Olympics: Two weeks of memories

Two grand weeks of sports ended Sunday night, as the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City came to a close.

Here's a look back, from an American's point of view, at just some of the memorable moments and athletes that we all enjoyed watching.

Note: Humming Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in your mind could make it more enjoyable.

Ice Hockey competition

Congratulations to the Canadians -- both the men and women. Both teams played an awesome tourney and the men's final was one for the history books. Great job by our neighbors up north.

Figure Skating

The pairs event opened the fortnight and gave the Games its first story, though I don't think anyone expected that story to continue for the entire first week.

The Canadian pairs figure skating team of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier skated an almost flawless performance, with passion and elegance. The Russian pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze skated a harder routine, but it had one major flaw, a few minor miscues, and was passionless.

Almost everyone -- the skaters, the audience, the television announcers -- knew the Canadians should have won the Gold. The judges had their own opinions, which we later found out were orchestrated.

The Russians won the night, but the Canadian's won in the end, along with the hearts of millions. By the end of the week, the International Skating Union and the International Olympic Committee rightfully awarded a second Olympic Gold Medal to Sale and Pelletier. It was the right thing to do.

And then, how can we forget the fun time they had on stage with the musical group, Barenaked Ladies (who are fellow Canadians), at the medal's plaza. Sale strumming guitar and Pelletier relieving a week's worth of stress with a tamborine jam to end a song. Fun stuff!!!

The women's event was billed as Michelle Kwan of the USA vs. Irina Slutskaya of Russia.

Whoops! Somebody forgot to tell the two USA youngsters -- 17-year old Sasha Cohen and 16-year old Sarah Hughes -- about that.

While Kwan stole the spotlight in the short program, Cohen was the talk of that night. Then, come the long program, Kwan, Cohen, and Slutskaya stumbled, and Hughes skated the program of a lifetime.

And then, miracle of miracles, the judges agreed and the upset was done -- Hughes won the gold!

Alpine Skiing

Only a few months ago, Carole Montillet of France was struggling after her teammate and friend, Regine Cavagnoud, died in a practice run. Montillet came back to be the team's leader, even getting the chance to carry the French flag, in honor of her friend, at the Opening Ceremonies. In the Women's Downhill event, she honored her friend once more by winning the Gold Medal. It was her first win in a major competition.

Then there was Janica Kostelic of that powerhouse skiing nation of Croatia. She surprised everyone by winning three medals -- Gold in the Combined and Giant Slalom, and Silver in the Super-G.

Finally, there was USA daredevil Bode Miller, who only seemed to know one way to ski -- an all out, no holds barred, look out below style. And, it paid off for him as he won Silver in the Combined and Giant Slalom. His run in the Combined was incredible, as he was -- literally -- on the ground on one way-to-sharp turn he made, but recovered. Wow!

Bobsled

It was the first time the Olympics held the event for the women and the USA's Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers made the most of it. While all the focus was on their teammates' soap opera -- the Jean Racine, Jen Davidson and Gea Johnson saga of who dumped whom -- they just concentrated on what they had to do. The result -- Gold. Along the way, Flowers became the first female African-American to win an Olympic Winter Gold Medal, and it came in February, black history month.

In the men's event, the USA had not won a medal since 1956. The drought continued after the two-man event. But, then came the four-man event, and, voila! -- not one, but two medals, as Todd Hays, Bill Schuffenhauer, Garrett Hines and Randy Jones took the Silver and Brian Shimer, Mike Kohn, Doug Sharp, and Dan Steele took the Bronze. Hines and Jones became the first African-American men to win a Winter Olympic medal.

Curling

Ok, everyone has been joking about this one. It's not a sport. It is a sport. But hey, there was no denying the passion and enjoyment that the USA women's team of Joni Cotten, Kari Erickson, Staci Liapis, Debbie McCormick, Ann Swisshelm showed in participating in the Olympics. And they came oh-so-close to a medal, finishing fourth. But they had a great time just competing and being there. That's what the Olympics are about.

Aerials

In the men's competition, Joe Pack finished second in the men's event in front of his home town fans, while Alisa Camplin of Australia surprised even herself when she won in the women's event. Then she got an even bigger surprise when she saw that her family had snuck into town to watch her compete. Hugs for everyone!

Luge

Another great USA performance, this time by the USA men, Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette, and Chris Thorpe and Clay Ives, who took silver and bronze, respectively, in the two man luge event.

And while she just missed a medal by finishing fourth in the USA women's event, Becky Wilczak got a gold medal reception at the end of her final run. Her dad, who is awaiting a liver transplant, made it to the Games to greet her for their traditional "last-run-of-an-event" hug. When she saw him at the finish line, there were tears in her eyes -- and not a dry eye anywhere.

Skeleton

It was the return of this great-to-watch sport to the Olympics, and what an exciting event it was.

By now almost everyone knows the story of the Shea family. Three generations of men -- grandfather Jack (who died 17 days before the Games), father, James, and son Jim. Jack and James participated in the 1932 Games in Lake Placid and the 1964 Games in Innisbruck, respectively. Now it was Jim's turn, and with his grandfather's photo riding along in his helmet, he won the event. The celebration at the end of his final run was a blast to watch.

In the women's event, 21-year old rookie Tristan Gale took the Gold, while Lea Ann Parsley, a firefighter from Ohio, took the Silver. Parsley also had the honor to help carry in the World Trade Center flag at the opening ceremonies. The site of Parsley lifting Gale off of her sled and then the two of them jumping up and down in happiness after the final run was a great moment.

Ski Jumping

The ski jumping events belonged to The Swiss Kid, Simon Ammann, who NBC's Bob Costas correctly said looked like Harry Potter. The kid literally "flew" to the Gold in the K90 and K120 events. And his enthusiasm was even more entertaining.

Snowboarding

The USA men's sweep in the half-pipe by Ross Powers, Danny Kass, and Jarrett Thomas, and the Gold by the USA's Kelly Clark in the women's competition, will put snowboards on every American kids' Christmas list this December.

And the Bronze Medal performance by Chris Klug in the Parallel Slalom is just another story that proves that you can do anything you put your mind to. In case you don't know, Klug received a liver transplant last year, and came all the way back from that to win that bronze medal.

Short Track Speedskating

It lived up to its billing -- Roller Derby on ice.

The story was Ohno -- Apolo Anton Ohno. Gold in the 1,500m after Korean Kim Dong-sung was disqualified, and Silver in the 1,000m after a total wipeout of the entire field. Aussie Steven Bradbury won the 1,000m to become the first Australian to win a Gold Medal in the Winter Olympics.

Ohno did not win a medal in the 500m (he was disqualified) or in the relay (the USA fell). But he showed great class and sportsmanship in his second place finish in the 1,500m and earned the respect of everyone.

It also was great to see Canada's Marc Gagnot win the individual Gold in the 500m. He was the Dan Jansen of short track. He had won everything in the sport, but an individual Gold. He had retired for a while after the last Games, but came back to give it one last try. It paid off.

In the women's competition, the Chinese finally won a Winter Olympic Gold, as Yang A. won the both the 500m and 1,000m, while Yang S. (no relation) took the bronze in the 500m.

Long Track Speedskating

The long track turned out to be the USA's best sport in these Games.

In the men's competition, Casey Fitzrandolph started it off with his win in the 500m, while teammate Kip Carpenter took the bronze.

In the 1,000m, Joey Cheek surprised everyone with his Bronze. Gerard van Velde of the Netherlands won the event, finally realizing his dream of an Olympic Gold. He was another athlete who had won everything in his sport, but an Olympic medal. Now he has one.

Then there was Derek Parra, who set a world record to win the 1,500m event, and then took the Silver in the 5,000m. He provided two of the great moments of the Games -- first he wouldn't skate his victory lap until his coach joined him, then he cried like a kid during the playing of the National Anthem. You knew for sure how much it meant for him then.

The women's events were even more fun to watch.

First there was the story of the USA's Chris Witty, who bounced back from mononucleosis last month to win the Gold Medal in the 1,000m and set a world record on top of it.

Her teammate, Jennifer Rodriguez, who comes from that hotbed of speedskating, Miami, Florida, won the bronze in the 1,000m and 1,500m. The tears she shed when she realized she had won the bronze in the 1,000m, her first Olympic medal, showed how much it meant to her and touched the hearts of everyone.

In the 500m, watching Canada's Catriona Lemay-Doan skate around the oval on her victory lap with her husband's black cowboy hat was great.

Then in the 5,000m, the Netherlands's Greta Smit skated a world record time that looked like Gold. That is, it looked like Gold until Germany's Claudia Pechstein skated even better a few pairs later. It was the second Gold Medal of the Games for Pechstein, who also won the 3,000m. Clara Hughes of Canada took the bronze and became the fourth person to win a medal in both the summer (cycling in '96) and Winter Games.

Cross Country

It was a great Olympics for Johann Muehlegg of Spain, by way of Germany, who ..., well never mind. Turns out he was caught using illegal blood doping drugs...the jerk... too bad, he would have been a great story.

As for the TV coverage, kudos to NBC. They definitely did a much better job than they did in Sydney. More sports, more events, more action, less "puff," less dramatics... Great job! And the idea of getting Jim McKay on the programs was absolutely brilliant!

Finally, while we all hate all the commercials, there were a few good ones.

Bank of America's series with their their employee Olympians -- the women's speed skater who goes over the wall, the skier who crashes out of the start gate and the bobsledders who go down the track without the bobsleds -- always made me laugh.

The runner up was one of the Delta's "Bring the World Together" ones -- the two guys in the hot tub that trade a pin for a pig. Funny, too.

Well, there you have it -- just some of the memorable moments and athletes from the SLC Winter Olympic Games. I'm sure you have many more of your own, and for sure, there were plenty.

So as "Ode to Joy" finishes playing in your head, remember, it's just four more years until 2006 and Turin, Italy, where the party begins once again. Until then...