21st Winter Olympics:Day 4 Recap

Today offered lots of up and downs for the Canadian team. Here are a few highlights from today's events:

1. Pairs Long Program

The figure skating pairs competition just finished a matter of minutes ago. It was obvious that the Chinese were going to take gold and silver in this competition. I was really hoping for the husband and wife team. They have been 2 time world champions, but had never won a gold medal. They had retired from skating, gotten married and decided to come back to try and win the Olympics.

Last night this team broke the world record in the short program, and tonight broke the world record again in the long program to win the Gold Medal! The Canadians ended up 6th and 9th which was a great performance for these couples.

2. Men's Snow Cross

I think that this is now one of my favorite events in the Winter Olympics. It is a cross between roller derby, snowboarding, and skateboarding. The men do 2 runs in qualifying and then weed it down to 4 men for the finals. Canadian Mike Robertson ended up being edged out and ended up with the silver medal. We had 2 other Canadians competing. Robert Fagan ended up 5th, Drew Neilson was 11th and Francois Boivin was 12th.

3. Men's Alpine Downhill

Canada had 4 men competing in this event. The favored was Manuel Osborne-Paradis as he grew up in North Vancouver and lived on the Wistler hill as a child. Unfortunately, none of our men medaled, but we still had one athlete who put out a great performance. Erik Guay ended up 5th which is the highest placing ever. Manuel Osborne-Paradis ended up 17th, Jan Hudec ended up 25th and Robbue Dixon DNF. These men still have a few more races left later this week.

4. Men's Long Skate 500m

Jeremy Wotherspoon came back for his 4th Olympic games. Back in Elementary school we did a research project on a Winter Olympic sport and I chose speed skating. At that time it was Jeremy's first Olympics, and he was a star on our Long Track Speed Skating team. He came back to try and win the looming Gold medal that is left to complete his decorated skating career.

Tonight we had 4 men competing. Again we did not win a medal but put out some great performances. Our highest placing was Jamie Gregg who ended up 8th. Jeremy Wotherspoon ended up 9th, Mike Ireland 16th, and Kyle Parrott was 21st.