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Olympic final thoughts
By BARBARA PINNELLA, MOP Squad WWE Editor
Feb 28, 2006 - 2:19:00 AM

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Well, the Closing Ceremonies have ended and the Winter Olympics are over for another four years. I realize that I have been MIA for a while due to many reasons that are too boring to go into, but I wanted to say a few words about the Olympics. When I spoke about them at the beginning of the Games I mentioned that there had already been some surprises. They did not end there.
 
Bode “Party Boy” Miller did not step on the podium in any of his five attempts. In the beginning the medals were important to him. Funny how his view of that changed when he failed to win any. He had a good time, he told us. He got to party in the Olympic spirit. Boy, I’ll bet his teammates are happy to know that Miller got to experience the hot spots of Torino.
 
Julie Manusco skied a great race to capture the gold in the women’s giant slalom. I was just glad to see that the tiara was no longer on her head. She said that her coach gave it to her as a good luck charm because she is such a little princess. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I’m not sure if that is something to be proud of.
 
I am pro-America to be sure, but I also really appreciate the efforts of athletes from other countries. Russia’s Yevgeny Plushenko absolutely squashed the opposition to capture Men’s gold in figure skating, as he was more than 27 points ahead of his nearest competitor.
 
On to the pairs skating, and Tatyana Totmiyanina and Maxim Marinin added to the Russian domination when they won the competition, finding themselves 14.75 points ahead. But the real winners were Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao. After a particularly bad fall they displayed the strength and courage to continue on, and not only finished their program, but win a silver medal in the process.
 
Ice dancing, and another Russian gold, as Tatyana Navka and Roman Kasomarov danced their way home. Americans Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto gave the United Stated their first medal in 30 years in ice dancing competition when they won the silver medal.
 
I certainly enjoyed the beautiful skating of Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa. Her super performance earned her the gold medal in the ladies figure skating. Frankly though, if one of the Americans could not win I really wanted Irina Slutskaya to capture the gold. That would have made a clean sweep for Russia, and I think that would have been cool. But it was not to be, as Slutskaya fell, literally, to third.
 
Apolo Anton Ohno saved his best for last, as he skated what he considers his weakest distance, the 500 meters, to a gold medal in short track. Ohno led the race from start to finish, and said that for him, “it was the perfect race.”
 
Speed skating gave a bit of drama, as the press really liked to build up the animosity between skaters Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis. It got to be ridiculous really, as more attention was given to how the two were behaving towards each other than what was going on during the races. Well, maybe not, but it did seem like that at times. And through all of that, Joey Cheek just did his thing and skated away with the gold in the men’s 500 meters.
 
Hedrick covered all the bases, as he won gold in the men’s 5000 meters, silver in the men’s 10,000 meters, and bronze in the men’s 1500 meters. Davis became the first African-American in US history to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics after he won the 1000 meters. Torino is a long way from Chicago’s South Side, but Davis was more than comfortable with the change. And just as a personal opinion here, when the dust cleared and the Games were over, Davis came away from all of the dissension looking a lot classier than Hedrick.
 
The most excited speed skater though, had to be Italy’s Enrico Fabris after his victory in the men’s 1500 meters. His home country was understandably thrilled, and Fabris followed right along with his own enthusiasm. It was great to see.
 
I am one of those who enjoy both the Winter and Summer Games. I watched nothing else whenever I was in the motel room - there were always a few athletes that I wanted to see compete. Now that they are over I can go back to watching all my standbys, if I can remember when they are on!
 
Be safe and God Bless,
Barb.


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