Word: eventfulness
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...Though the U.S. didn't club the entire field on Wednesday, its team still sent a strong message to Europe, which has typically dominated Nordic combined: This sport is no longer yours. The day started out strongest for the Finns, who were counting on the event to increase their paltry medal tally. Finnish Olympic officials had set a goal of 12 medals for the country in Vancouver; to date, it has one. In the last three Olympics, the Finns won gold, silver and bronze in the Nordic combined team competition. "It's not big; it's phenomenal," says Pasi Uusivuori...
...Steitz's creditors accept Olympic medals as collateral? Prior to these Olympics, the U.S. had never won an Olympic medal in Nordic combined, a sport that has been contested in the Games since 1924. Countries like Norway (the sport's namesake), Finland and Germany have dominated the event. But to borrow a phrase from the host country of the Vancouver Olympics, the Americans now own the podium. Thanks in part to an infusion of coaches, technicians, physiologists and other ski specialists devoted to the team in recent years, Johnny Spillane on Feb. 14 clinched the first American Olympic medal...
...Cross-country racing requires extreme endurance, while ski jumping requires insanity. "It is kind of stupid," says Finland's Janne Ryynaenen of the odd combination. Ryynaenen nailed the longest leap of the day, 138.5 m from the takeoff, during the ski-jumping portion of the Nordic combined team event. "It makes no sense," he adds. (See why women aren't allowed to ski jump in the Olympics...
...Regardless, the sport more than made up for its oddness in entertainment during Wednesday's competition at Whistler Olympic Park. In the team event, four skiers from each of the 10 countries complete one jump in the morning. Their combined jumping scores determine their position for the afternoon 4-by-5-km cross-country relay. For example, on Wednesday, the Finns, who finished first in jumping, got a 2 sec. head start on the U.S., which finished second, and a 2 min. 19 sec. advantage over the Italians, who leapt like little bullfrogs and finished last in the jump. There...
...Olympics have given ice dancing additional luster in the North American market. On Monday, Feb. 22, for the first time since 1976, when the event was introduced in the Games, the Russians did not finish on top; they won the bronze, signaling a shift in the geocenter of the sport. Canadian pair Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir took the gold, while Davis and White took the silver. (Both pairs have benefited from the Russian legacy, having being trained by Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva, two Russian coaches who have established a mecca of ice-dancing expertise at the Arctic Figure...