Olympics night two: Apolo Anton Ohno goes for broke, J.R. Celski too

11:50 -- Apolo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski

Andrea Kramer asks Ohno if he thought he'd been interfered with, he says, "yeah." As J.R. is beig interviewed Anton grabs him, whoops, then goes off. Kindof an odd interview, I don't like Kramer much so I pin it on her disjointed style.

Back with Hannah Kearney, who said her trainer gave her a card this morning showing how many practice jumps and runs she's done, gave her a ton of confidence; great idea. She's really good, like her. "If I can set the tone for team USA, that is a dream come true."

And that's it for a great first night, where the U.S. exceeded expectations and Canada fell flat.

11:35: Men's luge singles, 2nd run
Andi Langenham is in first as Russian Albert Demtschenko starts the televised part of the second run. He finishes the heat first. Italian Armin Zoeggeler next, ot the legend of old the announcer tell us; into first for now.

David Moeller of Germany next, like a machine, of course, into first. One of the luge announcers isn't very good, not sure of his name yet -- keeps interjecting odd and uneven thoughts. Duncan Kennedy is really good though. Tony Benshoof of the U.S. is up next, way behind halfway through, moving around a lot, is in 6th now -- idiot announcer says he moves up to 6th, he started 7th. Uh, actually, there are more lugers to come, so actually he moved down to 6th.

Felix Loch next, they keep saying they're going from the women's start -- well, actually, now that they're going from there, doesn't that make it the men's start? German, goes into first; then Stefan Hoehner of Switzerland, wipes out.... Somehow holds onto his sled, finishes. "There is no way you practice for what he just did," the bad announcer says.

Chris Mazdzer next, Duncan says he's a star of the future. He really does move up to ninth.

10:44: Women's moguls finals

Snow and rain coming down, Tae Satoya of Japan up first; fog becoming an issue the announcers say -- it looks pretty bad. Wow, a wild, dark night, bright evergreen against the gray sky. Oh, totally biffs off the second jump, then falls again after the finish line. Nikola Sudova of the Czech Republic, Weird, camera stays fixed on the start after she's already left. Nearly sits down on the second jump.

Arisa Murata of Japan debuting at 19. Screws up early, odd first jump but maybe that's on purpose, recovers nicely. Ekaterina Stolyarova, Russian from near Siberia, with pigtails hanging down, totally smooth off the first jump, relaxed off the second too, just has a good vibe to her for some reason. Eight competitors left; Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Canada, big roar, 18, doing some warm-ups. Nice big first jump, a big herky jerky, huge second run, crowd goes nuts. 29.87 down the hill, in first of course. She could be Canada's new sweetheart....

Funny, competitors have huge, comfy chairs to wait in afterwards. Michelle Roark of the U.S. next, in white polka dots on blue outfit. Ooooh, and she wipes out.... Keeps going though. Good announcer, said she tried to do a big trick to make it to the medals, finished it but just caught an edge. Ranked 13th out of 20.

Shannon Bahrke, next American; to be married on 10/10/10, will be Mrs. Happy. Big first jump, she's motoring. Huge second jump, iron cross, and 27.90, blistering. Jumps into first, goes nuts. Aiko Uemura of Japan next, not bad first jump, leaning a bit back; nice second jump, 28.88; her fourth Olympics. 30 is a perfect score, in second. Funny, I wonder if they sit at the bottom in the order of finish. Kristi Richards of Canada, a bit awkward I think, goes down.... Gets up eventually, finishes the route.

Heather McPhee, the third American; is just zooming down the course; oooh, and she wipes out too! Well, Shannon's guaranteed a medal, but no U.S. sweep.... Big hug from her teammate though. Jenn Heil, defending gold medalist and Canadian, suppose to be the first ever to win gold on home soil. Looks good so far, is speeding; 27.91, great run. I think judges will give her first, home court advantage.

And yeah, she's in first, big smile from her. Again, Hannah Kearney I think is gonna have to be clearly better to win. Huge jump, just speeding, 27.86, and the announcers keep talking about her tight hands, celebrates with her teammate.

Two more medals for the U.S., bronze and -- gooooooooooooooooold! First of the games for us, she's ecstatic, hugs from everyoe else, gets the flag out, hugs her peeps.

U.S. atop the medal table at this point, 4 to 2 for South Korea. 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. U.S.A.!


10:26: Men's short track 1500 finals
B Final up first in short track; why is there one? Just six skaters in the final, this one gets you two others, since the Olympics like to award up to eighth place. Just in case there's a, you know, huge doping scandal or something. Charles Amlin takes the lead to huge applause, winds up winning to a standing ovation.

13 1/2 laps to gold for Apolo Anton Ohno. J.R. Celski the other American; three South Koreans with them, and the Chinese skater too. Oh, Canadian Olivier Jean advanced into the finals, refs decided he was blocked in a semi. Let's go Ohno! And Celski! Goes from near the end to first in one amazingingly smooth pass. Wow, Koreans were 1-2-3, but then two of them crash, and Ohno and Celski finish second and third. Lee Jun Sook of South Korea won the gold.

Sixth Olympic medal for Ohno, ties Bonnie Blair. Wow, medals in three Olympics... Picks up his teammate.



10:00 pm: Men's luge singles, first run
Men's luge... day after the Georgian competitor died. Cowardly official report blamed him, but as the president of Georgia said, "the price of an athletic mistake shouldn't be death," and as Bob Costas points out, the world's best luger crashed on his first run. And they build a wood wall, men start from the women's spot and the women even lower, part of the fatal turn was shaved down and they wrapped the steel pole that took his life -- any other questions?

Chris Mazdzer up first for the U.S., first of four runs; no hope of a medal of course, U.S. traditionally has trouble in the individual part of luge. Really good run, though. Without acknowledgment they fast forward to Felix Loch of Germany, skipping over the Swiss guy who's in the lead. Talk about how the Germans are focused on foot position, he destroys the Swiss guy, over 91 mph at the finish. The best Olympic moments are when someone comes out of nowhere, don't think we're gonna have that here.

Tony Benshoff of the U.S., nursing an injured back. Not a great start, moving around. Finishes in second, but like half a second behind. David Moeller of Germany next, goes into second. And now, Armin Zoeggeler, the Italian who's a legend; very Zen sled position. Kindof a ragged run, in third. Albert Demtschenko of Russia, won silver last time, bigger than everyone else seems like; into fifth.

Andi Langenham of Germany, starting to snow more, later in the run; slower track; finishes in sixth. Bengt Walden, from Sweden, now an American. A lot of movement at the start, peeking with his head too. Whoah, totally skids, very ragged; hits the curve, way back; head coach shaking his head. Sam Edney of Calgary gets a huge roar; like his look, think he'll be good. Seems a bit nervous, tentative, but very still; in 10th. Another Canadian, Jeff Christie, looks all bug-eyed; into 13th.



9:00 pm -- Men's short track, 1500 semis

Four American women qualify in the top seven for the moguls finals as we hit 9 pm on the East Coast, first full night of Olympic competition. Big event tonight is in short track speed skating, Apolo Anton Ohno trying to tie speed skater Bonnie Blair for most medals by an American in the winter games, six. He's got two golds, one in Salt Lake City, one in Torino.

He tells Cris Collinsworth, "symbolism is very important to me," from Seattle, started his career in Vancouver, is ending it here.

Apolo's in the first semi of the 1500s, first two of seven make the finals. He's wearig a glove with gold tips on his left hand, made by a knife maker in Salt Lake City. Wow, Ohno was in last at the beginning, then towards the end makes his way to the front, passes the Canadian guy, wins up in second, qualifying. He slightly bumps the South Korean that won tying an Olympic record, but no biggie. Ah, what a great, exciting sport!

Second semi, Lee Ho-Suk of South Korea the favorite. He wins with a super pass lateish that the announcer calls a "patented Korean move," Chinese skater in too, another Canadian fails to advance.

Third semi, with J.R. Celski of the U.S., who fell at the U.S. trials and was cut by his skate blade; his mom's Asian. Gotta root for him. Another Korean favorite in this one, Sung Si-Bak. Wow, and in a great race J.R. stays out front, holds off some late charges, and finishes second! He eases up at the second, almost gets passed actually....

Exciting race; hope it's Ohno 1, Celski 2....