The official medals for the 2010 Winter Olympics were unveiled Thursday morning in Vancouver, featuring original West Coast aboriginal designs of an orca and a raven.
In an Olympic first, each medal will be unique, featuring part of an image cropped from two large master artworks by Corrine Hunt, a Canadian designer and artist of Komoyue and Tlingit heritage based in Vancouver, B.C.
For example, each medal will include its own signature elements of the orca and raven artwork, such as the suggestion of the orca’s eye, the curve of its dorsal fin or the contours of the raven’s wing, said officials.
A silk scarf printed with the master artwork will be presented to each Olympian or Paralympian with the medal, enabling them to see how their medal connects with those awarded to other athletes at the Games.
Guided by tradition
Hunt said she drew on the meaning of the creatures in native traditions to guide the designs.
“The orca is a beautiful creature that is strong but also lives within a community. I felt the Olympic Games are a community, too, ” said Hunt.
The design for the Olympic medals feature parts of a West Coast aboriginal design of an orca on an undulating surface of circular medal. The design for the Olympic medals feature parts of a West Coast aboriginal design of an orca on an undulating surface of circular medal. (VANOC)”The athletes may be training but they’re always somehow connected to their community, to their teammates, or to their country. The orca is a creature that has wonderful capabilities but can’t really survive without its pod,” she said.
“My design for the Paralympic medal — a raven on a totem rising — is close to my heart and in honour of my uncle who is a paraplegic. The raven is a creature that is all things and I think Paralympic athletes have that in them,” she said.
“They’re sometimes given challenges and they rise above them and the raven does the same. I think the creativity of the raven gives us hope — to accept when things don’t work out and really rejoice when they do,” said Hunt.
Undulating surfaces
Also for the first time, the medals are not flat. Instead, they have an undulating surface intended to represent the West Coast landscape of mountains and waves and drifting snow.
The Paralympic medal will feature parts of a larger West Coast aboriginal image of the raven, imprinted on squared-circle of undulating metal. The Paralympic medal will feature parts of a larger West Coast aboriginal image of the raven, imprinted on squared-circle of undulating metal. (VANOC)Canadian industrial designer and architect Omer Arbel, also of Vancouver, created the innovative undulating design of the medals, which were struck nine times each to achieve the distinctive look as part of a 30-step medal fabrication process.
The Olympic medals are circular in shape, while the Paralympic medals are a superellipse, or squared circle, drawn from traditional West Coast native designs. At more than 500 grams each, the medals are amongst the heaviest in Olympic and Paralympic history.
“I’ve always thought of the Olympic Games as a catalyst for great contemporary design. It’s exciting to have arrived at a piece of work that challenges people’s expectations of what a medal can be,” said Arbel.
Read the rest at CBC.ca/News
With more goals than minutes in the game, Slovakia’s women’s ice hockey team claimed an amazing 82-0 victory over Bulgaria in Olympic qualifying. This margin of winning is a new record for a women’s International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event.
Slovakia outshot the Bulgarians 139-0 during the 60-minute game, played in Latvia.
Janka Culikova led Slovakia with 10 goals, while Martina Velickova scored nine. Fourteen different players scored at least one goal.
Slovakia has beat Croatia, Latvia and Italy to advance to another qualifying group with Germany, Kazakhstan and France.
The winner will secure a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
It was the mindset that would, in three years time, help trigger World War II. In 1936, Adolf Hitler boasted of Aryan supremacy and predicted their success at the Berlin Olympics. He wanted to show the world that the German “master race” would excel in the Olympic events, to the detriment of the other races.
African-American, Jesse Owens was what Hitler would have considered part of a weaker race. He was the son of a poor sharecropper and the grandson of a slave. To Hitler, Owens would be no competition to his Aryan athletes.
Yet during the events, and in spite of the constant psychological pressure Owens did, what many considered, the impossible. He became the fastest human being on earth- and proved it by winning the 100-meter sprint, the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter relay team and the long jump!
Jesse Owens left holding four gold medals and had achieved a feat that was unequaled for 48 years until Carl Lewis.
True courage, when exhibited at a critical moment, a time when there seems to be no hope, is transcendent. Although, those who witness the moment may not understand its significance until later, they understand that it will be a moment to remember.
In 1976, in Montreal, Canada the men’s gymnastic competition was a close contest between the Soviet and Japanese teams. It was down to the last day and last score, and it would be the highest score of the day would take home the gold!
Then disaster struck the Japanese team. Shun Fujimoto, one of the key gymnasts, shattered his kneecap during the floor competition. Although the pain was excruciating, taking any form of pain medication would disqualify him. He could not be replaced, and withdrawing would most likely mean a loss, so he went ahead and took one for the team.
The injured gymnast continued on to the pommel horse routine, miraculously scoring a 9.5 out of 10. He then faced the rings, which would be his final event of the day.
As he was helped up to reach the rings, Fujimoto thought only of his team and ignored the potential consequences of the eight-feet dismount that would complete his routine.
After a beautifully executed triple-somersault dismount, Fujimoto gritted his teeth and raised his arms in a perfect finish, before collapsing from the pain.
Not only did his team win the gold, but Fujimoto was awarded a 9.7, his personal best on the rings! The Japanese team took home the gold that year largely due to Fujimoto’s courage and strength in the face of seemingly unbearable pain.
These are just two examples of courageous moments in Olympic history, but with the 2008 Summer Olympics only days away the world will surely be the witness to more courageous and memorable moments.
To read more about Jesse Ownen’s achievements click here.
To read more about Shun Fujimoto’s courage click here.
For a complete list of memorable moments in Olympic history, such as the “Miracle on Ice” and the Jamaican bobsled event continue to read here.
Time Warner takes a page from the book of “give people what they want”
Enter SI Vault. If you are wondering what SI Vault is, as the name would imply, it’s 54 years of Sports Illustraded’s covers, images, stories and much more. If an image is worth a thousand words, what would 54 years’ worth of images be worth?
Here’s a story dating back to 1992, for example, on Christian Laettner and Duke. Hmm… Laettner? Duke? Pardon the shameless plug, but enjoy WatchMojo.com’s classic college programming:
Duke in Top College Programs:
And Laettner in Top College Careers:
All right, enough shameless promotion, now go and enjoy 54 years of SI at SI Vault.
China gets 2008 Summer Games, now Russia has 2014 Winter Games. In case you are wondering, those two countries are competing for superpower status in the 21st century.
Russia hailed its winning bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics on Thursday as proof of the country’s return to global prominence following a post-Soviet slump, and as a personal triumph for President Vladimir Putin.
Putin, a keen skier, spent two days in Guatemala this week lobbying International Olympic Committee (IOC) members to give the Games to Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.
“This is, without doubt, not just a recognition of Russia’s sporting achievements but it is, beyond any doubt, a judgement on our country,” Putin said, moments after returning to Moscow.
“It is a recognition of our growing capability, first of all economically and socially.”
Read more here.
STRATTON, Vt., March 17 /PRNewswire/ — 2002 Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark and 2006 Olympic gold medalist Shaun White won today’s US Open halfpipe competition, the culminating event in the international Burton Global Open Series, Presented by Motorola. Following the halfpipe awards, Jake Burton, Founder and Chairman of Burton Snowboards, presented the first ever Burton Global Open Series Championship awards to Torah Bright and Shaun White, handing them each a $100,000 check — the largest single payout in snowboarding history.
For eight months, riders have been competing at Burton Global Open Series halfpipe and slopestyle events in New Zealand, Switzerland, Japan and now the US, earning points towards the championship title. Torah Bright earned the record-breaking payout after taking first place in halfpipe and 6th place in Park Style at the Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open 2007 and second place in slopestyle and third place in halfpipe at the 2007 US Open. Shaun White moved up the ranks in the Burton Global Open Series standings by taking first in the halfpipe and second in Park Style at the Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open and third in slopestyle and first in halfpipe at the US Open.
In today’s halfpipe finals, it was a tight race between halfpipe superstars Kelly Clark, Torah Bright and Gretchen Bleiler and showcased some of the most progressive riding in women’s halfpipe history. Kelly took the lead after her first run with a frontside air, backside air, frontside 540 indy grab, frontside 720, Cab 360, earning $20,000 and a Motorola cell phone. Torah’s air to fakie tailgrab in her first run earned her the $5,000 Best Trick award presented by Nintendo and a new Nintendo Wii system. Gretchen took second place in the women’s halfpipe finals followed by Torah in third place.
“It’s pretty amazing to win the US Open halfpipe event again,” said Olympic gold medalist and Vermont native Kelly Clark. “I’m the only girl who has won the US Open halfpipe three times, so it’s a huge honor for me.”
The men’s halfpipe finals featured the heavies from the sport including Mason Aguirre, Travis Rice, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce, Steve Fisher, Antti Autti and of course Shaun. Shaun stole the show from the start and just kept outscoring himself. His best run earned him 94.75 points for a frontside 1080, Cab 1080, frontside 900, backside 900, frontside 720 ending with a switch alley oop backside rodeo 720. Danny Davis finished in second place for the second year in a row. And Markus Malin from Finland rounded out the podium with third place. Michael Goldschmidt won the $5,000 Best Trick award presented by Nintendo Wii and a Nintendo Wii system for his double grab air to fakie.
In addition to winning today’s US Open halfpipe contest and the Global Open Series title, Shaun White was also named the male TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion. The women’s TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion will be announced after next week’s Roxy Chicken Jam in Park City, Utah.
If you can’t make it out to Stratton to watch this year’s landmark event in person, be sure to watch the 90-minute US Open show on NBC on Sunday, March 18 at 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET. Or check out webcasts of the event on www.burton.com.
To download print-quality photos from the event, visit: http://www.usopen-snowboarding.com/Pressroom.aspx and click on the ‘Photos for Publishing’ link at the bottom of the web page. Enter the following to access hi-res images:
username: usopen07 password: ridestratton For more information on the US Open, head to www.opensnowboarding.com.
What a difference a year makes:
Last year, around this time, the office was watching Canada lose in the Winter Olympic Games on a crappy old TV.
Today, we were watching online, crisp, clear… courtesy of TSN.ca.
Canada advances to the gold medal game…
I am not sure I agree with all of the picks, or the rankings, but nonetheless, nice eye candy.
Courtesy of Dave Jaffer, aka Combat Davey, enjoy.
Not the first one to suggest it, but rumor has it that Pat Quinn’s days (read hours) in Toronto are numbered…
Not the best week in the man’s life, first the failure in Turino, now this.
PLAY
