Let The Games Continue

And so it went. The medal podium for the women's figure skating event at the Winter Olympics was without an American last night for the first time since 1964. To give you some perspective, my parents were still dating, the first Beatles album on Capitol had just been released in the U.S., and Lyndon Johnson ("Let us continya") was beginning his third month as President during those Winter Olympics.

Already some people are asking if maybe the Americans are slipping in women's figure skating. Considering that the United States has been shut out of the medal podium in this sport for only the second time since 1960 (when American Carol Heiss won the gold), I don't think it's a crisis just yet. Indeed, Marai Nagasu finished in fourth place with a personal best score and might have won a medal (not "medaled;" "medal" is not a verb!) if the judges had been more generous. She's already being talked about as a potential medalist - maybe even a gold medalist, which would place her in America's most exclusive women's club. One caveat: Yes, she's the future of American figure skating, but it's possible that she always will be. I remember when Katarina Witt won the gold medal in women's figure skating in 1984 and another American fourth-place finisher, Tiffany Chin, was being talked up as a possible medalist for 1988. What actually happened was that Chin quickly entered the "Where Are They Now?" file and Witt became the 1988 Olympic champion. (Congratulations to South Korea's Kim Yu-Na for setting a record score in winning the gold at Vancouver.)

Nordic combined is another story. Let me . . . Spillane! :-D Johnny Spillane won silver medals in three Nordic combined events - the individual normal hill / 10 km race, the team large hill/4x5 km race, and the the individual large hill/10 km, finishing in the the latter race behind fellow American Bill Demong. There's been a lot of history made, as Americans had rarely been competitive in Nordic combined before; now they're winning medals in silver and gold.

Apolo Anton Ohno is already the most decorated American winter Olympian ever, with eight medals, and he could add to his total tonight with two short track skating races, including the 500-meter race. Enjoy it; these could be his last Olympic races ever.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge is making more noise about dropping women's hockey, because, as noted, it's not competitive enough (the American and Canadian teams always seem to play in the gold medal game) and has indicated getting rid of women's ski jumping for the same reason. Though these actions - along with eliminating softball from the Summer Games - are regarded as sex discrimination, let me repeat that softball's male counterpart, baseball, was eliminated for the same reasons.

Ugh, I'm done . . . for now. :-)

More 2010 Winter Olympics Commentary

Apolo Anton Ohno became the most decorated American male winter Olympian in history by winning a medal in short track speed skating last night, earning a silver in the 1500-meter race. Fellow American J.R. Celski won the bronze. The silver medal win was treated as a victory for Ohno, even though South Korean Lee Jung-su won the gold. The jingoism in NBC's coverage has already begun to creep in.

So far, nothing has happened at Vancouver that demands flat-out ridicule, although that could happen once skiing (not freestyle or mogul skiing, real skiing) finally begins. Bode Miller, the biggest loser from Torino, is back. Olympics fans will recall that Miller had an excellent chance of winning a slew of gold medals at the Torino Winter Games and skied so sloppily and so lackadaisically that he ended up winning nothing. He's out to redeem himself at Vancouver.

If he skis there like he did at Torino, he may help the Canadians win an unprecedented gold medal on their own home turf.

In the meantime, inclement weather and slushy snow has prevented Miller from undistinguishing himself. Fortunately, NBC hasn't had to do local interest stories to fill time, as there are plenty of other events for them to cover. When bad weather forced the cancellation of ski events at the Winter Games in Sarajevo in 1984, ABC had to do stories about Bosnian produce cart vendors and had John Denver serenade tourists at local lodges. Vancouverites don't live any more exotically than Seattle residents, and quite frankly, I don't want to hear John Mayer sing in place of even mogul skiing, especially after what he said about not dating black women. Most black women wouldn't want to listen to him either.

I could go for Jack Johnson, maybe . . ..