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