Paul Oberjuerge: Same Ol' Same Ol'
Every Winter Games it's the same thing. The dutiful U.S. Olympic Committee media-relations folks for the "minor" sports (the ones we're not any good in, never have been and never will be) have to report on the absolutely expected non-success of their athletes.
The reports (below) could have come from 1984, 1994, whenever. Under what we in journalism call a "standing headline."
I wonder how the U.S. athletes in these sports keep themselves motivated.
"Kris Freeman (Andover, N.H.) finished 22nd in the men’s 15km cross country competition at the Pragelato Plan venue Friday morning. His time of 39:57.4 was 1:56.1 off the pace set up gold medal winner Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia, who covered the course in 38:01.3. The silver medal went to Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic, who finished 14.5 seconds behind Veerpalu. Germany’s Tobias Angerer won the bronze medal in a time of 38:20.5.
"Other American competitors, their result and placement: Lars Flora (Anchorage, Alaska), 41:53.1, 51st; Andrew Johnson (Greensboro, Vt.), 41:53.9, 52nd; and Justin Freeman (Andover, N.H.), 42:00.9, 53rd."
"BREAKING NEWS: Randall Eliminated from Women's XC Sprint; Still Records USA's All-time Best Result for Women's Cross Country
"Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) was eliminated in the semifinals of the women's sprint cross country competition today in Pragelato, bringing to an end a historic day for Randall and the U.S. women's cross country team.
"Randall's eventual ninth-place finish is the best individual Olympic result for a U.S. women's cross country in the history of the sport, besting Nina Kemppel's 15th-place finish in the 30km classical race from Salt Lake in 2002.
"The United States gained one position in the standings during the cross country ski portion of the nordic combined team event, finishing seventh with a time of 51:52.5, 1:59 behind the gold-medal team from Austria. Germany, the leader after ski jumping, claimed the silver medal, while Finland won the bronze medal.
"The U.S. team was comprised of Bill Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.), Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and Carl Van Loan (Webster, N.H.)."
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