The day began up at Whistler with the Norwegian men finally getting a breakthrough in biathlon by winning the team relay gold. After a disappointing first four events, Ole Einar Bjoernadalen was able to win his sixth overall Winter Olympic gold. Along with teammates Tarjei Boe, Halvard Hanevold and Emil Hegle Svendsen, Bjoerndalen and company were able to win easily over the teams from Austria, who took silver, and Russia who took bronze.
The women's parallel giant slalom snowboard event was taken by World Cup leader Nicolien Sauerbreij of the Netherlands. Sauerbreij beat Russia's Ekaterina Ilyukhina by 23 seconds in the second run of the gold medal race to win. Marion Kreiner of Austria won the bronze medal race handily over Germany's Selina Joerg.
Lindsey Vonn was yet again celebrating at the finish line of a women's alpine skiing event but it was not for her personal acheivement. Vonn crashed in the first run of the slalom and was cheering on good friend Maria Riesch of Germany at the finish line. Riesch took the gold medal by 0.43 seconds of Marlies Schild of Austria, who had the best second run, and Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic by 1.01 seconds. Riesch was hoping to step on the podium with sister Susanne, who was fourth after the first run, but she crashed in the second run.
The crazy night for the Canadians was supposed to begin with a win in the women's curling gold medal match. But that was not to happen thanks to Sweden. Up 6-4 going into the the tenth and final end, Canada had all but locked up the gold but it was not to happen. With two points in the tenth end and then a dramatic one point in the extra eleventh end, the Swedish women pulled out an upset, winning 7-6. In the bronze medal match, China scored twelve points beating the Swiss women 12-6.
After the disappointing curling result, the Canadian fans rallied around the men's short track night in a typical, dramatic night at Pacific Coliseum. The 500m race was the first to give away medals and saw a controversial ending with Apolo Anton Ohno being disqualified for an illegal pass that cause Francois-Louis Tremblay of Canada to fall. Not disqualified was gold medalist Charles Hamelin of Canada, who on replay appeared to push Sung Si-Bak of Korea causing Sung to fall. With Ohno the only one disqualified, Hamelin won Canada's ninth overall gold in Vancouver with Tremblay getting the bronze by default for the host nation as well. Sung took the silver after the controversy calmed down.
The women's 1000m race saw another dominant race by the Chinese team. Wang Meng won her third gold in Vancouver and fourth gold in four women's short track events for China, the other gold went to Yang Zhou in the 1500m. Overshadowed by the Chinese gold was American Katherine Reutter who won America's first female short track medal since Lillehammer in 1994. Park Seung-Hi of Korea took bronze.
The marquee event of tonight in short track was also full of excitement for the host nation. About halfway through the 5000m men's relay, Hamelin broke out in front to set the pace and his team did not turn back. Along with his brother Francois, Olivier Jean and Tremblay, Charles Hamelin gave Canada its tenth gold in Vancouver. Korea's experienced team took silver and the young squad of Americans anchored by Ohno won the bronze.
In other non-medal events, Team USA and Team Canada did their part in setting up a rematch in the gold medal game in men's hockey. Team USA enjoyed a six goal first period against Finland to win 6-1. Team Canada survived a third period surge from Slovakia and won 3-2.
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