Figure Skating Begins; Canada Wins First-Ever Gold on Home Soil; Team USA Moguls Skier Bryon Wilson Earns Bronze
“Oh, Canada. The drought is over. Alexandre Bilodeau has won gold.” – NBC’s Todd Harris
“To skate like that is a miracle.” – NBC’s Scott Hamilton on Shen & Zhao
VANCOUVER – Feb. 14, 2010 – Figure skating debuted at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games with the pairs short program. Gold medal favorites, China’s Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo – who have won two Olympic bronze medals and three world titles but never an Olympic gold – lead after the short program. The pairs gold medal final takes place tomorrow night live in primetime.
Alexandre Bilodeau made history at Cypress Mountain becoming the first Canadian to earn Olympic gold on home soil when he won the men’s moguls competition. Team USA’s Bryon Wilson took bronze. At the end of two days of competition, the United States leads the medal count with six (one gold, two silver, three bronze).
Bob Costas interviewed women’s freestyle moguls gold medal winner Hannah Kearney in studio and Cris Collinsworth reported from BC Place, site of Kearney’s medal ceremony.
Gold medal finals in men’s luge and women’s 3000 meters speed skating were also televised. CNBC’s coverage featured the women’s ice hockey game, Finland vs. Russia, which was won by Finland, 5-1.
Below are highlights from NBC’s Primetime coverage:
Kearney on defeating gold medal favorite and Canadian Jenn Heil: “I came here to win the gold medal. I had consciously thought about how your skiing would change if you were skiing for the silver medal. It would’ve been easy to give it to Jenn. She’s on her home turf. She’s an unbelievable competitor. But I had made up my mind days before that that was not going to happen.”
Kearney on redemption: “It really did truly feel like redemption. – And there’s no way to describe the extreme disappointment I felt after Torino. I was absolutely devastated. I felt like my life was over. – I just felt like I let my friends, my country, myself down. And that’s a pretty big burden to shoulder. So coming back and winning here in 2010 in front of all my family, and the closest I’m going to get to a home Olympics, was so satisfying.”
Collinsworth on the medal ceremony: “You can only imagine for these athletes. They work an entire lifetime for this one moment and they’re about to hear their national anthem. You can’t get more special than that.”
Costas: “The Indianapolis Colts only have to wait a couple months before training camp starts again. Hannah Kearney, standing atop the medal podium, had to wait four years after a disappointing performance in Torino; had to wait four years for a run that is only a matter of moments. Everything is compressed into that one final burst of competition that took her past Jenn Heil, past Shannon Bahrke and to the gold medal.”
FIGURE SKATING:
Play-by-Play: Tom Hammond
Analysts: Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic and Tracy Wilson
Reporter: Andrea Joyce
Hammond on Shen-Zhao: “On this Valentine’s Day, their story is essentially a love story but also a story of courage and of dedication and of determination.”
Hamilton: “To have an Olympic dream like this and to have it mean so much, so late in their career, and to skate like that is a miracle.”
Hammond on Mark Ladwig’s and Amanda Evora’s performance after explaining their financial difficulties: “The credit cards are maxed out, the bills just keep coming, but how do you put a price on that?”
Evora on her performance: “I felt every moment that I was supposed to be there. It was meant to be and I was meant to live that moment.”
Hamilton on Canada’s Annabelle Langlois and Cody Hay: “Well the one thing about skating on home ice at an Olympic Games is that you’ll never hear anything like this. What a thrill for this couple.”
FREESTYLE SKIING:
Play-by-Play: Todd Harris
Analyst: Jonny Moseley
Reporter: Tina Dixon
Harris before Alexandre Bilodeau’s run: “All of Canada holds their collective breath. From Cape Spear, Newfoundland to White Horse, Yukon. Will tonight be the night the home soil gold medal drought ends?”
Harris: “Oh, Canada. The drought is over. Alexandre Bilodeau has won gold.”
Bilodeau: “I love to compete at home. And it’s a great place. Canada is the best. It brings the best out of me. It’s amazing, an amazing feeling. You can’t have a better feeling than that.”
Bilodeau on his older brother who has cerebral palsy and inspires him: “Growing up with a handicapped person puts everything back into perspective. You learn from people like that. He doesn’t complain when he has every right to. It’s very inspiring.”
Costas on Bilodeau’s on-air kiss from his girlfriend: “Judging by the scene with Bilodeau immediately after Tina [Dixon]’s interview, this is going to be a very good Valentine’s Day for him all the way around.”
SPEED SKATING:
Play-by-Play: Dan Hicks
Analyst: Dan Jansen
Reporter: Andrea Kremer
Hicks: “[Martina] Sablikova wins gold for the Czech Republic for the first time in this sport — She could be the distance queen here in Vancouver.”
LUGE:
Play-by-play: Bob Papa
Analyst: Duncan Kennedy
Reporter: Lewis Johnson
Papa on Germany’s Felix Loch winning gold: “And Felix Loch has locked up gold.”
Kennedy: “Absolutely a top-to-bottom dominating performance. No arguing this guy’s championship.”
Below are highlights from CNBC’s Primetime coverage:
CNBC, Women’s Ice Hockey:
Finland 5 vs. Russia 1
Bill Patrick (Host), Cammi Granato (Studio Analyst), Kenny Albert (Play-by-Play), AJ Mleczko (Analyst)
Mleczko: “In this first round when Team Canada and Team USA are such favorites, trying to figure out who is going to make that cut at second is going to be a big factor.”
Granato: “Finland is quietly one of the powerhouses in this tournament.”
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