Swedish gold medalist Charlotte Kalla
In the men's downhill competition Norwegian outsider Aksel Lund Svindal followed up a bad start with an amazing finish. It was almost enough, but he got the silver, losing to Didier Defago from Switzerland with only 0:07 seconds. American Bode Miller took the bronze, 0:09 behind Defago. Absolutely acceptable by Svindal, but when it was that close, a silver is bitter. But at least this gives us hopes for the combination, where he should be among the biggest favourites. Other Norwegians:
Results at NRK.
Norwegian silver medalist Aksel Lund Svindal
The men's 15 km free cross country was supposed to be our worst xc event for men, but noone had expected it to be the worst xc men's event for Norway in the history of the Olympics. But it did, when our favourite Petter Northug had a bad day and just gave up and ended in 41st place and our other medal candidate Ronny Hafsås still felt his cold and ended in 42nd. Our two underdogs weren't much better and Tord Asle Gjerdalen was the best Norwegian in 28th, while Martin Johnsrud Sundby got the 33rd place. Dario Cologna from Switzerland won in front of Pietro Piller Cotrer from Italy and the Czech Lukas Bauer. Not good enough. I want to change my citizenship. I want everyone involved on trial for treason. Full results at NRK.
Of course, both our snowboard cross guys went out in the first round.
Bizarre that the Norwegians didn't do well in the cross country. Norway and Finland and Russia are the three countries I think of when I think about cross country skiing, because of the long history of the sport in the area.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, and Petter Northug is the clear cut number one in men's cross country, but somehow it didn't work for him today.
ReplyDeleteWas thinking about you today when they were talking about the poor performance by the Norwegians. The way that NBC made it sound, the whole nation will be ashamed and in mourning. Is it really like that when you guys lose a big event? Like Game 7 bad?? I don't mean to be ignorant because I know how much pride people have in their nation doing well in the Olympics, but I guess coming from such a big country like the US, it's hard to imagine a nation feeling that bad after a huge loss. America generally has a lot of events it competes well in, and when we don't do well, it kinda stinks, but you quickly forget about it and move onto the next event. The only thing I could equate it to was how Detroit felt after Game 7.
ReplyDeleteThe nation is probably thrilled with the downhill and pleased with the woman's xc, but the men's xc we are pretty ashamed of. It's not game seven bad, but we don't feel good about it. Most of us are beginning to get scared about these olympics. The fiasco in Torino 4 years ago is something we talk about as rarely as possible and the way this is going we won't be talking about these Olympics either.
ReplyDeleteNorway is a small, small country and these winter sports are a huge part of our culture and national pride
Wait until Canada finishes out of the medals in men's hockey (crosses fingers). Despite Babcock, Holland, and Yzerman, I cannot root for a team that has Crosby, Perry, Getzlaf, Niedermayer, and Pronger all on it.
ReplyDeletehahaha... I said it on TOV this week and I stand by it. Team Canada is filled with douchebags. Gotta hate'em
ReplyDeleteDefinitely can't root for a bunch of douches. Although Luongo's starting in goal this evening, and I actually like him... Then again, he's not exactly known for being a clutch goaltender, so fire away, Norway!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for explaining the history with the Norwegians in the past few Olympics. To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the Torino games because I was away at school at the time. I always forget how small the Scandinavian countries really are. Hopefully I don't come off as too ignorant because I'm actually fascinated with your culture & I think it's really cool how all of this is such a big part of your national identity.
hehehe...
ReplyDeleteWell, Torino is best forgotten anyway. We are an incredibly small country (4,85 million ppl, big in size though 385 000 sq meters) and skiing is a huge part of our national tradition. It has been used for thousands of years as a method of transportation, but we also invented the sport. Morgedal in Norway is where the first bindings for sports use were invented. And words like slalom are derived from old norwegian