2010 Winter Olympic Highlights

The Olympics are fun to watch, there are so many great sports. As I have watched the Olympics for the past sixteen days I have gathered the the top five American moments. I hope you enjoy my top five moments as much as I did watching them.

1) Men’s Hockey USA vs. Canada-The United States beat Canada 5-3 in the quarterfinal game. It was truly an amazing game, it was the first time in over 50
years that the USA men’s hockey team had beat Canada. “It feels great to win in an atmosphere like this and to be able to now set the bar high for us going
into the quarterfinals,” said U.S.A defenseman Brian Rafalski told USA Today. It was great to see the USA men’s team beat Canada in their own sport, at
home. The US team made it to the gold medal finals but failed to beat Canada and earned the silver medal.

2) Figure Skater Joannie Rochette – A short four days after her mother Therese passed away from a massive heart attack Rochette won a bronze medal.
Rochette mother died a few hours after arriving in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate in the Olympics. After the passing of her mom she decided to keep competing in the Olympics. “She’s going to get through this,” Canadian teammate Cynthia Phaneuf said. “She is just so strong. By being here and being able to compete after that happened, I’m just very impressed. I think she’s doing the right thing.” Phaneuf told the Huffington Post. Rochette performed extremely well under the conditions. Her performance left many people teary eyed, including commentator Scott Hamilton. “I don’t know how I could skate, my legs were shaking. I don’t know how I did it, my mind was not here. But I am glad I did and 10 years from now when the pain has gone a bit I would wish I skated here and I know that’s what my mom would want me to do,” Joannie Rochette told yahoo sports

3) The US’s Alpine Skiing Team – The US alpine ski team has dominated the world. Lindsey Vonn. Julia Mancuso. Bode Miller. These skiers are just three of the Americans
who have helped the US earn eight medals in Alpine Skiing. Vonn won gold in Downhill and a bronze in the Super G. Mancuso also won two medals, silver
in both the Super Combined and Downhill. Miller won a bronze in the Downhill, silver in the Super G and gold in the Super Combined. There performances
were not all good, Miller got disqualified in the Slalom and Vonn in super combined. “I really couldn’t be much happier,” Miller said after failing to finish in the Slalom event. “To have three medals, and the two medals I didn’t get, I skied hard. I came out, I was ready, I was prepared.” He told Yahoo Sports.

4) Men’s four man bobsled– The US’ mens bobsled team after 62 years with out winning a single medal not only made it onto the podium, but won the gold.
Steve Holcomb piloted the USA-1’s “Night Train” to a victory beating Canada (bronze) and defending gold medalist Germany (silver). It was Holcomb’s first
gold medal. “When they raise the flag and play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ for your son,” said Steve Holcomb, the bobsledder’s father, his voice choking at
the thought, “well, that’s pretty cool.” He told NBC sports.

5) Men’s and Women’s Speedskating – The US speedskating team had two area athletes, Jonathan Kuck (long track silver medalist in team
pursuit) and Katherine Reutter ( short track bronze medalist in 3000m relay and silver medalist in 1000m). The US team did really well combing short track
and long track speed skating with the US winning 10 medals. This included three relays and seven individual events. Medals were won by skaters Apolo Anton Ohno, Shani Davis, Allison Baver, and many more. Ohno broke an American record with seven medals the most an American has ever won in the winter games. “It’s an amazing feeling,” he said. “To be mentioned along with some of the greatest names of all time… I’m very happy.” Ohno told The Chicago Tribune.