First, Charles Hamelin took the gold in the Men's 1500m Short Track, then, this evening, Alex Bilodeau and Mikaël Kingsbury captured the gold and silver in the Men's Moguls event!
Add that to the silver medal captured by Canada's Figure Skating Team yesterday, and that brings our medal total to 7 (3 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze), putting Canada at the top of the medal standings!
Hamelin, who won two gold medals in Vancouver, is sporting a new high tech racing suit that is supposed to reduce drag by up to 65%.
Alex Bidodeau, also won the Moguls gold in Vancouver, Canada's first of those games, and became a hero to many, not because of the medal, but because of his special relationship with his brother Frederic who has cerebral palsy.
If you plan on watching NBC tonight, they will be doing a fantastic profile piece on Alex and his brother that will bring tears to your eyes, I guarantee it!
With the Team Figure Skating Event completed, I am happy that Canada took the silver, but really, I think it was obvious from the start how the medals would be played out.
Even the Washington Post was unimpressed with the event, and they even suggested that maybe Synchronized Skating should be the Team Event!
If you are a conspiracy theorist, you could take issue with the scoring in the Ice Dance, and the seemingly inflated scores received by some of the Russian competitors. This might lead you to put some stock in the reports out of France about a judging fix (a la Salt Lake City) for Sochi.
However, Tessa's "bobble on the twizzle" in the short program opened the door for a clear Davis/White lead. It is troubling, though, to see both teams skate exquisitely in the free program and still have a 7 point difference in favour of the Americans. That didn't sit well with me, though I am unwilling to believe that there is anything untoward going on.
The other story that I do think is interesting is that 7 of the 17 members on the Canadian Figure Skating Team have been selected for drug testing, including Katelyn Osmond (waking her from sleep before her competition), and two others at midnight on the day they arrived.
This is in a sport that has had only two positive drug tests in Olympic history (both Russian). I'd be interested to know how many members of other Figure Skating teams were "randomly" selected for testing? There's practically no chance of anybody testing positive, but is this just some kind of mental gaming going on?
Another enjoyable column, Sean. Although, I think that we will have to respectfully agree to disagree on the Ice Dance battle. Meryl and Charlie are spectacular.
ReplyDeleteI watched the Free Dance multiple times yesterday from my DVR, and as beautiful as Tessa and Scott are, I felt several of the transitions were lacking the appropriate connectivity. Yes, I probably have some USA bias in this, but let's see how the individual events play out.
As for the drug testing, I am no statistician, but how can that even be possible to have that high percentage of the team tested? And, are there no rules against being woken for such a thing?
Who oversees the drug testing and "random" selection?
Hi Barbara!
DeleteDrug testing is under the control of the host organizing committee... Suspicious, no?
I don't disagree with you. Charlie and Meryl were spectacular, the best I have ever seen them, but I don't think Scott and Tessa should have been 7 points back.
I think Scott and Tessa skate closer together and with better unison. I like Charlie and Meryl's lifts better. I am just a fan, and have no technical training, just going on what appeals visually to me (but I have been watching figure skating for a long time).
Thanks for continuing to follow my blog!