Lindsey Vonn lived up to her reputation as the best downhill skier in the world by claiming the women’s Olympic title on Wednesday as Shaun White and Shani Davis made it a golden day to remember for the US.
Wohever, with the Games in day six, more bad news greeted under-pressure Vancouver organizers after 19 people were injured when a barricade near the stage collapsed at a venue offering free concerts during the Olympics.
All were treated on site with nine then taken to hospital, mostly for minor injuries. It added to a growing list of problems plaguing the Games, which have been blighted by weather woes that have forced delays to key events and the cancellation of thousands of tickets due to safety issues.
PHOTO: EPA
It also emerged on Wednesday that a mentally ill man, carrying a homemade security pass, got within meters of US Vice-President Joe Biden at the opening ceremony last Friday in a major security breach.
Biden was never in danger, and no charges have been filed against the unarmed man, whose mental health issues are believed to have prompted the incident, a spokesman for the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit said.
“This was an isolated incident committed by an individual with no malicious intent who was identified and removed by security,” police sergeant Rich Graydon said in a statement.
PHOTO: EPA
The director of Olympic security described the 48-year-old Canadian man, who has not been identified, as having an “infatuation” with Biden, CTV reported.
Police said they intercepted the man when he attempted to approach the area where Biden was sitting, and he was apprehended after he attempted to flee.
He was about 12 rows of seating away from Biden when he was stopped.
Vonn delivered organizers some relief with a sizzling performance on the piste at Whistler, winning the US’ first ever Olympic gold in a thrilling downhill marred by a series of spectacular crashes.
It was flawless performance in perfect conditions on Franz’s Run, with the shin injury she had complained about not an issue as she crossed the line in 1 minute, 44.19 seconds.
Teammate Julia Mancuso came second at 0.56 seconds for a surprise silver while Austrian Elisabeth Goergl captured bronze.
“It’s one of the most incredible moments of my life,” said the untouchable Vonn, the winner of five consecutive downhills in the World Cup this season.
“When I crossed the finish line and saw my name in first and Julia’s second, it was just the coolest thing,” she said.
With four disciplines still to go, she has chances to medal in both the super-G and super-combined, and a snowball effect could her see emerging as a realistic challenger in the more technical slalom and giant slalom events.
The flame-headed White, meanwhile, cemented his position as a snowboarding superstar with the Winter Olympics’ top-earning athlete defending his halfpipe title ahead of Finland’s Peetu Piiroinen and Scott Lago of the US.
He scored 48.4 in his second run after 46.8 in his first, which was enough to seal victory.
“I just felt like I didn’t come all the way to Vancouver not to pull out the big guns. I put down the tricks I’ve worked so hard on,” White said. “It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird.”
Davis became the first man to win back-to-back 1,000m speedskating titles.
The world record holder, who became the first black Olympic champion in an individual event when he captured 1,000m speedskating gold at Turin, made it a double whammy with victory in 1 minute, 8.94 seconds.
South Korea’s Mo Tae-bum was second and the US’ Chad Hedrick third.
At Richmond Oval, China’s dominant Wang Meng blitzed the field to retain her 500m short-track speed skating title, leaving Canada’s Marianne St-Gelais and Italy’s Arianna Fontana to pick up the minor medals.
“The Olympics is a very exciting time for China. No matter how many Olympics you go to the dream never dies,” Wang said.
Russia’s Nikita Kriukov also claimed gold when he held off compatriot Alexander Panzhinskiy in a photo-finish to win the men’s sprint classic.
Norway’s Marit Bjoergen won the women’s sprint, while Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger captured the luge doubles.
The men’s ice hockey tournament continued with Finland beating Belarus 5-1, defending champions Sweden outplaying Germany 2-0 while the Czech Republic saw off neighbors Slovakia 3-1.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but