2006 Turin Winter Olympics Blog

The official Olympic site has put up a video of Shaun White’s Turin snowboarding with sound and slow motion effects. It’s pretty interesting, so if you’re a fan, you might want to head over there and take a look.

Shaun White was named winner of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association (NASJA) annual Outstanding Competitor Award. While his Olympic medal figured into the award, the journalists also considered his performances in the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix before the Olympics and the U.S. Open after the Olympics.

I just posted a new article about Hannah Teter over on Positive Sports News. Head over there to check out how Hannah is giving back to the community.

Shaun White and Hannah Teter are two of the Olympians competing at this weekend’s 24th U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships in Vermont. It is the longest running snowboarding championship. Shaun White may have Olympic gold, but he’s never won at this competition, so he’s really talked this up.

An Olympic snowboarder from Sweden was killed in a freak snowboarding accident today in the Adirondacks. Jonatan Johansson advanced to the quarterfinals in the snowboard cross in Turin and finished 12th, overall, at the Olympics.

Shaun White met the Olympian he most wanted to meet— Sasha Cohen— at a victory party for him last week. They hung out again at a post-Oscar party. But they’re just friends, so no one get any funny ideas.

Because, let’s face it, yesterday was not a good day for American competitors and, as much as I like Canada and Italy and Germany, in particular— I really wanted to see the little Stars and Stripes flag next to some results. This morning, my wish was granted. Thank goodness for American snowboarders!

Snowboarding, Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom

Gold Daniela Meuli Switzerland
Silver Amelie Kober Germany
Bronze Rosey Fletcher United States

The United States could only send one giant slalom snowboarder to this year’s Olympics, and Tyler Jewell won the contested spot. At times, Tyler Jewell has lived in a tent, showered at the YMCA and eaten his meals at a hospital to be able to afford following his snowboard dreams. But Tyler finished 9th in the Olympics, so you probably won’t hear anything about him.

This is the side of the Olympics that many of us forget about— the many athletes who have put their lives on hold, just to compete in the Olympics, even when they know they have very little chance of winning. Why do they do it? Is it just for personal glory? Do they do it for love of country? I don’t know, but I’d rather see a profile on Tyler Jewell than a lot of the nonsense that gets media airtime.

Okay, so americans and snowboard giant slalom apparently don’t mix— at least not well enough to bring home a medal. But there’s a neat story here, anyway. The winners of gold and silver are Swiss brothers Philipp (gold) and Simon (silver) Schoch.

Siegfried Grabner, of Austria, won the bronze.

WHY? Why would Lindsey Jacobellis pull a hotdog move seconds from winning the gold? Did she learn nothing from Apolo Ohno? On one of the last jumps, she grabbed her snowboard, caught an edge and fell, leaving the door open for Switzerland’s Tanja Frieden to take the gold. I know snowboarding is about style, and all, but couldn’t she be stylish after winning the gold? I do feel sorry for her, though. I imagine this is something she’ll replay in her mind for a long time. Dominique Maltais, of Canada, took the bronze.

I finally got to watch snowboard cross tonight. Very interesting. A short, to the point sport. I also watched the profile on Seth Westcott. No wonder he’s so fearless. I’d be fearless, too, if I had survived skiing an avelanche. Yikes! Funny, when you look at him, he doesn’t look insane.

Men’s Snowboard Cross

Gold Seth Wescott United States
Silver Radoslav Zidek Slovakia
Bronze Paul-Henri Delerue France

Did the U.S. push for snowboard to be an Olympic sport? Because it is a sport where the U.S. seems to excel.

I missed snowboard cross live, but it will be on tonight, so I can catch it then.

American snowboarder Jayson Hale suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and bone bruising around the during Olympic training Tuesday and will likely be replaced by Graham Watanabe in the snowboard cross race later in the week. The U.S. Olympic Committee is waiting for confirmation that Watanabe has been accepted.

Watanabe didn’t qualify for World Cup events until winning the U.S. Snowboard cross Championships in December. In three races since then, his best finish is 11th. As an alternate, he still wanted to make the trip to Italy, however, to be with his friends and help them set up their boards for the racing Thursday. In a nice turn of events (for him— not for Jayson Hale), Graham will now have to set up his own.

Austria also lost a snowboarder when women’s SBX medal contender Manuela Riegler fractured her ankle.

Now I know how people from Finland feel about ski jumping and the Russians feel about ice skating. It’s nice to have a sport where you can feel pretty confident that your team is going to medal.

Gold Hannah Teter United States
Silver Gretchen Bleiler United States
Bronze Kjersti Buaas Norway