2006 Turin Winter Olympics Blog

Men’s moguls

Gold Dale Begg-Smith Australia
Silver Mikko Ronkainen Finland
Bronze Toby Dawson United States

When I read this, my first thought was “good for Toby Dawson.” My second thought was “what happened to Jeremy Bloom?” My third thought was “how does someone from Australia win the moguls?”

Well, Dale Begg-Smith holds dual citizenship in Australia and CANADA, which is where he actually lives. So, that makes a lot more sense. He’s a pretty interesting guy, who splits his time between skiing and his multi-million dollar company that hi started when he was 13.

Men’s luge doubles

Gold Andreas Linger, Wolfgang Linger Austria
Silver Andre Florschuetz, Torsten Wustlich Germany
Bronze Oswald Haselrieder, Gerhard Plankensteiner Italy

Yes, the Lingers are brothers.

Is it just me, or do the Italians’ names not look Italian? I can’t find biographical information on them, but those names sound more German than Italian. Another case of dual citizenship?

By the way, the Ukranian, Roman Yazvinskyy, who was injured earlier today has a head injury but was conscious. He was taken by a helicopter to a hospital in Pinerolo.

This time it’s the men. I know this track is particularly tricky, even after it was reconfigured when the luge association said it was just plain dangerous, but doesn’t it seem like there have been a particularly high number of crashes that involve injuries? Or is it just me?

There were two crashes today. The first one disqualified American hopefuls Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, who won the bronze in Nagano and the silver in Salt Lake City. This is most likely their last Olympic bid. Both walked away from the accident and appeared unhurt.

The second one was another of those really scary crashes and involved the Ukranian team of Oleg Zherebetskyy and Roman Yazvinskyy. A drape was pulled over the ice as medical personnel tended to Yazvinskyy, who was loaded into an ambulance. Generally, the drape means the sledder is unconscious. Zherebetskyy appeared unhurt. There was no immediate word on Yazvinskyy’s condition.

The race has been run. The medals have been awarded. But Anne Abernathy wants back into the start list. Apparently, after Grandma Luge broke her wrist, the race director had her pulled from the list of starters, citing medical concerns. Grandman Luge, that tough old bird, had already had a special splint made and was planning to make the run. Now she’s seeking to at least be listed as “did not start”, rather than not being listed at all. This is the last Olympics for Grandma Luge, and I think she deserves to be able to say she competed in this, her 6th Olympics.

Canada’s Meaghan Simister became the latest victim of the luge track. She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance but appeared alert.

Biathlon Men’s 10 km sprint

Gold Sven Fischer Germany
Silver Halvard Hanevold Norway
Bronze Frode Andresen Norway

Women’s 500m speedskating

Gold Svetlana Zhurova Russia
Silver Manli Wang China
Bronze Ren Hui China

Women’s single luge

Gold Sylke Otto Germany
Silver Silke Kraushaar Germany
Bronze Tatjana Huefner Germany

Wow! It’s been a rough day for the women competing in the Olympics. This morning four downhill skiers were injured, three of them somewhat seriously. Now, American luge slider Samantha Retrosi has been taken to the hospital. It looks like it is “just” a concussion and a laceration (apparently, it was a pretty terrible looking crash and could have been much worse). Hey, ladies, be careful out there!

Because of her broken wrist, Anne Abernathy (Grandma Luge) has pulled out of what would have been her 6th Olympic competition. Perhaps she’ll be back in 2010.

Gold Armin Zoeggeler Italy
Silver Albert Demtschenko Russia
Bronze Martins Rubenis Latvia

There must be partying in Italy tonight. How thrilling for them to win in luge. It looked for a while like one of the Americans might possibly have a shot at bronze, but it was not to be.

Grandma Luge (Anne Abernathy) has broken her right wrist. The article that printed this said, and I quote, “she may not compete on Monday.” May not? If I break my wrist, I can pretty much guarantee you I’m not going to get on a sled and go down a mountain at 90 mph. They’re going to evaluate her tomorrow morning. It is very unlikely that Grandma Luge will win. Okay, it’s pretty much impossible (even before she broke her wrist), but I’d sure like to see her make the run.

Oh, no! Anne Abernathy, the 52-year-old slider known as “Grandma Luge,” was injured during a crash in practice Sunday. She was taken to a hospital with an unspecified arm injury. It is unknown at this time whether she will be able to compete in Monday’s Olympic luge runs. We’ll keep you updated, and we send her our warmest thoughts and prayers for a quick recovery.

Some of you may recall my previous post on Grandma Luge, luger Anne Abernathy, who will compete in her 6th Olympics in Turin. When I last posted, I was unsure whether she would qualify and be able to compete in next week’s Olympics. I am happy to report that Grandma Luge will be sliding for six in Turin. You can send her note of good luck on her web site.

Current Olympic champion Sylke Otto beat 1998 Olympic champion Silke Kraushaar on Saturday in the final World Cup luge race leading up to the Turin Olympics. Kraushaar is the Olympic favorite going into Turin. A German woman is expected to win gold at the 2006 Olympics. That’s not surprising since they haven’t lost any kind of race since 1997.

German men are also favorites to medal in Turin.

I was tempted to say read my entry on skeleton and then imagine feet first on your back, instead of headfirst on your stomach, but I decided that might be a bit simplistic. Luge is considered by many the most dangerous Olympic sport. You would think that title would go to headfirst skeleton, but, no— that way you can at least see where you are going. Though, without brakes, I’m not sure how that helps.

Luge is the French word for sled. In the luge, there are no brakes, just like in skeleton. One or two lugers ride a sled, lying on their backs, down a mountain at speeds up to 80 mph. They steer by exerting pressure on the sled with their bodies.

The singles format for Olympic luge is different than other sledding sports, which usually consist of two timed runs in one day. In the luge singles format, athletes make four runs down the course over two days of competition. Men and women compete on the same track, but the women start the race at a point farther down the track.

The Turin luge track was supposed to be changed in 2005 after a series of accidents injured several competitors. Luge officials urged track officials to simplify the track.

I could not believe this story when I saw it. Now, I think anyone who competes in luge is really brave, or a bit crazy. But a woman in her 50s will be competing in her 6th Olympics if she raises the funding to make it the Turin Olympics next month. Anne Abernathy, or Grandma Luge, as she’s known to fellow competitors has qualified for her 6th consecutive Olympics berth in the sport of luge.

If that isn’t remarkable enough, before the Salt Lake City Olympics, she suffered what could have been a career-ending accident. Suffering severe head trauma, Abernathy underwent a new treatment that involved using video games to retrain the brain.

Look for Grandma Luge at the upcoming Olympics in Turin.

In 2002 Werner Hoeger made news at the Salt Lake City Olympics as the oldest athlete competing, at the age of 48. At this year’s Turin Olympics, he will compete again for his native Venezuela, at the age of 52, in the luge.

In the Salt Lake City Olympics, Hoeger competed with his son. In this Olympics, his son will be staying home because of commitments to the Mormon church.

Hoeger’s goal is to have four clean runs in the competition, but he has few hopes of actually winning.

“We have to be realistic — in the sport of luging, we don’t have a chance of medaling.”