CURLING: U.S. faces Canadians today in men’s semifinal
Pinerolo, Italy – No sooner had Canada beaten the United States in the final game of the Olympic men’s curling round-robin than the teams started preparing to meet again.
The North American neighbors will play today in the medal round of the Turin Games, with the winner guaranteed at least a silver medal. The loser plays the loser of the other semifinal between Britain (6-3) and Finland (7-2) for the bronze.
Canada (6-3) rallied late for a 6-3 victory over the Americans (6-3) in the opening-round finale Monday to grab the last spot in the medal round, eliminating Switzerland and defending champion Norway. It was a good day for Canadian curling: The women’s team earned a last-rock victory over Denmark to make the medal round and eliminate Russia and 2002 gold medalist Britain.
In the women’s semifinals, also slated for today, Norway (6-3) will face Sweden (7-2) and Canada (6-3) plays Switzerland (7-2).
Gold- and bronze-medal games are scheduled for the women Thursday and for the men Friday.
A medal in Turin would be a first for American curling and, the players hope, a boost for the game in their homeland.
On the other hand, more than a million Canadians play the sport – an estimated 94 percent of the world’s curlers – and they have brought home 29 world championships. When they go to an international tournament, everybody back home expects them to win.
“At least by their countrymen, I guess that’s the case,” U.S. skip Pete Fenson corrected. “But we don’t expect them to win. To us, they’re just the team we have to get by to get to the gold-medal game.”
BIATHLON: Bjoerndalen not enough for Norwegian men
Germany won the men’s 4×7.5-kilometer relay when star Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen got very little help from his friends.
Bjoerndalen gave the Norwegians a fifth-place finish by skiing a brilliant final leg for the prerace favorites, but could not make up for his teammates’ poor performances.
The Americans took ninth, led by Jay Hakkinen, who dispatched his demons from his epic collapse in the 10K race by giving the United States the lead after the first of four legs.
The Germans – Ricco Gross, Michael Roesch, Sven Fischer and Michael Greis – covered the San Sicario course in 1 hour, 21 minutes, 51.5 seconds for their fourth Olympic gold in the event. Russia was 20.9 seconds back, and France edged Sweden for the bronze in a photo finish when Carl Johan Bergman stumbled near the finish line, allowing Raphael Poiree’s skis to cross just ahead of his. Poiree’s teammates piled on top of him in the snow as he collapsed, exhausted from the thrilling sprint.
Bjoerndalen, whose time of 19 minutes, 15.5 seconds was by far the fastest in the field, had visions of winning five gold medals at the Turin Games after sweeping all four races at Salt Lake City in 2002 – but has managed only two silvers with one race remaining.
“Today, we are not good enough,” said Halvard Hanevold, whose first-leg struggles put Norway behind early. “We are not disappointed in our Olympics. We are disappointed in today’s race.”
Austria, the subject of a surprise doping raid over the weekend, took last place in the 17-team field. Its entry didn’t include Wolfgang Perner or Wolfgang Rottmann, who were kicked off the team after leaving the Olympics after midnight raids Saturday.
SPEEDSKATING: Olympic career seems over for Witty
Chris Witty apparently turned down the chance to skate in the 1,500 meters tonight after two dismal performances, and the U.S. speedskating team has not entered anybody in her place, according to the official start list. It is believed to be the first time that an American speedskating spot will go unfilled.
Only Jennifer Rodriguez, Maria Lamb and Catherine Raney will race for the Americans. Witty, a five-time Olympian, finished 28th in the 500 meters – the only woman slower fell down – and then slogged through the 1,000 to finish 27th, far off the blistering pace she set while breaking the world record at the 2002 Games.
It was a performance that, coach Bart Schouten said, Witty called “embarrassing,” and forced her to acknowledge the possibility that she might give up her spot in the 1,500 – though at the time she said she would only do that if a teammate was desperate to take her place.
She said she wanted one last chance to push herself around the ice and rekindle all of the memories she forged there while becoming one of the most decorated athletes in U.S. Olympic history.
“I want to remember everything,” she said. “I want to enjoy everything I’ve done here.”
There was no word on why nobody chose to take Witty’s place in the U.S. lineup. Chosen to carry the flag into the opening ceremony that kicked off the Turin Games, Witty, 30, holds the world record at 1,000 meters, and she won a gold, silver and bronze medal at two of her previous three Winter Games. She’s also one of just nine Americans to have competed in both Winter and Summer Olympics, having raced as a cyclist at the 2000 Sydney Games.
CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: Two suspended Russians cleared to compete
Two Russian cross country skiers were cleared to compete after serving suspensions for high hemoglobin levels, while another received a third suspension.
Natalia Matveeva passed a third test after receiving consecutive five-day suspensions, while countryman Pavel Korosteljev lowered his levels and was cleared following a second test.
Nikolai Pankratov, also of Russia, was retested last Thursday along with Matveeva and both were suspended for a second time by the International Ski Federation, then Pankratov failed a third test Tuesday and was suspended for five additional days. The only race he now could participate in is Sunday’s 50K mass start – and that’s if he passes a fourth blood test. But Pankratov is doubtful for that event, considering he typically enters the shorter races.
Sergei Dolidovich of Belarus also was hit with a second suspension last week.
Only four cross country races remain: today’s individual sprint races, the women’s 30K mass start Thursday and the men’s 50K on Sunday on the final day of the Turin Games.
Korosteljev was among four skiers suspended Feb. 10, one day after eight other cross country athletes were penalized with a five-day start suspension because of elevated levels of hemoglobin, the part of the red blood cell that can increase endurance.
TELEVISION: Ice dancing finals boost Monday’s ratings
With the ice dancing finals and relatively restrained competition, the Olympics was a ratings winner for NBC on Monday night, when an estimated 22.5 million people watched the Games.
However, through Monday, the Games averaged a 12.3 household rating, down 25 percent from the comparable points of the Nagano Games in 1998 and off 32 percent from the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.
