Breakthroughs, Surprises Mark U.S. Olympic Success

Several weeks ago, I wrote this post about an economics professor who predicted that Canada would lead all nations in the medal count at the Vancouver Olympics. He also predicted that the U.S. would win only five gold medals and 26 medals overall.

Boy, was he ever wrong.

Canada started out slow the first week, finished with 26 medals overall, but did lead all countries with 14 gold medals. But the U.S. led in the overall record medal count with 37, including nine gold medals. It is by far the best collective performance by a group of American athletes during the Winter Olympic Games. While the big-name athletes like Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White and Shani Davis and Apolo Ono, came through as expected, other gold medal performances were either breakthroughs or surprises.

Breakthroughs
Nordic combined. Before the Olympics, the U.S. had never won a medal in the Nordic Combined event (2 phases: ski jumping and cross country skiing). They leave Vancouver with four medals, the most of any country.

Four-man bobsled. The last time the U.S. won gold in this event was 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. 62 years later, Steve Holcomb piloted the U.S. team to gold.

Short-track speedskating. Katherine Reutter won a silver and bronze medal in short track speedskating, becoming the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic medal in that event. She is sure to be a contender in Sochi in 2014. Ditto for J.R. Celski, who picked up a bronze, after overcoming a horrific injury last fall that put his Olympic future in doubt.

Surprises
Alpine skiing. Beyond Vonn, the U.S. ski team wasn't considered to be much of a threat. But they won eight medals total, including two silver by Julia Mancuso who peaked at just the right time and Bode Miller, who made a huge comeback with three medals, one gold, silver and bronze.

Men's figure skating. Evan Lysacek went into the Games as a contender for a medal, but walked away with gold after two brilliant programs. He not only defeated the reigning Olympic champion, Evgeni Plushenko, who came out of retirement after last competing in Torino in 2006, Lysacek also defeated a very deep men's field.

U.S. men's hockey. The men's hockey team was the youngest in the field and weren't expected to medal in Vancouver. But don't tell them that. They won all three games in the preliminary round, including a 5-3 victory over the heavily favored Canadians. The two teams would meet again in the gold medal game, but with a different result. The Canadians prevailed in overtime 3-2, in one of the most exciting games in Olympic Games memory, and the Americans go home with silver.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks for the memories.

Skate Canada Wants to Change Figure Skating Image

With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics less than a year away, Skate Canada has decided it’s time to change the image of figure skating. With declining attendance and television ratings, Canadian skating officials believe that rebranding the sport as more masculine will draw new fans from hockey, football and baseball, according to the Wall Street Journal. Officials also want their male skaters to refrain from wearing sequins, ruffles and other frills in favor of simpler, more uniform outfits. They have also requested their skaters to talk up their injuries and training regimen to showcase how tough and macho the sport is.

It is no surprise that these rebranding efforts have outraged gay advocacy groups, who call it an attack on skating’s sizable gay audience. And the controversy made its way “World News with Charles Gibson” on ABC-TV.

This controversy has been going on for decades, and Skate Canada has always been somewhat sensitive to this issue. After all, it was a Canadian skater, Toller Cranston, along with Great Britain’s John Curry, who routinely wore frilly costumes in the late 1970s to express the artistry of their programs. Then along comes Kurt Browning in the early 1990s, who performs the first quadruple jump in competition and skated to rock music – moves that helped make the sport more macho.

The truth is both Skate Canada and gay advocacy groups are overreacting. This is not an attack on any particular audience, but on the sport’s artistry.

While I can understand Skate Canada’s desire to expand their fan base, it is taking the wrong approach. They can call the sport anything they want and they can try to change people’s perception of it, but they cannot change the reality of it – that it is a beautiful but physically demanding sport that requires athletes to skate to music. The sport will never draw fans from more aggressive, macho sports like hockey and football – they represent two different fan bases.

While I am not a fan of some of the frilly, sequined costumes that some of the male skaters choose to wear for their programs – I think they tend to distract from the program rather than enhance it – it’s unrealistic to expect male skaters to adhere to a more uniform look. Ultimately, the costume decision should be left to the individual skater and his coaches with the music and program in mind.