Olympic Gold

That's it. After France mounted a mild comeback, Canada skip Kevin Martin made a brilliant shot for 3 points to end the eighth end and France concedes. Final score 12-5, and the crowd is seriously going wild. Canada is now 5-0 in round-robin play.

All of the other games are close, with Denmark leading Great Britain 4-3 and setting up for a big eighth end.

The Canadian just scored an incredible 5 in the fourth end against France, all but ending this game. The score is now 9-2, and my attention is shifting over to the game between Denmark and Great Britain, which currently is tied at 2.

Curling might be the slowest paced of all the Winter Olympic sports, but that's not to say it doesn't have plenty of drama and flair.

It's a game that I compare to shuffleboard on ice (with plenty of similarities and differences), but it requires a great deal of strategy and precision at the highest level. In other words, it's not as easy as it looks.

Those of you who've been watching curling during these Olympics so far (and I know there are plenty of you, judging from the way the sport's popularity has ballooned since the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake) might have noticed the loud, diamond-patterned pants the Norwegian team wears. Or you might have noticed the flourescent brushes favored by the French and British squads.

One sign in the crowd tonight from a Canadian fan reads "Curl Like a Champion Tonight." Her team is doing just that, having taken a commanding 4-0 lead over France with one brilliant shot after another. And the game is just 2 ends old.

Not for the curling team, which has fallen behind 2-0 here early against Norway, but for the hockey team, which proved again that it can compete with mighty Canada. The Canadians prevailed in a shootout moments ago on a goal by Sidney Crosby, but Switzerland, which beat the Canadians 2-0 in Turin 4 years ago, almost did it again.

The result might give some hope to other teams who will face Canada, take for example the United States, which will face the home team in a critical Group A showdown on Sunday. That will be a game worth watching.

Back in business here at the Vancouver Olympic Centre, a most acceptable venue located in an older, residential area on the south side of town, that is housing the curling competition here. After a quick visit to the media lounge and the purchase of some moderately priced refreshments, I'm back in press row, which is on one end of the arena, just below the broadcasting booths. The spectators are on the other three sides of the competition floor.

A good crowd has settled in for 4 men's matches happening simultaneously, as is customary. This will be the third of three round-robin sessions today, and the second one for the men. The United States team will not be playing tonight, which might be just as well. U.S. curlers have met with disastrous results so far in Vancouver, with a combined 0-7 mark thus far between the men's and women's teams. The U.S. men lost to Denmark this morning by a 7-6 count.

I'll be focusing primarily on a match involving Canada, the host country and defending gold medalists who are tied with Switzerland atop the standings thus far with a 3-0 record. The Canadians will match up with France, which is 1-1 so far.

Other matches for this evening include China-Sweden, Great Britain-Denmark and Norway-Switzerland. Just now, they've started the very cool introduction of teams, which involves marching in behind a bagpipe band. The Canadian fans love their curling, which was reflected in the ovation they received. There is a lot of pressure on the Canadians to win gold on home ice, and so far they have lived up to the hype.

It looks to be a full house here, with plenty of Canadian fans as well as a boisterous Swiss contingent with one guy decked out in full regalia who was cheering loudly as his team took their practice shots during warmups. It will be interesting to see if he can keep it up for 3 hours.

Games are just getting under way, so I'll try to offer a little bit of insight as things go along for those unfamiliar with the sport.

We've wrapped up the action here in Richmond, and everyone is clearing out quickly. There were no signs of Stephen Colbert in the arena today after he and the U.S. team he sponsors made such a splash during the men's 1,000 meters yesterday.

But it wasn't a disappointing finish for the American women in the 1,000 today by any means. The U.S. had two finishers in the top 10, led by 33-year-old Jennifer Rodriguez, who came out of retirement to compete in her fourth Olympics. Rodriguez, who was a double bronze medalist in Salt Lake in 2002, finished seventh after a strong last lap.

Heather Richardson, the 21-year-old rising star from North Carolina, placed ninth to match her finish from the 500 on Tuesday.

However, the competition belonged to the Canadians and the Dutch, the two teams whose fans comprised about 90 percent of the 6,000 or so in attendance. Canada's Christine Nesbitt claimed the host country's third gold medal by just 0.02 seconds over Annette Gerritsen in second place. Skaters from Canada and the Netherlands finished in five of the top six positions.

Now it's back to the Main Media Centre before I finish the night off with my first dose of curling here in Vancouver. That action starts at 9 p.m. Central Time with 4 men's matches, so I'll check in then, if everything goes according to plans.

I've set up shop here at the Richmond Olympic Oval for some speed skating of the long-track variety, where the women's 1,000 meters is set to get under way in about an hour.

This is a gorgeous venue, located south of Vancouver in the suburb of Richmond, that was built specfically for these Olympics. Seating is about 6,000 for the public, and the press gets an excellent vantage point almost right on top of the ice, for which I have taken full advantage. Many of the rabid fans from the Netherlands already are here, decked out in orange. The Dutch are known for their great speed skating tradition, and expect to win several medals here.

There will be 36 skaters today competing in 18 races, each one going 2 1/2 laps, so it should be a fairly short competition. Americans competing today include Rebekah Bradford, Jennifer Rodriguez, Heather Richardson and Elli Ochowicz. Another skater to watch will be Jenny Wolf of Germany, who already has a gold medal in the 500 to her credit.

Two of the Americans wil be skating against potential favorites. Richardson will face Ireen Wust of the Netherlands, who was a gold medalist in the 3,000 in 2006. Rodriguez will skate with Anna Friesinger of Germany, the defending bronze medalist in this event.

Much has been made at this venue during the past few days about the ice surface and conditions, which has caused a few delays and plenty of frustration for athletes and coaches. We're told that those issues should be resolved and the ice should be fair from here on out.

The skaters are waming up, some band is playing in the corner of the arena, and I'll have more once the races get under way.

The United States took 3 of the 7 gold medals awarded on Wednesday, meaning the U.S. now has a commanding lead with 14 overall medals and 5 golds. It's not like a big day wasn't expected. Lindsey Vonn was a favorite in the women's downhill, the same with Shaun White in the men's halfpipe.

That's true for Shani Davis, too, as he defended his Olympic gold in the men's 1,000 in speed skating, In fact, just 4 Winter Olympians in U.S. history have won back-to-back Olympic gold in the same event, even after both White and Davis did it in the same day on Wednesday. One of the others was Seth Wescott in snowboardcross on Tuesday.

To find the other, you have to go all the way back to 1952, when Dick Button defended his men's figure skating gold in Oslo, Norway. Button, who's now 80, has been a figure skating commentator for almost 50 years, and he's appeared several times already this year in studio with Bob Costas on NBC.

I took special note of Davis' gold after talking with some of the U.S. skaters at the short track venue tonight. Both Apolo Ohno and Simon Cho are great friends with Davis, who competes frequently (with great success, I might add) in short track as a way of staying conditioned for competitions in long-track speed skating. The U.S. short track skaters couldn't even talk about their own advancement in the 5,000 relay without first expressing their pride for their friend Shani. It shows how great the camaraderie is in the U.S. speed skating community, regardless of distance.

Several people have asked me already about why Jordan Malone didn't race in the 5,000 relay semifinals tonight. I was wondering myself. So I asked the U.S. national team coach, Jae-su Chun, after the race. He said it had nothing to do with Jordan, but he simply wanted to use some more inexperienced skaters along with Apolo Ohno in the semifinals, since the U.S. team would probably advance to the finals easily anyway, which it did.

Turns out short track is like track and field in the way that relay teams can swap out runners for different rounds. So the 4 skaters for the finals don't need to be the same 4 that skated in the semifinals. And Chun told me that he expects Jordan to skate in the finals, barring some sort of injury or other reason. He doesn't have to decide for sure until the day of the race on Feb. 26, but that's what he says today.

So why would he bench Jordan in favor of younger skaters, when Jordan had never skated an Olympic race prior to last Saturday? It's because Jordan has more World Cup experience than most of his teammates, and has been especially successful skating international relays. He simply wanted to give other team members their chance, I suppose. So Jordan came that much closer to getting an Olympic medal without even taking to the ice.

I can tell you that his coach reiterated to me his confidence in Jordan's abilities. His next race now will be on Feb. 24, when the preliminary heats begin for the 500, which is his other individual race here. The 500 finals and relay finals are both 2 days later.

The only shame for him is that it will be so long between races, and take that much longer to have another chance after a disappointing start to his Olympic debut when he was disqualified in his preliminary heat in the 1,500 on Saturday.

Anyway, the next day of short track is on Saturday, when Ohno will try to become the most decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history. He currently is tied with speed skater Bonnie Blair with 6 Winter Olympic medals, and he will skate in the 1,000 quarterfinals, semis and finals on Saturday. He also has the 500 and, of course, the relay final next week. With the way Ohno has skated so far in Vancouver, he might medal in all 3.

I arrived in Vancouver today. It was a busy day, flying for 4 hours before landing, going through customs, taking the train downtown, checking into my cozy hotel room, then checking in at the Main Media Centre, before hopping a shuttle to Pacific Coliseum for some short track speed skating. I might have even eaten something along the way.

I would have blogged about those adventures sooner, but some connection problems prevented me from doing that. Anyway, those should be rectified by tomorrow morning so I can blog more often, as planned. The weather is fantastic in this gorgeous city, and the people are extremely nice.

Denton native Jordan Malone returns to the ice today, when he will skate with his U.S. teammates in the semifinals of the 5,000 relay.

Jordan will be joined on the team by, among others, Apolo Ohno, who is the most decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history. This event will be his best chance at earning a medal in Vancouver, and I'm sure Jordan is looking forward to a good race that can help ease the pain from the 1,500 heats on Saturday, when he was disqualified. The team event is a good opportunity for him to bounce back.

The relay is one of the craziest visual spectacles you will see during the Olympics, with up to 20 skaters sharing the ice at the same time, tagging one another every 1.5 laps to keep fresh legs on the track while the others skate slowly in the infield. It will be on live on NBC during the prime-time telecast, and I understand there will be a few watching parties in Denton to cheer on Jordan and his teammates. If they advance, the gold-medal final will be on Feb. 26.

A reminder that I will be heading to Vancouver on Wednesday, so check back frequently for live updates then. When I arrive, the Olympics will be in full swing, especially with the locals, who saw two Canadian favorites among team sports kick off on Tuesday.

Men's hockey started, with the NHL taking an Olympic break of about 2 weeks, and curling got rolling with 3 sets of round-robin games, which will be the daily pattern through the middle of next week.

It wasn't the greatest of starts for Team USA in either sport. The hockey team started with a so-so 3-1 win over Switzerland. A win is usually a confidence-builder, and the Americans have the luxury of a game against Norway next on the agenda, so a 2-0 start certainly is something to build on. But the American team is very young, and it will need to play better to reach the medal rounds and ultimately contend for a spot on the podium.

In curling, the U.S. men lost a pair of games on the first day, to Germany and Norway. But perhaps the most disappointing result was the women falling to Japan in a game they controlled early on. The women have a chance to atone tomorrow morning against Germany, while the men will face Switzerland.

It used to be a fringe sport in the U.S., of course, but the popularity of curling -- which most closely resembles shuffleboard on ice -- has exploded in this country thanks to the last 2 Winter Games, and deservedly so. I can't wait to see the sport played at its highest level for the first time, something I'm hoping to do on Thursday night.

Have you become a curling nut? What other sports are possibilities to break out in Vancouver?

I'll be arriving in Vancouver on Wednesday, at which point I'll hopefully start posting more frequent updates to this here blog. But in the meantime, I've been busy mapping out a tentative itinerary of events I'd like to see and events I need to see. Since I've never been to an Olympics before, I want to try and soak it all in. And if you have any suggestions, they are welcome.

One event that won't be on the to-do list? Women's hockey.

The list of reasons starts with this -- Canada 18, Slovakia 0 -- and ends with this -- USA 12, China 1.

Those were among the results from the first 2 days of pool play in the women's competition. That's the type of hockey that's more embarrassing than entertaining. I'm not saying that the women on the Slovak or Chinese teams should be embarrassed by their performances, because it's not like these results are surprising. They were outmanned in every aspect. Perhaps they will gain experience and be better for it in the future. The embarrassing part is that this entire 8-team tournament consists of 2 teams playing for gold and 6 who are playing for bronze.

Every game involving the USA or Canada, until they meet in the gold-medal game, will probably be similar. People will ask the coaches and players more questions about running up the score than anything else, and nobody wins in that situation. At this point, there just aren't enough good women's hockey teams globally to justify an Olympic tournament. It's sort of like softball was in the Summer Games, before it was removed from the program after Beijing, where only 1 or 2 teams are so dominant that it turns all games before the medal rounds into glorified practice sessions.

Let's hope women's hockey eventually grows worldwide to the point where there's at least a hint of drama in anything other than a USA-Canada gold-medal matchup. Because that's the only game I have even the slightest chance of watching this time around.

It was a great start for Team USA, with 4 medals on the first day of competition, including 2 each in short track and women's moguls. Great story also on Hannah Kearney, the gold medalist in moguls who earned some serious redemption for her disappointing performance in Torino. She managed to squeak by the hometown favorite, Jennifer Heil of Canada, in an exciting finish.

So what lies ahead for Sunday? There are 5 more medal events on tap, including events in biathlon, nordic combined and women's speed skating. The highlights likely will be the conclusion of the men's luge competition tonight and the men's moguls, and both will be in prime time on NBC during breaks in the juggernaut that is pairs figure skating (which gets under way with the short program).

The best chance for a U.S. medal might be in nordic combined, the bizarre combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. All three Americans are in the top 10 heading into the skiing portion later today, including former world champion Todd Lodwick, who is in second place. In moguls, Patrick Deneen should have a shot, but for gold he will need to knock off the Australian favorite, Dale Begg-Smith, who also is the defending Olympic champion.

If you are interested in the figure skating tonight, watch for the American pair of Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, who won a national title last month in terrific fashion. The medal drought for the U.S. in pairs extends back to 1988.

I hoped to post this earlier, but hey, the blog is just getting warmed up. We'll get better as we go along. Hopefully you watched Jordan Malone's Olympic debut in the 1,500 meters tonight, yet unfortunately he didn't stay around for long.

Jordan was disqualified in his preliminary heat for bumping Japanese skater Jumpei Yoshizawa, who crashed into the wall as a result of the collision, during the final stages of the race. He started last and trailed in the 6-man field for the first several laps, then began winding his way through the pack when the incident happened.

Jordan crossed the line third in his heat (with a tough first-round field that included Canada's Charles Hamelin), which meant he would have advanced to the semifinals if not for the disqualification. But as Jordan has told me many times, there are many elements of luck in short track, and the judging many times is one of them. I'm not expert enough to tell whether the call was right or wrong. After watching the replay, what do you think?

Anyway, Jordan seems to have taken the disappointment with a sense of determination, since he still has the 500 and the relay to skate later in the Olympics. He did offer some encouraging comments to my colleagues at The Dallas Morning News after the race. Plus, the first-time Olympic jitters are now behind him, or at least some of them are.

It did turn out to be an exciting night for short track, with the other two U.S. skaters in the event, Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski, medaling. Ohno took silver and Celski got the bronze when a pair of South Korean skaters wiped each other out on the final lap in a thrilling gold medal race. Ohno, of course, is the most decorated Olympic athlete in the history of U.S. short track. And Celski is competing for the first time since a gruesome injury in which he was struck with a skate at the Olympic trials in September. Good for them, and I know Jordan is happy, too, that his teammates got off to such a good start and hopefully set the tone for a successful Olympics.

Hopefully by now you've seen our stories leading up to the Olympics on Denton native Jordan Malone, who is competing for Team USA in short track speed skating, which happens to be one of the most exciting sports in the Winter Games. It has been called roller derby on ice, which it's not, but I wouldn't mind watching that, either.

At any rate, I'll be in Vancouver to follow Jordan's pursuit of gold beginning next week, but I will miss one of his three events (my devotion to office duties here at the DRC prevents me from traveling for 16 straight days). That comes tonight, with the 1,500 meters. That is the longest individual distance in short track and probably is better suited to Jordan's strengths than the 500, in which he'll compete later on. He also will be part of the U.S. team in the relay, which starts next week.

So what are his individual medal chances? It's something of a toss-up. Malone is a newcomer to the Olympic scene, although he has had plenty of success on the World Cup circuit. He will need to knock off skaters from such powerhouse countries as South Korea and Canada, as well as teammate Apolo Anton Ohno, who won the only two individual U.S. medals in Torino in 2006. Jordan will need to skate the race of his life, but he told me last week that his most recent training times have been his fastest ever. So I wouldn't count him out.

The preliminary heats start at 7 p.m. Central Time, with the semifinal round to follow and the gold-medal race set for around 9:15. It will be live on NBC. Don't be late if you want to watch it, because the action in short track is fast and unpredictable, and the entire race will be over in under three minutes.

We'll have much more on Jordan throughout the Olympics, of course. But I know he will have plenty of fans in Denton rooting him on as he tries to reach the podium. Personally, I'm glad to see the outpouring of support he's received from the community for this most unique honor. Will you be watching? And what do you think of his chances?

The technical gaffe during the lighting of the Olympic cauldron on Friday night spoiled what was an otherwise impressive opening ceremony, with plenty of pageantry and spectacle along with the always-fun Parade of Nations. All of the fake snow and bundled-up athletes almost made you forget it was being held indoors.

Anyway, competition starts on Saturday, with plenty of television coverage of events such as speed skating, women's hockey, luge, biathlon, women's moguls, and -- weather permitting -- the men's downhill in skiing. Medals will be given away in six events, so be sure to tune in! NBC coverage starts at 1 p.m.

The folks at VANOC (which is basically the organizing group for the Olympics) have built, among other venues, apparently the fastest track for the three sliding sports (luge, skeleton and bobsled) ever constructed. The goal was to create more excitement, and with that comes danger.

Obviously, by now you've heard of the horrible death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run on Friday. The gruesome video and photos are readily available, although I don't really recommend watching. It has cast a most unfortunate shadow over the Vancouver Games even before they begin.

He was relatively inexperienced on the international level. But his death begs the question: How fast is too fast? When the luge competition gets under way on Saturday, will there be more accidents as speed increases over a quest for medals? Lugers and coaches have questioned the safety of the track while enduring numerous mishaps during training already, and at speeds exceeding 90 mph, there's obviously little margin for error.

Cancelling the event either in fear or out of respect to Kumaritashvili wouldn't be fair to the athletes who have worked so hard to get to Vancouver (hopefully the luge community will rally together and compete in his honor), but perhaps lessons can be learned from this tragedy that will help make future Olympics safer. In the meantime, let's cross our fingers and hope that this tragedy will be the last of its kind.

Another Olympic season is upon us, with four years of waiting and anticipation finally over (actually two years, if you count Beijing in 2008). Anyway, hopefully there are readers out there who are as fired up about the Vancouver Games as I am. Many of the snow and ice sports that comprise the Winter Games are foreign to native Texans, but there are still numerous reasons to watch, whether it's simply for the joy of competition or the spirit that comes with cheering on Team USA. The Olympics seem to bring people together.

We'll have plenty of coverage from Vancouver in the pages of the DRC during the next 16 or so days. I'll be heading up there myself in a few days to report firsthand the sights and sounds of the Olympics. It will be my first time attending one of these in person, so obviously I'm excited, and I'll try to convey some of my emotions and those of the athletes through this blog. The goal is to update it frequently, so keep checking back and comment (it is a blog, you know!) Let me know what you think about anything Olympics, and I'll try to offer some reasonable insight in return. I originally hail from Minnesota, which this time of year is the Land of 10,000 Frozen Lakes. Does that mean I know what I'm talking about? Hopefully. Or at least my friends will tell you that I think I know, even when I don't.

So welcome aboard. Congrats to Vancouver, which friends and colleagues tell me is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Can't wait to find out!

Todd Jorgenson's daily blog from the 2010 Winter Olympics.