Saturday, February 27, 2010

USA on pace to break previous gold medal record

The winter Olympics end tomorrow and all those familiar faces will be gone from our living rooms as young people return to their homes throughout the world. As in years past, it has dominated our TV the past two weeks.

From Olympic news today:
By winning two medals Friday in short track speedskating; and by virtue of qualifying for today's gold medal final in long track speedskating team pursuit; and by earning a spot in Sunday’s gold medal hockey game, Team USA is assured of no less than tying Germany’s all-time Olympic Winter Games record of 36 medals.

Prior to the Vancouver Games, the most medals the U.S. had ever won at a non-U.S. hosted Winter Games was 25 at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The U.S. has topped the medal standings at only one other Olympic Winter Games, the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Games, when U.S. athletes brought home 12 medals.

The U.S. has led the medal count at the end of every day of competition here in Vancouver. In 20 previous Olympic Winter Games, the U.S. had led the medal count outright on just seven days: Five times at the Lake Placid 1932 Olympic Winter Games; on Day 5 of the Grenoble 1968 Olympic Winter Games; and on Day 4 of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

There has been only one instance where a nation has led the medal count outright for an entire Olympic Winter Games: The Soviet Union achieved the feat at the Innsbruck 1976 Olympic Winter Games.

The latest updates on Team USA....
The U.S. men’s ice hockey team punched a ticket to Sunday’s gold medal game by defeating Finland 6-1 in the semifinal round.

Katherine Reutter (Champaign, Ill.) won the silver medal in women’s 1000m short track speedskating, while the U.S. men’s 5000m relay won bronze.

USA I, with Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah), Steve Mesler (Buffalo, N.Y.), Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) and Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), is in first place at the halfway point of the four-man bobsled competition.
To catch up on all the action from Vancouver click here .

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