2/25/2006: It's a wrap, almost
A few events are still to come but things are definitely winding down in Torino. Closing ceremonies will air Sunday night and should be spectacular if the opener was any indication. The theme will be Carnivale and lots of circus themes & acrobats are promised. Check out the stadium webcam starting around 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern on Sunday for a sneak peek at the lighting and fireworks, and to watch the Olympic flame be extinguished. (I think they should let it continue to burn at each host venue, but I don't get a vote.)
It's easy to become jaded from the constant OD of emotionally edited, violin-laden backstory pieces that TV brings us about these athletes, but let's face it, the Olympics are about personalities and individual triumphs & failures as much as they are about speed & talent. That's why they appeal to me, and to many.
Personal style adds a lot also and reminds us these are all somebody's brother or sister, son or daughter, parent, cousin, co-worker, neighbor.. they're just like us in most ways, but they have something special that the rest of us don't. Martin Rettl, an Austrian skeleton racer, showed his colors with his hair. American skier Resi Stiegler was forbidden at first to wear her signature tiger ears but then allowed. Her teammate Julia Mancuso didn't wear her trademark tiara during her gold medal giant slalom run, but she wore it atop the podium.
I'm sorry an injury prevented Virgin Islands' Anne Abernathy from racing and we didn't get to see 52-year-old "Grandma Luge" fly down the track in her red helmet, homage to her membership in the Red Hat Society for women over 50 who like to have fun.. in red hats.
But helmet art was everywhere and often said a lot about its wearers. These belong to Didier Cuche, Swiss alpine skier; US hockey goalie Rick DiPietro; and Jeff Pain of Canada, who won silver in skeleton:
These games have had a good amount of controversy, which makes it all more fun. The deadly glare and icy silence backstage between Italian ice dancers Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio was the best soap opera going, and although the Shani White versus Chad Hedrick feud was largely fueled by the media, it was still a good bout to watch unfold. In my opinion, Shani was the clear winner of that one.
The late night drug raid on the Austrian team followed by a high-speed chase, car crash and arrest were great drama, but some other moments were good too. While it isn't unusual to see a Golden Palace human billboard anywhere, it was a little unsettling to curling fans when this guy stripped down to his chicken and streaked the bronze medal match. When he was being hauled away he cried "Please will someone bring me my clothes?"
Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin of France was fined $3800 and sent home after flipping off race officials. He'd been in the lead of the Super-G when it was postponed for bad weather. When the race was restarted later, from scratch, he missed a gate and was disqualified. 
I've done my share of making fun of some of the figure skaters' outfits while marveling (or shuddering) at their performances, but Yahoo has taken on Mr. Blackwell with their Worst Skating Outfits slideshow.. check it out for a good laugh.
Amid all the hijinx, it's easy to forget how deadly some of these sports can be. There were some spectacular and very serious crashes over the last couple of weeks. These are only three of them but I think they kind of sum up the terror felt watching someone crash at speeds of 60, 70, and 80 mph. Left to right, Nethlerlands' two-person women's bobsled flips over mid-course; Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin wipe out on doubles luge; and men's slalom favorite Giorgio Rocca of Italy's crash today:
I didn't follow cross country events much but I was always floored by the body-count carnage at the finish lines. Like all of these sports, they make it look so effortless that it's easy to forget how utterly grueling these events are. The photographer here also points out how much in-your-face the press gets - it's not surprising that some of these athletes get fed up and blast them now and then. It is surprising that more don't.
For pure heart, I have to give the 2Cents Gold Medal Spirit Award to skier Lindsey Kildow, who came back from a huge crash that would have put most of us away for months to compete in three more events, finishing 7th in Super-G and 8th in Downhill. You go, girl!
Runners-up for this made up but heartfelt award include Phillip Boit, left, Kenya's sole athlete in Torino, and Ethiopia's Robel Teklemariam, right. They finished the men's 15k cross country race 92nd and 84th respectively. Behind them Arturo Kinch finished last and Prawat Nagvajara just in front of him. Both live in the USA but skied as their native countries' sole athlete at these games. Kinch is 49 and represented Costa Rica; Nagvajara is 47 and skied for Thailand. They both paid their own way to the games. These guys all finished the race a full half-hour after the winners, but they finished.. and that's what the Olympics are about.
All in all, it's been a great Olympics.
Thanks to Associated Press, IBS, Getty, Reuters, and everyone else whose terrific photos I've borrowed for these pages, and thanks to everyone who's visited this site.
