The great Trans Siberian Railway, the pride of Russia, goes across two continents, 12 regions and 87 cities. The joint project of Google and the Russian Railways lets you take a trip along the famous route and see Baikal, Khekhtsirsky range, Barguzin mountains, Yenisei river and many other picturesque places of Russia without leaving your house. During the trip, you can enjoy Russian classic literature, brilliant images and fascinating stories about the most attractive sites on the route. Let's go!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
S. KOREA AT THE OLYMPICS: Short Track Speed Skating: Korea's Lee wins 1,500m short-track gold
|
Vancouver (AFP) - South Korea's Lee Jung-Su won the men's 1,500-metre short-track speed skating gold medal at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games on Saturday with American Apolo Anton Ohno second. Another American, J.R. Celski finished third. |
JAPAN AT THE OLYMPICS: Snowboard: Crash could force Japan's Fujimori out
|
Vancouver (AFP) - Japanese snowboard cross hopeful Yuka Fujimori may miss her race on Tuesday after injuring her head while training at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. The 23-year-old, who finished seventh at the Torino 2006 Games, crashed after jumping into a strong wind at the Olympic course on Cypress Mountain on Friday, Japanese officials said. Detailed checks at a hospital in Vancouver found no serious injury and she was due to return to the athletes' village later Saturday after being hospitalised overnight under observation. "She said her neck still hurt a bit and she felt some pain in her hip," Japanese snowboard team manager Fumikazu Hagiwara said.
|
JAPAN AT THE OLYMPICS: Figure skating: Sato feeling fresh in 10th Winter Games
| Vancouver (AFP) - Nobuo Sato is feeling fresh in his 10th Olympic Winter Games as a competitor or coach in figure skating. The 68-year-old Japanese was recently named to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame before facing off with his daughter, former world champion Yuka Sato, as coaches in the men's competition at the Vancouver Games. "Many things are happening together here," he said after being added to the list of some 100 individuals and couples by the Hall of Fame organisation in the US city of Colorado Springs this week. "I think life is full of wonder," added Sato, whose date with the Olympics began 50 years ago when he finished 14th at the Squaw Valley Games. Sato, who has trained such high-profile Japanese skaters as his daughter, Miki Ando as well as Fumie Suguri, was cited for his "creative impact" on the sport. In Vancouver, he coaches Takahiko Kozuka, the runner-up to defending Olympic champion Yvegeny Plushenko of Russia at the Grand Prix in Moscow last October. Detroit-based Yuka, 36, minds her first full-time charge, Jeremy Abbott, after guiding him to a second US national title at Spokane in January. The men's Olympic contest is seen likely to become a free-for-all led by Plushenko. "I remember everything about my skating career. But what I remember the best is my daughter's victory at the world championships," the senior Sato said. Sato and his wife, another two-time Olympian Kumiko, coached Yuka to the 1994 world title in Japan, a month after she finished fifth at the Lillehammer Olympics. A 10-time national champion, Nobuo Sato had the best performance of his life when he finished fourth at the 1965 world championships in Colorado Springs. He also coached Suguri to fourth place at the Turin Olympics four years ago.
The father and daughter were seen chatting together at the boards in training sessions in Vancouver. "We just talked about technical things," Nobuo said. "My daughter used to phone me as she was worried about many things in the run-up to the US nationals," he added. "But now I think it is enough for me to watch her on the sidelines. It is no use if she doesn't learn it the hard way." His daughter said: "After I became a coach myself, I've realised how my father struggled all those years. "It is going to be a parent-child battle, indeed. But I feel really secure with my father near me in the same men's event with his ample experience." |
DALIAN, CHINA: Getting Around
LONELY PLANET:
Dàlián’s central district is not large and can generally be covered on foot. The airport is 12km northwest of the city centre. Buses 701 and 710 run between Zhongshan Sq and the airport (Y1). A taxi from the city centre will cost about Y30.
Bus 23 runs south down Yan’an Lu. Bus 13 runs from the train station to the passenger ferry terminal. Taxis start at Y8 during the day and Y10 between 11pm and 5am.
FROMMER’S:
Downtown Dalian is arranged around a series of traffic circles. The two most important are Youhao Guangchang (Friendship Square), dominated by a glass globe in the center, and Zhongshan Guangchang, the city's transportation center. Ten roads radiate from Zhongshan Guangchang, including Renmin Dajie, a major avenue that runs east to the wharf, and Zhongshan Lu, which runs west past the railway station to the city's far southwestern corner.
Taxis charge ¥8 ($1.05/50p) for the first 3km (2 miles), then ¥2 (25¢/15p) per kilometer; it's 30% extra from 10pm to 5am.
Regular buses (without air-conditioning) cost ¥1 (15¢/10p), air-conditioned and minibuses cost ¥2 (25¢/15p); pay as you get on. Bus no. 801 runs the length of Zhongshan Lu and Renmin Dajie.
A tour bus takes visitors around the city from the south side of Dalian Railway Station South Square to Zhongshan Guangchang (every 30 min.; 1 1/2 hr.; ¥10/$1.30/65p).
Real Japanese-built trolleys go from Erqi Guangchang in the east to Xinghai Gongyuan in the southwest.
Dalian Municipal Bureau of Tourism
BUS
- 101-Tramway
- 201-203 trolleycar line
- 501-513 minibus
- 801-sightseeing shuttle
- The others belong to common buses.
Upon entering the bus, you should deposit your bus fare -- 1 RMB for buses and 2 RMB for minibuses. You can buy an electronic bus card or a monthly bus pass. Note: All buses adopt self-service ticketing system, no change.
TAXI
- Starting charge: RMB 8 for 3 kilometres and 2Yuan/kilometer for extra distance. 10pm-5am 30% +.
- Remember to claim a receipt from the driver, which is helpful in case of lose of belongings.
- Taxi Administration 83638328/83638119
- Lost & Founding Office 83621379
OLYMPICS: Kearney collects women's moguls, first U.S. gold
Posted: Feb 13, 11:29p ET | Updated: Feb 14, 10:07p ET
WEST VANCOUVER (AP) -- Someday very soon, 'O Canada' will receive good air time at the Vancouver Olympics.
First, though, American Hannah Kearney gets to celebrate.
Hannah Kearney plays spoiler and wins the first U.S. gold at the 2010 Olympics.
It's a party four years in the making for the 23-year-old from New Hampshire, who slashed through the rain and down the moguls Saturday night -- a remarkable run that gave America its first gold medal of these Olympics and denied Jennifer Heil the honor of becoming the first Canadian to win gold on home turf.
"I know Canada hasn't won a gold medal on their home turf, but I have a feeling they'll do it these games," Kearney said. "But I'm pleased that I could stop that for now."
Heil came in as the favorite on paper -- winner of her last four World Cup events -- but this one really wasn't close. Kearney scored 26.63 points to win by .94 -- a wide margin in a sport often decided by tenths and hundredths.
She won in a blowout four years after entering Turin as the defending world champion but stumbled in qualifying for a 22nd-place finish that left her crying at the bottom.
This time, Kearney finished first after qualifying, then first again when it really counted -- the last run of the night, when the gold medal was on the line.
"I think the qualifying run was the key to my success today," Kearney said. "In some ways, it was redemption for the absolute failure I experienced in Torino."
Shannon Bahrke took bronze to add to her silver from 2002 and push America's medal total to four after the first full day of competition. Apolo Ohno took silver and J.R. Celski won bronze in speedskating earlier.
But there was no bigger American performer on this day than Kearney, who insisted she was more mature, more able to turn her brain off and simply ski than she was four years ago in Italy, when she came in as a favorite and was out of the running before she reached full speed.
She owned that failure and spent a lot of time and effort trying to make sure she wouldn't repeat it. As a reminder, her trainer put a note in her bag before the meet with a lightning bolt on the front. Inside, he calculated the hundreds of hours of conditioning work on the bike, the thousands of training exercises, water jumps and practice trips on snow.
"It's there because it's part of what got me here today," Kearney said of her 2006 failure. "Everything happens for a reason. If I had known I was going to win a gold medal four years ago, I wouldn't have cried so much."
Indeed, it all worked out in the end.
She pulled off a back flip on her top jump and a 360-degree spin on her second, her legs knitted tightly together on both, the perfect example of the form and function judges love to see when they're handing out Olympic gold.
Same scene as she tore through the slushy, rain-soaked moguls -- knees pointed forward and down the hill and hands moving in rhythm as she dipped through the bumps.
Logging the fastest time -- 27.86 seconds -- didn't hurt either, and when Kearney made it across the finish line, she knew it -- pumping her fists and waiting for the score that would prove to be a blowout over Heil, the defending Olympic champ.
When Kearney's score popped up, it brought a huge gasp from the heavily Canadian crowd.
It put a red, white and blue tinge on what was supposed to be a big day for Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in the house to watch Heil, the top-ranked moguls skier in the world, who was given a great shot at becoming the first to get 'O Canada' played at a medals ceremony in Canada.
Instead, she'll go down with figure skater Brian Orser, who lost the famous "Battle of the Brians" to Brian Boitano back in Calgary in 1988, settling for silver in what was Canada's last, best chance to take that gold on home turf.
Canada also failed to win at the Summer Games in 1976 in Montreal, though Vancouver certainly will be a different story. The host country poured $110 million into its "Own the Podium" program, the goal of which was to win more medals than anyone else over these 17 days.
"I know how much hard work goes into winning any Olympic medal," Heil said. "For me, I didn't see the difference in the value of what date a medal is won. Canadians can be assured that that medal is coming on home soil."
Although Heil's medal got Canada on the board for these games, well, there's no disputing that Canada lost this contest 2-1.
OK, so maybe Canada can get some partial credit for Kearney's medal: Her mother grew up in Montreal, and she has an aunt and uncle and cousins who live in Vancouver and were on hand for her victory.
"I'm half-Canadian," Kearney said, "so this is my home soil, too."
Meanwhile, Bahrke's bronze will look good next to the silver from 2002, to say nothing of those pink streaks in her blonde hair. The veteran landed the 360 and back-flip jumps that were the most popular combo in the competition, overcame a slight bobble after her first jump and watched her score of 25.43 hold up for a spot on the medal stand.
Unhappy after her qualifying run, and knowing this is her Olympic finale, Bahrke thought she had one special run left in her.
"I thought, it's not over, it's not over yet," she said. "So I actually went in and listened to a little tape and let it rip."
After Bahrke's run, another Canadian hopeful, Kristi Richards, picked up too much speed between the jumps and fell. Heather McPhie , an up-and-coming American with decent medal hopes, fell after her final jump.
Japan's Aiko Uemura finished fourth, which left Bahrke down at the bottom to hug it out with Kearney after her winning run.
American Michelle Roark finished 17th after falling on the landing of her risky, 720-degree spin on the top -- a move that can win a gold, or leave you close to last.
What was most unbelievable about Kearney's 22nd-place finish in Italy was that the mistake didn't come doing anything difficult. She caught an edge on her second turn, never got her bearings and was out of it before she reached the finish line.
She was crying at the bottom that day.
On this night, too, but for a much different reason.
Best race she's ever run?
"Certainly close to it," she said. "And the best prize ever."
Related to this article
Video
Kearney wins
Hannah Kearney plays spoiler and wins the first U.S. gold at the 2010 Olympics.
- Kearney's home base
- Women's moguls: Heil wins silver
- Women's moguls: Bahrke takes bronze
Slideshows
Photos
Images from the women's moguls competition at the 2010 Olympics on February 13.
- Kearney wins moguls gold
- Day 2: Women's moguls stromotion
- Day 2: Shannon Bahrke wins moguls bronze
Stories
CHINA AT THE OLYMPICS: Go Figure: Pairs’ Competition Could be Tight
Posted: Feb 13, 2:19p ET | Updated: Feb 13, 2:21p ET
Top German, Chinese duos go for gold on Day 4
Matchup: Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy vs. China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo
Event: Figure skating - Pairs' free skate
Tale of the tape: Germany topped the medal count in Torino in 2006, and a gold medal in the pairs' free skate event would go a long way toward duplicating that feat. Recent history would seem to indicate that Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy have the edge over their Chinese rivals heading into Vancouver. The German duo won world titles in 2008 and 2009, three European titles from 2007-2009 and took home the gold medal at the 2007-08 Grand Prix Final. To top it off, they are currently ranked No. 1 in the world.
China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have three world titles to their names, but the last one was in 2007, after which the couple retired. But since returning to the ice at the start of the 2009-10 season, the pair has been splendid, winning all three Grand Prix meets they've entered, including a convincing victory at the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, where they relegated Savchenko and Szolkowy to bronze.
Shen and Zhao came out of retirement specifically to win the Olympic gold medal that has escaped them in three trips to the Games. Look for the veteran couple to give Savchenko and Szolkowy all they can handle in Vancouver.
CHINA: Thrifty Chinese resist enticements to spend
A woman in the city of Hefei in Anhui province shops for holiday items ahead of Sunday's Chinese New Year. The Chinese are traditionally more comfortable saving their money than spending it. (AFP / Getty Images / February 7, 2010)
An official push to promote consumerism as a way of reducing dependence on exports faces cultural hurdles.
By David Pierson and Barbara Demick
February 13, 2010
Reporting from Beijing
To re-balance their economies, Americans need to save more and the Chinese must loosen their wallets.
But judging from homemaker Wang Fang's grocery cart leading up to the biggest holiday of the year here it's going to take some doing to persuade consumers here to shop til they drop.
Her annual splurge, timed to Sunday's Chinese New Year festivities, included a sack of rice, a jug of cooking oil and a bag of beef jerky. Wang's lone personal indulgence: a $40 foot-washing basin she bought using a gift card from her husband's state-owned gas company.
"Chinese people like to buy practical gifts," said Wang, 49. "So it's mainly food and drinks. We're not going to buy junk that lasts one or two years."
Debt-strapped Americans would do well to mimic Wang's self-restraint. But in macroeconomic terms Chinese frugality is not a virtue. China's economy is overly dependent on foreigners to buy its low-cost exports, a weakness that was exposed during the recent global downturn. The government is now trying to encourage its own citizens to spend, with the goal of building reliable domestic demand for Chinese products.
"We must . . . transform the current development model that is excessively reliant on investment and exports," Li Keqiang, the vice premier widely expected to be the next prime minister, said last month at the World Economic Forum at Davos. "We will focus on boosting domestic demand."
It won't be easy.
China's rapid rise might be the envy of nations across the globe. Yet for all the talk of its economic miracle, Chinese consumers are taking home a shrinking share of the pie. In the 1990s, household income accounted for 72% of the country's gross domestic product. By 2007 it had fallen to 55%, according to a study on Chinese consumption by consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
That's because Beijing has geared China's economy toward production rather than consumption. It's a formula that has provided millions of workers with employment but no quick path to the middle class.
Driving the disparity, experts said, is China's decision to subsidize manufacturing and exports at almost any cost to keep its factories humming. The government has showered its manufacturers with low-interest loans, export subsidies and other incentives to give them an edge over foreign competitors. Beijing has also kept its currency, the yuan, artificially low so that its goods remain cheap abroad.
That has been a boon for Chinese factory owners and other well-connected elites. The nation boasted 42 billionaires on Forbes' most recent list of global tycoons.
But wages for most Chinese workers have grown slowly, while their tax burden has risen to help finance all those business subsidies. Meanwhile, a weak currency has fueled inflation and makes imports more expensive for consumers at home.
The McKinsey study said the average Chinese worker has to put in seven hours on the job to earn enough to purchase the same amount of goods or services that an American worker could buy with one hour's pay.
Yu Yaocai, a 28-year-old junior high school teacher in Beijing, said he set a $300 budget for the holidays, about $40 less than his monthly pay. He said he would put the expenses on his credit card but would pay it off promptly when the bill arrived.
"I only buy something when I need to buy something," Yu said.
To be sure, living standards are rising here. China surpassed the U.S. last year in auto sales, and it's the world's No. 1 cellphone market. Still, more than half of China's 1.3 billion people remain in the countryside, where per capita income in 2009 was $758. City dwellers averaged earnings of $2,773 last year, about 15 times less than what the typical American earned.
Persuading Chinese consumers to spend considerably more of their disposable income will require a massive cultural shift. The Chinese savings rate is more than five times higher than that of the U.S. That's largely because citizens here can't count on the government to supply them with adequate education, healthcare or retirement benefits.
Hu Yuping, a homemaker from a rural suburb outside Beijing, said she's trained her family to survive on about $1 a day. It's the only way they can afford her son's college tuition, which costs $1,000 a semester.
Her husband had to give up a job as a taxi driver because of diabetes. Their savings helped pay his medical bills. To make ends meet, he's taken handyman assignments in his village.
"We don't buy anything big," said Hu, whose deep crow's-feet and graying hair make her look far older than her 46 years. "The last time we did was five years ago when we bought a television."
The central government has launched plans to shore up healthcare and pension plans, but the efforts are still not enough, experts said.
Chinese people "still do not feel secure about their future," said Zhao Ping, an economist with the Ministry of Commerce, who researches consumer spending. "Social security is not well-developed. People in the rural areas have to save money for old age; children [providing for their parents in their old age is]the traditional way, but people can't rely on that because of the one-child policy. The government is trying to improve the social security system, healthcare and retirement programs in rural areas. Only when the system is established will people have the confidence to spend more."
A host of multinational firms, including Walmart, General Motors, Proctor & Gamble and Apple, are betting on it.
On a recent afternoon at one of the 156 so-called "hypermarkets" in China run by the French retailing chain Carrefour, hordes of shoppers elbowed their way through the aisles to stock up for the New Year's celebrations. Many said it was the most expensive occasion of year for them. Family meals had to be prepared and gifts had to be given to in-laws, colleagues and bosses.
The crowds weren't so thick in the electronics department, but traffic was jammed in the food aisles, where special red gift boxes of Peking duck, mixed nuts and rice wine were ready to be scooped-up by passersby.
"It's nutritious and the packaging is easy to hold," said He Liping, explaining why she bought her aunt a seasonally decorated box of organic eggs.
While thrift remains the watchword, some unapologetic consumers can be found in the upscale shopping districts that are springing up in the big cities.
Steven Chen, a 23-year-old musician, said his fashion icon was hip-hop star Kanye West. The Beijing native proudly described his ensemble while standing outside a designer T-shirt store: a Victorinox beanie, a Billionaire Boys Club jacket over a Uniqlo hoodie, Buffalo jeans and teal-colored Nike sneakers.
"If I have the money, I'll buy it," Chen said, describing his shopping addiction. "It's my own money so my parents can't complain. Though they keep telling me to save and buy a house."
Nicole Liu and Tommy Yang in the Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report.
JAPAN: Toyota races to fix sticky gas pedals
February 13, 2010
By Tiffany Hsu and Jerry Hirsch
It's a monster of a problem, with more than 2.4 million recalled vehicles in the U.S. alone needing repairs.
Yet a week into Toyota's massive effort to fix sticky gas pedals, dealers and customers say things are moving relatively smoothly.
The rate of cars being fixed is approaching 54,000 a day. Many dealers are keeping service bays open on weekends and operating extended hours. Across the country, Toyota Motor Corp. says it has repaired more than 400,000 vehicles.
"It's all been pretty smooth," said Jose Uribe, service manager at Longo Toyota in El Monte.
Dealers have been able to avoid a logistical nightmare in part by doing most of the work by appointment. And many Toyota owners have been standing by the company, discounting the threat of potential problems and not swarming dealers.
The process hasn't been entirely orderly for some.
In Baton Rouge, La., a customer hoping for a refund on his recalled truck crashed into his dealership when the accelerator allegedly stuck, local police said. There were no major injuries.
But in Southern California, dealers said appointments and extended hours have kept things calm.
"It's hectic, but it's a nice, controlled craziness," said Don Mushin, general manager of Toyota of Hollywood, where about 275 cars came in for fixes Thursday.
At Longo, mechanics worked through nearly 180 appointments Friday and had 400 lined up for the weekend. More than 20 cars came in for fixes after 7 p.m. Thursday. Some customers worried about their pedals have been given rental cars while waiting for repairs.
Even after hiring 10 technicians for the recall and putting four extra people on the phones, Toyota of Hollywood has been clocking more than double its normal hours, often going late into the night, Mushin said.
"We've been through a roller-coaster ride this past year," he said. Having slogged through a sales slump, "they're welcoming the extra work and the overtime."
Though most customers have been understanding, some wanted to vent, Mushin said. He has treated some to lunch to allay their concerns. When an elderly woman called saying she was "scared to death" to drive her 2010 Camry, the dealership picked her up and towed her car to the shop.
Mushin said sales were down nearly 25% since the recalls. Despite the negative publicity surrounding Toyota vehicles, though, the dealership still managed to sell 11 vehicles, including five Prius models Thursday. In between making customer fixes, mechanics have been working their way through about 250 vehicles that were taken off the sales lot.
"It's almost business as usual," Mushin said. "There are still people walking in the doors."
It doesn't hurt that Toyota still has a die-hard contingent of customers coming to the company's defense.
"They could have handled this a million other ways, but what they did spoke volumes," said Tammi Ramsey, 47, an executive recruiter from Fremont who has owned four Toyotas in the last 15 years.
The former GM employee, who now owns a 2005 Lexus 350, was won over when Toyota dealerships remembered her birthdays and offered to drive her when her car was in the shop.
"The follow-up was amazing," she said. "I drove the heck out of their cars, and never had problems."
Halting production of eight models -- including the top-selling Camry and Corolla -- was a "dramatic and unprecedented step," Bob Carter, general manager of Toyota's U.S. sales division, said Friday.
"This has been a challenge for all of us over the last few weeks, but we know we need to take care of our customers one at time," he said.
Dealers are now fixing customers' pedals with a stainless-steel reinforcement bar. About 3 million bars have been shipped, but Carter said it would be months before Toyota would have the parts needed to repair all recalled vehicles. Toyota has also issued more than 5 million recall notices to replace floor mats.
This week Toyota announced a worldwide recall of its 2010 Prius and Lexus hybrids and its four-cylinder 2010 Camrys because of brake problems. On Friday, Toyota said it was recalling 8,000 of its 2010 Tacoma 4-wheel-drive trucks to check for a potentially cracked drive shaft.
But Melinda Augustina's 2006 Prius still runs like new, said the South Bay actress and producer.
"They've taken risks in innovation, and sometimes there's fallout," she said. "It's not like Americans have never died in an American-manufactured car. It happens -- nothing's 100% safe."
Even lawmakers are coming to Toyota's defense, as congressional committees are gearing up for hearings on the recalls. Four governors from states with Toyota assembly plants -- Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- signed a letter Wednesday calling for "a responsible and fair response."
According to the letter, the company has more than 172,000 corporate and dealership employees in the country, and suppliers too.
But Toyota's appeal is also the continuing sense of safety, said home-care nurse Lisa Marie Blaskie, 58, who splits her time between San Francisco and Palm Springs.
"I see all these recalls from other car companies, but people are picking on Toyota," she said. "They make a quality car, but they're getting a bum rap."
OLYMPICS: Heil, Kearney breeze through moguls qualifying
Posted: Feb 13, 8:53p ET | Updated: Feb 13, 9:42p ET
WEST VANCOUVER (AP) -- Last time, Hannah Kearney stood in the stands, helplessly watching Jennifer Heil win the Olympic gold medal.
This time, Kearney gets a chance to win it herself.
Kearney and Heil made it easily through rainy qualifying at women's moguls Saturday -- keeping Heil in the mix to become the first Canadian to win an Olympic gold in her home country, and putting Kearney, the American, in her first Olympic final.
Kearney was the defending world champion at the Turin Games in 2006 when she bobbled coming out of the gate, never got her bearings and finished 22nd -- out of the finals and forced to watch Heil win it all from the bottom.
This time, Kearney finished first, meaning she'll go last when the scores are reset for the finals later Saturday.
"It's a big deal for me," Kearney said of the safe qualifying run that most top skiers take for granted. "Four years ago was devastating, and I had to watch the night finals and didn't get to ski. This means there's one step down, and another to go."
Kearney scored 25.96 points in qualifying to beat Heil by .46. The Canadian came into the Olympics with four straight victories in the World Cup and a very good chance to make some history. No Canadian has won gold at the two previous Olympics up North -- 1976 in Montreal and 1988 in Calgary.
Also advancing were Americans Michelle Roark , Shannon Bahrke and Heather McPhie , Canadians Kristi Richards and Chloe Dufour-LaPointe and Japanese contender Aiko Uemura .
McPhie finished third in qualifying and said she wasn't fazed by the big Canadian crowd looking to see a little slice of history.
"In my opinion I don't think there's such a thing as a home-field advantage," McPhie said. "We're all in the same conditions on the exact same course, and we've all skied a ton. We've skied in rain, we've skied in ice. We're all on the same playing field."
Kearney and Heil finished 1-2 with similar runs, each landing a 360-degree spin and back flip and making it through the moguls smooth and fast.
The rain left a layer of frozen slush on top of the snow, which made for a fast track that should only get quicker for the final.
Heil buzzed off the course and didn't stop for interviews _ the sign of someone with bigger things on her mind.
Kearney is in the same boat, but after the way the last Olympics went, she didn't mind enjoying the moment for a bit.
"It's good, but I've got things to improve on," she said. "It's the second run that counts. We'll try to do it again."
Related to this article
Video
Heil going for gold
Canadian moguls skier Jennifer Heil, the reigning Olympic champ, talks about the Olympics.
- Kearney's home base
Slideshows
Photos
Images from the women's moguls competition at the 2010 Olympics on February 13.
Stories
CHINA AT THE OLYMPICS: Shen/Zhao look to capture elusive pair's gold
Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China perform during a training session on February 11, 2010 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics. VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images
Posted: Feb 13, 4:16p ET | Updated: Feb 14, 2:49p ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Two-time Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo are skating first in the pairs short program. They're likely to finish the night in first place, too.
Returning from a two-year layoff for one last run at that elusive Olympic gold medal, the Chinese have been simply brilliant this year. They've won each of their competitions by huge margins. The Grand Prix final had the most stacked field outside of the Olympics, and Shen and Zhao blew away the field by a dozen points.
Their practices here have been masterful--seeing them is better than watching some others compete. Their athleticism, always their strength, hasn't dropped off at all despite being in their 30s, ancient for pairs skaters. But they're also wonderfully expressive and emotional, a big change from a couple whose faces used to look like blank slates.
"The Chinese couples leave the same impression as in the past weeks. They are very solid," said Ingo Steuer, who coaches two-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany.
They will have to be if they hope to finally claim the gold medal -- not to mention end the streak that has seen Russian or Soviet couples win every Olympic pairs title dating back to 1964. At the scandal-hit Salt Lake City Olympics, the gold medal was shared by the Russian pair and the Canadian partnership of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
Related to this article
Slideshows
Pairs Practice
Pair skaters take to the ice for final preperations before competition begins.
- Kavaguti/Smirnov in Vancouver
Stories
The pairs short program is Sunday, and the free skate Monday.
Five teams have legitimate shots at gold, and there are two more who could be in the medals mix. The top couples have combined to win 19 world medals, and three claimed the ultimate prize: the world championship. In addition to Shen and Zhao and Savchenko and Szolkowy, China's Pang Qing and Tong Jian won in 2006.
"We know that we can win, and we want to win," Szolkowy said.
Savchenko and Szolkowy figure to give Shen and Zhao the toughest test. The Germans won the last two world championships with such ease, they could have skipped the second half of their free skate and still been on top. They, too, have impressive athleticism, but they're also the most inventive team that pairs skating has seen in years.
Their costumes for last year's "Lost in Space" short program were unquestionably hideous -- hot pink hot pants? A skintight, sparkly lilac jumpsuit? -- but their high-octane routine at worlds was the real sight to behold. They raced around the rink at a frenetic pace that made the audience tired just watching them, yet every single one of their elements was done with perfection.
This year, their short program is a sweet, graceful piano version of "Send in the Clowns."
"It's hard once you're at the top to stay up there. You've got to find new ways to challenge yourself," said Jeremy Barrett , U.S. champion with partner Caydee Denney . "The Germans won worlds the last two years and they've come back this year and come out with some new crazy programs. They're always trying to do something different, and not just try to stay the same."
Savchenko and Szolkowy have had a few setbacks this season. They were third at the Grand Prix final, behind Shen-Zhao and Pang-Tong, and then were upset by Russia's Yuko Kavaguti and Aleksandr Smirnov at last month's European championships.
But those results have long been forgotten.
"Overall, we didn't perceive anything as a major setback or defeat. It is true, we've won few competitions, unlike in other years, but we are looking into the future," Szolkowy said. "Maybe it is because everything is focused on the Olympic Games. We didn't hole up after the European championships. It was done after the free skating, and we've moved on."
The Americans, meanwhile, are just getting started.
Denney and Barrett are at their first Olympic Games a mere 20 months after reuniting. They skated together briefly in 2006. While they would seem to have no shot at a medal, these two can never be counted out.
They can hold their own technically with the Chinese, Germans and Russians, and their artistry improves every time they take the ice.
"We just try to do the best that we can," Denney said. "The more and more you go out and compete, you're always going to learn something just from being out there, in that atmosphere and that environment."
And there's no worry these two will be intimidated. Reminded that Shen and Zhao have been skating together as long as she's been alive, the 16-year-old Denney just shrugs.
"When I step onto that ice," she said, "we're all on the same level."
JAPAN AT THE OLYMPICS: Snowboard cross rider Fujimori whacks head, in hospital
Feb 13 02:38 AM US/Eastern
VANCOUVER (AP) - (Kyodo)—Japanese snowboard cross athlete Yuka Fujimori has been hospitalized after banging her head while training for the Vancouver Olympics on Cypress Mountain on Friday.
There were no abnormalities found after the 23-year-old underwent a detailed examination and she is currently planning to race in the competition getting under way on Tuesday.
A source familiar with the accident said Fujimori made a crash landing when she was thrown off-balance by a gusty wind after overextending a jump on the course.
Fujimori broke a vertebra in her back during training in Japan in December, requiring one month of recovery. She finished in seventh at the Turin Olympics in 2006.
Earlier Friday at Whistler Sliding Centre, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed in a training accident after his sled lost control and crashed.
RUSSIA: On this day: 13 February
On February 13, 1956, the Soviet Union set up its first-ever research station on the Antarctic. It was named Mirny, after one of the two ships of the Russian Bellingshausen and Lazarev expedition, which discovered the continent in 1820.
The second station, Vostok, was named after the other ship and was set up in 1957.
Located on the Antarctic’s Indian Ocean coast, Mirny served the Soviet Union as the main year-round research observatory and transportation hub for decades.
Following attempts by different countries to claim the Antarctic, the international convention of 1959 established the cold continent as a no-man’s territory, making it open to everyone for exploration. However, it is prohibited to place any military or nuclear hardware on the continent.
At first, Mirny comprised 12 buildings, and later expanded to 42. These include the research centre, living quarters, fuel and tractor storage facilities, a radio station and diesel power generation unit. Mirny was used as a base to set up four other observatories which are still operating to this day.
During summertime, up to 200 people live and work at Mirny, the number declining to a quarter of that in winter.
Mirny, which translated from Russian means peaceful, has living conditions which are far from peaceful. The year-round temperatures average around -11 C, but the cold factor is doubled by stormy winds blowing through the continent almost all year round. The coldest Earth minimum was registered at the Vostok station: –89C. Because of the cold temperatures, the equipment for the Antarctic is similar to what is produced for space exploration.
The harsh conditions practically make everyone working there a hero. Sadly, there have been a number of deaths at Mirny – the Antarctic cemetery has dozens of graves as reminders of the cruelty of the seventh continent. The only monument there is dedicated to the first victim – 20-year-old Ivan Khmyra.
The first expedition team was unloading cargo from the ship that had brought them to the Antarctic. They had just unloaded a tractor, which wouldn’t move when started. Ivan got into the cabin and put it in gear, hoping to jerk the tractor into motion. The caterpillar track rolled, digging through the pack ice, and a moment later the tractor had disappeared into the crack. The man was trapped in the cabin and had no time to escape.
There was also an incident when the whole station went down under the ice and people made a very narrow escape by running up the spiral staircase.
Vladimir Kontrovsky, who took part in the 22nd and 23rd Antarctic expeditions, says one should always watch out for the treacherous Antarctic ice – “You can never trust what you see, you walk thinking it’s plain ground, but it turns out to be a snow crust over a hundred-meter-deep crack. If you fall into one of those, they won’t even search for you. Any time you leave the building you have to let someone know. During the stormy winds there is no guarantee you’ll make it even as far as the canteen next door.”
The first Antarctic expedition to Mirny has been followed by more than 50, some 17 000 people taking part in the research of the Antarctic over the years of its existence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
