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Check out each day's coverage and hot jock in our Olympics
archive
Feb. 20
action
 We're
Here, We're Weir: Hey everybody -- don't miss "Olympic
Ice," which comes on USA every night at 6 p.m. EST.
Olympic skating hosts Mary Carillo, Dick Button and Scott
Hamilton are giving us what USA calls "an all-access pass
inside the world of figure skating with a mix of breaking
news, in-depth analysis and exclusive athlete interviews."
Actually the hour-long show is on the
guerrilla and unscripted side, with off-the-top-of-the-head
red-carpet chatter along with the news. Maybe some smart
network executive realized that an antidote would be needed
for the doom-and-gloom we-must-win-tons-of-medals stuff.
Turns out that Carillo, Button and Hamilton are pretty funny
(at least I thought they were). There are silly skits --
the type of thing that Johnny Carson used to do on his show.
Sunday, the Olympic Ice posse interviewed
Johnny Weir. He had visibly calmed down and lightened
up after his medals debacle. There was no more talk of
missed buses and missing auras. Johnny assured Carillo that
he has learned a lot and is ready to work hard and come back
better next time around. The atmosphere was
positive, light-hearted... and at one point Mary Carillo
declared that there was going to be a new cable show titled
"Weir Eye for the Skate Guy."
USA splashed the title across the screen
in huge letters. Which is the closest that the networks have
come to dealing openly with Weir's sexual orientation.
(Patricia
Nell Warren)
No
need to come out: Reading Patricia's note has convinced
me that Weir is out without ever saying the words and he
knows we know it. Segment titles like "Weir Eye for the
Skate Guy" and "He's Here, He's Weir" don't come about by
accident and it's apparent that Weir is on winking at us
all. I'm all for Johnny to reveal as much as he wishes on
his own terms and am enjoying the show. How soon before he
gets a show on Logo? (Jim
Buzinski)
Weir
and the Media: For a good overview of media coverage of
Weir and the gay issue, check out this article on
After Elton.com
What
sport you calling gay? From a
letter to the editor in today's Washington Pos from
Allison Manley of Chicago:
Only in America is figure skating labeled
a "gay" sport ["Out? In? Or Past All That? Johnny Weir's
Fancy-Free Skate," Style, Feb. 17].
First, a study done a few years ago on how fit one must be
to be an elite figure skater and get through a 4 1/2 -minute
program found that skating requirements beat both basketball
and football. For someone to rotate in the air three or four
times and land on a narrow blade takes more balance,
strength and power than running for a touchdown. Male figure
skaters are some of the strongest and best-conditioned
athletes in the world.
Second, which sport sounds more "gay": A bunch of men in
tights grabbing pigskin from between a man's legs and
slapping each other on the behind after a good play, or a
man in tights working with a flexible, muscular woman and
lifting her above his head?
If the straight boys in this country were smart, they'd sign
up for skating lessons. Not only would they get into
fantastic physical condition, but skating is a surefire way
to meet girls.
What
about Shani?: I have to ask: Is Shani Davis gay? We all
know he is a mama's boy, but I'm serious. How can you be as
much drama as Shani Davis was during that interview
following his gold medal victory, and not be gay? That dude
had drama oozing from from his eyes down through his entire
body. Only we are allowed to do that much drama. If that
dude is not gay, then he must have studied "gay drama
culture" because he was mastering it to a T. LOL (Amazin
12, a veteran Outsports poster).
Rebuttal from Richman, a Dutch poster and speed skating fan:
Actually
Shani has a Canadian girlfriend, also an Olympic skater,
Shannon Rempel. At least he did before Christmas; not sure
what's going on with that now. I do not get a gay vibe off
him at all.
The
Dutch view on Shani: I find it so unfortunate the way
everyone is on Shani Davis' case. I did not see the NBC
interview but I can tell you the interview he granted Dutch
TV was just fine and he was quite happy.
Also, notice the reaction he received from
other international skaters who were truly happy for him.
Shani trains in Calgary with the Canadians and splits his
time between short track and long track. In Holland he is a
household name and he is respected and, more importantly,
accepted. That does not appear to be the case on home soil.
Someone else mentioned the ad-hoc way of
putting together the USA team pursuit team. It needs to be
said that Shani has NEVER skated the event before (and most
likely never been asked prior to the Olympics) and the USA
was going up against Italian, Canadian and Dutch teams that
had practiced for this. The Italians have been focusing on
this team event for two years and it showed. The event
requires a stunning amount of teamwork and strategy and it
would not have been smart to chuck him in in the last
minute.
Someone else also made the point that
EVERY medal is a medal for the USA. All the skaters who
skated in pursuit did not manage to skate to their potential
in the 1,000 -- such is the toll they had to pay. [Chad]
Hedrick is full of shit and a selfish sore loser. Shani is a
champion and I hope he beats Hedrick in their head to head
duel. [Joey] Cheek is the class act of the group, but it
really disappoints me how so much of America is so anti-Shani
without really knowing and understanding his reasonings
which really were sound.
For the record, Eric Heiden is NOT as
negative as many people try to paint him. He said many
positive things about Shani and all people focus on is the
one sound byte where he is not a team player. People, speed
skating is not a team sport. (Richman,
a speed skating fan from the Netherlands, where it's
practically the national sport)
 A
hottie revealed: During the Opening Ceremonies, the
group I was watching with all agreed that this one Slovenian
athlete was super attractive. We posted his pic but had no
idea who he was. In Oklahoma, an Outsports reader named
Michael was also watching, noticed the guy and decided to
track down who he is. Michael wrote three e-mails to the
Slovenian Olympic Committe and finally got his answer on
Monday and called me: The jock is
Andrej Jerman, 27, a 6-1,
194-pound downhill skier. Another great mystery solved. (Jim
Buzinski)
On
the ice: There is a
figure skating rule that says costumes should be designed to
look naturally athletic. I don’t know about athletic, but
most of the costumes unveiled over three nights of ice
dancing were out of control. Elena Grushina, the female
skater in the Ukrainian pair that won bronze, looked dressed
to do a pole dance on the Vegas Strip.
Congratulations to Belbin/Agosto for becoming the first
Americans to win an ice dancing medal in 30 years.
The Russians have now won all three figure skating gold
medals given out so far in Torino and look to make it four
when the ladies take to the ice for their short program
Tuesday. Irina Slutskaya is favored to win that competition.
Once again, though, it was the Italian pair who made the
final night of ice dancing so fun to watch. A day after
slipping and dropping his partner, Maurizio Margaglio still
appeared to be in the doghouse as he arrived alone at the
arena Monday. His partner, Barbara Fusar Poli, had glared at
him after the fall last night but completely ignored him
before tonight’s program. NBC had no lack of footage of the
Italians snubbing each other backstage. Somehow, the two
managed to skate well and her attitude changed drastically.
I don’t understand women, but after seeing her glares on
Sunday, I’m afraid of this one. The roller coaster 24 hours
seemed finally to get to Maurizio and he could be seen
backstage crying afterwards. Ah, the drama of figure skating
never disappoints.
(Ryan
Quinn)
"And
the Grammy goes to . . . " Am I the only one who thinks
these medals with the hole in them are cheesy? A couple
times they've flashed up on the screen and my initial
reaction was, "why is this person holding a CD?" When the
men's 10k cross-country skiing relay teams took the podium
and held up their medals, it really looked like they had
just accepted an award at the Grammies or something. Bad
design. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
 Hot
jock of the day: It's hard not to focus on Benjamin
"Bennie" Raich, the 28-year-old Austrian who won the men's
giant slalom. "I have won many races," said Raich. "But now
I am an Olympic champion. I am very, very happy." NBC did a
long feature early with him during the Games that showed how
his dad cut down a special tree and put a strip of the wood
into his son's skis to make them go faster. Whatever. We
were more interested in all the close-ups of Bennie, called
the "Blitz from Pitz," from the region of Austria where he
lives. Raich has a very extensive
website with tons of pics.
(Jim
Buzinski)
A
bronze works for me. I was talking today with the
girlfriend of one of the women on the U.S. women's hockey
team today. "She got a bronze," I said to her gleefully.
"Yeah, bittersweet," she said. Bittersweet? OK, the U.S.
hadn't missed a gold-medal game since women's hockey was
introduced to the Olympics. But, a bronze medal in the
Olympics? It completes the hat trick for the U.S.: a gold,
silver and bronze in the last three Winter Games. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
"Dad?"
A South Korean man is claiming that Toby Dawson, the bronze
medalist in moguls in Turin, is his son. Dawson has been
searching for his biological father for years; he was
adopted in the 1980s by an American family. Dawson says that
other people have claimed to be his long-lost family; and
that's got to be hard on the kid. I actually feel bad for
him; I hope this guy is his dad, if only so he
doesn't have to go through a big production just to be
disappointed again. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Bode
Speaks. I was one of the 19 people today who actually
got suckered into JoinBode.com, the Web site about the
Olympic skier that Nike has pumped tons of money to promote,
and which I can only imagine has had a sinking readership as
these Olympics have gone on.
On the site you can find a bunch of short video segments of
Miller waxing poetic about some of the issues he faces in
life. Some of my favs:
You almost have to think this was written these past two
weeks: "I go in as a favorite in almost every event. If I
were to go and participate to the top of my ability, really
race in a way that made me proud, you know, I'd put down
performances that would make people inspired, that they
would witness that I was doing everything I could, but
somehow the circumstances allowed me to leave with no
medals. I think that would be something that would make
people address the fact that sometimes the inspiration and
the really powerful performances don't correspond directly
with gold medals or with standing on top of the podium."
Analysis almost as bad as the Three Chuckleheads on ESPN's
Sunday Night Football: "It's a process. Golf is, that's one
of the cool things about golf, is it is a process from start
to finish anyway, um, or, at least, people recognize it as a
process more than some sports and, um, you can take the
shortcuts but I think, if you want to enjoy the process,
shortcuts are just gypping yourself out of more process."
Asked "How do you feel about this idea of being a sex
symbol?": "If it gets me more sex, then great."
At a fake medal ceremony rehearsal (clearly wasted energy):
"I never wear pants in an interview if I have a choice. I
didn't put a shirt on for years and years. After I was born,
I was a straight coat kid. If it was that cold I wore a
coat, if was not I didn't wear anything."
On authority: "A lot of the cops or a lot of the people who
are in positions of authority are there just by default or
by a random sequence of events or for all the wrong reasons,
as opposed to somebody who's got a really great sense of
morals or principles or whatever." (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.) |
Germany 1 pilot Andre Lange, right, and
brakeman Kevin Kuske celebrate after winning the gold
medal in the Two-Man Bobsled
(NBC
Olympics)
More German bobsled celebration
(BSD
portal)
With tongue
(BSD
portal)
A leg up
(BSD
portal)
Grabbing for it
(BSD
portal)
Austria's Benjamin Raich is elated and exhausted after
winning the gold medal in men's giant slalom alpine
skiing
(NBC
Olympics)
Switzerland's Romano Lemm is checked into the glass
during a preliminary round men's ice hockey match
against Germany
(NBC
Olympics)
Thomas Morgenstern, 19, leads Austria to ski jump team
gold
(SI.com)
Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov give Russia ice
dancing gold
(SI.com)
The Canadian women celebrate their ice hockey gold
(SI.com) |
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