Olympics Day 11 Wrapup

The is no I in team and that was what today's medal events were all about. All four events, ski jumping, men's and women's sprint relays in cross country and ice dance required more than one person to win the medal.
As expected on the ski jumping long hill up at Whistler, the Austrian team dominated and the gold medal they needed to come home with. Back home in Austria, ski jumping means to them what hockey does to Canada and coming home without a gold would have been a major disappointment for Andreas Kofler, Wolfgang Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern and Gregor Schlierenzauer. Finishing second was Germany and Norway took the bronze.
The women's sprint relay had some of its luster taken away when the Norwegian decided not to have three-time Vancouver medalist Marit Bjoergen race. This ended up being a crucial mistake as the Norwegian duo in the race finished fifth. Taking gold and adding to a very successful day for Germany were Claudia Nystad and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle. The Swedes, who have medaled in two of the three events, took silver adding to the medal count for both Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag, who now both have two medals. The Russian team of Irina Khazova and Natalia Korosteleva took the bronze.
The men's cross country team sprint ended with Norway winning their first gold medal in four events. Led by World Cup leader Petter Northug along with countryman, Oeystein Pettersen beat the Germans and Russians in a sprint that seperated the three teams by 1.5 seconds. Axel Teichmann and Tim Tscharnke took the silver for Germany while the Russian duo of Nikolay Morilov and Alexey Petukhov won bronze.
The marquee event of team day in Vancouver was the final part of the ice dancing competition: the free dance. The home crowd had alot to cheer for tonight with Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue taking first place with two pairs to go with a score of 111.15 in the free dance. No other pair came close to that score and the Canadians took the gold becoming the first North American pair to medal in ice dancing. Doubling that feat was Charlie White and Meryl Davis of the USA, who gave the Americans a medal on a day of sports dominanted by European countries. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin won bronze for Russia.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Team Austria(Gregor Schlierenzauer, Wolfgang Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern, Andreas Kofler) (Ski Jumping)
Team Germany (Claudia Nystad and Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle) (Cross-Country)
Team Norway (Petter Northug and Oeystein Pettersen) (Cross-Country)
Scott Moir/Tessa Virtue (Ice Dance- Canada)
Medal Count after Monday:
USA- 25
Germany- 21
Norway- 14
Russia- 11
Canada- 10
Korea, Austria- 9
France- 8
Switzerland, Sweden- 7
China, Netherlands- 5
Poland, Italy- 4
Slovakia, Czech Republic, Japan- 3
Australia, Latvia, Belarus, Croatia, Slovenia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan- 1