Americans did themselves proud at Olympics

Apolo Anton Ohno
Every story about the nation’s most famous short-track speedskater calls him "soul-patched," and I still have no idea what that means, unless it refers to the quaint brush of chin whiskers that precede him around the track.

Ohno was touted as a four-medal hopeful in Salt Lake City, but he had a crash, a controversial win and a lifetime’s worth of confrontations with the Korean team. In the end, he won just two medals and was labeled something of a bust, even though in crash-and-burn world of short track, there is no such thing as a sure shot.

He came back accompanied by considerably less hype and produced one of the great moments of the Games on the penultimate night of competition, blowing away archrival Ahn Hyun-soo of Korea in the 500 meters — short track’s equivalent of the 100-meter dash in the Summer Games. Earlier, after crashing in the 1,500, he had won a bronze in the 1,000, then topped it all off with another bronze while anchoring the 5,000-meter relay.

With five medals in two Olympics, no one can Ohno anything but what he is one of the greats of his sport.

Sasha Cohen

NBC VIDEO Silver belle Feb. 24: "Today" show host Katie Couric talks with U.S. figure skater Sasha Cohen about her silver-medal performance. Today Show Olympics

America’s hope for a gold medal in women’s figure skating did what she always does in big competitions...she crashed. But, unlike Salt Lake City, where her fall was from a top medal to fourth place, Cohen picked herself up off the Palavela ice and finished her long program with brilliance and verve to finish second. The victory was vital to U.S. figure skating, as it kept alive a streak of podium finishes going back to Peggy Fleming and 1968.

Ted Ligety

NBC VIDEO Ligety split! Feb. 15: "Today" show host Katie Couric speaks with Ted Ligety, who won gold in the combined skiing event. Today Show Olympics

Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves were the big guns on the American Alpine skiing team. Ligety was just one of the guys, a slalom specialist with an outside shot at a medal.

In Alpine’s second event, the combined, which marries a morning downhill run with two afternoon slalom runs, Miller was supposedly the favorite, but Ligety was the man who won the day, beating out Austrian hotshot Benjamin Raich and everyone else for what would be the men’s only medal of the games.

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto

NBC VIDEO U.S. ice dancers make history Feb. 21: "Today" show host Katie Couric talks with Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto about their silver medals in ice dancing. Today Show Olympics

The United States has an impressive record in figure skating, but until this year, the glaring exception had been in Ice Dancing. After winning a medal back in 1976, the team had gone without another for 30 years.

Belbin and Agosto, who are an item on and off the ice, ended that streak with a performance that even macho guys who normally wouldn’t watch figure skating on a bet had to admit was awfully impressive. They were graceful.

They were passionate. They sparkled. And, with a silver medal, they ended a 30-year streak of futility.

Curling
Some people don’t think that sliding rocks down a sheet of ice at a bulls eye is a sport, but curling, a game that, like golf, was invented ages ago by bored Scots, is an Olympic sport and has been for a long time.

And if it’s in the Olympics, it must be tough.

The United States’ record in the event confirms its degree of difficulty.

The team had never won an Olympic medal and the men last won anything in a major competition back in 1978.

The team led by skip Pete Fenson changed that. They were a young group, fit and devoid of the beer bellies some expect in the sport. Fenson was delightfully entertaining, spending his spare time in Italy collecting pizza recipes.

He led the team into the bronze-medal game, then made the critical throws that beat Great Britain for that medal. And just like that, curling became cool.

Snowboardcross
NASCAR on ice was a new sport this year, and it’s the only event that pits four people at a time on the same course. As in short track speedskating, crashes are part of the game.

Wescott came in as the world champion, and, like fellow snowboarders Teter and White, he lived up to his hype, taking the gold in his event. As luck would have it, his girlfriend is Tanja Frieden, the Swiss rider who capitalized on Lindsey Jacobellis’ tail-grab to win the women’s gold.

Toby Dawson

NBC VIDEO Meet the moguls master Feb. 16: "Today" show host Matt Lauer talks with American Toby Dawson, who won the bronze medal in the men's moguls. Today Show Olympics

Jeremy Bloom was the big name in moguls freestyle skiing, and when he bombed on his finals run, it looked as if the United States was going to get shut out. But Dawson, who came in with little fanfare, saved the day — and Bloom’s backside — by throwing down a bronze-medal performance. It was a fitting pay-off for four years of unrelenting work by the modest hero.

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