Memorable moments from female athletes at the Winter Olympics

All in all, the Vancouver Olympics were  a roller coaster of emotion; so anticipated and anxiety-driven, filled with milestones and achievements as well as heartbreak.  In the span of two weeks, there were personal, poignant moments to cherish, along with stories of accomplishments and  disappointments. A lifetime of emotions, condensed into 14 action-packed days.

Needless to say, there were lots  of memorable moments from the Winter Games , not the least of which was Shaun (”The Animal”) White’s repeat  gold medal and his Double McTwist 1260, a whirl of somersaults and flips that ends with a blind landing.

In this post, we’d like to shine the light on the oft-overlooked female athletes and some of our fave moments that will last long after the athletes pack up and leave Vancouver.

Hannah Kearney (Women’s moguls)

Four years ago, U.S. moguls skier Hannah Kearney sat in the stands in Turin after placing a dismal 22nd in the qualifying round as Canadian Jenn Heil proudly climbed atop the podium for gold. It was a moment Kearney never wanted to repeat.

She proved that during the first weekend of the Games, when she exorcised that nightmarish performance and spoiled the party for Heil with a dominating victory on Cypress Mountain. Kearney turned her showdown with the defending Olympic champion into a blowout, posting a score of 26.63 to claim the first U.S. gold medal in Vancouver.

Joannie Rochette (Figure skating)

Twenty-four year old Joannie Rochette may not have won the gold medal in figure skating but she won the hearts of fans around the world with her incredible performance.  She competed just days after her mother, Therese, died from a sudden heart attack after arriving in Vancouver. A grieving Rochelle broke down in tears after her short program and followed  with an emotional free skate program to capture the bronze at the Pacific Coliseum.  It hardly mattered that two skaters beat Rochette, including gold medalist Kim Yu-Na of South Korea who broke a world record with a highly memorable routine.

Petra Majdic (Cross-country skiing)

If gold medals were handed out for bravery then Slovenian cross country skier Petra Majdic would have been a runaway winner. Majdic broke five ribs when she slipped and fell down a gully during a training run but defied medical advice and excruciating pain to battle through three races and clinch the bronze in the women’s sprint classic. She was in so much pain that she needed help just getting on to the podium to collect her medal.

Lindsey Vonn/Julia Mancuso (Women’s downhill)

Lindsey Vonn lived up to the hype and won the women’s downhill on a badly bruised shin in a 1-2 finish with American teammate and rival Julia Mancuso in the opening week of the Games.

Kallie Humphries, Heather Moyse, Helen Upperton, Shelley-Ann Brown (Women’s bobsled)

Before the Vancouver Games, Canada had never won a medal in women’s bobsled. By the time the Games  ended, the country had two -gold and silver – courtesy of new champions Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse and runners-up Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown who sent the Whistler Sliding Center into a roaring frenzy with their medal-winning final runs. That Upperton missed a medal four years ago by .05 of a second driving Moyes, whose arrival in her sled booted a broken-heart Humphries, simply added another layer of drama to the moment.

Lydia Lassila (Women’s freestyle aerials)

Australia’s Lydia Lassila has won the gold medal in the women’s freestyle aerials by beating Chinese stars Li Nina and Guo Xinxin into the silver and bronze positions respectively.

The Chinese, led by Turin silver medallist Li, had been highly expected to win the event and even perform a podium clean sweep. They currently dominate the World Cup points table, filling five of the top six berths.

But Lassila, the only non-Chinese in the world top six, wowed the judges, and the underdog, who recently battled back from a series of injuries, moved into the gold medal position.

Angela Ruggiero, U.S., Canadian & Finnish Teams  (ice hockey)

Women’s ice hockey offered a myriad of memorable moments during the Vancouver Games. From early complaints that the sport wasn’t competitive enough, to the high-stakes gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada, to the post-match celebrations, we’ll remember these female athletes.

Who can forget the champagne, beer, at least one cigar and an attempt to drive an ice resurfacing machine after the Canadian team captured the gold medal in a 2-0 win over the U.S?  It seemed like a typical championship celebration, save for the fact the IOC and Hockey Canada felt the Canadian women’s team somehow provided a disservice to Olympic “ideals” by enjoying as they saw fit on the ice. Never mind that IOC honchos can dine with whatever wine and spirits they like, the court of public opinion forced the IOC’s complaints to go up in a cloud of smoke.

And when the president of the IOC announced to the world the sport needs to change to remain on the program, Finland’s women’s hockey team stepped up big time. Their overtime win against Sweden on Thursday had all the feel of gold. Just as the Swedes in 2006 stunned the hockey world by upsetting the Americans for the first non-U. S./Canada final in women’s Olympic hockey history, Karoliina Rantamaki’s goal 2:33 into extra time gave the Finnish team their first medal since women’s hockey’s debut Olympics in 1998.

Special Mention: Though it was certainly a memorable moment when Ruggerio won her fourth Olympic medal, her biggest contribution to the Olympic movement might still be to come: Ruggiero, who played hockey at Harvard, was elected by her peers to represent all Olympic athletes on the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission. The appointment will be for eight years and allows Ruggiero to become a full-fledged member of the IOC.

In the end, it wasn’t a single nation or gender that owned the podium, but the single-minded, passionate pursuit of athletes from around the world. And along with their competitive performances,  memories saved for eternity.

Call to Action: Jefferson Award nominees

The Jefferson Awards are a prestigious national recognition system honoring community and public service in America.  They began in 1972 to create a Nobel Prize for public service. Today, their primary purpose is to serve as a “Call to Action for Volunteers” in local communities.

Did you know that athletes give back to their communities more than most groups?  Well, it’s true. Check out some of their random acts of kindness.

This month, voting begins for the prestigious national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Athlete.   A list of highly impressive nominees includes the following women:

Cheri Balwut – Paralympic Gold Medalist

Brandi Chastain – Soccer player

Lauren Fleshman - Long distance runner

Sara Hall – Runner

Mia Hamm – Soccer player

Lindsey Harding – Basketball player

Ana Ivanovic – Tennis player

Jelena Jankovic – Tennis player

Jessica Mendoza – Softball player

Angela Ruggiero – Hockey player

Kerri Walsh – Volleyball player

If you’re not already familiar with these inspiring women, you need to be. Click here to read about the incredible things these athletes are doing and to vote (by November 15th) for your favorite nominee.

Looking Ahead: Vancouver One Year Out

While winter sport competition pushes on around the world,  athletes look one year ahead to a competition that represents the completion of goals met and dreams reached for athletes everywhere – the Olympics.

On Feb. 12, 2010, the opening ceremonies will commence two weeks of competition on the world’s stage from Vancouver, where battles will be won and lost, but everyone will walk away an Olympian.

With one year to go, three-time Olympic medalist Angela Ruggiero appeared on the Today Show this morning to coach host Meredith Vieira on the ice at Rockefeller Center.  Ruggiero is currently part of a women’s residency program established by USA Hockey in Minn., for post-NCAA players. There, she is training with the 2008-09 U.S. Women’s Select Team in hopes of making her fourth Olympic appearance in 2010.

Today Show Video

The year-out date finds top U.S. athletes competing from Vancouver to Moscow, battling for this year’s World Cup titles, but thinking, too, about Olympic medals 12 months from now.

A few of the top U.S. ski and snowboard contenders took time from their global competition travels this week to tell their story a year out from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games – where are they now and where will they be a year from now at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
 
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Hockey: U.S. wins 4 Nations in shootout

November 9, 2008 – Wow! The U.S. Women’s National Team outlasted arch rival Canada in an epic six-round shootout to earn a 3-2 win in the championship game of the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Canada lost captain Hayley Wickenheiser for all but the first period of the game. Wickenheiser suffered a right leg injury late in the first and her absence was acutely felt in the shootout.

Sweden defeated Finland to take third place.

In other big hockey news, Angela Ruggiero made history this week at 4 Nations as she took to the ice for Team USA for the 206th time, surpassing Cammi Granato’s previous record of 205 games played for the United States. 

Many only know Ruggiero from her TV appearance on The Apprentice but her sports career is on par with players like Mia Hamm.  Like Hamm, Ruggiero was fifteen when she made her national team debut.  At 18 she won gold in the inaugural Olympics for women’s hockey.  The Harvard grad has been a world champion twice and has been named the best defender of the world championships or the Olympics six times.

In 205 total career games, Ruggiero has amassed 55 goals and 119 assists for 174 points.  She might not have won “The Apprentice” but she’s tops in our book.

Congrats to Angela and Team USA – Well done ladies!

Softball star visits troops

 What did USA Olympic outfielder, Jessica Mendoza, do to celebrate the arrival of 2008? She took off with the US Olympic Goodwill Tour and joined four other Olympians, including beach volleyball silver medalist, Mike Whitmarsh, most decorated gymnast ever with seven medals, Shannon Miller, ice hockey gold, silver, and bronze medalist, Angel Ruggiero, and track and field gold medalist and Beijing gold medal hopeful, Shawn Crawford, to lift spirits and spread cheer to the soldiers serving in the Middle East.

Mendoza shares all her emotional stories and pictures with us on her blog at http://blog.jmendoza.com/. Check it out! 

Ruggiero makes power play on “The Apprentice”

July 21, 2007 – Hired or fired? Olympian Angela Ruggiero traveled to Los Angeles during the summer of 2006 to film the 6th season of Donald Trump’s NBC show, which launched with 18 wannabe apprentices including an internet entrepreneur, a construction firm owner and five attorneys.

Angela, 26, grew up in Los Angeles, California and Harper Woods, Michigan. She graduated cum laude with a degree in government from Harvard University, where she was an NCAA First Team Academic All-American as well as one of the top eight student athletes in the entire NCAA in 2004.

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