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January 20, 2007

'I just wanted to meet a gold medalist'

This is a great article. Although it's not really about Apolo, his role sets the scene for the story.

AP | Wounded veterans taste life as Olympians* *new link with updated article

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - In the dining hall of the U.S. Olympic Complex, instantly recognizable speedskating champion Apolo Anton Ohno sat at a large, round table, talking to some unrecognizable young men who had gathered to meet him after the dinner rush ended.

Around him were men who, leaning to one side, wearing baggy shirts, sitting quietly with their hands in their laps, only looked ordinary.

They are not Olympians, or hopefuls, or even athletes just yet. They are soldiers, or at least they were once.

The meeting, during which they talked about their hometowns and classic cars, seemed to earn the skater‘s awe.

After Ohno left, Murphy explained, "I just wanted to meet a gold medalist."

The summit is a taste of the life of an Olympian, a chance to sleep and eat like one, to get instruction in the same facilities, to compete in an event or two, to test-drive their new $30,000 prosthetics, to tease and cheer and make small talk, to feel, for a few days, like life hasn‘t changed all that much.

Read the whole thing

Posted by noelle at 1:26 PM | Comments (80)

January 19, 2007

Final results from Junior Worlds

Sorry for the very delayed updates this week. Hopefully everyone who wanted results knew to go straight out to Cyberscoreboard to find them... Here's a rundown of official day 3 results.

Outstanding result for Jeff Simon to go with his 500m silver - this is the first top 5 overall finish for an American at Junior Worlds in at least 6 years.

Overall Classification - MEN
1 SHIN , Woo-Chul KOR 89 points
2 LEE , Jung-Su KOR 76
3 JANG , Won-Hoon KOR 34
4 WEI , Jiguang CHN 34
5 SIMON , Jeff USA 26
15 MARSICANO , Trevor USA (60)
45 CHO , Simon USA (131)

Overall Classification - LADIES
1 YANG , Shin-Young KOR 110
2 SHIN , Sae-Bom KOR 66
3 PARK , Seung-Hi KOR 55
4 ZHAO , Nannan CHN 44
5 KONG , Xue CHN 21
16 61 DUDEK , Alyson USA (49)
18 62 GRACE , Mary USA (57)
25 60 REUTTER , Katherine USA (75)

Big congratulations to the young USA Team for a strong performance in the Czech Republic, capped off by the U.S. men's relay silver last Sunday - way to go!

Men's 2000m relay final
1. KOREA 2:46.936
2. UNITED STATES 2:48.565
DQ FRANCE 2:48.204
DQ CANADA 2:47.009
The Canadian men seem to have ran into quite a bit of DQ trouble throughout last weekend.

Ladies' 2000m relay final
1. KOREA 2:54.136
2. CHINA 2:54.350
3. CANADA 2:55.460
4. HUNGARY 2:55.608

Visit Cyberscoreboard for results from the men's and women's 1000m and 1500m superfinal.

Also, some news links:
USOEC | Skaters Take Home Hardware

“I started in lane four [the outside lane], so I knew I would have a tough race,” said Simon. “I have top speed, but not acceleration, so I started out in the back and tried to stay out of trouble. I worked the whole time to build speed and I caught up with the rest of the group in the last four laps. I set up an inside pass right before crossing the finish line.

“After the race, everything was quiet. They showed my name in second on the screen and [USOEC head coach and Junior World Team head coach] Jimmy [Jang] screamed, ‘yes!’ My teammates gave me high-fives and hugs. They set the podium up on the ice and I got my medal. It was a good feeling.”

Donga.com | Korea’s Short Track Outlook Bright
CP | Canada wins women's relay bronze

Posted by noelle at 1:49 PM | Comments (3)