Torino takes a bow

For the first time, missed all of the coverage, so this is all off NBC's broadcast repeat.

HOUR ONE
Good bye
Odd, Dan Hicks and Mary Carillo host the closing. Not quite the Bob and Brian show the openings got, or even the traditional Bob and Katie pairing. But they seem to have a good chemistry, and similar cheeky sense of humor. Joey Cheek will carry the flag, funny, it could've been Chad Hedrick. But Cheek's donating his bonus money to charity speaks volumes.

Brokaw's boys
They start with the much-promoed Tom Brokaw look at an African-American soldier who fought in Italy in WWII, Vernon Baker of Cheyenne, Wyoming. First real look at Italy's fascist past, it makes it seem like the Italians were also fighting the Nazis. Some were--most were their allies.

They show the 1997 White House ceremony at which Baker was the only member of his unit still alive to receive the Medal of Honor from President Clinton. He looks very quiet, and dignified. Colin Powell speaks too. This isn't the Olympics or sports people are tuning in for though, odd NBC would start with this--why not show some sports, then come back into it?

The story is essentially Baker's unit was ordered to seize castle Aghinolfi near Torino, a near-suicidal mission. But they go all the way back to Wyoming where he grew up; the white co-author of his life story says people were judged more by what they did they the color of their skin. Oh? Why not ask Baker about that? This is one of those whitewashed stories that makes everyone feel good. Baker's grandfather told him not to hate, because hate will destroy you. Nicely lets whites off the hook. And of course, the white co-author is the one who tells Vernon's story, and the one who frames his story.

Powell is so eloquent, 'black soldiers continued to serve the nation even though the nation did not serve them.' Hmm, interesting, Jackie Robsinson was court martialed for objecting to being sent to the back of the bus--there's a story there!

Historian Rick Atkinson, who I've read and liked, says by the time black soldiers were allowed into the Italian theater, Nazi atrocities were ongoing, in response to the Italian partisans. No word yet of fascists, or how the Italians had led Mussolini. It's cast as Italy was a victim too. Ask Ethiopia if that's true.

Hmm, Atikinson says the military stipulated white Southerners were to command the black soldiers, because they knew 'how to deal with those boys.' And that the 92nd was part of a campaign by black America, the double V campaign--victory against the enemy, and against racism. Tom wants to know from Baker how come the soldiers didn't erupt in rage. He says well, you see, this was the only country we had--and if we didn't fight for it, it would probably belong to somebody else.

They get back to the castle action. Baker and 25 men climbed a steep, heavily defended hill at dawn. NBC recreates it using cheesy b&w shaky grainy footage. THey were able to sneak up; Baker gets emotional reliving it. He killed 9 soldiers, wiped out 3 machine gun nests, and observation posts, and cut communications lines. But they had to retreat, under heavy attack.

They can't get artillary support, intelligence officers don't believe they've made it where they've made it. Germans are raining down mortar fire. White captain abandons the company, with the radio. Baker assumes command, keeps his men moving in a calculated retreat. They went up with 25 men, down with six. Next day, he goes back up with all-white company, castle falls. He gets the 2nd highest honor, distinguished service cross. He's wearing the ribbon after the war, a white officer orders him to take it off, says no N he knows has it. Baker says you're looking at one who does.

Powell talks about coming back and facing discrimination, and how the black soldiers spoke out. Ironic, under the newspaper they show with Truman's executive order desgregating the military, they don't pan but there's another story about a lynch mob. Powell notes America's military heroes--Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower--didn't want to carry out Truman's order fully, he had to go public to force change.

Hmm, Baker joins the Red Cross after the military, is deployed to Vietnam as a counselor. He gets a call in the 90s from the military, investigating why no black soldiers got the Congressional Medal of Honor. Powell says it was clearly an injustice. Baker says he didn't think anything would come out of it. But Clinton was president....

It winds up being a pretty good story. Shots of Baker standing proudly at the White House, tears streaming down his eyes. He shows his medal to Brokaw, who says most of us would put this out under a soft white light so everyone can see it when they walk in. He says quietly no, I don't think you would, if you went through it.

Italy then celebrates him and his comrades. Co-author says ever small town they go to there's a great ceremony, everyone's dressed in their best, all wanna shake his hand. He's reunited with the partisan who was wounded in the lip while on patrol with him, it's all on videotape, it's actually quite powerful, they hug, and rejoice.

They show period footage, the faces of the black men look so blank, so statuesque, so angry, so soldier-like. Brokaw ends the trip by going to a cemetary where buffalo soldiers are buried amid a sea of white crosses. He says here there are no color lines, as the camera pans past a lone Star of David. It's amazing what this country did; and how we've forgiven and moved on despite leaving hundreds of thousands dead over there.

Powell ends by saying if it weren't for the buffalo soldiers, he never would be where he is, and it's people like Baker who created those opportunities for him. Baker says Powell was eight years old when all the stuff in Italy happened to him, makes him think how America has grown, and we have a little way to go still but we'll make it.

Men's 50K freestyle cross-country skiing
30 miles to end the Games. Al Trautwig and Paul Rouse. Tobia Angerer of Germany tops based on World Cup season, but they don't race this distance usually. They review the Italian men's relay win, three members of that team in the race. Mass start, Trautwig says hard to gauge who the real favorites are, race will take over two hours. Beautiful sight as all 82 go off at once, last chance for Norwegians to win a gold. Hmm, you can see the snowmobile running alongside the skiers that NBC gets its pictures from.

German, Swede, Italians, Norwegians all up near the front. Rouse doesn't think Norway will do anything here, they don't have the leadership or the talent they used to. It's a great shot of them coming up and then down and then up the hills.

From a few minutes in to 20 minutes in, Norweigans among the countries doing well today after an Olympics with only four medals in this sport. Interview with six time Norwegian gold medalist who says the Norwegians didn't want him as coach, the Swedes jumped on him, and have three golds so far. Rouse says the course is in good shape, a hard track. Everyone's strung out in a long line so far, like a train. Frenchman leading now, but just cause it's his turn, everyone's content so far to just let it go easily along.

Bye Jimmy
For the final time for real, Chevy and Roberts bring us another special moment. Tonight they look at the handoff of the Olympic flag to the mayor of the next host city, who then waves it eight times. Hmm, Sam Sullivan, the mayor of Vancouver, is a quadriplegic, he broke his neck skiing at 19. He was on welfare, living in subsidized housing; he planned suicide, but realized he didn't wanna die.

He's quite cool, from the way he talks you can tell he's a good guy--he started by cutting the time to put his shoes from 16 minutes to four. Then he started developing products for quadriplegics. He's got a good sense of humor too.

Wow. So they created a rig for his wheelchair, it's secret still exactly how he's going to wave the flag. Now this is an inspiring story.

HOUR TWO
More skiing
Now almost two hours in. Still pretty bunched up, they're on the next-to-last loop. I'd have thought the leaders would have broken away by now. Czech Republic guys up, Frenchie, Italian, German. 25 skiers within five seconds, it's crazy. Now pace is picking up a bit, Italian leading the way, Czechs staying with him, techniques of people are just breaking down, people are falling. 5K, three miles, left. Russian now skiing for Austrian, Trautwig says that team has a cloud hanging over it head, suspected doping violations; the guy is huge.

Final lap out of the stadium, two Czechs and three Italians up front. To the climbs. Just past two hours. Up the course's big hill. Nobody was able to pull away, about 1K from finish, it's going to be a crazy final sprint. Czechs there, Italians too, and Frenchies. Amazing that they can sprint after all this, nine men in front, Austrian leading, three football fields to go. Italian Giorgio Di Centa is in front for now, he's going to win; and he does, Italy's first win in this event. Russian silver, Austrian gets bronze. Di Centa's a lumberjack, no less; wins by 9/10s of a second after about 2 hours 5 minutes.

HOUR THREE
Closing Ceremonies
They award the cross-country medals at the closing ceremony, for the first time. Di Centa's the one with the fashionable classes; his sister's on the IOC, awards him the medal. Man, he's gotta be Italy's biggest sports hero right now, what a great sense of occasion; the whole stadium stands for Italy's national anthem, sung on tape by the same little girl whose pure voice sang in the opening ceremonies.

The guys with rocket packs on their backs come skating back in. They take a break, back with the military police force band streaming in. They play the Italian national anthem again. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi does show up this time to close up; no singing, flag raised as the band plays on.

Out comes a crazy band, made up of clowns all in white with Olympic ringsish on them, playing wildly, it's carnivale time! Music is oddly catching, same few lines over and over again. Nice overhead shot of purple stadium. Dancers form little circles. Next the clowns play YMCA--so crazy; and now they form the letters, this is unbelievable. Crowd is joining in. Why don't Italians feel weird that an American disco song is played at such a key ceremonial moment? If it happened hear, it'd be seen as just silly.

Next they raise the Greek flag and play their anthem. Final flag will be that of Canada, I guess. The flag-bearing athletes, most of whom were selected by their teammates, walk in. Cheek has a big smile on his face, on his way to college at the age of 26. The athletes walk in en masse, some mixed up together; athletes have been given red clown noses to wear, if they want. Mary and Dan mention in the past they've been more mixed up than they are now. Canadians are wearing Vancouver 2010 scarfs. Italians come in, lots of flags, all together. DM tend to let the action flow, not all about chatting continuously over everything. Negative is unlike Costas they can't or don't identify countries on sight, or make wry comments.

As they come back in come the U.S. U.S. outfits make them look like NASCAR drivers or something. Shani Davis shown; looking happy. To the strains of When the Moon Hits Your Eye. Shizuka Arakawa is spotted coming in and they replay part of her winning skate, as one of the Olympic moments.

With the Torino Games so spread out, Mary says many of the athletes have never met each other, lots stuck around days or even a week for this. They replay Ohno's win. It's insane, but I've seen everything.... Pretty much every minute of NBC's prime time coverage. I'll do the math at some point, a lot of hours; and words. They even show the false starts in Apolo's race. It's annoying, they play music under the clip. And now piercing voice of reporter, as she interviews Apolo on the stadium floor.

Next they show Shaun White's run, that seems so long ago. Then him in the stadium, he came back from the U.S. for the closing. He's funny, sticks his head in into the camera and goes aaah. Mary mentions his Sasha Cohen interest, and they go to her, in a different part of the stadium. She's also shouting, cause the reporter is; she looks into the camera and waves. They look back at her short program.

Next little Fiat cars and bikes come riding in, complete with clowns and acrobats along some bouncy track, confetti flying. Next a giant fan blowing a 125 mph wind keeps a performer in white above it, pretty cool, with the Oympic flame in the background, lyrical music. They form double Xs in the air, it's quite captivating. Guy goes up with skis; another guy up with a snowboard. It's transfixing to watch; a ribbon is blown up. Guys with giant spewing streamers on their backs walk along the stadium floor. Crowd cheers as a guy in whiite goes waaaay up; Mary notes even a clown gets to float. As Dan says, the mood is definitely becoming more melancholy, with the music contributing. It's all surreal, but works in combination.

Watching the balance on tape, two weeks later. Olympic officials now on stage, Italian committee president gets honored by Jacques Rogge, then speaks in Italian, then English. The two speeches are different, Carillo gives a translation. Whoah, some guy in a black t-shirt storms the stage, grabs the mike for a second, yelling something and carrying what looks like a German flag, president keeps going on. Nice security; Mary and Dan don't know what to make of it.

Rogge speaks; there were two mikes, now there's there's only one, the intruder ripped one off. Addresses the athletes, tells them to give back to sport what it has given you. Talks about fight against doping.; then declares the Games closed, calls upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Vancouver. Thank you Italy, thank you Torino he says in Italian.

And indeed. Now, the quadriplegic mayor of Vancouver, looking radiant in red. Canada's flag goes up slowly as Canadian opera star belts out O' Canada. The waving of the flag... to some pop song. Crazy waving of the flag by mayor of Turin; waving of the flag by Rogge; then into device, and he waves by moving wheelchair in a circle, he gets a huge hand, it's very cool. Video of Vancouver flashes on screen, as Native Americans make speech asking world to come to Canada.

Now snowmobile towing something comes on stage, acrobat driving then stands upside down, it's like a play, motions are exaggerated, pretty interesting. 'Drills' into stage, like ice fishing, lifts up plug, cracks ripple across, sound of kids laughing, ice opens up; and people carrying blocks of white come running onto stage, they're gonna build something I guess. Igloo? Start juggling things. More down-home than Italians. Wow, the stage floor is some sort of giant projection screen. Mary says they're building the Vancouver logo. Avril Lavigne comes out, very catchy and precise lyrics. In background people are prancing randomly, like a circus or something. You'd think it'd be more Cirque du Soleil. Hockey player skates out at the end, 'well done Canada' Dan says.

Down comes the Olympic flag. Dan now says the mood has really grown somber here. They show Apolo in the crowd, he's watching everything intently. Costumed men and women walk the flag out. Interesting how a piece of colored cloth can be imbued with so much meaning and emotion. Angel kids complete with haloes and wings (and little earpieces) sing the flag out as the athletes sway back and forth in tune.

Back and Andrea Bocelli, from rural Tuscany, sings oh-so-sweetly and slowly. Makes you think about 2,000 years of Roman history, how many millions of Italians have whiled away sad and happy occasions on warm and cold nights with song. He begins in Italian, moves seemlessly to English, it's Because We Believe from his album Amore. Dan and Mary, of course, are quiet, it's quite a beautiful song, and it's astonishing how effortlessly and fully he sings.

Meanwhile, Dan says, about 400 brides all dressed in white have been carrying lamps in the form of white flowers onto the stage, Mary says they represent hope. Saw at least one Chinese woman amongst them. Form a giant dove, cool. Then they form what Dan says is the Torino logo, although who knows. Then out go their lights, then the Olympic tortch too. Up go fireworks, all around the perimeter of the stadium. Curious what they'll be like in China, birthplace of fireworks; and pretty much everything else.

They've been hyping him all night, and out comes Ricky Martin. In odd hip hopish performance, aggressiveness is jarring, it's more shouting than singing. There's no flow to it, almost as if there are mike problems. Surrounded by vamping, creeping women in black, he's in white. Why Ricky? Why Torino? He's not that big anymore, was U2 busy? Hell, bring out Madonna....

Mary says the guy who ran out was trying to promote an online gambling service, not a terrorist. Back to Ricky, now in black with a beret. Still shouting, and gyrating. There's no crowd reaction for him to feed off of, so it's like he's trying to carry them with him. Takes off his coat, shirt has a Puerto Rican flag on the back. He does give it his all, gotta give him that.

They talk to Joey Cheek, who seems pretty emotional. Says he'll most remember the bigness of the whole thing, he's still bit in shock. They reshow his gold medal-winning race. Gosh, watching the tape am reminded of how times the same commercials kept running; most of them bad.

Party's winding down, says Mary. Athletes are dancing, Apolo Ohno again; says a lot of the American athletes have been trading stuff with the chinese. There's a joke in there somewhere, but we'll let it go. Idiot Chad Hedrick. Hmmm, an interview with Toby Dawson, two Asian Americans back to back has got to be some sort of record; he seems a bit nervous. Then they reshow--of course--Canadian Cindy Klassen's 1500M gold.

Back to Bob Costas in the studio, who says even if some venues at times were sparsely populated, the Italians always showed up for the important moments. Oh yes, nothing like the Olympic spirit. He does a wrap-up essay, about athletes falling but getting back up. Costas tries to claim the snowboarders may have been the signature event of these games... but correctly ends the highlights with Ohno's medals.

And then says we finished second to Germany, with Bode Miller's performance and Davis and Hedrick's feud part of the story, but more so Cheek's donation of his winnings, which inspired over $400,000 in other donations. Funny, Costas addresses Harvard's dean of admissions by name, they apparently turned Cheeks down earlier this year. Brief mention of China and Canada next, then ends with a thanks to Italy.

Eh, Costas is often more lyrical and less everything including the kitchen sink with these things. Have been a bit disappointed at his role, it's almost like he's now playing the elder statesman behind the scenes thing. Problem is there's been nobody to share the stage.

And that's it. They come back, roll the credits, and run some highlights and lowlights. Hmm, we've seen this exact same tape already--the opening? The weekend show's closing? Music is, I believe different, but images are the same. Hmm, I think it's the same as the weekend closing, with some more/different names.

It's actually an appropriate way for NBC to end the Games. Its broadcast really was quite poor, overall. Downright embarassing at times in its lack of professionalism, it really intruded upon the viewing experience. I guess this is what happens when you have no competition.

And in a signature moment for NBC's incompetence, one of the last shots after the credits is of an emotional Shani Davis running to hug Apolo Ohno backstage--first time we've seen it, and it lasts just a few seconds.

Uncredited photo of Vernon Baker found in numerous places on the Web.

Photo of Italy's Giorgio di Centa celebrating as he crosses the finish line by Anja Niedringhaus/ AP.

Photo of acrobats during the Closing Ceremony by Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images.

Photo of Helen Upperton and Heather Moyse of Canada 1 in the two woman bobsleigh event on February 20 by Donald Miralle/ Getty Images.

Photo of biathletes skiing during the women's 4x6km relay on February 23 by John D. McHugh/AFP/ Getty Images.

Photo of American Lindsey Kildow after falling in the womens combined alpine skiing on February 17 by Ian Walton/ Getty Images.

Rich get richer

Blogging backwards, 10 p.m. on; and caught an hour of the afternoon competition.

PRE-HOUR ONE
Men's 30K mass start biathlon
Yaaay, my favorite event, first time they've contested this variation of it. American Jay Hakkinen, who almost won the U.S.'s first medal in this sport earlier but had a 'split bullet' where just less than 50% of the bullet hits the target and thus it didn't register. Al Trautwig and Paul Rouse are great as usual, Rouse explains why the high humidity today makes the ski wax even more important. They look at Norway's Olen Einar Bjoerndalen and how if he'd hit two more shots he'd probably have two gold instead of two silvers.

Rouse says it's a very very slow pace, leader German Alexander Wolf not setting anything faster--everyone's bunched up. Slow snow means you might be able to miss a little more and still be in it. They actually talk about the dynamics of the race as it goes on, imagine that. Awesome German Sven Ficher, with two golds and two bronzes, leads them into the shooting area. Bjoerndalen goes fast and leads going out; another Norwegian Frode Andresen goes clean too into second, quite a few actually miss none.

Rouse explains how except for his first race Bjoerndalen has actually been very good, like fastest relay leg by 30 seconds over just 7K. Two Germans follow the two Norwegians, then two Frenchmen. Norwegians are skiing as a team, should give them an advantage as long as they can hold off the strung out Germans and Frenchmen. I think it helps quite a bit maybe pscyhologically as much as physcically to be going with a teammate. They have good skis for the condition, Rouse says, as they head back to the shooting area.

Watching a McDonalds commercial where they push their new spicy chicken sandwich, with chipotle, makes me think how smart they are to have started Chipotle a few years ago. It's become a great chain in its own right, but if nothing else it lets them try out things in the burgeoning Hispanic market for McDonalds itself.

Hakkinen is about 20 seconds back, Norwegians aren't so far ahead of the main pack, which has caught the Germans and Frenchmen. Man, I really hope Norway wins gold, 1-2 would be great. Rouse says Bjoerndalen is imposing his will on the race, pushing everyone to try and keep up since he skis faster than anyone else. Shooting stage two; prone again. Bjoerndalen is so fast, hits all four again waay before anyone elsen, Andresen misses twice, Defrasne once; Pole Thomas Sikora shoots clean, and Hakkien too, so much going on. Michael Greis of Germany ino third, and Wolf--but even second is 20 seconds behind Bjoerndalen. Hakkinen is now 35 seconds back in eighth, Bjoerndalen is just destroying everyone, it's amazing. Rouse says if anyone wants to try and beat Bjoerndalen, they better get going now; Trautwig says everyone may just be skiing for silver, the king is well on his way to the all-time biathlon record of 9 medals.

There is no more exciting sport. Bjoerndalen is building his lead; rest of the racers are pretty much all strung out. My gosh, nobody else is even in the picture as Bjoerndalen keeps extending his lead. Trautwig says he can't imagine he won't be the gold medal winner today; Rouse says this is classic Bjoerndalen, the way he always wins. His lead is now 22 seconds, so he hasn't picked up a lot of time, but the other racers are taking turns leading the way. Hmm, looks to me like the pack is really catching up to Bjoerndalen actually; it may just be camera angle as they go into the third shooting range. It is, the other shot was more compressed, and Bjoerndalen is trying to extend it running up the hill. Hakkinen is about 21 seconds out of bronze right now. Rouse says he thinks he's holding back to calm down his heartrate.

It's standing; Bjoerndalen on range by himself. So fast, and accurate. And a miss, barely; only one. Next Sikora and Greis if they go clean can cut into his lead. Wow, Sikora is just amazing, nails alls so easily and fast; Greis misses, everyone else is too. Hakkinen misses once. Pretty much everyone missed except for Sikora, who's now just 1.6 seconds behind Bjoerndalen. Third guy is almost 30 seconds behind; Hakkinen about 20 seconds out of a medal.

Sikora now out front of Bjoerndalen. No Pole's ever won a medal in this event; in 1995 he was the world individual champ. The duo are still about 30 seconds out front. Hakkinen is less than 20 seconds out, Rouse says his form doesn't look as good, so he needs to go clean; alternately he may still be being very deliberate. Now Bjoerndalen just passes Sikora, so easily and smoothly--Rouse says he needs to open up a lead going into the final shooting stage, Sikora is a great shot. Sikora looks weary going in, Bjoerndalen passes him again, looks much better, and is trying to outdistance him on the final hill. Maybe this'll hurt Sikora's shooting? You gotta admire him though, nobody expected him to be here.

Bjoerndalen has won 49 of these head-to-head races, Sikora's never won one. Bjoerndalen first, just waiting. Bjoerndalen misses two; but Sikora misses his final shot. Now Greis is in if he goes fast and clean, this is just so amazing--and Greis goes clean! Sikora out front, then Greis, Hakkinen goes clean, Bjoerndalen is 20 seconds back. Hakkinen just 14 seconds back of third place skier for bronze, but now competing with Bjoerndalen. Aaaargh, heartbreak again for Norway.

Greis and Sikora are just dueling now for gold. Bjoerndalen at best can get bronze. I think Greis will win, Sikora will be happy with silver. Amazing that Greis is going for his third gold. Bjoerndalen is third now, you can see him not that far behind, it's absolutely amazing. Just totally insane. Hakkinen in sixth, pretty cool. Bjoerndalen is 18.9 seconds off at the last time check. Sikora may not be able to hang on.... Bjoerndalen cuts it to 13 seconds back. Greis is just extending his line. Greis knows Bjoerndalen only 13 seconds back now. Final stretch, this is astonishing. Bjoerndalen is totally there, it's astonishing. He's really going for silver. Man, Sikora is really fading, here comes Bjoerndalen.

Astonishing, Greis wins for the third time at these games, Sikora into second by six seconds. Just a little bit more time or one less miss and Bjoerndalen might have been able to win, finishes 12 seconds behind. Hakkinen ran out of gas, into 13th, over a minute back. Germans won four golds and a bronze in just the men's biathlon events. Jim Lampley says he's been watching biathlon 30 years, this has been an amazing competition.

HOUR ONE
You can tell right away that Bode Miller does nothing tonight, they highlight an Italian skier before they mention him and Ted Ligety.

Four-man bobsleigh
Third of four heats starts with Switzerland 1; Bob Papa, John Morgan and Carol Lewis are the worst announcing team here, all they do is shout when they're not talking over the runs. Swiss into first, but not a great run. Germany 1 next, best start as always, and exactly as fast as the first two heats. Stays first, grew lead to .33 seconds. Carol says Germans wanna discourage everyone else, make them feel like they're just racing for second. Russia 1, slow start; pretty consistently third. Lewis tells the exact same anecdote about the Russian captain she did on the first day, and with the exact same cadence. Into second. Gosh, it's piercing to listen to these guys.

Canada 1 next, in fourth at the moment. Kindof all over at the top; stays fourth. Ugh, Todd Hays time next. He bought his first sled after competing in a tough man competition in Japan. He's announced his retirement--had a silver four years ago. Says it's hard to keep up with the Germans and the Swiss, they don't make many mistakes, and I do. He's actually pretty good guy, straightforward and unassuming. Still, a bit too much coverage for someone who can't win even with the best sled. 3rd-best start is very very acceptable one of the clowns say. And they start losing time right away. Hits side. All over, into 6th, although it's his fastest heat. So after three runs U.S. still way back, stuck in 6th and 7th.

Men's slalom
Photo of Austria's Benjamin Raich coming in doesn't bode well for Bode. Tim Ryan says he was given a medal chance in all five alpine events--by who?! Giorgio Rocca of Italy first. Almost three feet of snow last night, workers out tamping it down. Alberto Tomba is hanging out at the bottom waiting for him--and he falls, is out. Bad luck, ski hit some of that soft new snow. Kalle Palandar of Finland next, he's ranked third in the world coming in, second-ranked skier fell during training yesteday and broke an arm. Finishes. Ingmar Stenmark and Tomba hanging out together, Ryan says it's the two greatest slalom racers of all time. Reinar Schoenfelder of Austria next, gates were set up by an Austrian coach. How does that work?! Todd Brooker, who's actually grown on me, says it's a tough course your first time down, gates are very close together. Hmmm, which non-prepared athlete will have trouble?! Austrian into second.

They show results of bet Julia Mancuso had with one of her technical team members, he had to ski down in his underwear if she won gold. What if she'd lost--would she have had to ski down in her tiara? Bernard Reich of Austria next, powers down, into first by 1/100th. Classic Austrian, smiles not cause he was thrilled with the run, but cause he's right up there. Next is Ligety, hmm, he's a bit out of control, and he misses a gate, keeps going, but he's DQed, Brooker catches it. Too bad, he's ahead of Raich's time in the middle. Into third; but DQed. Next, Kentaro Minagawa, who's inconsistent but apparently talented, just goes for it. Different body style than others. Brooker says he has a narrow stance that lets him go right at the gates. Into third.

They show clips of Bode's mishaps so far. Reinfried Herbst of Austria, who was dismissed by the team and told to go on his own and pay for himself, after he got some good results he was invited back. Wow. Very smooth style, into fourth place, not happy with it. Next, Bode. He's fatter than he was at the beginning of the season. Whoah, he slips right off the top. And he's out, he missed a gate. Hangs his head. Looked like he missed something else further up; Brooker says he wasn't having his greatest run anyway. Next, fellow American Chip Knight, hard to follow that. He's very deliberate too; Brooker says he's overturning.

Brooker blasts Bode at the end for saying he's not interested in winning. Post-race, he says his experience was very positive, says he didn't get drunk very often, didn't drink the night before races. Says he set different goals this year, didn't wanna win races, wanted a better lifestyle. Ugh. Ryan says a somewhat stunning attitute, to say the least. Just do it, I guess.

Bobsleigh wraps up
Show last run for Hays. One of his guys slips getting in. Let's see if he'll be top American sled here, neck-and-neck with USA 2, now behind. And he's losing time, into second early, how horrible. Switzerland 1, I assume top three coming in all get medals, they're just showing them. Ahead of Canada 1's time, but losing a bit of time; losing more time; picks up a bit, maintains place. Russians good start. They're going faster, Russians are gonna get silver. And now, the Germans. Trying to become fifth in history to win both two-man and four-man golds at the same Games, hasn't been done since Sarajevo. Conservative run, but grabs gold, and they're happy--a bobsled legend for life, announcer says: Andre Lange.

HOUR TWO
Mens 500M short track
They start with the quarters, so you know Apolo Ohno winds up doing well. They start profiling South Korea's Ahn Hyun-Soo, his heat is first. Japanese, another South Korean, and a German. Fast pace, Ahn just easily to first, Japanese qualifies too.

Next heat, Korean, Italian, Chinese, and Italian--and Korean falls, takes Italian with him. Next heat has a crazy crash, the race is restarted--why not let it keep going? No explanation; and the Chinese skater is DQed. Canadian, Brit, Italian going for two spots; Ohno watching. Canadian Bedard out front, just cruises. Ohh, Italian spins out a bit on the final stretch, too bad.

They run a profile with Ohno, I think he's actually the most-profiled athlete by NBC. But he's always interesting, so it doesn't feel like it. He says he's always been really moved by the Games, spectacular to be here. Versus Canadian, two other Europeans; in third early. Into second quickly, into first, now, so easy, qualifies along with Canadian. Weinstein says he'll need a better start in the finals.

Women's 1000M short track semis
Kimberly Derrick, whose grandfather had a heart attack and died last night in Torino, is skating, she's crying as she comes out for her quarterfinals heat. Wow. She's into first, early. Passed right away by South Korean, then Canadian, then a Dutch skater. Passes back into third. Far behind first two, finishes last. Odd, none of her fellow competitors do or say anything.

They profile China's Yang Yang (A). Costas narrates, hmmm. She's very modern looking. Lives in a dorm while training. She won China's first winter gold, in 2002. Funny, Costas says success brought her greater freedom, including the freedom to leave China, as if it's still 1986 or something. Her mom apparently wants her to stay in China, so she returned to help the team. Says she hates it when the coach knocks on the door at 6 a.m.

Seems very focused, but with a sense of humor. Next up: a global business career, focusing on U.S.-China trade. Semis has got a bunch, Korean, Canadian, Italian, Japanese. Yang out front early. Speedy Korean zips out to front now; Canadian trying to pass, into second. Yang inside pass, barely; takes second. Weinstein says her experience helped, probably only the fourth-fastest skater in her heat.

Slalom two
Second run coverage starts with J Cochran of the U.S. He's way behind. Happy with his run, though; into third but means nothing. They show next Kostelic of Croatia. Powers down, very good feet, into first, is happy. Shoenfelder of Austria, with a big yell jumps down. Brooker says slalom has really sped up over the years. He's way up with the lead coming in; losing time as the course goes on, it's a short course though, into first. Herbst of Austria next, a rookie for Austria at 28. Quick-looking feet. Hmm, burning some speed, a bit wide on turns. Whoah, almost falls, still into first.

Japanese skier Minagawa is next, like the opposite of the Austrians with all their teammates. Different style too. Last time a Japanese ski racer got a medal was in 1956. They've got some Slovenian coaches running the porgram; should just get Austrians. Looks rough, back of leader, into third for the moment. He's not happy, good. Kalle Palander of Finland, missed a gate right off the start according to Brooker. Into first. But... Brooker says he knows, he's not reacting to being in first. Nice eyes by Todd.

Final skier, Raich. Could it be an Austrian sweep.... Very quiet upper body, good technique; but looks like he's burning speed, going wide on turns. Wow, he's so fast and great technique on the bottom, wins gold by almost a second. His teammates lift him up, nice. And the Austrians win by like a second over anyone else, giving them 14 alpine medals, Sweden next with 4. Funny, I wonder why Switzerland isn't as good. Reporter asks if he believes the Austrians are the best ski team in the world, he says yah, of course. Costas afterwards says the Americans came in hoping to challenge the Austrians for supremacy, didn't even come close. Well, not sre that many people thought the U.S. were gonna challenge anyone.

Home cooking
For the last time, Jimmy and Chevy together. They check out the home field advantage leading to surprise performances, like Italy's Enrico Fabris. They'd never won any speedskating medals, he won--three? Two golds and a bronze, Costas adds, almost like an afterthought, out of Italy's 10 medals total.

Apolo Ohno in men's 500M semis
Ohno against a Chinese, Brit and Canadian. Ohno in second at the moment, announcer says he should be fine the rest of the way; but then he gets pushed down trying to go wide, announcer just as quickly says it's too far for him to make up. Then Ohno from fourth somehow makes it a race, photo finish--but he loses, is in third. But then the Chinese skater is DQed for a bad pass against the Brit, by a fraction of a second for contact. Apolo sticks out his tongue, is happy. Man, these Chinese get DQed quite a bit in this event, wonder if it'd happen if it were their home ice.

Next semi is Ahn Hyun-Soo, Italian, Canadian, and a Japanese. Ahn is out front early, then falls back into third. Then just zips by on the outside, turns on the jets, he's astonishingly fast. They then preview the men's relay, Apolo is so excited for it, says it's gonna be crazy.

HOUR THREE
Women's 1000M short track skating
Two Koreans against two Chinese, including Yang Yang (A) in her final race. Nine laps; the Chinese out front very early, to try and slow it down a bit. Koreans try for it, and one Chinese still in front. Super-Korean Jin Sun-Ya just explodes down the end, grabs her third gold, Chinese Mang in second, third to other Korean. They disqualify the second Korean, so legendary Yang grabs a bronze. Odd, I think NBC's third favorite country here is China, after Canada. I guess they're trying to get us ready for Beijing.

Women's 5000M speedskating
Canadian Cindi Klassen is going for her fifth medal; pretty amazing (gold, two silvers, and bronze). Claudia Peshtein is trying to become the first winter Olympian to win the same event at four different Olympics (benefitting from the two Olympics in four years scheduling of Albertville and Lillehammer).

First, Daniela Anschuetz Thoms of Germany and Carien Kelibeuker of the Netherlands, 12.5 laps, over 3 miles. Nice and easy pace for most of the race, German is slipping close to current leader's time. German women have won 10 of the 15 overall medals at this distance. Wow. How come Dutch women aren't better? I like this event--but what is NBC thinking?! Isn't there some ice skating thing going on somewhere? Maybe they could arrange for ex-champions to skate; or just rerun some of their past performances. They didn't do any of that, big mistake, it builds a sense of continuity. Anschuetz beginning to pick up the pace a bit, still slightly under time. It's pretty amazing these people have just skated 3 miles, about 1/8th of a marathon, in under seven minutes. Well, and 2.82 seconds, Anschuetz skates a personal best in her last race before she goes off to get married and have kids.

Next, Klassen and Marina Sablikova of Czech Republic. She's more than two seconds up with 10 laps to go. My gosh, she's extending her lead steadily, now nearly four seconds about halfway through. She's like a machine. Now going for five seconds up. Question is can she hang on the last few laps, Jansen says; she's an ex-hockey player. Now going for six seconds up, with four laps to go. Starting to slip a little, around 5.5 seconds. Can see she's tiring a bit. About a minute left, still about five seconds up. Last lap; dropping steadily. Boy, she's really dropping, down to about three seconds; finishes about 2.25 seconds, Sablikova about a second behind her.

A great preview during the break for 'V for Vendetta', with Natalie Portman. Wow.

Back, to Pechstein and Clara Hughes of Canada. She's won eight medals in nine races in her Olympic career, it's crazy. Behind pace, I don't think she can beat Klassen. Ice queen Melissa Stark reports Peshtein suffers from asthma, had to withdraw from the 1500M race; she's feeling better, but not 100%. Now three seconds back. She looks tired, three laps to go, 3.5 seconds back. Oooh, something fell on the track, like a plastic back or someting. She's cutting into the lead, about 45 seconds left, nearly 2 seconds back; and Hughes is right with her, crazy! Both on the final lap are just cutting into it, Hughes is beating her--amazing, she's leading! And, out of nowhere, she wins gold--the announcers spent the whole time talking about the wrong person in the pair! Pechstein wins silver, and Clara topples over, totally exhausted. Wow, that's the Olympics for you, her Asian-looking coach picks her up.

So Canada takes 1st and 3rd, not the one on top that was expected. Awesome. These Canadian women have single-handedly carried their team. They show the anthem, she pulls Klassen up, both are beaming, and giggling the whole time, like sisters. Afterwards Stark talks to them, they're such nice people, yet tough as heck underneath the girlish exterior. Bet that whole team can't wait to get home and start training for Vancouver. Afterwards, Hughes said she'll donate $10,000 of her own money--they don't get medal bonuses--to the same charity as Joey Cheek. My gosh.

HOUR FOUR
Apolo time
Announcers say he's got a great shot, in lane 1. Against his South Korean nemesis Ahn, and two Canadians and a Brit. Ohno's only won one major championship at this distance, when he was 16; Ahn has never won one. Ahn's trying to sweep all three men's medals. Great build-up. False start, Canadian Bedard--Apolo went with him, Ahn held. Another false start, Brit. Even more tense. Ohno gets out first, he was totally leaning forward, great. South Korean in last. He's still leading, asweome. Ahn is up to fourth, can't do it. Last lap, he's still leading, he's gonnna win! Awesome, start-to-finsih, and he's so happy! Hugs someone in the stands. Man, he has such a look of pure joy on his face, exults. And shakes hands with his South Korean colleague. Wire-to-wire undisputed, unchallenged Olympic gold as one of the announcers says.

Wow, that was exciting, and great. He's looking for Shani Davis, his best friend, who's in the stands announcer says. Racial harmony and solidarity, baby. On replay you can see how happy he is coming down the home stretch, mouth open with emotion. Canadian in second, Ahn gets bronze. Now Ohno greets his father in the stands. Man, you can see why NBC loves hyping him, he has a pureness and joy that comes across.

Men's short track 5000M relay
Ted Roinson and Dan Weinstein back, as is Apolo. Canada, China and Italy join U.S. and South Korea. Canadians and Koreans favorites, lot of people on the ice. Americans out front. Canadians grab lead back, 38 laps to go. Apolo back out in front after a good exchange. U.S. in second, Canada in front, increasing gap. 30 laps left, Canada still in front, U.S. right there, then Korea, then Italy and China. Now South Koreans in front of U.S.; Americans haven't won a medal since 1994. Pace is picking up, Koreans into first. China falls. Koreans and Canadians way out in front. Italians and Americans in dogfight for last medal. Canada in front now. Italians in third now. Two laps yet. Canada winning, U.S. losing; Ohno passes Italian, final lap, this is great; Korea wins, Canada silver, U.S. into bronze after dodging a Chinese skater right near the finish line. Announcers say all three teams appear happy with what they've done.

Announcer says he thinks the sportsmanship between Ahn and Ohno brought closure to that story--uh, I think Koreans winning a ton of races is what brought closure.

Boded
Tom Brokaw talks to a still arrogant Bode; lists his five failures, he says if he had a bit more fortune he could've won three. And in the downhill if other guys hadn't skied as well, he'd have won.... Nice attitude. He says experiencing the Olympics was key for him, not winning. He says you can do everything right, and the results can not be there. Tom doesn't ask if he thought he did everything right here. At the end he talks about watching Miracle, and how it's sad, he's the Russian, not the underdog. Costas wraps up by saying Miller's set himself up for this, despite claiming he disdains fame and hype; is pretty harsh, if you don't care about doing the best for yourself, pretty soon no one else will care about you either.

Ohno on top
Medal ceremony for Ohno at the rink. He gets emotional up there, eyes well with tears; Chinese characters on his bandana. Andrea Joyce talks to him, says he's about the happiest Olympian. He's got a bit of Andre Agassi in him. He says the 500 was the perfect race for him. And that the relay medal is what really touches his heart. Joyce is so business-like. He says the Olympic spirit is in his blood, he feels so good can't think about Vancouver. Five medals over two Olympics is a nice body of work, but my guess is he'll be back.

HOUR FOUR.5
Another 'white night'--Italians are gonna stay up all night. What a cool concept.

Women's biathlon mass start 12.5K
Crazy--they start five minutes in; also it's not Trautwig/Rouse. German woman, of course, in front--highly-touted Uschi Disl who hasn't won anything for them, but she's in first. Followed by Frenchie, then Kati Wilhelm, the red-haired German. They walk up the final hill before the first shot. Germans have medaled in 15 of 17 women's biathlon events. Ushi misses; Frenchies doing well. Wilhelm first of course, Anna Karin Olofsson of Sweden right there, and Bailly of France too; Russians in trouble, maybe bad skis, 14 seconds back in fourth. Top three very tightly bunched. Man, if the U.S. is ever gonna beat Germans, we gotta go deep the way they do. I guess we have speedskating, short track, and snowboarding. They've got bobsleigh, biathlon, luge, and speedskating. So we're not that far behind the machine.

Wilhelm now a bit behind the Frenchie and Swede; and Disl--who they say is a great skier--back into the mix, about 13 seconds off. King of Sweden hanging out in the stands, announcers say. Going into second shooting, announcer says he really likes Wilhelm, hanging back a bit, saving her energy. Four Chinese in the top thirty coming in, none among leaders. Olofsson first; Bailly misses. Disl already there; Wilhelm perfect, and Swede too, off they go. Disl makes all five, joins leaders just 18.3 seconds behind. Olofsson is dead. Norwegian out fourth, Belarussian.

Next time check, Disl about 14 seconds out. In fifth, Chinese competitor, going for the first-ever Asian medal. Disl is coming closer, with rest of pack with her. Now they shoot standing. They keep showing a Swedish coach, for some reason. Wilhelm is fast, nails four, then misses. Olofsson goes clean, Disl too. Bailly and Liu now; Bailly misses; Liu clean so far, misses one. Two Russians next, but they miss too. Wilhelm is 25 seconds back, Disl is 46 seconds back. Olofsson only one at this stage to go clean among the leaders; three Germans trail behind her. Wow, amazing how fast this event turns around.

Maybe having her king in the stands is helping. Wilhelm is 34 seconds back now, Disl is 54 back, as Olofsson goes into final shooting stage. About 30 minutes into the race. She's at the range all by herself. Nails one; two; misses third; nails fourth; and fifth. Wilhelm needs to go clean. Disl in too. Wilhelm is amazing, shoots fast and doesn't miss any. My God, she's like a machine. Disl misses one. Wilhelm is just 10 seconds back. Frenchie goes clean, and another German, Glagow, clean too. This is gonna be a heck of a finish.

Olofsson out front, built her lead to 17 seconds. Glagow is 45 seconds behind, Disl is 4 seconds behind her. Disl passes Glagow, wow. Disl, who's won 8 medals, is going for her 9th here. Olofsson down the homestretch, all alone. Crazy, no Norwegian golds at all, astonishing. 40 minutes and 36 seconds; Wilhelm 18.8 seconds behind. And now Disl, in her final race, is 41.9 seconds back, record for biathlon. Glagow foruth; then Frenchie.

Apolo speaks
They go back to studio, then to medals plaza, Canada gets gold in curling, Finns silver--but Americans up there in bronze. After a break Jim talks to Ohno, asks him about the semis, Ohns says anything can happen in this event. They replay the gold medal race, Apolo commentates. He won in 41.93 seconds, it's great listening to him react, he says he still can't believe it. And then had to skate the relay less than an hour later. They replay his slight bow when Ahn came over to shake his hands. He says there's no rivalry, we're just really fierce competitors. He talks about living the dorm live at the USOC, just 23 so he could do this again, but he's not sure if he'll live in the dorm again if he goes for Vancouver.

They wrap up the final late show by looking at the summit of athletic achievements--then scroll the men and women who worked on the late broadcast. With a final shot of a shrine up high on the Alps. Dick Ebersol; Gary Zenkel; David Nea; Bucky Gunts; Peter Diamond; Molly Solomon; Mark Levy--the ones responsible for NBC's stumbling, bumbling coverage here. Credits run next to some highlights of the Games.

Photo of Apolo Ohno by Franck Fife/ AFP/ Getty.

US Apollo Ohno celebrates winning the gold medal of the men's 500m race of the short track competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics at the Palavela in Turin. Canada's Francois-Louis Tremblay won the silver medal and South Korea's Ahn Hyun-Soo took the bronze.(AFP/Yuri Kadobnov)

Canadian speed skater Cindy Klassen shows off her five medals at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, February 25, 2006. REUTERS/Shaun Best

Off the field

Blogging backwards, live from hour three on. Suspect U.S. didn't get speedskating gold, based on when NBC is showing what.

It's astonishing the stories NBC isn't covering. ESPN is reporting:

U.S. aerials skier Jeret "Speedy'' Peterson was sent home from the Torino Olympics after a night of partying ended with him getting into a fight that police had to break up.

A number of U.S. freestyle team members, coaches and officials had gathered socially Thursday night after the men's aerials finals in their mountain venue of Sauze D'Oulx, some staying out at a dance club until early Friday morning.

Tom Kelly, communications director for the U.S. Ski Team, said Peterson and friend Mason Fuller, an American who is not affiliated with the team, were seen fighting at a bus stop at around 9 a.m. Friday.

Kelly said he had been told Peterson appeared to be drunk, but he could not verify it first hand. He said police officers recognized the dustup as a scuffle between friends and did not arrest them or press charges. ...

Peterson, 24, came to Torino as the United States' best threat to capture a medal in aerials. But his Olympics competition ended in disappointment when he made a minor mistake on the landing of his trademark jump, the "Hurricane,'' in which he flies 50 feet above the ramp, packing five twists inside three somersaults. It's the toughest trick to pull off in aerials.

Peterson has taken a recent liking to skydiving and is one of 12 U.S. Olympians who are candidates to join Donald Trump on "The Apprentice'' in the fall. But his biggest off-the-mountain adrenaline rush probably came last year when he won about a half-million dollars playing blackjack in Las Vegas and bought himself a house.

Well, it wasn't such a 'minor' mistake on his jump; but at least AP/ESPN are reporting, NBC is doing nothing. Is there an understanding that bad news will just be ignored? Even American Idol reported it when two of their contestants got into legal trouble and had to be cut.

HOUR ONE
Skating gala
A busy night with multiple American medal chances, yet they start with figure skating's mass encores--shows you how important this sport is to NBC. To 'You're Beautiful', silver medalist Swiss Stéphane Lambiel in black, wow, a beautiful opening jump combo. Great spins say Scott Hamilton--true, you very rarely hear applause for a male skater just spinning but he gets it. Very relaxed, having a good time, and confident. He's good, look forward to seeing him in Vancouver.

Four-man bobsleigh
American Todd Hays' sled is first to go down the track; bad skid halfway through. With what may be the worst announcing team. A few mistakes, we'll see how it holds up, even though it's a track record. Next, Canada 1. Just interesting in this event watching everyone get into the sled. Picking up time as he goes on Hays, it's the same story for the U.S. in this event, we always get into a hole with our first run and then try desperately to claw our way back. Sure enough, Canada into first. Next Italy 1. Bit of a trouble getting into the sled; slow start. Into third. Interesting, it's alwasy the second guy that gets out first.

U.S.A. 2, pushbar hits wall, disaster says announcer. Typical. Hmm, picking up speed... into third. How much better could it have been? Whole way down with a pushbar sticking up. Switzerland 2 next. Slow, not gonna be a factor. Russian 1 next, why isn't it Russia 1 NBC? Top start so far. So far fastest one down, picking up speed on the others, wow, into first. Next, Russian 2. Slow up top, and the whole way through, into 7th.

Next, defending champ, Germany 1. Fastest start. These guys are pros. He's in first all the way through; announcer keeps talking about how it's not what he wants, but he's into first even with whatever mistakes the guy saw, which he didn't point out. Swiss 1 next, fastest start. They're the heaviest total team, with a lighter sled. Losing time; into third. So U.S. finishes first heat in 5th and 6th.

Men's 10,000M speedskating
Wow, equivalent to six miles?! They focus on the Dutch fans in the opening, so Chad Hedrick definitely doesn't win. Bob de Jong of the Netherlands first, with Oystein Grodum of Norway. 25 times around the track. My gosh. You can probably fall and still win. Crowd support can really help here; these races can be either boring, or amazingly exciting, no real in-between. It's like the kind of excitement that comes only from a sustained build-up, like 9th inning in the World Series. Either a Dutch or Norwegian has won this event every year since 1988; Norway has won the most medals in this event. Dan Jansen and his partner are good announcers. Every time they come near the orange sections the roaring gets even louder. Ugh, they cut away to commercial halfway through the race.

With six laps left, de Jong is more than 12 seconds ahead of current first place skater, and he's building his lead. Astonishing, announcers say more than 3/4ths of the seats are taken up by Dutch fans. It must be nice to live so close to so much in Europe. Into first, almost 16 seconds in front. His nickname's 'the diesel', and he delivers, as do the Dutch fans.

Wow, then it's just Chad Hedrick's final pair. Melissa Stark says the bolt on his right skate was screwed up in the 1500M; ah, that's why he lost. Nice attention to detail before the race, he says he can't make excuses--so why did he tell his buddy Starkie? On the replay, DJ says it looks like the hinge was open just as much in the 1500 as the 1000.

Shani Davis cheers Chad on, as he said he would. Carl Verheijan of Netherlands, co-favorite with Chad. Chad looks anxious at the start, body language-wise. Hmm, odd; Chad has a frosty history with Carl, imagine that. The guy's got no sense of humor, nor does he have much understanding of the world outside his head. Announcer says Dutch call Chad the 'loud mouth Texan', and that they really don't wanna have anything to do with him. Would have been nice to have had this brought up during the Shani incidents. Chad's best friend Melissa says Chad is fatigued... hmm, skating the pursuit doesn't seem so smart now; gotta take care of your own business first before telling everyone else what to do. He's barely ahead of the leader's pace, and he's losing time. Cool, they cut away.

HOUR TWO
Hmmm, Chad is almost three seconds behind de Jong; they show Shani cheering Chad on--he's too nice, white people are ice cold about things like this. DJ says Chad's struggling, and Verheijan is closing in too. Six laps yet, it's pretty exciting; Chad's mouth is open, tiring. Crowd is going crazy. Hedrick digs in, picks up a bit of speed. Opens up a six second lead after being just ahead of him. He'll pay for it later. DJ says he's never seen anyone skate a 10,000M like this. He's cutting into de Jong's pace, still three seconds back, so it'll be silver. Verheijan gest bronze, Dutch fans are happy. 13:01:57 to 13:05.

Hedrick becomes just the third U.S. athlete to win three medals at one Games; that's pretty cool. Eric Heiden won five gold; NBC doesn't tell us the other one, which is bizarre--it's Sheila Young, yet another speedskater, who won gold/silver/bronze in 1976. Hedrick actually has a decent post-race interview. I don't think he's a bad guy, but he's either a jerk or oblivious or just doesn't care waaay too often.

More entertainment
Bob says narrating the event is Tom/Scott/Sandra/Dick. Actually, they're one announcing team that I wouldn't use that adjective for during actual competition. Back with the crazy Italians, Fusar-Poli/Margaglio. He in black/suspenders, she in ugly turquoise/yellow. With her red hair, it's a fright. They use a chair and bottle as props, music is some American song that's not that great. They're okay. Button says for "somebody who had the biggest hissy fit of all time, she pulled herself back into the human world."

Next, just as crazy Johnny Weir, in black sparkly outfit, to 'My Way.' He thinks people care. Has such a smug look on his face. I guess this is no longer limited to the medal winners, anyone can get out there. He doesn't really do anything, just skates around posing. Nice jump toward the end. Hamilton says if you listen, the words really do represent his Olympic experience. Nah--no 'fall' or 'bus' or 'baby' in there. Or vodka. He's actually got pretty good form, wish he'd lose all the other stuff and just skate. I don't think he'd be willing to trade it even for a gold, he thinks it's who he is. Button says there was more fire in this program than in his actual long program, he really seemed to come alive here. Surprised no one's slipped up and called him Johnny Weird.

Next, Irina Slutskaya, who gets a real hand from the crowd and is classy. Hammond notes like Kwan, great career but no gold. I think this will be really good, like Michelle. In black, like so many others skating to music in English, I think it's 'Eric's Song'. She has a big smile on her face, is so fast. Oops, doubles her first jump. Skates well, she looks happy at the end.

Belbin/Agosto, she in red, he in black, to some flamenco thing. Looking very dramatic. They have the ability to compel paying attention, and also their movements flow out of each other. It's a nice performance, yet soddly lacking emotion--it's weird, like it was just a routine for them, no leaving their heart out there. So far nobody's done what Michelle did in Salt Lake.

Back to bobsleigh
U.S.A. 2 first; snow coming down. Losing time as he goes down though. Into second, by 1/100ths. They profile Todd Hays, and football in Texas, he played linebacker in college. USA 1 losing time as it goes down, skids and mistakes say the announcer, into 3rd, a bad ride. Canada 1 next, they don't make mistakes, into first. Next, Swiss 1 goes, losing a bit of time going down, but picks it back up, into first. Next, the Rooskies. Hmm, slower than he was in the first heat, into second. Next, Germany 1. 17-18 steps a typical bobsled start. German driver hasn't talked to the press at all, has been very serious. Announcer keeps trying to say Germans don't have the speeds of the other sleds so they might be in jeopardy; but they keep winning, one of the announcers says they're not as far ahead as they usually are. U.S. sleds are in 6th and 7th, about half a second back.

HOUR THREE
Women's giant slalom
They start with Picabo Street on the Today show slamming the U.S. team, and calling Mancuso unprofessional. Harsh--and odd, Picabo was fun-loving in her day.

They move the start down the mountain to try and get away from the fog, but it doesn't seem to be working; announcers say it's taken a lot of the challenge out of it. Rienda of Spain, I think it's the first Spanish athlete I've seen here--how come they're so bad at winter sports? Tina Maze of Slovenia, who's been racing since she was three. Into first. Anja Paerson of Sweden next, who already has a gold and two bronzes. Announcers talk about how you can't want it too much, you can't try too hard, then it won't come out naturally. Sortof an odd comment, at this level nothing's really natural. I think it'd be interesting if there were a series of events where people had to do things for the first time; wonder which athletes would do well. Paerson's into first, by nearly a second.

Next, Kathrin Zettel of Austria--running in Janica Kostelic's spot, who pulled out cause she's still sick. Zettel skis aggressively, into second, by nearly a second, wow, Paerson really had a great first run. Next Genevieve Simard of Canada, what a great name. Fog starting to move in up front, hard to see. She's bleeding a lot of time, hard turns on the edges. Into second, about half a second back. Next, Nicole Hosp of Austria, another young, talented member of that team. U.S. came in hyped as being comparable to them--the women alone have six medals, Americans total have only one. Into second herself, course seems to be getting faster.

They check out Julia Mancuso's--she of the tiara--RV, just like Bode. So far their results have been the same, too. They intro her as a valley girl; talks like it in a brief interview they did with her. Wow, looks very fast up top already, nice line. Fog really moving in; she is just flying, slightly out of control, which is good. Announcer gets excited late as he notices she has a good run going, even more excited when she goes into first. Running in front of the parade trying to lead it. Next Tanja Poutianian of Finland, she's apparently from Lapland--why hasn't this fact come out earlier, it's great. Not as nice up top as Julia; into third. Martina Ertl-Renz of Germany in her final Olympic race, first won a medal in 1988, in zebra pants. Into fifth.

From a Budweiser commercial we learn the U.S. won its first-ever curling medal today, a bronze over Great Britain. Awesome; that'll help us in the medals race.

Manuela Moelgg of Italy next. Ooh, she catches on a ridge or something, flips over and falls. Lies on the snow for a while. Announcer says with poor light she didn't see a compression. Teammate Nadia Fanchini next; they say the Italian coaches are most excited about her. Whoah, she nearly skis off the course, apparently her error. Hmm, conditions must be getting tougher too, bad luck for the home team. She's still into 7th. Sarah Schleper next, as announcers say Italian fans cheer for Mancuso because of her Italian heritage. Funny, American fans very rarely get to cheer for someone competing for another country whose folks were American--maybe Israeli athletes, it's about the only country I can think of where Americans go in significant numbers to live forever.

Talk with Julia, she's very focused, not really smiling. Says she's never led after the first round before. Costas says afterwards she'd said before the Games her top priority was to have fun, not win a gold. Okay... I mean, that's insane.

Predictably wrong
Jimmy and Chevy talk about the unpredictability of the Games. He says Torino may go down as the Games where a lot of things just didn't make sense. To whom?! American prognosticators? Ignorant rah-rah journalists? Funny, all three of his examples of wrong expectations involve Americans failing. Roberts talks about the inherent uncontrolled nature of Olympic surfaces. He cites two more examples--Canadian hockey and Norwegian cross-country skiing. Former isn't that shocking, team's been in turmoil and Wayne Gretzky brought old players; latter at least partially explained by a virus that ran through the team, and also problems with their ski waxing technicians. Poor Jimmy, must be hard for him to come up with a story every night.

More champs on ice
Chinese pairs team of Shen/Zhao, he of the achilles injury; in white and black outfits respectively with orange trim, to 'Dream the Impossible Dream.' He looks pretty strong on some long lift sequences. Wonder what the Chinese team thinks about this whole gala thing, they take everything so seriously; and she absolutely flies on a great throw. I'd say they're winning this event so far. Look very socialist heroic in their poses. Man, I am so looking forward to the Olympics in China, both will be majorly changed by the experience.

Next, Evan Lysacek. Apparently not. Long wait for music, then it gets abruptly turned off; all in black. Some sortof Sinatraish song. Reminds me of an American Idol contestant. Taking a long time to set up a jump... crowd's not really into it, musical choice isn't that great, program is okay. Odd, why does NBC only tell us the music when it doesn't matter? He's doing moves nobody is thrilled by.

Totmiyanina/Marinin of Russia, the pairs gold medalists--kindof early for them to be skating, they should be third from last. In Russiaish burgundy outfits with stripey piping. To some Russian torch song. Nice big throw. They kindof screw up a joint jump. Whoah, nice move where he carries her upside down for a while. They're also very serious during their program, no playing to the crowd or anything, just another top-notch performance for them. Blend in almost perfectly with the skating rink's padding.

HOUR FOUR
More slalom
Ottoson of Sweden first, conditions have worsened, visibility pretty bad. Whoah, way faster than current top time, almost one and a half second faster. Next, Schleper of U.S. She looks slow already, too deliberate. You can barely see her now in the middle with the fog; she slips, falls--super-slo-mo for the first time does something, soft snow left on course gets her. They gotta clean the course off better. Next, Maze of Slovakia, totally unseen in the middle part. Skiing very cautiously with the bad conditions, waay back into 5th. Zettel next, fog is worse, now up top too. Whoah, a bobble, losing time. Into second, more than a second behind. Fanchini goes, totally can't see her up top, and then totally disappears in the middle too. She's slow, into third by a lot. Segment on what the U.S. women's suits are like. Good illustration of the material inside the ski on contact stiffening.

Simard of Canada next to blast down, into second by more than 4/10ths. Ottoson's run is looking better and better. Next, Hosp of Austria. Having trouble with her poles, multiple mistakes, she's already behind--announcers say it's not far back, but considering she started with a half-second lead it is. And indeed, she's into second 3/10ths back--idiot announcers keep saying it was a great performance considering the problems she had up front, I'd say losing nearly a second isn't that great. Finn Poutiainnen next, bright green helmet is about all you can see. Fog's lifted a bit, steadily losing time. But enough of a cushion coming in to take the lead by over half a second, she exults. Anja Paerson hanging out; along with Julia Mancuso. Odd that NBC is showing her so late, my guess is she doesn't win gold.

Paerson blasts down, into tuck early; but already half a second off the lead. Announcer says snow is accumulating, track is getting slower. She's way back--this isn't good for Mancuso either. She's apparently wearing a new pair of skis, into fifth more than a second back. Finally, Mancuso. U.S. alpine team's hopes rest on her. Very wide turns up early. Very aggressive, nearly out of control, always a good sign; is increasing her lead, just don't fall--and she wins gold! Awesome! By nearly 7/10s, a huge win. Totally unexpected, how great is this. Just 21, what a great future. She's all happy and giggly afterwards, says 'I don't even know what to think', one of her teammates comes up behind her and gives her a big hug; her coaches and technicians are ecstatic, her mom goes nuts too. Afterwards she says it hasn't sunk in yet, seems nice.

Back to the champs
Sasha Cohen comes out, in spiffy blue. 'Don't Rain on My Parade', music is okay. Nice chance to show off her flexibility. No Fields of Gold, that's for sure; not all that entertaining, not sure why. Not like Surya Bonali's either. Announcers gush over her.

Next, Yevgeny Plushenko in black, with a violinist coming out on the ice with him playing on a Strad. That's a new one. Unlike Sasha, he jumps--a nice triple combination right off the bat. So free, so easy, so powerful. He looks so focused still, but does these goofy leg and arm movements. Crowd roars, he has a very intense look in his eyes, Hamilton is just gushing. Button says he commands your attention, can't take your eyes off him. Yup, those Russians; still the best.

Finally, Shizuka Arakawa, in blue with x-pattern front. To 'You Raise Me Up'. Beautiful song, and she's skating so gracefully, it gives you chills to watch, so soft and floating and effortless. Nails her jump. Such nice lines; funny, tonight I feel more like she's the champ than I did during her actual long program. Very Kwan-like; this will be like one of Japan's most-replayed pieces of video ever. 'When you have a night like that you just hate to see the sun come up' says Hamilton. Bezic raves about how she's 'everything a woman should be on the ice.'

Sasha Cohen joins Bob. She looks so different as a civilian. She says it's bittersweet... dug deep and found some courage after the falls. He should ask her if she identifies with Michelle now. Says if she keeps down this path, a lot of great things will come, and everyone learns at a different rate, maybe I'm just a slow learner. I like her, she's good. Bob asks her about Vancouver. She's gonna compete, she says it's her plan right now. Now Bob asks her about snowboarder Shaun White's crush on her. She's a bit non-amused, says I'm flattered but it's just a little bit awkward (he's much younger than her). I'll keep it at I'm flattered she says; she's very good at this. She then essentially says--in answer to a second question about crossing paths--in a very cute manner, watch the Tonight show.

HOUR FIVE
Curling first. Thanks to Budweiser, we already know what happens. Announcers are appropriately not as hyper for this event. A lot of odd tension in this event; lots of puns since the U.S. skip is a pizzeria owner. Canada beats Finland in the gold match, so at least one of their national obsessions pays off.

Then they recap hockey, Swedes beat Czech Republic--sans injured Dominik Hasek-- 7 to 3. Hot Finland shut out Russia, 4 to 0. So it's an all-Scandanavian showdown for gold.

Then Costas talks to Mancuso--odd, you'd think this interview would get a better time slot, maybe they'll rerun tomorrow. She seems a bit nervous, is wearing an odd huge mike, making because of her big turtleneck. All her answers are so stiff, so at odds with her outside persona. She wears her tiara on the medal stand, Costas asks her about it; it's a good story, her coaches gave it to her at the start of the season, so it's half gag, half homage. Gosh, she's so serious, it's odd; come on Bob, relax her. She's a bit more fluid as it goes on. Then they start laughing, so it goes better. She says she wants to be on Broadway, so interesting, as they talk about her wanting to be on Saturday Night Live and Bob makes an on-air pitch for her to get on.

Next is more on the 'enigma' that is Bode Miller. Okay... can think of a few other better words. They call him the 'darling' of the jet set, celebrated and scrutinized from one end of the world to another. Oh?! That's such insane puffery--this is NBC's journalism? And they say he hates it... yeah, those Nike ads were just forced on him. In every interview clip they sho he's prominently wearing Nike. He says it's important athletes are honest, and when they are they get punished for it. Yeah, that's why people dislike him. He travels in a camper, mostly detached from his teammates--how about some Shani Davis-style criticism from NBC?

They show medal ceremony for China's Han Xiaopeng in men's aerials, first time they've played China's anthem. Lampley says it's an anthem rehearsal for 2008, get ready, you're going to hear it a lot. Interesting line.

They close on a nice note, the Czech Republic's Katerina Neumannova won a cross-country gold in her last race, and her two-year-old daughter came bounding across the snow to her. So they show her medal ceremony, the significance of which to NBC is it's the 15th different anthem they're broadcasting.

Photo of Julia Mancuso celebrating during the Medals Ceremony by Elsa/ Getty Images.

Photo of Katerina Neumannova, and her daughter Lucie, after winning the gold medal by Anja Niedringhaus/ AP.

Photo of Paul Pruszynski, board member of the International federation of bobsleigh and toboganning, wearing Juta the beaver on his head by Eric Feferberg/ AFP.

Down to XX

Funny, Fox is apparently showing 'Skating with Celebrities' after this--kind of an insane programming decision, who's gonna watch fake skating on the same night as the real thing? It'd be like if American Idol tried to compete with a concert by Kelly Clarkson.

Almost 40 million votes came in Ryan says, that's astonishing. About 30 million watched each night, so a pretty high percentage must've voted. It's always a stretch to fill an hour for the results show, hopefully with four people to cut it won't be padded so much. Ryan's opening chat with the panel is totally worthless, just self-congratulatory and an extended commercial. Simon asks Ryan why he's obsessed with what he wears, bordering on creepy. Ryan asks if it's obvious who's leaving tonight, he says yeah, they were terrible. Simon says he thinks 'we' have now trained the American audience to be good music critics.

Everyone sits on the edge of the stage, sings 'Take it Easy.' Total mike problems, they're all getting swallowed. Then Chris Daughtry pierces through. For the most part it's a mess, way too many people. And no solos for Paris.

Clips recap the past two shows. The people I liked the least were David Radford and Bobby Bennett, and Becky O'Donohue and Heather Cox. But really, at this stage, there are so many people who could go and I wouldn't care, there are just too many people. Hmm, and Ryan lies to make it end poetically, he says both nights ended with smiles and smoldering looks, showing Katharine McPhee--who was the last woman; and Ace Young, who was next-to-last.

Ryan talks to Brenna, who has crazy puffed out hair. Then to more of the women. Nothing that interesting comes out of it, a lot of nervous posturing. Back row is obviously safe, all the favorites are in it. Hmm, Kinik (5th from bottom for me), Becky (2nd from bottom) and Brenna (4th from bottom). So that's ok; surprised that Stevie, who I liked but Simon savaged, is still alive; and also Heather, who I had last and was terrible. I assume it's Brenna and Becky, but who knows. Becky's the one with the Maxim photos too. Kinik sits down, which gets cheers, but means nothing. Bye bye Becky.

Ah, I forgot they do this in two parts. So Stevie and Heather could still go! Becky handles it well, like an adult. She makes a speech, thanks American Idol. Gosh, if she'd sang like this the other night she might still be around, it's totally free and easy, not great but definitely better.

Back with the guys. Half the show's over and they've only cut one, they really gotta move. They waste more time talking to the guys. Although Eliott has a nice minute, talks about how he's got praise but it's just potential.

Front row's safe is my guess--whoah, no way, they're all safe. Odd. I guess some of the best are mixed in with the worst, with the women it was totally obvious. Final two are Bobby and Sway. See ya, Bobby. Big and small. Here and gone. Sway's very confident and cool. And it is indeed Bobby. Who then goes on and on.

Paula tells him to go into musical comedy; Simon says he's charming. He's okay. How come nobody said he's like Jackie Gleason. Ugh, performance is even worse the second time.

Women back up. Back row safe again. Brenna, Kinik safe; Melissa safe too. So it's the obvious Stevie and Heather. Wow, very cruelly Ryan tells them both to get up, then says on second thought Heather sit down, it's you Stevie. She's very sweet about it. Sings again--I still think she's good, Simon pushed her off. Oh well; song selection is part of it, she didn't do a great job with that.

Bye bye to another guy. Front row is safe this time, he forces entire back row to go on stage. So dumb. Ryan says no results, so you can't tell. Sends four right back, down to Bucky and Patrick. And it's bye to Patrick, who I had at 4th from bottom. Kindof of a surprise though, maybe he got lost, and no fans obviously. He's got a good attitude.

I really dislike how they jerk everyone around during the results show. They're rude and cruel to the contestants, if Ryan had any backbone he's refuse to do it, or at least do it without participating fully. Oddly, they give Patrick a chance to talk more at the end.

Oh well; looking forward to getting back to the singing.

Photo of Becky O'Donohue, right, alongside her twin sister Jessie by Maxim.

Red melts ice

HOUR ONE
Bob Costas says hello, it's time for the ladies long program, and goes straight to Tom Hammond. No other baskets tonight. First is Italian Silvia Fontana, in peach dress, doubles first jump. Music Puccini's Turandot, which has got to be the most popular musical choice for skaters here; wonder if the Italian audiences are sick of it yet. Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic talk over the first part of her skate, filling in same biographical details as from short program. Dick Button weighs in on an 'unfortunate popping'; poor Silvia, tough skating early in front of the home fans. She has a bit of Nancy Kerrigan's almost straining facial emotions, and the whole teeth thing. She's emotional as she finishes, big hand. Scores are low, but a personal best for her, so that's good.

Costas back to set the scene. You can tell from the graphic who wins in skating--two names are listed first in their entirety, then three names follow with just their last names. Kind of a dumb thing for NBC to do. Where are the grown-ups?

Young Turk
Jimmy and Chevy are at the skating arena, looks at Turkish skater Tugba Karademir. Carried Turkey's flag in the opening ceremonies. Roberts idiotically flashes to images of protestors in the street--none of which happened in secular Turkey. Sheesh. Photos of her as a girl, as Jimmy tells his version of her story. Wow, her English is perfect.

She tears up talking about how hard it was for her dad to move to Canada, working three jobs to try and pay for her skating. She's really good, says she wondered if skating is that important to her for her parents to give up their comfortable lives in Turkey. It's actually a nice piece, but Roberts can't just let it breathe, he has to birth it every step of the way.

Karademir skates, in black with yellow trim. Her mom wasn't even able to watch her short program, she was at work--that's so insane, what kind of boss or job does she have? Classical music with a fun twist. She looks very relaxed out there, doubles her first combo, announcers don't say anything at all--uh, hello? Instead they talk about how it's her first time skating this long program, which is amazing. Her body type reminds me of Emily Hughes, will be interesting as she stays in the sport to see if her style changes. Scotty talks about how skating has truly become a global sport, Hammond mechanically repeats the first ever Olympic skater from Turkey. Button says she has very nice edges, no apparent nervousness. She's very slow compared to the top skaters, but has a good aristry. Maybe in Vancouver her mom will be able to watch her. Not bad scores, into second, I think only two skaters have gone.

An overly-zealous posting of her photo obscures the article, but a Turkish paper's first sentence read: "Turkish figure skater Tugba Karademir was successful in the free figure skating program at the ongoing Winter Olympics in Torino." Indeed she was; at the end of the night she finishes 21st out of 24th, beating an Italian, Hungarian, and a woman from Luxembourg, and right behind a Ukranian. Not bad for someone who's essentially on her own.

Women's parallel giant slalom snowboard
Again, they join this event late. At least in the women's event they have an American to focus on. In the second run already, Rosey Fletcher vs. Doris Guenther of Austria, who fell on her first run and has to take the maximum 1.5 seconds differential. Well, Rosey ought to win then. And like a minute after NBC starts its coverage, she's won the bronze. Okay then, back to skating? I guess they have to show the gold medal race now. Amelie Kober of Germany and Daniela Meuli of Switzerland, who won the first heat. Hmm, Kober wipes out, so that's that; gets back up and finishes, though. Interview with Rosy, seems nice, dedicates race to the mother of her fiance.

NBC cuts out a bunch of stuff from the first hour on their prime time repeat, so that's it for this hour.

HOUR TWO
Men's aerials
Assume the American does nothing here, based on the timing. Vladimir Lebedev of Russia first, astonishing height--it's like he hangs there--great landing. Alexei Grichin of Belarus, who's lowered his level of difficulty for his second jump, odd. Next, Jeret Peterson, who's doing the much-hyped hurricane. And he nails it, not a great landing, but holds on--the most-difficult jump ever done in Olympic history. Totally low score, into fifth place.

Han Xiaopeng of China, who finished next-to-last four years ago, currently in second. A nice high jump, but not very difficult the announcers say. Odd strategy people are pursuing--but it works for him, a near-perfect score and he's into first. Final jumper, Dmitry Dashinksi of Belarus--and he nails it, he'll get gold. Wearing a military-type helmet--ooh, it's not enough, the Chinese jumper gets gold. And his American coach comes running out. Amazing. They talk to Peterson, who has a good attitude about it. How about talking to the Chinese coach....

Ice skating for the duration
I've never seen this before--they're just going to show the final two groups of six continuously, no other sports and every skater. Man, NBC is really trying to get all it can out of its golden goose.

First, Finn Susan Porqui who designs her own costumes; brown outfit, classic look and music, very oboe-ey, Romeo and Juliet Bezic tells us, a very popular skating choice. Nails her opening jump. And her combo; doubles her next jump. Not very fast but decently solid. Hard what to make of these early skaters--some are on their way up, a lot have peaked and this is their moment in the sun. Doubles another jump; what does she have to lose, may as well go for it. Interesting that she decided brown was the color for Juliet. Misses a bit on a jump; Button says her program has been kind of sluggish, and that she's been such a good competitor for so long that he's disappointed in her. Coaching makes such a difference. And she totally misses her ending, Button says not a 'with it' performance in any way. But she's young, maybe next time. Odd, they don't show her scores.

NBC seems to have total access to the locker room, see Emily Hughes happy, Kimmmie Meissner all business gets on the exercise bike, Sasha Cohen tugs up her shirt to check on what looks like a small pad on her back, maybe she's injured?

Miki Ando of Japan next, in very odd little girl dress, turquoise. Nice music. Goes for a quad--and falls half a turn short, very close. Bezic says she may be too talented a jumper, often just jumps and hopes. A coquetteish performance, not great, almost like she's just going through the motions. Steps out on a triple, no real sense of energy in the arena. Trips up on another jump, touches the wall. Button says she's caught in between a girl's body that can jump easily and a woman's body that can't; and she falls again. Crowd feels bad for her, gives her a hand; Bezic says she's been both great and terrible in practice. Bezic says a performance like that is either a wake-up call, or the end of a career. Bit extreme, she's just 18. Into 5th at the moment, horrible.

Next, Emily Hughes. She's been growing on me, although I think she's still very young and spoiled. In blue, classic music. Nails her first jump, and then her combination. Then falls; middle part is pretty shaky, bobbles and wobbles. But she forces her confidence out--she's almost scarily good at putting on a big smile--and skates better. Crowd picks up on it, announcers are just rah-rah, like they feel it's unfair to say anything bad about her. This is how we got into the war in Iraq.... She's into first, oddly high score. They show obsessive Cohen backstage snapping off moves.

They promo tomorrow night's skating exhibition program, when all the medal winners skate whatever they want--poor NBC, it's Michelle Kwan's Salt Lake farewell that gets the most airtime.

Sarah Meier of Switzerland, in a va-va-va-voom red flames half/costume with black. To slightly modern classical music. Nice opening combination. It's an oddlyl disjointed performance. Doubles a jump, long entrance into it--then easily nails another jump. Hand movements are very rehearsed. Everything is telegraphed, double is singled. Odd fake ending, then a minute later the real one. Nails a combo at the very end, not bad really, better than Emily in my opinion. Button calls her a nicely figured lady in a very attractive costume. Into second.

Andrea Joyce talks to Emily Hughes, so produced, she talks the way you'd expect a teenager to, but it's all deliberate. Next, Joannie Roechette of Canada, in pinkish purpleish outfit. They're apparently taking commercials after each skater. Standard piano music. She looks like the figure on top of a wedding cake. Wow, totally nails first jump, very fast and tight spin. She has a good quality to her skating. A bit too set up; but nails combo. Nails another jump, Bezic says at the beginning sometimes she loses confidence in herself; and that in the short program it was like she 'lost her light.' Well, she's found it, nails another jump. Doubles a jump; has a nice lightness to her length-of-the-rink section. Nails a few more jumps, a bit of a bobble on the last. A big finish, soars across the ice, abrupt camera cut for NBC. And does a final two jumps in combo to end the program, nice. Like her the best so far. These Canadian women have really done a good job at the Olympics, the men have done nothing. Wonder how many countries there are where it's just the women winning all the medal--same for China, too. Good marks, into first easily.

Show Sasha backstage, eating some sort of ice cream or something. They show Shizuka Arakawa of Japan listening to music, of course Button puts a spin on it and says she's almost meditating or something. Funny how these guys gloss things onto athletes in such stereotypical and often incorrect fashion.

Next, Carolina Kostner of Italy, in grayish to white, apparently a snowflake. They show the flower girls all happy and clapping. Looks very severe; music is classical, piece by Beethoven I believe. Forget it, won't do anything Very fast, tall and thin. Nails her opening combination, the crowd is into it. Whoah, totally messes up a jump, almost hits the wall landing. Nails the net jump, so fast. Makes another one. Never seen a skater with her body type, it's kindof weird, inherently ungraceful. Coltish is the perfect word for her, has a nervous energy thing going on too. Totally singles a jump, Hamilton says she just looks so tight; touches down on another jump. She has great courage though, keeps going for it. Bezic says she needs time to harness her speed, and her height. Looks glum afterwards, then remembers to smile--I like her, low marks, into 4th. She has something about her, cares a lot obviously.

Profile of Irina Slutskaya, so tear-jerking, all slo-mo and sad music and muted colors. Says they're like one piece. My gosh, it's a touching story--no need to milk it for everthing, just tell it well. Move from her mom's health problems to her own, problems with blood vessels. Says she wants to do her best, for her mom. Weird cut to her warming up live. We're nearing 11, and the best NBC can show is the women's warm-ups. Hamilton says Cohen just took a weird fall on a jump, then nearly collides with another skater. Hmm, falls again. Big trouble. Meanwhile Arakawa is just nailing it. Slutskaya looks tight, Bezic says. Arakawa is like a machine. Hmmm, Slutskaya pops a jump. Cohen nails her final jump.

Elene Gedevanishvili of Georgia first of the final group. Tracy Wilson checks out the strategy of the skaters. It's rushed, a bit muddled. Elene's in traditional-looking outfit, black with gold. Amazing at 16 here she is. Nails her first jump combo. Nice music, folky. Pulls off her second combo, too. Crowd into this one from the start. Mmm, totally pops outof a jump attempt. Nails it the next time around. Some well-choreographed moves to the music. Hamilton's favorite is skating a good program so far. Mmm, totally pops out of another jump. Then nails the next one. Saves the landing on another jump. Nice ending, crowd likes her. Not great scores, into 5th.

Next is Sasha Cohen, in princessy maroon, crowd cheers as she comes out. Left leg taped due to groin injury. Doubt in her eyes, Sandy and Scotty think. Very determined look on her face. Bit too much tension to enjoy. Oooh, falls right away on her first attempt. Falls and touches down on her next jump. Nails next one. Fight to be on the podium now, Sandra says; music is Romeo and Juliet, a safe choice. So elegant, nicely done non-jump elements. Big smile; she may be thinking this is my farewell, may as well make the most of it, give it my all. Too bad you can't erase a minute of your choosing from these things. Nails another jump; she doesn't spend all this time setting each one up, flows more naturally than many of the other skaters. Wonder what Michelle is thinking at home, she's definitely been here. Nails another jump, so easily. Commentators are letting us watch. She's really grown on me over the years; she's not near where Michelle was in terms of being American skating, but she's nicely settled into her senior role here. Don't be sad, you did the best you could. 'I tried, I just couldn't get up on those jumps' she tells her coach coming off. Seems to have a cold too. On replay, her face as she falls isn't surprise or shock, it's almost acceptance, she knew going in she wasn't at her best. You know, I wish Kwan had skated, hurt and all.... Scores are really not bad, into first for now.

Next, Japan's Shizuka Arakawa; Hammond reminds us Japan has yet to win a medal in these games. Turandot, nice choice; in turquoise, looks very regal. Skates fast, doubles her opening. Not a magic night for the ladies. Triple then doubled. Bezic says she knows all she needs is a clean performance. Still, it'd have been nice to see someone grab the crowd. More clean jumps. She almost seems to be on a different planet, not sure who she's performing for. Beautiful music, though. Nailing her jumps. And just nails her most difficult jump, doubles out of another it seems like. So far a good performance, but not great or unforgettable. She's doing all the little things right, but no sum greater than parts feel. Like Cohen's program better actually, falls and all. Big finish as the music swells, crowd likes her, gives her a standing ovation. 'Cool beauty' is her nickname, Bezic says; a cautious performance, but clean. Button really likes her, that's a lady skating; Scotty says every skater in the world would admire her. Still, no real gushing; a good quality performance, but beatable say Scotty and Sandra. Big score, into first easily. She's pumped, very happy. Interesting, no profile of her.

Poor Sasha. Backstage show Kimmie walking around. Next, Fumie Suguri from Japan, purple. Looks very little girlish, vs. womanly teammate. Vulnerable feel to her skating, to Rachmaninoff's piano concerto #2. Nails her opening combo. Somehow feels too little for the music. Nails another jump. And another. So thin, astonishing. Weak positions to her spin, Button says. Nails another, past the halfway mark. Another jump combo, not bad. Bezic says it's a simplistic program compared to the others. Fights for landing on another jump makes it; then nails another combo. She's getting more into it as the program goes on, but nowhere near Cohen's artistry. Nice, clean program. Button really doesn't like her lines or positions. Her scores aren't that high, into 3rd.

Next, Kimmie Meissner in a red slip. Tough girl, from Baltimore. Steps out of first jump, Hamilton says it's very uncharacteristic of her. Standard classical music; nails next jump. She has an athletic, lean look to her; a bit off-balance on next jump, finishes combo well. Oddly choreographed program, some strange silences. Seems to do a lot of gliding out there. I think she'll definitely be good in four years, seems to have a big desire, and work ethic. Nails next triple. And then another jump. Pretty good final jump sequence, nice program. Liked better than Emily's. And a nice smile. Into fifth, not bad.

Confident Irina Slutskaya, in flaming red. Bezic points out she knows the energy in the building is different, her competitors have not done their best. Arakawa looking very regal. Slutskaya looks like she's ready to get to work. Has been waiting four years for the medal she believes she should've won at Salt Lake. Last-minute words from her coach. Cohen back into view, looks satisfied Hammond says.

Slutskaya skates to baliyinka Russianish music. Into her first jump, nails it easily. Skating very fast. Nails next combo more or less. She's not grabbing the crowd the same way she did in short. Another jump, bit off but fine. Music changes, languid. Would've like something more classical I think. No need to go soft on us, Rooskie! Hamilton says next three jumps will be deciding. Doubles the first; oh-oh. So did Arakawa though. Oh, totally falls on the next, so uncharacteristic. Nails next combo. But damage is done.... They should show Arakawa in a box on the bottom. Nails next jump. She's skating noticeably slower here in the second half. Crowd clapping along, but not really into it. Disappointing night overall. Chant of Irina after she finishes. Arakawa is gonna get millions of Japanese girls to want thin lips. Slutskaya's score is surprisingly low, she clasps her head, but recovers quickly with a smile. Arakawa lets loose with a huge smile, annoying, some white guy is all over her--first-ever gold for Japan in figure skating.

Tracy breaks down the scoring. Arakawa won all four elements; Trace makes the good point that Cohen was able to put her mistakes behind her and beat Slutskaya on the non-jump related marks, so that's why she's got silver.

Arakawa is gonna be like the biggest star ever in Japan. She's single-handedly saved their games; and is gonna be the namesake for millions of little girls. Whereas for the U.S., hard as it is to believe it's the first time in eight years that the reigning Olympic champ in this event won't be American. Arakawa does continue the tradition of the winner in ladies figure skating being someone who just peaked at the right moment and took advantage of everyone else's mistakes, rather than someone who grabs gold from other worthy performances.

Odd, discussion will have to wait to late night program. Cohen tells Joyce she tried her best; I like her, she's a good person. Says it wasn't her leg wrap that caused the problems. Joyce is trying to be so rah rah, Cohen isn't just going along. She says she didn't think she was going to get any medals, so it was great to get silver. Either her injury was worse than we know, or she was the only one who didn't expect her on the podium.

Wow, I forgot, but a lot of people thought Japan's best skater was Mao Asada, who couldn't compete here because she's just 15. Wow, they could have a dynasty on their hands, everyone's gonna wanna skate now. And that guy with Arakawa looking very chummy was just her coach, Nikolai Morozov. At least the Russians have a connection with gold tonight.

Costas closes prime time with skating wrapup that's a bit too declarative, trying to put Cohen and Slutskaya's non-wins in perspective. They did their best, but fell--it's okay. Both are still wonderful athletes and great people.

HOUR FIVE
They pick up exactly where they left off, with skating analysis. Hammond says it was surreal; Bezic it wasn't what they expected, but she really though Cohen recovered well. They praise her to high heaven, she never gave up. Hmm, who won tonight again?

They finally get to Arakawa a few minutes in, Scott says she just performed, and that it was wonderful. Bezic says she's statuesque, towers above the others. And that it was very Japanese, and beautiful. Ugh.

Where's Button? Then they talk about Slutskaya. Bezic says it was all just too much for her to handle. Hamilton says this event always seems to sum up the Olympic experience as a whole. In which case this year's theme is unexpectedness. And some things changing.

They talk about how Arakawa stacks up against other champs--Bezic says it was cautious, subdued, elegent, regal--and she's a woman, vs. Tara and Sarah. They show her performance again; it was definitely a bit restrained.

I think it's funny that the top news for at least one Japanese newspaper's website is the pregnancy of their princess over Arakawa's win. They're really hoping for an heir.... I think every Japanese site I looked at is stripped down, they must all be programmed for a country that mainly access the Web via cell phones, rather than computers.

They return to Shani Davis in the studio with robotic Jim Lampley. First question is about him and Chad Hedrick. He's calm, and says hopefully they both learned from this. Second question is about Chad shaking his hand. He says he just wants to be a good sport, so that's why he stuck his hand out. Third question, you've said you'll root for Chad in 10,000M, explain. Odd question phrasing; his answer essentially is heck, I'll cheer for my teammate. Next, what do you think you've left kids with. He says he knows how powerful an athletic role model can be. So calm and forthright, a good guy. Next, being black and winning means what. He says heck, we all share in this, everyone should try to shoot to be the best in their area. Next? He says the silver will keep him hungry for Vancouver. What a gentleman.

Unlike every other athlete, he didn't come into the studio with his medals draped around his neck.

Review of the day its usual stuffed self. Broadcast ends with injury to U.S. skeleton athlete update, then back to skating, with brief highlights.

Photo of Shizuka Arakawa by Vladimir Rys/ Bongarts/ Getty.

Photo of Sasha Cohen by Mike Segar/ Reuters.

Photo Irina Slutskaya reacting to her scores by Mark Baker/ AP.