Vancouver 2010: Memorable moments

Published on 03-02-2010 Comments(0) Full article

Vancouver Olympics have officially ended. After 17 days of competitions on ice or snow, dozens of success stories and 86 Olympic titles, here are some of the most memorable moments in Vancouver in 2010.

Sidney Crosby beats USA and brings the Olympic title to Canada

Of all the titles, none was more desired than the one for the best hokey players in the world. Canada won against the United States of America, the team that had managed to beat the Canadians in the Olympic tournament.

The winning goal was scored by Canadian superstar Sidney Crosby (22 years). This is the 8th Olympic ice hockey title won by Canada after those in 1920 (Antwerp), 1924 (Chamonix), 1928 (St. Moritz), 1932 (Lake Placid), 1948 (St. Moritz), 1952 ( Oslo) and 2002 (Salt Lake City).

Nodar Kumaritasvil's death

Just a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Vancouver, the whole world was shaken by the tragedy of Georgian Kumaritasvili Nodar, who lost his life during training in test runs. The young man was just 21 years old and died shortly after he hit a steel pillar, despite medical intervention. He lost control of his sled, leaving the track with almost 150 kmh.

Kim Yu-na's almost perfect performance

The South Corean Kim Yu-na won the Olympic title for figure skating, obtaining the best score in history. Although there isn't a perfect score in skating, Kim Yu-na (19 years old) managed to conquer the public's heart. Kim Yu-na is considered a true heroine in her country, and experts already consider her one of the most valuable skaters participating at the Winter Olympic Games.

Sven Kramer's error

Kramer, who won the Olympic title in Vancouver in 2010 at the 5,000 meters trial, was the main favorite in the 10,000 meters race. He was four seconds faster than South Korean Lee Seung-Hoon, setting a new Olympic record after an exhausting race and thought he won a new Olympic title.

However, he was disqualified eight laps before the final because he entered by the wrong entry. Sven Kramer missed the opportunity to become the first skater who wins two titles in the same edition of Olympic Games.

Lysacek dethroned Plusenko

Evan Lysacek was one of the biggest surprises at this edition, beating the Russian Evgeni Plusenko at the figure skating trial. Lysacek became the first American to win the Olympic for figure skating. Last time, this title was won by Brian Boitano in 1988 in Calgary.

Joanne Rochette skated to two days after the death of her mother

The Canadian skater Joanne Rochette learned about the death of her mother 60 hours before the competition. Rochette had an excellent performence at the competition, winning the bronze medal.

Simon Ammann, the "flying" Swiss

Simon Ammann flew from the Olympic's big trampoline straight to his fourth Olympic title. Ammann also won the Olympic title in Whistler.

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Canada's golden Games impressed the international media

Published on 03-01-2010 Comments(1) Full article

Canada's record-breaking gold medal won and the enthusiasm that came after impressed the international media allover the world.

Most European sports pages and websites publish standings based on the highest number of gold medals taken, so many media outlets ranked Canada first Monday even though Canadian athletes ranked third in the total number of gold, silver and bronze medals won.

Canada's huge success was mentioned in newspapers around the world:

“But these Olympics have been a huge success on numerous other levels. The action was riveting and the fans took it to heart. If they were fervently patriotic, veering on jingoistic, so what?” (columnist Rick Broadbent fot The London Times)

“After Beijing, where the connection between the Games and the host city was so tenuous it was virtually unnoticeable, this compact, beautiful city has embraced the Games unambiguously (give or take a small - very small - minority of anti-Games protesters).” (columnist Lawrence Donegan for The Guardian)

“The Olympics that started under the cloud of an athlete's death ended Sunday, much more joyously than they had begun.” (The International Herald Tribune)

“Canadian patriotism is the great winner of the Olympic Games,” (Le Monde)

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Joannie Rochette takes bronze medal for Canada

Published on 02-26-2010 Comments(0) Full article

Joannie Rochette skated yesterday to the music from Samson and Delilah, a Herculean tale of triumph and tragedy and her great performance brought Canada the bronze medal.

Her performance was one of the most impressive moments last night, as we all know that this wasn't only about her and her desire to win one of the medals. I was most of all about her mother Therese, who arrived the proud parent from Montreal Saturday and died Sunday in a Vancouver hospital, before she could see her daughter as a 2010 Olympian.

Awash in grief, the girl did herself, her mother and her country incredibly proud this week. It was not much short of heroic, but it was also her job, her goal, and the end of a four-year journey from fifth in Turin to the podium at home under the most trying circumstances.

"I don't see myself as a hero or anything like that," said Rochette, who alternately fought back tears and broke out in smiles during her first interviews since Saturday. "I just went out there and did what my mother would have wanted me to do. When I get all those messages (of support) I realized how much people were inspired by this but I did this first of all for myself because my mother taught me to think of myself first."

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Canada takes silver in Olympic snowboard cross; Squamish's Fagan places fifth

Published on 02-16-2010 Comments(0) Full article

Squamish's Rob Fagan won the men's Olympic snowboard cross small final to earn fifth place at Cypress Mountain on Monday (Feb. 15). Canmore Alta.'s Mike Robertson won the silver medal.

Fagan was leading the semi-final until making contact with German boarder David Speiser and briefly losing control and finishing in third place. But he was able to refocus and out-race Speiser and Austrians Lukas Gruener and Mario Fuchs in the small final.

“The small final is not where I want to be but you have to refocus and kill the small final,” he said.

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Vancouver in numbers

Published on 02-13-2010 Comments(1) Full article

Reporters from France Presse found out some significant numbers to describe the Olympics. So, take a look at Vancouver in numbers. according to Agerpres:

* 2: there are only two new trials at this Olympic Games: ski cross (for both male and female)

* 9: this is the number of medals won by Ole Einer Bjoerndalen, the Norwegian biatlonist

* 12: there are only 12 countries which have participated to all editions (since 1924 in Chamonix): Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden and USA

* 21: Vancouver is organizing the 21st edition of the Olympic Games

* 82: there are 82 national Olympic committees who have subscribed athletes in Vancouver; that is 2 times more than the Olympic in Turin, in 2006

* 86: this is the number of gold medals for this edition; there will be 45 medals for men, 38 for women, 2 are mixed and one is for both sexes

* 98: there are 98 gold medals won by Norway

* 2 762: the number of athletes participating at the Olympic Games, a new record for Winter Games, after the 2508 in Turin in 2006. In detail, 1660 men and 1102 women; ice hockey is the most represented (567 athletes - 362 men and 205 women)

* 10 000" this is the number of meal served every day by the athletes in the Olympic Village; that is 350 000 meals for the entire period of time. The athletes will eat almost 60 tons of chicken, 60 tonsof beef, 70000 liters of soup, 40000 liters of milk and 11 tons of cheese

* 10 000: the number of accredited journalist to cover the Games

* 12 000: the number of flame bearers (from Olympia to Vancouver)

* 15 000: manpower deployed to ensure security of the Games; among them, 4500 Canadian soldiers who will help Vancouver's Royal Gendarmerie an municipal police

* 25 000: the number of volunteers with different tasks: drivers, ticket inspectors, IT guys, photographers, interpreters etc.

* 45 000: the total number of kilometers traveled by the Olympic flame through the entire Canada

* 500 000: the number of visitors expected to participate at the Games; that is two times more than the latest Games organized in North America, in Salt Lake City (2002)