Posted on 02/13/2010 5:05:12 PM PST by NormsRevenge
VANCOUVER (AFP) – The Winter Olympics suffered a miserable start on Saturday when the men's skiing downhill was postponed and protests turned violent in Vancouver, but the luge went ahead despite the death of a Georgian slider.
A day after a dazzling ceremony opened the Games, the first gold medal was claimed by Switzerland's Simon Ammann, who won the normal hill ski jump ahead of Poland's Adam Malysz and Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer.
Ammann wants Miami ice ... and more girls
Dutchman Sven Kramer took out the 5,000 metre men's speedskating gold, finally capturing a title that had eluded him four years ago at Turin.
Kramer won in 6mins 14.60sec, setting an Olympic record to defeat South Korean Lee Seung-Hoon by 2.35sec with Russian Ivan Skobrev third.
Tearful Kramer captures 5,000m speedskating gold
Meanwhile, Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina was a shock winner in the women's 7.5 km biathlon sprint, relegating favourite Magdalena Neuner of Germany into second and Frenchwoman Marie Dorin into third.
While those events took place, the unpredictable weather that has haunted organisers all week forced the blue-riband downhill, a medal event, to be put back until Monday.
The International Ski Federation said overnight snow and rain in the Whistler mountains followed by mild temperatures meant that skiing on the piste was out of the question.
"The piste has been badly affected these last two days by the mild temperatures and the himud conditions with snow and rain," said the FIS race director Gunter Hujara.
The women's super-combined, which had been scheduled for Sunday, was postponed until Thursday, with practice runs not possible.
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Shoulda had the ‘limpics in snowy D.C. They know all about things going downhill...skating on thin ice...you get the drift? ;-)
“El Nino” means “The Child” in Spanish.
It specifically refers to “The Christ Child,” born on Christmas Day. The El Nino weather pattern, when it appears, usually begins around Christmas, and that’s where the term “El Nino” originates.
Yeah, I lived on Whidby Island for a couple of years as a kid. I remember lots of “mizzly” (misty/drizzly) weather in that region. Not much snow...
LOL - very punny...well done!
Baseball spring training in FL getting snowed out? I wouldn’t be shocked this year. ;-)
Canadians are good people. I married one.
It’s a weird winter for sure. Here on the Texas Gulf Coast, it has been colder and wetter than any winter in my memory.
Has it been mild there in Idaho pretty much all season?
Dang global warming. ;-)
Hey! Mebbe they should send the LOT of them D.C. types to Vancouver! They be GOOD at a snow job! Make themselves USEFUL for ONCE! :-)
And once they are out of this Country...ain’t there a law that keeps people OUT who are harmful to us???
Non, mon ami.
The opening ceremonnies are in Vancouver, the luge and other skiing competitions are further north near Whistler where they have lots of snow, though I heard the fog sometimes delays competitions.
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