short track looked down on (it seemed like it from how you sounded) and why?

2nd question what makes someone better on the short track than the long track? The only thing i could come up with is they are better at turns and there would be more turns in the short track

See contrary to popular belief I don't know everything....but this takes me one step closer to one day get that title

[Sly Fox]

Short track is more like a chess match while the long track is more like what we are familiar with from track & field. They are very different sports that each require special skills. You'll see what I'm talking about in the coming weeks. Short track is actually similar to roller derby without the legal pushing and slingshots. But then again, how many on this baord have ever even heard of roller derby? I'm dating myself again.

[Hold My Own]

nah your not dating yourself to bad b/c Spike TV had a league for a little while....but i'm confused now, why would a short track person (apolo) be looked down on if it's like a chess match....wouldnt they be the real stars then? and not the Chad's

[Sly Fox]

Its strictly a matter of taste.

[bigsmooth]

as a hockey fan, i tried again to watch womens hockey, but it is just too slow. maybe in the medal round i will get back to it. i personally am looking forward to bobsled, luge, and down skiing. and of course seeing many carolina hurricanes playing in the mens hockey draw!

[Hold My Own]

hmmm...women's hockey is a Olympic sport yet Baseball just got dropped....wow

[PAmedic]

Taking into account a global fan base, I'd be willing to bet there are more fans of any type of hockey than baseball- I'm not endorsing the theory but I'd bet, esp in Europe- thats the case.

[Hold My Own]

I dunno man...down at the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Japan its the way of life, yet in all those places it's cold Hockey is a way of life....but it's just sad watching it go...

[SuperJon]

The reason baseball got dropped was because the big countries couldn't send their best players because the MLB refused to take a break in the season like the NHL does.

[Hold My Own]

True Story....although some minor league teams allowed them to leave for a few weeks....it had to be a special situation

[El Scorcho]

If you ask me, the real tradgedy is women being banned from competing in ski jumping in the Winter Olympics. The official line from the International Federation of Skiing (who holds the keys to Olympic competition for the sport) is that it's "too dangerous" for women to compete in the sport. Some people smell bias because it's well-documented that women often outperform men in ski jumping. Others say The Federaton is clinging to old, now disproven medical ideas that jumping could damage the female reproductive system and it's just time to let go.

I say let 'em jump. Especially since the U.S. is set to dominate if we should ever get the chance.

[PAmedic]

Torino Medal tracker

[PAmedic]

Medal contenders crash badly during training

SAN SICARIO, Italy (AP) - American gold medal contender Lindsey Kildow was injured in a frightening free-fall crash on her downhill training run and airlifted to a hospital on Monday, moments after defending Olympic champion Carole Montillet-Carles of France was hurt in a spectacular fall.

It was a day of crashes - four in all, including one that knocked a Canadian skier out of the Olympics with a torn knee ligament - on a course that was changed after skiers including Kildow complained it was too easy.

Kildow was taken by helicopter to a hospital trauma center in Turin, the games' host city about 50 miles down the Alps, U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Bob Condron said.

Kildow's Olympic future was unclear, though the first official medical report from the team was upbeat.

"The X-rays are normal," said Ed Ryan, USOC medical director. "The decision now is how long she stays in the hospital. There's also a question about whether she banged her head. She is complaining of back pain, but that's normal. We will evaluate further and monitor her condition."

The 21-year-old Kildow lost control when her left ski slid out as she began to turn right around a gate on a rolling, relatively flat stretch midway through the run. She immediately went into an awkward split, with her right knee buckling and slamming against the ground.

Her momentum carried her into the air for about 15 feet and she landed on her back, slammed her head and slid to a stop. Kildow was heaving with pain as medical personnel rushed to her aid, her legs splayed awkwardly.

At the bottom of the course, spectators and skiers first saw Kildow on the large video screen, lying on her back. The crash was shown once, and those at the bottom of the course gasped. Renate Goetschl of Austria grabbed her head and turned away.

Kildow won two downhills on the World Cup this year, was ranked No. 2 on the circuit and finished second fastest during the first training Sunday.

After World Cup events on this hill last season, a chorus of racers complained that the terrain lacked variety. So Olympics organizers altered the landscape and added jumps - changes that drew praises from Kildow and others after Sunday's downhill training.

"It's not an easy downhill, that's for sure," said reigning World Cup overall champion Anja Paerson of Sweden.

Kildow's crash happened just eight skiers after Montillet-Carles of France lost control during a jump midway through her run and slammed into the protective fencing. She landed on her back and her head hit the snow, but she appeared to be conscious as she was taken to a clinic in nearby Sestriere.

French Ski Federation doctor Marie-Philippe Rousseau-Bianchi said Montillet-Carles, 32, suffered rib and back trauma and minor facial abrasions, but X-rays were negative.

The crashes came on a course made largely of machine-manufactured snow.

Canadian Allison Forsyth's Olympics ended after she crashed and was taken to a Turin hospital, where an MRI showed she had torn a ligament in her left knee, according to a statement by the Canadian team. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria fell but was able to ski down on her own.

"It's the Olympics. People are trying to take more chances," Canada's Emily Brydon said. "It is so rolly up there, you have to be on it all the time. If you relax for a bit, it will catch you."

Martina Schild of Switzerland was the fastest in Monday's run at 1 minute, 55.52 seconds. Goetschl was second at 1:56.28 followed by Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer at 1:56.42. American Julia Mancuso, who skied right after Kidlow was removed from the slope, was fourth-fastest at 1:56.45.

American medal hopeful Mancuso, who waited near the start box as the next skier scheduled after Kildow, said the course condition was similar to the first training runs on Sunday.

"There's just a lot of rolls. Anything can happen," Mancuso said. "You can come off a jump, catch an edge and be a little unlucky."

Kildow's injury was the latest blow to an already depleted U.S. team. Caroline Lalive's season ended when she injured her left knee in a crash last month and slalom specialist Kristina Koznick has partially torn ligaments in her right knee and could miss her Feb. 22 race.

[PAmedic]

Cheek wins 500m speedskate for US

AFP
FRANCK FIFE
World sprint champion Joey Cheek of the United States captured the men's 500m speedskating gold medal on Monday with the two fastest runs of the competition.

Cheek became the second US man to capture Turin Olympic speedskate gold with a combined two-run time of one minute, 9.76 seconds. Teammate Chad Hedrick won the 5,000m crown on Saturday.

"I had a really great first run and after that, I knew I only had to skate OK," Cheek said. "I didn't want to get too soft or too lazy because that's when you get into trouble".

Russia's Dmitry Dorofeyev, the World Cup leader, took the silver medal in a total time of 1:10.41. South Korea's Lee Kang-Seok, ranked third in the World Cup standings, captured the bronze medal in 1:10.43.

Cheek pulled away in the final heat to overtake the Russian's total time with ease.