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Jamie Anderson gives U.S. sweep of slopestyle gold medals at Sochi Games
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia –
When the Olympics decided to include snowboarding 16 years ago, the
expectation was that it would only help American medal efforts. After
two days of the Sochi Games, Team USA is proving that prophecy ever
true.
Jamie Anderson, the 23-year-old
from California, won gold in the inaugural women's slopestyle event at
Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on Sunday afternoon, posting a score of 95.25
to give the U.S. its third medal of the games – and second in
slopestyle.
"Most of us have been thinking
about this for a few years," Anderson said. "And to just have that
moment come so quick, knowing this is really your moment to shine and be
your best and show the world what a fun sport snowboarding is."
Less than 24 hours after Sage Kotsenburg stunned the men's slopestyle field with a gold medal,
Anderson, the favorite in the women's, pushed Team USA up the medal
table with an array of spins off the course's three jumps. She was in
fifth place before delivering a dazzling final run that included a
backside 720 with a mute grab. It was enough to impress the judges, who
rewarded her with a 14½-point improvement from her first run.
“Last night, I was so nervous, I
couldn’t even eat," Anderson said. "I was just trying to calm down. I
put on some meditation music, burned some sage, had the candles going.
Just tried to do a little bit of yoga. Yoga always comes through for
me.”
U.S. coach Mike Jankowski
reminded Anderson to smile as she looked down from the top of the
mountain. She did before her final run.
"It was a lot of stress up
there," he said. "And even though it's just another competition, with
the stage and outreach this event connects to across the whole world is
out of control."
Finland's Enni Rukajarvi won
silver with a score of 92.50 and Jenny Jones took the bronze for
Britain's first medal in a snow sport. American Karly Shorr finished
sixth. Anderson celebrated the victory by dancing and flashing thumbs up
to the photographers.
"At the end of the day, this is
snowboarding," Anderson said. "We all started with the fun it brings and
how much joy it is to be out here on the mountains with your friends.
It’s like playing, you know? We’re pretty much snowboarding on a
playground up there.”
Anderson, one of eight children
home-schooled in California, has dominated the women's slopestyle scene
since arriving as a 16-year-old. While women's slopestyle does not
feature the massive spins and flips of its men's counterpart, Anderson's
style helped propel to the top of the sport – and now into Olympics
history.
Hamilton has since come out to declare that depression was one of the more powerful forces that drove her to prostitution. (Photo : flickr.com/HeyGabe)
A little over a half of a year after former Olympian and legendary
Big Ten track athlete Suzy Favor Hamilton was first exposed as a call
girl, she's now being stripped of more than just her clothes. The Big
Ten's female athlete of the year award will no longer be named after Hamilton.
Late last year it was revealed that Hamilton, a three-time Olympian as well as a three-time Big Ten female athlete of the year for Wisconsin, had been operating as a high-priced prostitute for an organization called Haley Heston's Private Collection. Before the news broke, only her husband knew of her secret life.
"He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn't supportive of this at all," Hamilton said. "I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I'm not the victim and I'm not going that route. Everybody in this world makes mistakes. I made a huge mistake. Huge."
Hamilton's story did not break until she disclosed her identity to several of her clients, who in turn told others. Hamilton, who had gone by the name "Kelly Lundy," was also running a real estate brokerage as well as doing motivational speeches. For her, being a call girl was less about the money (though her going rate was $600 an hour) and more about the experience.
"I realize I have made highly irrational choices and I take full responsibility for them. I am not a victim here and knew what I was doing. I was drawn to escorting in large part because it provided many coping mechanisms for me when I was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life. It provided an escape from a life that I was struggling in. It was a double life," tweeted the former track star.
Reportedly, Hamilton had already been planning to leave the Heston agency when the story first came out. Since that time she has been a novelty and the butt end of more than a few humiliating jokes. She has claimed that her actions were the result of trying to escape anxiety and severe postpartum depression, among other ills.
"I do not expect people to understand, but the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time and were very much related to depression. As crazy as I know it seems, I never thought I would be exposed, therefore never hurting anybody. I have been seeking the help of a psychologist for the past few weeks and will continue to do so after I have put things together," she also said while stating her case on Twitter.
Hamilton was easily one of the most dominant women in track towards the end of the 20th century. She won three straight Big Ten female athlete of the year awards starting in 1988, and won seven U.S. women's national titles, the last one coming in 1999.
USA TODAY Sports
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
You know the names well: Dorothy Hamill, Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan, Tara Lipinski, Sarah Hughes and Sasha Cohen.
There's just something about the elegance, difficulty and athleticism of Olympic figure skating that captures the hearts of all Americans and turns the champions into full-blown pop-culture icons.
Vancouver was the exception to that rule. Four years ago, America's top skater, Mirai Nagasu, finished fourth. It was the first time that an American woman hadn't been on the figure skating podium since 1964, which was just three years after the entire U.S. figure skating team tragically died on board Sabena Flight 548.
This year at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, there's a crop of determined and talented athletes aiming to earn one of the three Sochi spots that are up for grabs and bring glory back to women's U.S. figure skating.
Among the competitors are a lot of inspiring stories. Christina Gao, 19, has worked her way into contention while also attending Harvard University. Agnes Zawadzki, also 19, comes from a blue-collar background. Per USA Today, she said, "My mom is a nanny and she cleans houses. She's done that her entire life. I've always lived in an apartment. I can't complain."
And, still just 20, Nagasu is back and sitting in third place after the short program on Thursday, hoping to get her chance to one-up her Vancouver performance.
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
But, while all three of those women are fighting to make the team,
they likely won't become the next faces of female figure skating in
America. That mantle seems set for Wagner or Gold.
Wagner, 22, is considered a veteran of the teen-dominated figure skating world. Four years ago, she experienced the agony of defeat, when she fell in her routine and finished third at the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, just missing a spot on the Vancouver team.
After a rough year in 2011, she gave herself an ultimatum—she would win the 2012 U.S. Championships, or she would quit skating. Luckily for us, she won in 2012 and again in 2013.
Wagner started skating when she was just five years old, and learned to take solace in skating as her military family picked up and moved from town to town.
Skating was her entire life throughout her childhood and teen years, but these days she's much more balanced. She makes time to be outdoors, practice yoga and see her friends. She knows that being a well-rounded person helps keep skating in perspective.
In the past four years, Wagner has blossomed from a nervous teenager to a secure and confident woman who embraces the stages that used to terrify her. She even calls herself a "show pony." She's strong and independent, and uses her maturity to her advantage with tough, smart and sexy routines that set her apart from the teens she's competing against.
One of those teens is Gold, 18, who stunned the Boston crowd on Thursday night with a flawless performance that gave her a career-best score and a place alone at the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend.
A year ago, Gold certainly wasn't in that golden spot. At the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in one of her first major competitions as a senior, Gold had a disastrous short program that put her in ninth place.
But instead of sulking and getting discouraged, Gold dug down deep and skated a scene-stealing long program that was spectacular enough to vault her back up to second place, right behind Wagner, and launch her into the pre-Olympic spotlight.
Gold, who has a fraternal twin Carly who also skates, is best known for her ruby-red lipstick, fast skating speed and the power and precision of her jumps. She recently teamed up with Frank Carroll, the famous coach of Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek, and he has made a point to add more beauty and grace to her routines. So far, the partnership is paying off.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
While the official figure-skating team going to the Sochi
Olympics won't be announced until Sunday after the long programs are
performed on Saturday night, both women are in good positions after
their short programs on Thursday. Wagner is in fourth place, while Gold is, of course, leading the pack. Still, it's anyone's title to take.
Both Gold and Wagner have the looks, the determination, the sponsors (they both work with Cover Girl, Proctor & Gamble, among many others) and, most importantly, the talent to get the United States back on the figure skating map.
Suzy Favor Hamilton, Prostitute and Former Olympian, Stripped of Award
Hamilton has since come out to declare that depression was one of the more powerful forces that drove her to prostitution. (Photo : flickr.com/HeyGabe)
Late last year it was revealed that Hamilton, a three-time Olympian as well as a three-time Big Ten female athlete of the year for Wisconsin, had been operating as a high-priced prostitute for an organization called Haley Heston's Private Collection. Before the news broke, only her husband knew of her secret life.
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"He tried, he tried to get me to stop. He wasn't supportive of this at all," Hamilton said. "I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I'm not the victim and I'm not going that route. Everybody in this world makes mistakes. I made a huge mistake. Huge."
Hamilton's story did not break until she disclosed her identity to several of her clients, who in turn told others. Hamilton, who had gone by the name "Kelly Lundy," was also running a real estate brokerage as well as doing motivational speeches. For her, being a call girl was less about the money (though her going rate was $600 an hour) and more about the experience.
"I realize I have made highly irrational choices and I take full responsibility for them. I am not a victim here and knew what I was doing. I was drawn to escorting in large part because it provided many coping mechanisms for me when I was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life. It provided an escape from a life that I was struggling in. It was a double life," tweeted the former track star.
Reportedly, Hamilton had already been planning to leave the Heston agency when the story first came out. Since that time she has been a novelty and the butt end of more than a few humiliating jokes. She has claimed that her actions were the result of trying to escape anxiety and severe postpartum depression, among other ills.
"I do not expect people to understand, but the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time and were very much related to depression. As crazy as I know it seems, I never thought I would be exposed, therefore never hurting anybody. I have been seeking the help of a psychologist for the past few weeks and will continue to do so after I have put things together," she also said while stating her case on Twitter.
Hamilton was easily one of the most dominant women in track towards the end of the 20th century. She won three straight Big Ten female athlete of the year awards starting in 1988, and won seven U.S. women's national titles, the last one coming in 1999.
US Figure Skating Championship: Who Will Be America's Darling at 2014 Olympics?
By Lindsay Gibbs ,
USA TODAY Sports
Every four years, like clockwork, the Winter Olympics
seem to produce America's next sweetheart. This weekend, all eyes will
be on the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston to see who the
next it-girl will be.
Out of a pack of promising hopefuls, most eyes will be on Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, the favorites who seem to have the best shot to excel in Sochi and follow in the footsteps of their famous predecessors.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Gracie Gold
There's just something about the elegance, difficulty and athleticism of Olympic figure skating that captures the hearts of all Americans and turns the champions into full-blown pop-culture icons.
Vancouver was the exception to that rule. Four years ago, America's top skater, Mirai Nagasu, finished fourth. It was the first time that an American woman hadn't been on the figure skating podium since 1964, which was just three years after the entire U.S. figure skating team tragically died on board Sabena Flight 548.
This year at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, there's a crop of determined and talented athletes aiming to earn one of the three Sochi spots that are up for grabs and bring glory back to women's U.S. figure skating.
Among the competitors are a lot of inspiring stories. Christina Gao, 19, has worked her way into contention while also attending Harvard University. Agnes Zawadzki, also 19, comes from a blue-collar background. Per USA Today, she said, "My mom is a nanny and she cleans houses. She's done that her entire life. I've always lived in an apartment. I can't complain."
And, still just 20, Nagasu is back and sitting in third place after the short program on Thursday, hoping to get her chance to one-up her Vancouver performance.
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Wagner, 22, is considered a veteran of the teen-dominated figure skating world. Four years ago, she experienced the agony of defeat, when she fell in her routine and finished third at the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, just missing a spot on the Vancouver team.
After a rough year in 2011, she gave herself an ultimatum—she would win the 2012 U.S. Championships, or she would quit skating. Luckily for us, she won in 2012 and again in 2013.
Wagner started skating when she was just five years old, and learned to take solace in skating as her military family picked up and moved from town to town.
Skating was her entire life throughout her childhood and teen years, but these days she's much more balanced. She makes time to be outdoors, practice yoga and see her friends. She knows that being a well-rounded person helps keep skating in perspective.
In the past four years, Wagner has blossomed from a nervous teenager to a secure and confident woman who embraces the stages that used to terrify her. She even calls herself a "show pony." She's strong and independent, and uses her maturity to her advantage with tough, smart and sexy routines that set her apart from the teens she's competing against.
One of those teens is Gold, 18, who stunned the Boston crowd on Thursday night with a flawless performance that gave her a career-best score and a place alone at the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend.
A year ago, Gold certainly wasn't in that golden spot. At the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in one of her first major competitions as a senior, Gold had a disastrous short program that put her in ninth place.
But instead of sulking and getting discouraged, Gold dug down deep and skated a scene-stealing long program that was spectacular enough to vault her back up to second place, right behind Wagner, and launch her into the pre-Olympic spotlight.
Gold, who has a fraternal twin Carly who also skates, is best known for her ruby-red lipstick, fast skating speed and the power and precision of her jumps. She recently teamed up with Frank Carroll, the famous coach of Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek, and he has made a point to add more beauty and grace to her routines. So far, the partnership is paying off.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Both Gold and Wagner have the looks, the determination, the sponsors (they both work with Cover Girl, Proctor & Gamble, among many others) and, most importantly, the talent to get the United States back on the figure skating map.
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