| |
Injured Vonn facing downhill drama
By Dan Wetzel
February 10, 2010
Downhill skier Lindsey Vonn, freshly minted with the Sports Illustrated daily double – cover for her skiing, swimsuit issue for her bikini – now is staring at an uncertain Olympics.
Her once dream Games suddenly are on the brink due to a shin bruise suffered during a training run last week in Austria. The heavily hyped face of Team USA, whom marketers have sold as a possible five-gold-medal performer, said Wednesday she couldn’t promise she would race at all. Vonn added, repeatedly, that she was determined to do everything she could to be ready.
“I don’t know [what I can do],” Vonn said. “I’ve got to wait until the first training run on Thursday. I’m going to go up there, put my skis on and see how it feels. I may not be able to do the first training run.”
Vonn told NBC that when she puts her ski boots on, the pressure against a “deep contusion” on the front of her right shin is “excruciatingly painful.” And that was just when she tried to walk around a hotel room, not rip down a mountain at 70 mph.
Vonn’s first competition is Sunday’s ladies super combined. And if you think Vonn is nervous, her fear of not competing is nearly matched by NBC’s; the network built its publicity campaign around her in an attempt to build an audience for these Games that thus far have attracted little buzz in the States.
But Vonn isn’t worried about that. She’s trying to figure out whether skipping training runs or even early events might be necessary.
“I’m thinking about how I can manage it so I can race well in all my disciplines,” Vonn said. “I’ve fought through injuries before, but it’s going to be really hard.”
Vonn’s situation mirrors that of Liu Xiang at the 2008 Beijing Games. The hurdler was supposed to be the Chinese face of the Olympics, a national hero expected to beat the world. He wound up withdrawing due to injury just before his competitions. The difference is Liu had been dealing with injuries for months; Vonn’s apparently just occurred.
If there is a silver lining for Vonn, it’s that the injury impacts the already uncomfortable expectations game. The Vail, Colo., 25-year-old has bristled of late at suggestions that she could capture five golds and become the winter version of American swimmer Michael Phelps. Doing so would be extremely difficult, even for a woman who has won consecutive World Cup championships.
The bold medal goal, pushed by her marketing people, helped establish Vonn as the big pre-Games star. The risk was that if she won only three golds, she’d be declared a disappointment. It happened, to some degree, to Phelps in the Athens Games when he wasn’t able to win every race.
Now everything changes. Just getting out there and competing would be a victory. Vonn winning a gold medal (or three) could be legendary.
The look on Vonn’s face in the NBC interview suggests that wasn’t top of mind. While some have asserted that the timing of the injury’s revelation was somehow self-serving, what else was she supposed to do? The injury just happened. Skiing isn’t a sport where opponents can play defense, so admitting a potential weakness doesn’t change anything. Besides, it appeared in the NBC interview like she wished she were healthy and going for broke. Why wouldn’t she? You don’t succeed at downhill skiing with anything less than an all-in, all-out attitude.
For Vonn, like other athletes whose careers are defined by the once-every-four-years Olympics, getting an injury the week before the Games is brutal timing. Getting one when you’re at your peak ability – which might not be the case next time – is even worse.
There are no next seasons like in professional sports. For many there isn’t even a next time. These and these alone were going to be Lindsey Vonn’s Olympics, and she knows it.
Vonn has suffered numerous injuries throughout her career, including a rough crash at the Turin Olympics in 2006. She has always bounced back. But a deep shin contusion is a nightmare for a skier. The stress on the bruise is unavoidable. In a sport where medals are won by tenths of a second, any little thing can finish you.
Vonn looked glum yet determined. As swimsuit models go, she’s a tough one.
“I can guarantee to you I’m going to do everything I can to be as ready as I can with this injury,” she said.
Let’s see Brooklyn Decker try that one.
Sports Ticket Depot -
2010 Winter Olympics News Index
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vancouver Olympic Games storylines
By Dan Wetzel
February 9, 2010
If you think the start of the Winter Olympics snuck up on you – they light the torch Friday evening – then imagine how the people of Vancouver feel. There’s almost no snow in the host city. Organizers have been forced to truck and helicopter some in to make at least one venue skiable.
“I’ve skied on rocks, I’ve skied on ice, I’ve skied in the rain,” U.S. freestyle skier Hannah Kearney told the Associated Press. “This is nothing.”
Hey, if that doesn’t get you in the winter spirit, nothing will.
At least a little humor about a Winter Olympics without the winter has served to remind people that the Olympics are coming. In the States, other than when one figure skater’s goon squad is whacking a rival’s knee, the Winter Games don’t garner the same widespread interest and anticipation as the Summer Olympics.
Vancouver is also dealing with comparisons to the 2008 Games that captured American attention due to both the historic charge by swimmer Michael Phelps and its exotic location in Beijing, China.
Team USA has no Phelps-level star heading into the games – Subway is still featuring him in ads, even though swimming is a summer sport – and while Vancouver is known for its sophistication and beauty, there isn’t a lot of mystery to Canada. The views of brown, snow-less mountains ringing the city probably won’t help.
That said, it’s still the Olympics and it always finds a way to surprise. So here is an American-centric Olympic primer (wind-breaker edition) to get you ready for the return of the torch.
1. No business like (no) snow business.
This story is like the bizarro local weatherman. Usually a hyperventilating “meteorologist” predicts massive snow fall totals when just flurries are likely. Now we get the opposite. A lot of hype about predictions of little snow that in the end will likely mean nothing.
Yes, it’s been unseasonably warm in British Columbia. The predicted high for the Opening Ceremony on Friday is 48 degrees, which means athletes making their way to Vancouver’s BC Place might ditch the fashionable earmuffs. However, local organizers and the International Olympic Committee say there will be no problem hauling in enough snow to make the Cypress Mountain venue ready for competition. It is home to most snowboarding events and mogul skiing.
Alpine skiing events are at no risk in high-elevation Whistler. Expect NBC to show a lot of scenic shots from those pure-white mountains. And if that melts, they can always get “Ice Road Truckers” (why wasn’t that an experimental sport?) to start filming even further north.
2. Can Lindsey Vonn avoid comparisons to Michael Phelps?
The star-making machine loves to take one athlete before the Games and hype them to no end. The rewards are obvious – there are millions in potential endorsement dollars on the line. There are risks, too. The higher the bar, the more likely the failure. Vonn, a photogenic alpine skier from Vail, Colo., has already balked at predictions that she’s going for a Phelps-like five gold medals.
The pressure to attain near impossible goals has ruined countless athletes. When they stumble, the marketing folks just move on to the next Olympics. It’s career death by IMG.
If Vonn can keep expectations reasonable, she can certainly be a breakout star. She’s won the World Cup the last two years. This month she appeared on both the cover of the regular Sports Illustrated (in racing attire) and inside the swimsuit issue (in a bikini). And she’s involved in events (downhill, Super G) that can appeal to both younger generations (for its break-neck speed) and older (it’s a traditional skiing event).
How she handles pre-Games expectations may define her post-Games reputation.
3. Do Americans love figure skating enough to adopt Kim Yu-Na as their own?
For the first time in decades, the U.S. lacks a medal favorite in women’s figure skating, usually the most-watched winter Olympic event. For decades a steady stream of champion Americans – from Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill to Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen – has captured audiences.
Now our two competitors, Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu, are plucky underdogs, not probable medalists. Both will have to lift their performances to contend. And neither has the potential of Kim Yu-Na, a 19-year-old South Korean who has mesmerized audiences around the world with her grace and power.
The question becomes: Will figure skating still be a major draw in the States if it’s a South Korean, not an American, that is performing brilliantly? And will NBC, noted for its pro-American programming, promote the event the same way?
The U.S. does have two skating stars, just not the traditional female singles skater.
Expect the terms “Tanith Belbin” and “pictures” to be the most searched of the Games, as the ice dancer and partner Benjamin Agosto’s quest for gold will receive plenty of camera time. No doubt she’ll dress for the occasion.
Fashion won’t be an issue either for men’s skater Johnny Weir. His ability to cause a stir with wild interviews, outfits and drama is unequaled. Weir has great fun playing with the media (how many adjectives can they use to say something without saying something) and the public, which is both fascinated and befuddled.
He gets everyone to pay attention to a male figure skater, which is his main goal. He’ll again be one of the most-discussed American athletes.
On the ice, Weir will try to make up for the Turin Games, where he blamed his poor long-skate performance on the fact that he missed his bus to the venue. The most disappointing part wasn’t that he failed to medal, but the realization that Johnny Weir rides the bus.
4. Shaun White’s Double Cork
The Flying Tomato and his sport of snowboarding were big winners in Turin, infusing the staid Olympics with a shot of X-Games energy. (After all, how exciting is the biathlon?) White, Gretchen Bleiler and others cashed in on their mainstream appeal.
White now makes millions. That’s produced scorn from some competitors, who hate his wealth and obvious training advantages. Nothing signifies that more than the private $500,000 halfpipe that Red Bull built for him in Colorado and was accessible by helicopter only. It features foam landing spots that White says allowed him to practice tricks that would’ve been too dangerous otherwise.
The big one is the Double Cork, a spinning, double flip that requires between 20 and 25 feet of height. He unveiled it in competition last summer and it’s since been duplicated by a few competitors. This is the big stage, though, and whether he (or others) can land the maneuver with the world watching will deliver drama to a sport that many are still trying to figure out. The potential for a ruinous wreck is tangible.
There have been predictable calls for the IOC to ban the move, which plays right into White, Red Bull and the sport’s hand. Nothing is better for all three than being considered too dangerous for the establishment.
5. Miracle on Ice, the sequel?
It’s been 30 years since a group of big-dreaming American college kids dared to knock off the mighty Russians and then win gold in Lake Placid. They were immediate legends, testaments to the power of teamwork and celebrated in books, a movie and countless television specials.
This year’s Team USA isn’t quite the same loveable bunch of innocent “kids.” Chris Drury, for instance, will make $8 million this year playing for the New York Rangers. However, our NHLers are facing just about as menacing of a foe as the old Red Army, actually two of them.
The Russians (again) and Canada.
Both teams are absolutely stacked with talent and the predicted gold-medal clash between the two nations has the hockey world in full pant. The subplots are outstanding. Canada is led by Sidney Crosby and Russia by Alexander Ovechkin. The two have becomes bitter rivals in the NHL.
Crosby plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins, where Evgeni Malkin is his co-star. Malkin is Russian and, therefore, will be going against Crosby and playing alongside Ovechkin.
Then there is the duel pressure cooker for the Canadians. First, they need to reclaim gold after failing to medal in Turin. Second, they must defend their native country or live with the indignity forever. Compared to Americans, Canadians don’t get angry about much. Losing the hockey tournament on home soil would count as “much.”
So why shouldn’t Team USA come along and ruin the party? In Ryan Miller, it has the best goaltender in the tournament and the 2010 answer to Jim Craig. In front, there are young goal scorers and plenty of grinders. No, this wouldn’t be a “Miracle” – our pros beat your pros isn’t quite the same.
It would be a big, satisfying upset nonetheless; kind of like snow in Vancouver.
Sports Ticket Depot -
2010 Winter Olympics News Index
|
