Official Sochi Olympics - Backes brings home 2 stray dogs

[WestCoastJoe]

Alex Bilodeau wins gold once again. Mikael Kingsbury gets the silver.

[WestCoastJoe]

Pete Evans - Monday Feb. 10, 2014 13:01 ET

Alex Bilodeau, Mikaël Kingsbury take gold, silver in Olympic moguls

Bilodeau defends Olympics moguls title

Canada's Alex Bilodeau raises his arms in victory after defending his Olympic gold medal in men's freestyle moguls skiing. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Alex Bilodeau won the gold medal in men's moguls at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games on Monday and his teammate Mikaël Kingsbury grabbed the silver.

The bronze medal went to a Russian skier, Alexander Smyshlyaev, to the delight of the crowd.

A third Canadian skier, Marc-Antoine Gagnon, finished just off the podium in fourth place.

Bilodeau, the champion four years ago in Vancouver, becomes the first man to ever successfully defend the men's Olympic moguls crown.

He's also the first Canadian athlete to defend an Olympic crown in any event since speed skater Catriona Le May Doan won gold in the 500 metres in both 1998 and 2002.

World's best

Bilodeau and Kingsbury came in as heavy favourites, having spent much of the last few years trading places atop the world rankings.

The 26-year-old Bilodeau was the gold medallist four years ago in Vancouver. But Kingsbury, 21, was the reigning world champion.

"It means a lot," Kingsbury said of his silver medal. "I did a great run, just a little mistake. Alex totally deserved it [and] I'm super proud of myself to have the silver medal."

The gold and silver bookends a very successful week of freestyle skiing for Canada at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park in Sochi.

Sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe took gold and silver in the women’s final on Saturday night, clasping hands and fighting back tears as their parents screamed from the stands. On Monday, it was Bilodeau's family doing the crying and celebrating, with his parents and his brother Frederic in attendance, cheering him on.

The two brothers embraced near the finish line after the event ended.

Although he was favoured to medal, the day got off to a rough start for Bilodeau. At one point he sat in eighth place, barely passing the cutoff to move on to the next round. But he found his game in subsequent rounds before saving his best performance for the final.

His last run was awarded the highest score of 26.31, but there was still one skier to come — his teammate and rival, Mikaël Kingsbury.

Kingsbury performed a solid run in his final run. But his score of 24.71 was not enough, and he had to settle for the silver.

[WestCoastJoe]

Results so far ...

[WestCoastJoe]

And on a note more important to some than medals ...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1954 ... n-passport

Team Canada Has Beer Fridge That Only Opens with Canadian Passport

By Kyle Newport , Featured Columnist

Being an Olympian certainly has its perks, especially for the athletes on Team Canada.

Last week, U.S. Figure Skating, via ESPN's Darren Rovell, showed the world that the athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics have a keychain that allows them to get free Coca-Cola and Powerade:

Team Canada has taken it to the next level:

Athletes from Canada need to make sure they know where their passports are at all times, seeing as how most of the athletes from the other nations must be very jealous. The beer fridge figures to be a very nice perk for Team Canada.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2014 ... men-moguls

Alex Bilodeau wins 2nd gold medal

Updated: February 10, 2014, 3:10 PM ET
Associated Press

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia -- Canada's Alex Bilodeau defended his gold medal in Olympic men's moguls on Monday night, fending off rival Mikael Kingsbury to become the first freestyle skier to win consecutive Olympic titles.

Bilodeau put together a purrfect run in the finals to make history, posting a score of 26.31 on the slushy Rosa Khutor Extreme Park course in the medal round.

Kingsbury endured a slight form break in the middle of his run and ended up with silver. Alexandr Smyshlyaev of Russia took bronze.

Bilodeau's triumph capped a fantastic stretch for Canada on the tricky slope at Rosa Khutor. Canadian sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe took gold and silver in women's moguls on Saturday.

It wasn't the smoothest night for either Bilodeau or Kingsbury, who came to Sochi atop the world rankings, at least until the medal round.

The two favorites dominated qualifying, but were hardly sharp in the first elimination runs. Kingsbury slogged to one of the slowest times of the competition while Bilodeau nearly fell on his backside after landing his first jump.

Still, it ultimately came down to what is has repeatedly come down to in most of the past four years, the 26-year-old Bilodeau against the 21-year-old Kingsbury in a fight for supremacy.

In the end, it wasn't close.

Going fourth in the six man final, Bilodeau was flawless as he navigated the mounds with his knees appearing magnetized together. He thrilled over the two jumps, spinning and twisting his way through the balmy air before floating back to earth and continuing on his way.

Kingsbury couldn't match it. His knees separated midway through the final run, and while he raised his hands as he crossed the line, he knew he was finished. He pumped his first half-heartedly when his score of 24.71 was posted, more than a full point behind Bilodeau.

The two embraced, though it was Bilodeau who flashed the "No. 1" sign during the flower ceremony in the giddy aftermath.

It was a predictable finish to a sometimes unpredictable night.

Rising temperatures that pushed into the mid-40s during the day turned a course already deemed questionable by some into the world's largest Slurpee machine.

Instead of powdery snow that allows racers to carve graceful turns at near breakneck speeds, nearly half of the field either veered off course or tumbled head over skis during qualifying.

And the mistakes weren't limited to the also-rans. Pat Deneen of the U.S. was hung up midway down the mountain in his first qualifying run and he angrily bulled through one of the gates marking the end of the slope before making his way to the bottom. While he recovered to top the second qualifying run and make it to the finals, defending Olympic silver medalist Dale Begg-Smith of Australia did not.

The two-time Olympic medalist -- including gold at Turin in 2006 -- was attempting to make a comeback after taking three years off following a silver in Vancouver. He was sloppy during the first run before disaster struck in the second. Less than 50 feet from getting through a run clean enough to advance to the medal round, Begg-Smith couldn't get his skis over in time while completing his second jump. He smashed into the muck, his face a mixture of stunned disbelief and disgust. It marked the first time Begg-Smith missed out on the finals since 2005.

But reaching the podium, however, would have been a long shot at best for Begg-Smith following his sabbatical. The sport he once dominated has moved on without him, as Bilodeau and Kingsbury have separated themselves from the rest of the world -- a gap that shows no signs of closing.

[TheLionKing]

I guess Own the Podium is working. All those critics can now disappear

[TheLionKing]

Team Canada scored 3 unanswered goals in the 3rd period to beat Finland by that score. Next up is USA on Wednesday

[TheLionKing]

Highlights

http://olympics.cbc.ca/news/article/can ... ml?cid=rss

[Coast Mountain Lion]

And on a note more important to some than medals ...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1954 ... n-passport

Team Canada Has Beer Fridge That Only Opens with Canadian Passport

By Kyle Newport , Featured Columnist

Being an Olympian certainly has its perks, especially for the athletes on Team Canada.

Last week, U.S. Figure Skating, via ESPN's Darren Rovell, showed the world that the athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics have a keychain that allows them to get free Coca-Cola and Powerade:

Team Canada has taken it to the next level:

Athletes from Canada need to make sure they know where their passports are at all times, seeing as how most of the athletes from the other nations must be very jealous. The beer fridge figures to be a very nice perk for Team Canada.

Molson being a sponsor, I hope they've at least stocked it with Canadian if not something better, rather than that Coors swill.

[TheLionKing]

3 Canadians qualified for the Women's Ski Slope Style.. Unfortunately the odds on favourite Kaya Turski felled on her 2 runs and failed to qualify.

[sj-roc]

In curling, Brad Jacobs and his rink split their first two draws on Monday, with a closer-than-expected 11-8 win over Germany and a close 5-4 loss to the Swiss, the youngest team in the field. The loss began with Canada blanking the first four ends to hold hammer through the fifth, when Jacobs failed on a draw with his final shot to surrender a steal of three from which they could never fully recover.

On the women's side, Jennifer Jones's team is off to a 2-0 start with convincing 9-2 and 9-3 wins over China (Monday) and Sweden (Tuesday) respectively. Jones curled a purrfect 100% in the 8-end decision against the Swedes. As much as Jacobs has struggled with his draws at times, Jones is playing lights out.

[TheLionKing]

Brad Jacob's rink struggled in his 1st two games. Missed shots. Need to get his act together, otherwise he'll be on the outside looking in.

[TheLionKing]

Another Golden day for Canada. Dara Howell wins Gold, Kim Lamarre wins Bronze

[TheLionKing]

http://olympics.cbc.ca/news/article/dar ... ml?cid=rss

[WestCoastJoe]

Medals leaders ...

Congratulations to Dara Howell.

Canada, World Power in Winter Olympics sports.

Go for the Gold.

As TLK pointed out, it would seem Own the Podium has planted seeds of success. And it is not just all about results. It is about process too. Focus on the process; the results will come.