Alex Goldberger

Solid start to short track season for U.S. men

By Sep 29, 2013, 1:03 PM EDT
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The United States won three medals, including gold in the men’s 5000m relay, at the season-opening short track World Cup event in Shanghai this weekend.

It represents a promising start to the Olympic season following a year marked by a coaching scandal, poor results and the retirements of the top American man and woman from the Vancouver Olympics, Apolo Ohno and Katherine Reutter.

Although the relay gold was the weekend’s biggest highlight, perhaps the most encouraging sign for the U.S. men was that they managed to win two individual medals despite a subpar meet for team leader J.R. Celski, the two-time Olympic bronze medalist and world record holder in the 500m.

On Saturday, Eddy Alvarez reached his first World Cup podium by placing third in the 500m, capping a remarkable comeback from double knee surgery 18 months ago. The U.S. coaching staff loves the raw talent of Alvarez, who grew up inline skating and playing baseball in South Beach and has limited experience in international short track.

Jordan Malone, a Vancouver veteran who nearly retired after injuries kept him from competing on the World Cup circuit last year, was the other U.S. medalist, tying for bronze in the 1000m.

Canada’s Charles Hamelin, a double gold medalist in Vancouver, won both the 500m and 1000m and was second to South Korea’s Noh Jin-Kyu in the 1500m.

The U.S. women did not fare as well in Shanghai, continuing a troubling trend for the group that dates back to last year. No U.S. woman made an international podium last season, and in Shanghai, none advanced past the quarterfinals.

The World Cup continues Thursday in Seoul for the second of four stops. The final two events, in November in Torino, Italy, and Kolomna, Russia, will determine Olympic qualifying. One big question for the U.S. team is whether its women can secure one of eight spots in the relay.

Olympic flame lit, Ovechkin first Russian torchbearer

By Sep 29, 2013, 12:34 PM EDT
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The Olympic flame was lit today in Olympia, Greece, a significant milestone ahead of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

During an elaborate ceremony at the Temple of Hera, Greek actress Ino Menegaki, dressed as a high priestess in a flowing white robe, kindled the flame using sun rays reflected off a parabolic mirror. The first torch was then carried by Greek alpine skier Ioannis Antoniou, an 18-year-old who is attempting to qualify for Sochi.

Antoniou handed the torch off to Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin, who became the first Russian torchbearer. Ovechkin, a veteran of two Olympics and a three-time NHL MVP, skipped the Capitals’ final preseason game Saturday night in order to be in Greece. He will rejoin his team in time for the season opener Tuesday night in Chicago.

The torch will be carried through Greece until October 6, when it is flown to Moscow to begin its 123-day odyssey to Sochi.

The Torch Relay is to be the longest in Games history, covering more than 40,000 miles and including 14,000 torchbearers. It will span 83 different regions in Russia, but two highlights will come when it leaves the country: in October, the torch will voyage to the North Pole on a nuclear-powered icebreaker called “50 Years of Victory,” and in November, it will be escorted to the International Space Station by two Russian cosmonauts.

“Just as in ancient Greece, the Olympic Games cannot settle political problems or secure lasting peace between peoples,” said Thomas Bach, the newly elected International Olympic Committee President. “The Olympic flame thus reminds us to be aware of our own Olympic limits.”

The Opening Ceremony is February 7.