Olympics Day 9 Wrapup

Greatness was made today at the Winter Olympics. Simon Ammann and Apolo Anton Ohno both set records for most medals for their country in Winter Olympic history. Ammann recorded his fourth gold medal in ski jumping by winning the long hill event and became the most decorated Swiss ever in the Winter games. Ohno's bronze in the 1000 meters gave him seven total medals passing Bonnie Blair and becoming the most decorated American. The Americans did win three medals, two bronze, one silver, but it was a disappointing three medals with favorites Ohno, Shani Davis, and Lindsey Vonn failing to produce a gold. The USA did extend its lead on Germany in the medal count to nine with only one medal coming from the German camp in silver medalist Tobias Angerer.
In the first event of the day, Simon Ammann continued his complete domination of ski jumping in the long hill competition. As mentioned above, Ammann is now the most decorated ski jumper and Swiss athlete in Winter Olympics history. Behind Ammann were the same two jumpers in the same order from the normal hill event. Adam Malysz of Poland took silver and Austrain Gregor Schlierenzauer won bronze.
The men's cross-country 30 kilometer combined pursuit was full of excitement after the switch over the freestyle. In the changeover from classic to freestyle skis, Johan Olsson sprinted out to a commanding lead and threw the field into panic. Olsson was eventually chased down and his countryman Marcus Hellner ended up with gold, Olsson took the bronze giving the Swedes two more medals. Germany's Tobias Angerer came in second.
The women's Super G was the first of three disappointing medal results for Team USA. Lindsey Vonn took the lead after her run but was bested first by Slovenia' Tina Maze and then by Austria's Andrea Fischbacher of Austria leaving Vonn with the bronze. The other top American, Julia Mancuso was not a factor finishing ninth.
The second disappointment of the night for Team USA came from Shani Davis, who needed to beat Mark Tuitert's time of 1:45:57 in the last heat to win the gold in his best event, the 1500 meters. Davis was not able to beat the Dutchmen's time, finishing .53 seconds behind Tuitert. Davis did get the silver medal but it is not the gold that everyone assumed he would win. Havard Bokko of Norway was the bronze medal winner.
In short track, it was an Asian Domination. The women's 1500 meters was won by World Cup leader Zhou Yang of China. The silver and bronze won by Lee Eun-Byul and Park Seung-Hi of Korea, were the first two of four short track medals won tonight for the Koreans.
In the men's 1000 meters, Korean skaters, Lee Jung-Su and Lee Ho-Suk took advantage of a slip by American Apolo Anton Ohno and steamrolled ahead of the Hamelin brothers, Charles and Francois, of Canada to take the lead. Lee Jung-Su took his second gold of the games adding to his gold in the 1500 meters, Lee Ho-Suk held on for the silver. Ohno's untimely slip while passing Francois Hamelin slowed him down and he had to fight for the bronze but with the medal he did become the most decorated American athelte in Winter Olympics history.
Today's Gold Medalists:
Simon Ammann (Ski Jumping- Switzerland)
Marcus Hellner (Cross-Country- Sweden)
Andrea Fischbacher (Alpine Skiing- Austria)
Mark Tuitert (Speed Skating- Netherlands)
Zhou Yang (Short Track- China)
Lee Jung-Su (Short Track- South Korea)
Medal Count after Saturday:
USA- 23
Germany- 14
Norway- 11
Korea- 9
Canada- 8
Austria, France- 7
Sweden- 6
Switzerland, China, Russia- 5
Netherlands, Poland, Italy- 4
Japan- 3
Australia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Belarus, Slovenia- 2
Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Croatia- 1