Olympics Day 16 Wrapup

The final Saturday of the Winter Olympics was a celebration of Canadian gold. Not one, not two, but three gold medals were won by the Canadians tying the all-time Olympic best with 13. Outside of the Canadian winners, other winners included a sprint finish won by Justyna Kowalcyzk in the cross-country 30k race, a surprise win by Guiliano Razzoli of Italy in the slalom and Steve Holcomb driving USA I to the four-man bobsled gold.
The women's cross-country sprint started the excitement of the day with a 30k classic race coming down to a sprint finish between Justyna Kowalcyzk and Marit Bjoergen. Kowalcyzk barely beat Bjoergen and by doing so gave Poland its first ever cross-country gold medal. For Bjoergen, she earned her fifth medal in five events becoming the most decorated Olympian in Vancouver. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen of Finland won the bronze medal.
The men's parallel giant slalom in snowboarding started the winning spree for Canada. Jasey Jay Anderson overcame a seven tenth deficit in the second run by a whole second to win the gold medal from Benjamin Karl of Austria, who unwilling took the silver. In the bronze medal race, Mathieu Bozzetto of France beat Russia's Stanislav Detkov.
At the Richmond Olympic Oval, two dramatic finishes were needed for the German women to take gold. In the semifinal race against Team USA, Anni Freisinger hit the wall and slid across the line right before the third American to send the Germans to the final, where they defeated Japan by two hundreths of a second. In the bronze medal race, the Americans ran out of gas and lost to Poland.
The men's team pursuit had the same fate for the American team like the women's bronze medal race, they just ran out of gas in the gold medal race. After a monumental upset of the favored Dutch team, Chad Hedrick and Team USA could not keep up with Team Canada. The Dutch did redeem themselves slightly by winning the bronze medal race.
The Italian ski team pulled a shock win at the men's slalom event when Giuliano Razzoli took the gold medal. Razzoli held off challenges from Croatia's Ivica Kostelic and second run best Andre Myhrer of Sweden.
Andre Lange had never lost an Olympic bobsled race until Saturday night when Steve Holcomb and USA I's sled named The Night Train beat Lange's Germany I. Holcomb's sled set two track records in four heats and gave the Americans their first bobsled gold since St. Moritz in 1948. Lange's sled did take the silver by beating Lyndon Rush's Canada I in the fourth and final heat. Rush was able to claim bronze for the host nation.
Canada's national sport had the most attention from the home fans Saturday night and for good reason, the men's curling team was fighting for a gold medal with Norway. With two points in the seventh end, going ahead 5-2, the medal was all but theirs and unlike the women's team, the men's team held on to win gold by a score of 6-3. Switzerland beat Sweden with two points in the tenth end to win 5-4.
In the bronze medal men's hockey game, Finland came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Slovakia. Sami Salo opened the scoring for the Finns in the first period. Then, in the second period Slovakia found the net three times thanks to Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa and Pavol Demitra. The third period was all Finland, starting with a power play goal from Niklas Hagman then the equalizer from Olli Jokinen making it 3-3. Jokinen scored the go ahead and game-winning goal on the power play with eight minutes left. Valtteri Filppula added an empty-net goal to make the final 5-3.
Today Gold Medalists:
Justyna Kowalcyzk (Cross-Country- Poland)
Jasey Jay Anderson (Snowboarding- Canada)
Giuliano Razzoli (Alpine Skiing- Italy)
Canada (Speed Skating)
Germany (Speed Skating)
USA I (Bobsled)
Canada (Curling)
Medal Count after Saturday:
USA- 36
Germany- 29
Canada- 25
Norway- 22
Austria- 16
Russia- 15
Korea- 14
China, France- 11
Sweden- 10
Switzerland- 9
Netherlands- 8
Czech Republic, Poland- 6
Italy, Japan, Finland- 5
Australia, Belarus, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia- 3
Latvia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Kazakhstan- 1