Olympics week 1

Following is my summary of the first week of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Note that I tend to be biased toward my favorite events.

Figure skating:
The winner of the men's competition, Yevgeny Plushenko, was no surprise, and I thought he deserved his gold medal. Evan Lysacek's long program was excellent, and he could have won the gold if he hadn't had the flu during the short program. I also thought Johnny Weir, the other American did well. It's too bad neither American won a medal.
Not surprisingly, the Russians won the pairs competition as well. I thougt Americans Rena Inoue and John Baldwin deserved a medal for their unprecedented throw triple Axel.
The women's figure skating ought to be interesting, as there are a bunch of excellent young American skaters. It's too bad that Michelle Kwan couldn't compete, but her replacement, Emily Hughes, seems likeable and talented. I hope she'll follow in the footsteps of her older sister, gold medallist Sarah. I also like Sasha Cohen and Kimmie Meissner.

Speed skating:
Congratulations to Chad Hedrick, winner of the men's 5000m, Shani Davis, winner of the men's 1000m, and Joey Cheek, the winner of the men's 500m and the second-place finisher in the men's 1000m. I support Davis's decision to sit out the team pursuit in order to focus on the individual event. Although it would have been nice to race with his teammates, there was nothing wrong with Shani's decision to save his strength to win individual glory. The 1000m short track race was disappointing. Apolo Anton Ohno won the bronze medal, finishing after the two Koreans. It seems that they didn't cheat this time; Apolo merely had bad luck, just like he did in the 1500m. I certainly hope he wins his remaining individual event, the 500m. The short track relays promise to be good as well. The U.S. men's team, including Ohno, Anthony Lobello, Alex Izykowski, J.P. Kepka, and Rusty Smith, who made a crucial pass near the end of the semifinal, qualified for the final. Unfortunately, the U.S. women's team did not qualify. The relays seem chaotic at first, but are fun to watch. Skaters start each leg of the relay with a push from a teammate instead of receiving a baton.

Snowboarding:
The Americans dominated the halfpipe. Congratulations to Shaun White and Danny Kass, as well as Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler. The snowboard cross, new to the Olympics this year, was awesome to watch. Although Lindsey Jacobellis's fall was disappointing, Seth Westcott won the gold after a great race in which he passed the Slovakian snowboarder near the finish line.

For the results in all the other events, as well as pictures, videos, and biographies, go to http://nbcolympics.com. I am looking forward to Week 2 of the Olympics and hope to be able to post more up-to-date news.