It is the second week of Vancouver Olympics. Many things are known, many Olympic champions have been crowned. As always, and as on any other Olympics there have been stories that will be remembered by sport fans.
However, it is hard to remember any Olympic games, either winter or summer, with so many controversies.
It all started with a death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, even before the Olympics were officially opened. It continued with problems during opening ceremony when a malfunctioning hydraulic left Catriona Le May Doan holding a torch with nothing to light, looking very unimpressed. O Canada.
Vancouver rain, falling heavily, was threatening to washout that little snow that was left on Cypress.
Technical difficulties continued at speed skating oval. After two consecutive days of problems with the Richmond Oval 2010 Olympia re-surfacing machines, including an embarrassing hour-and-a-half interruption of Tuesday’s men’s 500-metre final, a Zamboni was transported from the Calgary Olympic Oval to ensure that no further glitches occur.
The protesters were fighting with the police, encircling seat organizers. At the concert, twenty people were injured after security fence relented, and on the opening ceremony, one mentally ill man made his way all to the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden with a pass that he made at home :)
Scotty Lago, winner of the bronze medal in the men's halfpipe snowboarding event, "voluntarily" left the Winter Olympics Friday after risqué photos of a woman kissing and biting the medal surfaced in the media.
There have been numerous crashes on "track of death" at Whistler's sliding centre.
There have been spectacular crashes on Whistler's downhill course, in particular Anja Paerson and Patrik Jaerbyn.
There was a sad story about Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette whose mom died 2 days before her short program (she actually just placed 3rd in her short program, and that is incredible....).
There have been all 4th and 5th places by Canadian athletes, and 3 skiing medals for Bode Miller and Aksel Lund Svindal.
There was a lynx on downhill course.
Julia Mancuso had a wild party while celebrating her silver medals.
Two TV commentators crossed the line during men's figure skating, while commenting on "gay" look of Johnny Weir.
In the Olympic village, the story that has been circulating was that bob sleigh racers did not eat breakfast because they knew they would soon have to race. Two Swiss teams announced withdrawal from the competition, and actually all athletes on the track of death are nervous.
Today, there was another big story, from skating oval in Richmond.
Lee Seung-Hoon of South Korea claimed gold in the men's 10,000m speed skating after heartbreak for Dutchman Sven Kramer who was disqualified for a lane violation.
Kramer, the 5,000m gold medallist, and one of my "stars" of these games, appeared well on course for his second gold of the Games but was wrongly directed by his coach to make a crossover from the outer to the inner lane eight laps from the end of a powerful run.
Kramer continued racing and raised his arms in the air in celebration as he crossed the line more than four seconds up on the South Korean who had set an Olympic record.Kramer continued racing and raised his arms in the air in celebration as he crossed the line more than four seconds up on the South Korean who had set an Olympic record.
But the Dutch coaches - and Lee himself - knew that disqualification was to follow. An angry Kramer threw his glasses into the infield when told of the blunder.
I don't know how Kramer felt except that he said that he "was furious". I also don't know how his coach Gerard Kemkers felt except that he said that "it was the worst moment of his career".
Good thing is that this was sport, and that nobody died. Certainly this was expensive mistake, but Kramer will recover and I am sure win another medal in team pursuit this week. He will also be ready for Sochi 2014. He is only 23.
All of this makes these Olympics irresistible and exciting.
At least we will not compete on the track of death.
