APOLO OHNO ANCHORS SHORT TRACK RELAY TEAM TO BRONZE; KATHERINE REUTTER OF US WINS SILVER; CANADA TO MEET USA IN MEN’S HOCKEY GOLD MEDAL GAME
“Apolo Ohno living up to his billing as the best closer in the relay.” – NBC’s Ted Robinson
“It’s going to be emotional. It’s going to be intense.” – Canada’s Sidney Crosby on the gold medal hockey game against the US on Sunday
VANCOUVER – Feb. 26, 2010 – Apolo Ohno, already the most decorated US Winter Olympian ever, added to his medal haul by anchoring the US team that took bronze in the men’s 5000 meter short track relay on the 15th day of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Canada and South Korea won gold and silver, respectively.
Ohno also made the final of the men’s 500 meters but was disqualified and did not medal. He won three total medals in Vancouver (silver and two bronze), giving him a career tally of eight, which is the most ever for a US Winter Olympian.
Primetime host Bob Costas hosted Jimmy Fallon in studio. Fallon, the host of NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, wrote thank you notes to the Olympics while Costas ‘played’ background music on a keyboard.
Costas: “The lame shall walk and the blind shall see in the presence of Jimmy Fallon.”
Fallon to Costas, as he “played” the keyboard: “Did you take lessons?”
Costas: “No, I was a child prodigy.”
Fallon: “Thank you, speed skaters, for simulating what it would look like if a handcuffed guy tried getting away on roller blades.”
“Thank you, Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth, for having an endless supply of dapper tweeds and pocket squares. If sharp dressing were an Olympic event, you’d wipe the floor with Dick Button.”
Also in short track, Katherine Reutter of the US won silver in the women’s 1000 meters behind gold medalist Meng Wang of China.
With tonight’s medals, the US has won 34 in Vancouver, tying the US record set at the 2002 Salt Lake Games for most medals won at a Winter Olympics. The US is assured of setting a new record by virtue of the men’s hockey team participating in the gold medal game on Sunday and the men’s speed skating team competing in the team pursuit gold medal final tomorrow. The record for most medals won by a nation in a single Olympic Winter Games is 36, set by Germany at Salt Lake in 2002.
On CNBC, Canada held off a late rally to beat Slovakia, 3-2, in men’s hockey and earn the right to face the US in the gold medal game on Sunday on home soil. In addition, Sweden defeated host nation Canada, 7-6, to win gold in women’s curling.
In studio, Costas interviewed Canadian ladies figure skater Joannie Rochette, who won bronze despite the passing of her mother just days before the competition:
Costas: “How did you decide that you would go ahead [and skate].”
Rochette: “When I first heard the news at 6 am, I told my federation right away that I would skate. I had to skate. The only thing I knew I could do at that moment to feel alive was to get on the ice. There were lots of ups and downs. There were some moments when I just wanted to go home and see my family and be with my friends. I didn’t feel like skating but I knew I wanted to do this so 10 years from now I’d have no regrets. And that’s what my mom would’ve wanted me to do.”
Costas: “Everyone speculated, it’s only natural, what must she be feeling? But I heard you say afterwards that you had to put those feelings aside and ‘I had to become cold,’ using your words, and ‘become Joannie, the athlete, and not the person.’”
Rochette: “That’s right. It was very tough for me in the short program to do that. I was very emotional right when I stepped on the ice. The crowd was so warm, they were so nice cheering me on. I got so many messages from around the world, not only in Canada. Those messages really touched me and really gave me the strength to carry on and compete anyways. But it was hard to stay in my bubble and listen to my music because my head was in a million places but not on the ice. I don’t know how I managed to skate a good short program like I did. But after the short program, I just told myself, if you’re going to keep competing, I want to do it fully. That’s what my mom always taught me. Whenever you do something in life, whatever it is, you do it until the end and give it your best shot.”
Costas: “Once you had performed so well and you won the bronze medal, you were standing there on the podium. And I read afterwards that you said, ‘I imagined myself as a five-year-old girl because I had imagined this moment, holding an Olympic medal, since I was five years old.’”
Rochette: “Yes, I imagined this moment for so long. I didn’t imagine those kind of tears of course. I was very sad that there was one person in the stands that wasn’t there to applaud me. But my family was there and my father was there. And for them, I wanted to be there and it was very tough. And I wanted to be strong for my father and just make him stronger at the same time.”
Costas: “Congratulations on your performance and, again, our condolences on your loss.”
SHORT TRACK:
Play-by-Play: Ted Robinson
Analyst: Andy Gabel
Reporter: Andrea Joyce, Cris Collinsworth
Ohno on the 500 meters: “When you have five guys behind you, essentially trying to eat you and spit you out, it can be real intimidating.”
Collinsworth on the 500: “It’s well established that short track is a crazy sport. And the craziest event within this crazy sport is the 500 meters. So, for Apolo Ohno to repeat his gold medal winning ways, he’s going to have to be good. He’s going to have to be lucky. And he just might have to be perfect.”
Gabel on Ohno: “Every time he steps on the ice, he knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Gabel on Ohno hurdling skaters: “I didn’t know Apolo Ohno was also a gymnast but he showed he might be right there.”
Gabel on Ohno being disqualified in the final: “A tough call for Apolo Anton Ohno.”
Robinson on Canada’s Charles Hamelin: “Hamelin, a magnificent effort to stay on his feet and win a much-desired gold medal for Canada.”
Ohno to Collinsworth on his 500m race: “That was three of the fastest guys off the line I’ve ever skated against. In the 500, you have to be up towards the front if you’re going to make any moves. The race was fast enough to where there was no space to move up. So I was just kind of waiting, waiting, waiting. There was just no space. Going on the last corner, I was coming up on the Canadian guy, and he slipped and then the Korean slipped. I don’t know why they called me for the disqualification. I was in fourth the whole race. Either way, I’m happy with the way I skated. I came here with no regrets in my mind and I’m leaving with no regrets. We still have the relay and I really want to go out there and make sure our guys get a medal.”
Ohno on if he felt the disqualification was unfair: “I do. My hand is up to basically protect myself from running up the back of him. So it’s more of a cushion, I’m not trying to push anyone down or anything. But that was the head Canadian ref out there and we’re on Canadian soil. But the boys skated very, very well and it was a good race.”
Ohno on if the Canadian ref favored the Canadians with his call: “I think so, absolutely. But in short track, everything is so subjective so I just have to be faster.”
Costas: “That is the nature of short track — part race, part demolition derby.”
Gabel on Ohno: “One of the best, if not the best, closers in history in the relay.”
Robinson on the final lap: “This is what the relay is about – a sprint to the finish.”
Gabel: “What an exciting race from start to finish.”
Gabel on Ohno anchoring the relay: “Apolo Anton Ohno was doing exactly what he normally does at the end of a race – skating incredibly.”
Robinson on Ohno: “Apolo Ohno living up to his billing as the best closer in the relay.”
Costas, to Ted Robinson, on short track: “That sport, that you call so well, is simply insane.”
Robinson on USA’s Katherine Reutter making a pass in the quarterfinal: “That got everybody’s attention.”
Robinson on Reutter winning silver: “Katherine Reutter will be the building block, a fulcrum of what will be an overhaul of the women’s program.”
BOBSLED:
Play-by-Play: Bob Papa
Analyst: John Morgan
Reporter: Lewis Johnson
Papa on Germany’s Andre Lange: “What a legacy this man has had.”
Morgan on Lange: “Greatest of all time in the history of this sport.”
Holcomb on their first run: “Everything here starts at the top at the start. The start was huge. We had a great push. We may not have the fastest time right now but we had the fastest push down the hill and we accelerated faster than anybody. That’s what the key is right there so it was huge for that push. The 50-50 [turn], I had a little bit of a mistake but I made up for it and I kept the sled flying like it does.”
Holcomb after his second run: “We’re here to play. If you want to play around, let’s bring it. It’s just the first day. We won today and we have to come out tomorrow and do just what we did today and race. We have two more heats and we’re right where we want to be.”
ALPINE SKIING:
Play-by-Play: Tim Ryan
Analysts: Christin Cooper
Reporter: Steve Porino
Cooper on Germany’s Maria Riesch: “She’s like a slinky just keeping the skis absolutely glued to the snow on top.”
Cooper on Austria’s Marlies Schild: “She is back and big time.”
Cooper on Lindsey Vonn: “Lindsey Vonn has overcome so much adversity, two medals nonetheless in these Games, but here’s a woman who thrives on routine. She likes things orderly and predictable. But this season has been largely about managing chaos.”
Ryan on Vonn: “Who knows which of her many hurts has taken their toll on her today.”
Vonn on her skiing in the Olympics: “I’m definitely really happy with everything I’ve done here. I got the gold medal that I came here for. I got a bronze medal in the Super G. I know I could’ve done better in some of the disciplines. The super combined, I was poised to win another medal, but I wanted the gold and I maybe risked a little too much. In the GS, I was definitely an underdog but I went after it. And I was actually winning at the very last intermediate time. I’m happy with my performance despite that. That’s just my personality, I never want to give up.
“I was contemplating stopping after my crash in the GS, after I broke my finger. That’s just not who I am. The Olympics are something special. They only come once every four years. And I just wanted to go out and try. I knew that I probably wasn’t going to win a medal but at least I gave it everything I have and see what happens.
“Unfortunately, it just didn’t go my way in the GS or the Slalom or the Combined. Like I said, I have that gold medal. Despite everyone else’s expectations, my goals were simply to win one medal and that’s what I did.”
Cooper on the course: “It is rock n’ roll like a bucking bronco from top to bottom.”
Cooper on the visibility: “It’s like skiing blind.”
Cooper on the technique of Schild, who won silver: “It’s like her legs are at a rock concert and her upper body is at the opera.”
Cooper on gold medal winner Riesch: “She was powering to that gold medal the whole way.”
Riesch on her win: “It was really tough conditions but I just had a really good line.”
CNBC, Women’s Curling Gold Medal Game:
Sweden 7 vs. Canada 6
Fred Roggin (Host), Andrew Catalon (Play-By-Play), Colleen Jones (Analyst), Don Duguid (Analyst), Elfi Schlegel (Reporter)
Catalon: “Sweden won in 2006. They thought about retiring. They wanted to come back for one more chance to win another Olympic gold medal. The patience, the decision, it paid off.”
“Back to back gold medals for Sweden!”
Catalon: “Cheryl Bernard had one shot for the win. It came, oh, so close!”
Roggin: “It is indeed a sport of inches.”
Catalon: “Cheryl Bernard has compared the atmosphere in here to a Stanley Cup final, and the fans have been treating this like a hockey game.”
Catalon: “This Swedish team does not look intimidated one bit by the pressure of a gold medal game.”
“The composure they are playing with right now is very impressive.”
Jones on Sweden: “They can read each other’s thoughts. They have been together so long. They bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience.”
Roggin on Sweden’s Anette Norberg: “She has felt the pressure and lived it. She makes very few mistakes.”
Jones on Norberg: “Anette’s focus is just so sharp. She is always bang on. Nothing much gets in her way.”
Catalon on a close game: “Disbelief inside of this Vancouver Olympic Centre.”
Roggin on Canada’s Bernard: “She carries the hopes of a nation against defending gold medalist Anette Norberg and Sweden.”
Roggin on the growing popularity of curling: “For whatever reason, curling has made an impression and no one has made a bigger impression than Cheryl Bernard of Canada.”
Jones on Team Sweden: “Nobody expected much of them because they had a very average season. A lot of people thought they were past their due date and expired, like a carton of milk. But yet, they’ve come here and proved that all wrong.”
Jones on Canada and Sweden: “Here they are today playing with the Canadian Prime Minister and the King of Sweden, but tomorrow they just all go back to being regular people.”
CNBC, Men’s Ice Hockey Semifinal:
Canada 3 vs. Slovakia 2
Bill Patrick (Host), Mike Milbury (Studio Analyst), Jeremy Roenick (Studio Analyst), Kenny Albert (Play-By-Play), Eddie Olczyk (Analyst), Joe Micheletti (Reporter)
Sidney Crosby on the gold medal game: “It’s going to be emotional. It’s going to be intense.”
“We are in the finals now, and we know that our biggest test is yet to come here.”
Milbury on USA and Canada’s physicality: “That’s a real trademark of both of these teams going in to the finals.”
Roenick on the gold medal game: “Everybody at home, watch this game Sunday!”
Albert: “A collective exhale from 34 million residents of Canada.”
“Canada has been waiting for the opportunity to play for the gold on their home soil, and they will have that chance on Sunday against the U.S.”
“Fans continue to chant, we want USA!”
Albert on the final seconds of the game: “Furious pressure by Slovakia.”
Albert: “Slovakia falls just short and Canada will advance to play Team USA for the gold.”
Olczyk on the gold medal: “You just start thinking about a lot of things. You think about where you came from, all the people that helped you along the way, all the coaches, all the hard drives for mom and dad, all the sacrifices.”
Milbury: “I started off this tournament with some doubts about Scott Niedermayer. He hadn’t had a great season at Anaheim, but boy has he come a long way in this tournament.”
###
Recent Comments