STORM2K

Is anyone besides me watching???

What did y'all think of the opening ceremonies?

What sport(s) are your favorite to watch?

I've been a little under the weather since Saturday and have stayed inside, so I've had them on during the main air-times. (Men's downhill is on right now!)

We are watching. My kids really enjoy it. My daughter always looks foreward to the curling!

Tough luck for Michelle Kwan, but she handled herself well in interviews after pulling out.

I didn't see the opening ceremonies.

I like to watch the figure skating, skiing and speed skating.

I am watching on and off. I thought the opening ceremonies for the most part were pretty hokey. Michelle Kwan was voted in on reputation(yes she is definitely world class)otherwise she would not have been there. I am sorry she is injured, but I felt others should be there besides her. She did handle herself well with thw huge disappointment she is facing. Chad Hedrick from our neck of the woods got ouor first gold.

Dee Bee wrote:Is anyone besides me watching??? )

I have been watching some of it. Btw, there has been some talk in the Sports forum:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=81213

We're watching. We like most sports. I'm not into the ice dancing though. My favorite remains, women's ice skating, men's ice skating and then pairs. My favorite Gold Medal winner remains, Dorothy Hamill. I watched it live that year, when she took the Gold. This entire country fell in love with her.

So yeah, we're into the Olympics. I wish I could do nothing but watch events for 2 weeks.....

Mary

I'm watching some here and there. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed watching the snow boarding competition!!

HurryKane wrote:Tough luck for Michelle Kwan, but she handled herself well in interviews after pulling out.

She acted with true class.

HurryKane wrote:Tough luck for Michelle Kwan, but she handled herself well in interviews after pulling out.

I'm glad to see that the other little gal got her well-deserved chance. Michelle Kwan should never have been allowed to be on the team since she didnt compete in the Grand Prix or Nationals this year.

Yes, I have been watching some. I liked the snowboarding, too. My favorite is speed skating, figure skating, and hockey though.

I feel bad for Michelle Kwan as well, but she did the right thing. I do understand the Olympic committee sending her to Turino initially, but I applaud her unselfish decision.

She has a career that she should be VERY proud of!

wx247 wrote:]My favorite is speed skating...

I gained an interest in speed skating when I saw Margaret Crowley. <drool>

That would sure make me speed skate!!!!!

I enjoy the skiing events, both alpine and cross-country, speed skating, and the sliding events - bobsled luge and skeleton.

Overall, even though I'm a Miami boy, I like the Winter Olympics better than Summer Olympics. Must be those Swedish genes.

American crashes in 2nd heat
Updated: Feb.13, 2006, 3:11 pm CST

By Dave Thomsen, NBCOlympics.com

TORINO -- American luger Samantha Retrosi was injured in a crash in the second run of women's competition Monday evening in Cesana.

Retrosi bumped into the wall on a straightaway roughly two-thirds of the way through her race and lost control, smashing into the barrier on the high side of the track and appearing to lose consciousness. Her limp body skidded to a stop on the course.

The track was temporarily shut down as medical and track staff attended to the racer, who was carted off in an ambulance.

As fans looked on in horror, the 20-year-old's condition remained unknown for several minutes. U.S. team officials later confirmed that Retrosi was receiving treatment for lacerations and a concussion.

"Sam's going to be okay, that's the bottom line," U.S. luge team leader Fred Zimny told NBC. "She wacked her head pretty good. She has a laceration under her chin. She doesn't remember what happened."

Samantha was flown to a hospital in Torino via helecopter. The roads are very bumpy and windy in this area and would aggravate the concussion. It also could take a long time to get her to the hospital not knowing what the traffic was like.

I have seen a lot of crashes but the scariest part of Samantha's crash and something that led to the severity of it was that her hands were stuck in the sled. When the sled went out of control she couldn't bail from the sled or brace herself in anyway which really worried me.

I went down on the course to look at the helmet and it fared very well, which was a good sign. It's when you see cracks in the helmet that the concern of injury becomes even more of a worry.

- NBC's Duncan Kennedy "It was a very hard crash but Sam's tough," Zimny said.

Zimny said Retrosi had been taken to a medical clinic at the bottom of the track for treatment, but that she would return to racing.

"It's a difficult track, it's challenging and Sam can handle it," Zimny said. "She's a good athlete and she's going to come back."

Retrosi, making her first Olympic appearance, placed 18th in the season's World Cup standings and was second in the U.S. national championships. She placed 15th at the Olympic test event in November on the Olympic track.

Though her crash was the most serious, Retrosi wasn't the only athlete to be knocked off her sled Monday. Italian Anastasia Oberstolz-Antonova and Jeriova Marketa of the Czech Republic were both dumped in their first runs and did not finish. Natalia Yakushenko of the Ukraine fell off her sled midway through her first race and then miraculously recoverd but did not start her second run.

The Olympic luge course (watch animation) is notoriously arduous. In early 2005, several athletes were seriously injured in training for an Olypmic test event. The event was subsequently canceled and the International Luge Federation determined that the course needed to be made less technically demanding for the Olympics.

Kildow to stay in hospital overnight after crash
Posted: Feb.13, 2006, 6:02 am CST; Updated: Feb.13, 2006, 1:08 pm CST

SAN SICARIO, Italy (AP) -- American medal contender Lindsey Kildow somehow escaped serious injury in a frightening free-fall crash on her downhill training run Monday, moments after defending Olympic champion Carole Montillet-Carles of France was hurt in a spectacular fall.

It was a day of crashes -- four in all, including one that knocked a Canadian skier out of the Olympics with a torn knee ligament -- on a course that was changed after skiers including Kildow complained it was too easy.

Kildow was taken by helicopter to a hospital trauma center in Torino, the Games' host city about 50 miles down the Alps.

Kildow has a severely bruised left hip from landing on the course while traveling "about 50 miles an hour," said U.S. Alpine physician Bill Sterett, who is treating her. "She has no other significant injuries and has not ruled out competing in these Games. I've known her for 10 years, and she's a very tough young lady."

She will be hospitalized overnight as a precaution, the team doctor said.

The 21-year-old Kildow lost control when her left ski slid out as she began to turn right around a gate on a rolling, relatively flat stretch midway through the run. She immediately went into an awkward split, with her right knee buckling and slamming against the ground.

Her momentum carried her into the air for about 15 feet and she landed on her back, slammed her head and slid to a stop. Kildow was heaving with pain as medical personnel rushed to her aid, her legs splayed awkwardly.

At the bottom of the course, spectators and skiers first saw Kildow on the large video screen, lying on her back. The crash was shown once, and those at the bottom of the course gasped. Renate Goetschl of Austria grabbed her head and turned away.

Kildow won two downhills on the World Cup this year and was ranked No. 2 on the circuit in the event. She finished second fastest during the first training Sunday.

After World Cup events on this hill last season, a chorus of racers complained that the terrain lacked variety. So Olympics organizers altered the landscape and added jumps -- changes that drew praises from Kildow and others after Sunday's downhill training.

"It's not an easy downhill, that's for sure," said reigning World Cup overall champion Anja Paerson of Sweden.

Kildow's crash happened just eight skiers after Montillet-Carles of France lost control during a jump midway through her run and slammed into the protective fencing. She landed on her back and her head hit the snow, but she appeared to be conscious as she was taken to a clinic in nearby Sestriere.

French Ski Federation doctor Marie-Philippe Rousseau-Bianchi said Montillet-Carles, 32, suffered rib and back trauma and minor facial abrasions, but X-rays were negative.

The crashes came on a course made largely of machine-manufactured snow.

Canadian Allison Forsyth's Olympics ended after she crashed and was taken to a Turin hospital, where an MRI showed she had torn a ligament in her left knee, according to a statement by the Canadian team. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria fell but was able to ski down on her own.

"It's the Olympics. People are trying to take more chances," Canada's Emily Brydon said. "It is so rolly up there, you have to be on it all the time. If you relax for a bit, it will catch you."

WOW! I hope that they all recover fully.

Stephanie wrote:WOW! I hope that they all recover fully.

NBC showed the Luge crash during the Afternoon coverage... WOW, it looked really bad. She was not moving for awhile. I'm surprised she's OK after watching it...

Did anyone catch the final figure skating pair from China? That girl had some guts to get back out there and skate after a fall like that. The story of that Russian pair was touching as well and I was happy for the two pairs to get the gold and silver.