LYSACEK OUTDUELS PLUSHENKO FOR GOLD
“The best trained athlete in the competition won the Olympic gold medal.” – NBC’s Scott Hamilton
“She’s just skiing like a possessed person.” – NBC’s Christin Cooper on Julia Mancuso
VANCOUVER – Feb. 18, 2010 –Evan Lysacek of the US won the gold medal in men’s figure skating by outdueling defending Olympic champion Yevgeny Plushenko of Russia on the seventh night of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Lysacek, who began the night in second place behind Plushenko, is the first member of Team USA to win gold in the event since Brian Boitano in 1988.
In women’s snowboard halfpipe, Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark of Team USA took silver and bronze, respectively. Also medaling for the US was alpine skier Julia Mancuso, who earned silver in the women’s super combined. It was her second medal in consecutive days after earning silver in the women’s downhill on Wednesday.
The US leads the medal count with 18 (six gold, five silver and seven bronze). Germany is second with 11.
On cable, Team Canada needed a shootout, including a goal by Sidney Crosby and a save by Martin Brodeur, to defeat Switzerland, 3-2, on CNBC. The network also hosted women’s curling with Denmark defeating the US, 7-6. On MSNBC, Team USA defeated Finland, 6-0, in women’s hockey.
Primetime host Bob Costas interviewed men’s snowboard halfpipe gold medalist Shaun White in studio.
Costas: “There’s a school of thought that says one of the hardest things to do in sports is to win when you’re supposed to.”
White: “You hit it on the head there. It’s definitely hard to rise and deliver what’s expected and that’s been my greatest accomplishment.”
White on his strategy: “I was definitely sitting there looking at the rest of the competition and I was deciding what I wanted to do because, looking around, there’s maybe five guys in the whole world who can do the back-to-back double cork trick there, and I’m obviously one of them. So there were four other guys that I had to worry about and they weren’t really delivering what I was doing. So I just found that why not get this good run in, post a big score and put the pressure on everybody else.”
White on winning: “It’s like everything you’ve been holding inside from the top and everything that’s going on and it finally just bursts out.”
Costas on White’s final trick: “You were quoted as saying it was both the ‘savvy and the saucy’ thing to do.”
White: “You always get my good quotes.”
FIGURE SKATING:
Play-by-Play: Tom Hammond
Analysts: Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic
Reporter: Andrea Joyce
Evan Lysacek before the free skate: “Olympic gold is only awarded to one athlete every four years. I’m going to be on that podium and I’m going to do whatever it takes.”
Hamilton on Plushenko: “He’s afraid of nothing.”
Hamilton on Lysacek: “Technically he did everything he came to do.”
Hammond on Lysacek: “Lysacek with the skate of his life.”
Hammond on Japan’s Oda Nobunari after he had to stop mid-skate to fix his skate: “Well, at the Olympics you have to be ready for anything.”
Hamilton on Jonny Weir: “And that is the best he’s ever been.”
Hammond on Weir: “He skated his life out here in Vancouver.”
Hamilton on Plushenko: “This guy’s a cat – I don’t know how he landed that one.”
Bezic on Plushenko: “The program was nowhere near the level of Evan’s.”
Hamilton on Plushenko: “Whatever the result, this guy is special.”
Hammond: “Lysacek wins gold.”
Hamilton: “The best trained athlete in the competition won the Olympic gold medal. – He deserved it. He earned it.”
Hammond: “When you can perform like that in the Olympic moment, that says something.”
Hamilton: “To win an Olympic gold medal, that’s extraordinary. To win an Olympic gold medal against someone like Yevgeny Plushenko, who is awesome, that’s like another gold medal.”
SNOWBOARDING:
Play-by-Play: Pat Parnell
Analyst: Todd Richards
Richards: “If you don’t go big tonight, you are going to go home, it’s as simple as that.”
Parnell on Clark: “Here’s a rider that never plays it safe. Always puts everything out there.”
Parnell on Australia’s Torah Bright: “Revered as the most progressive female snowboarder in the business.”
Richards on Bright: “She knows she has to throw down the best run of her life right now.”
Parnell on Bleiler falling: “And with that, any hopes for a medal are dashed.”
Richards on if Bright should play it safe on her second run: “This is the Olympics, you’re not shootin’ for silver. You’re shootin’ for gold here.”
Costas on Bright: “The woman from down under goes up and over the competition.”
ALPINE SKIING:
Play-by-Play: Tim Ryan
Analysts: Christin Cooper
Cooper on Mancuso: “She’s just skiing like a possessed person now.”
Ryan on Vonn: “She dotted the ‘I’ in alpine with a gold medal performance yesterday.”
Cooper on Vonn: “Lindsey Vonn’s strength and power and ability to overcome her pain is just exemplary.”
Cooper on Riesch during her downhill portion: “She just really wants to show the world that she’s one of the best here and that Lindsey Vonn isn’t unbeatable.”
Ryan on Sweden’s Anja Paerson, who crashed in the downhill yesterday: “Is she going to take the day off today? No. She’s back. What a champion.”
Ryan: “Julia Mancuso, the surprise of the skiing events here so far.”
Cooper on Riesch: “She’s just snaky and smooth with her lower body.”
Ryan on Vonn falling: “She hooked the tip and she is out of the race, sliding down the hill on one ski.”
Mancuso on her silver medal: “It’s so far so good. It’s awesome. Just crossing the finish line, especially after that mistake, I looked up and saw that I was in first, I couldn’t believe it. It was just amazing.”
Vonn: “I’m disappointed, but I went down fighting. I knew that Maria and Julia had good runs so I had to give it everything I had. In slalom, anything goes and I just hooked the tip. – I would’ve liked to be standing on the podium today but there’s still a Super G left so I’ll rest up and be ready for that.”
CNBC, Men’s Hockey:
Canada 3 vs. Switzerland 2, OT
Bill Patrick (Host), Jeremy Roenick and Mike Milbury (Studio Analysts), Mike Emrick (Play-By-Play), Ed Olczyk (Analyst), Joe Micheletti (Reporter)
Milbury on the game: “This was a classic game. You’ve been there, I’ve been there when you are trying to slay the dragon. Everything has to go just right. In the end, reality showed up in the form of Sidney Crosby.”
Roenick on Switzerland: “You cannot underestimate Switzerland. They are going to keep coming at you and coming at you. They are relentless, and they showed that tonight.”
Emrick: “Haven’t seen many like this. Sidney Crosby wins it in a shoot out.”
Patrick on Canada’s goaltending: “There is no doubt that Team Canada has a good goaltending situation.”
CNBC, Women’s Curling:
Denmark 7 vs. USA 6
Fred Roggin (Host), Andrew Catalon (Play-by-Play), Don Duguid (Analyst), Elfi Schlegel (Reporter)
Duguid on Team USA’s competition: “No victories are coming easy, I’ll tell you that. They are having to scratch and claw to just win a game. It is very difficult for them and it is credited to the quality of this field. Great shot makers here.”
Duguid on curling: “Mechanics are such an important part of making curling shots. If you have good mechanics it’s just a question of getting a feel for the ice, how much the ice curls and then just trust your mechanics.
Catalon on popularity of curling growing in the U.S.: “The amount of curlers in the U.S. has increased by 27 percent since the 2002 Olympics.”
MSNBC, Women’s Ice Hockey:
USA 6 vs. Finland 0
Bill Patrick (Host), Cammi Granato (Studio Analyst), Kenny Albert (Play-By-Play), AJ Mleczko (Analyst)
Mleczko on women’s hockey: “Over the years, women’s hockey has grown. The players have gotten stronger and they’ve gotten faster. Here you see how much more skilled they are.”
Mleczko on USA’s Jessie Vetter: “She is one of those goaltenders that her teammates love to play in front of and part of it is because of how she stops the puck. A lot of it is how her demeanor is; she’s very calm and very relaxed, she smiles.”
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