Disappointment is the only way to describe the feeling of the Canadian fans after two of their best gold medal hopefuls failed to pull through and kept the drought of no gold being won on home soil going.
The first day of medal events went on without a hitch, unlike the opening ceremonies, Simon Ammann of Switzerland dominated the Ski Jumping Normal Hill and won his third Olympic gold, the previous two were won in Salt Lake, the most individual golds by a ski jumper ever. The stacked Austrain team failed to deliver the performance that was expected of them with Gregor Schlierenzauer winning the bronze and the other three jumpers in the middle of the pack. For the ski jumpers, the long hill and team competitons take place next week.
In speed skating, Sven Kramer did not disappoint the strong contingent of Dutch fans cheering him on at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Kramer won the gold in the 5000 meters in dominant fashion by setting an Olympic Record and beating silver medalist Seung-Hoon Lee of Korea by a whole minute and a half. The best moment occured when Kramer realized he won gold and ran up into the stands to celebrate with his family. Kramer has a chance to win another gold in the 10,000 meter race on the 23rd.
A surprise winner in Slovakia's Anastazia Kuzmina took the Women's 7.5 km sprint in biathlon. Not traditionally a power in the sport, the Slovaks got a huge boost from the unexpected winner Kuzmina. With many events left in biathlon, the powerhouses of the sport, Norway and Germany, will look to win a large amount of medals.
At night, short track speed skating was the main draw and the opening event, the men's 1500 meters, reminded fans of why short track is one of the most thrilling sports in the winter games. Canadian fans were shocked when favorite Charles Hamelin failed to make the final race and Olivier Jean, who finished fourth,only got in the final race due to a disqualification in the semifinals.
As usual, the Koreans made up half of the field and had the medals swept coming around the last turn. But, Ho-Suk Lee and Si-Bak Sung got together and crashed around the last turn giving Americans Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski the silver and bronze. With the silver, Ohno tied Bonnie Blair for the most medals won by an American overall at the Winter Olympics with six and could easily go into first before the end of the competition.
Canada's night was supposed to filled with joy and medals, instead defending gold medalist Jennifer Heil finished second in women's moguls in front of an energized crowd on Cypress Mountain. American Hannah Kearney stole the show. Flying down the 827 foot mogul course, Kearney achieved a 26.63 score thanks to her big air off the jumps. Joining Kearney and Heil on the podium was energetic American Shannon Bahrke.
Other highlights from today's non-medal events included the return of male lugers to the track after the tragedy of the day before and with the adjustments made to the track, there could be some shock medalists tommorrow night after the final two runs. The Canadians did have something to cheer about thanks to their women's hockey team who beat Slovakia by a record 18-0.
Gold Medal Winners:
Simon Ammann (Switzerland-Ski Jumping)
Sven Kramer (Netherlands- Speed Skating)
Anastazia Kuzmina (Slovakia-Biathlon)
Jung-Su Lee (South Korea- Short Track)
Hannah Kearney (USA- Freestyle Moguls)
Medal Count:
USA- 4
Korea- 2
Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Poland, Austria, France, Russia- 1
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