Shaun White Vancouver 2010 Video Snowboarding's Best Viral Hit

Shaun White's Vancouver 2010 video has been viral for days and may be the most downloaded video from the Olympic Games so far. Snowboarding fans, as well as some new ones, have been raving over this gold medal winning performance since Wednesday night. It has made the snowboarding legend one of the Games' biggest stars, and brought new attention to his board. However, the Shaun White Vancouver 2010 video isn't the only way that snowboarding has spread online - but it is the least embarrassing.

In this first full week of Olympic competition, America's biggest stars have broken out. But while Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis and Apolo Anton Ohno have made their usual headlines, Shaun White has broken out into the Olympic pantheon. He won his second straight half-pipe gold on Wednesday, and barely broke a sweat to do it.

The best part of White's Vancouver 2010 video came at the end, well after he sealed up the gold medal. But he ended things with a bang by performing his signature Double McTwist 1260. His victory lap became one of the signature moments of the games, and one of the most downloaded.

Snowboarding has broken out in the Winter Olympics this year, thanks in part to the Shaun White Vancouver 2010 video. But the sport is experiencing the good and the bad side of Internet stardom, thanks to bronze medalist Scotty Lago. His photo controversy over his use of the bronze medal represents the bad side so far.

Lago had to leave Vancouver because of the racy pictures, putting a bad light on snowboarding - or at least giving the Olympics and the press a chance to put it in a bad light. Even White's run was not without controversy, since his coach was caught cursing by NBC cameras after the performance.

The best and worst of snowboarding has been put on display at the Winter Olympics 2010. However the worst only involves the athletes' behavior off the course, and fans and supporters are more inclined to forgive that. On the course, snowboarding has become an audience favorite, with the Shaun White Vancouver 2010 video as the best example.

Source:associatedcontent.com/

Lindsey Vonn won only bronze in the women's super G on Saturday.

Did you want more off-course/ice drama with your Olympics? You're going to get it in child-sized doses, thanks to a couple of American Olympians and a coach opening their mouths and speak in recent days.

Lindsey Vonn won only bronze in the women's super G on Saturday. That probably had more to do with a tentative run that did not attack the course as it could have, but it didn't take long for her coach/husband, Thomas, to accuse an Austrian coach of foul play. He said:

"I know for a fact that the Austrian course setter said that he was setting [the super-G course] against Lindsey, which is kind of silly, considering. I know he made a comment to some people that ‘we studied all the tapes, and we found out that the one from Val d'Isere is the one she did worst in,' which happened to be third place."
That Austrian course setter won a lottery to set the course, and as Chris Chase notes, merely took advantage of a system that begs for exploitation. (Could you imagine an NFL team being able to choose where the Super Bowl is?) If Thomas Vonn had won the lottery, wouldn't he have tailored the course to Lindsey's strengths?

This is a tempest in a teapot, but one that will help create a "rivalry" storyline for NBC. So get ready to be sick of it.

Lindsey Vonn's comments went heavier on humor that drama. Her Tiger Woods jokes, though, were like a tap dance on the third rail for someone with sponsors.

Vonn, after piecing together the Tiger whatever-that-was from Friday, had some things to say about it, according to Time's Sean Gregory:
And like millions of Americans, Vonn can't help poking fun at Woods' staged event. When a member of her Vonn-tourage tells her that Woods gave a few friends hugs after ending his statement, she cracks, "They're like, 'Yeah, you're awesome, you go have that sex.' " The room breaks into a laugh. Then she describes a skit she would want to perform if asked to host Saturday Night Live: picture Vonn at Woods' podium, blue backdrop and all. "There's something you don't know about me," Vonn says in a faux solemn, apologetic voice. "Tiger, you're like my idol, and I too have a sex problem." More laughter. "That would be freaking funny."
That's not quite Bill Hicks in his heyday, but it is a bit of color from an athlete whose image hasn't deviated much from the stoic hero mold. One problem with praising that personality: the Vonn camp is reportedly claiming those comments were off the record, and refusing to talk to Time as a result. Because, after all, why would anyone want to sponsor an athlete with opinions? Opinions are liabilities and should be eschewed in favor of more training.

Meanwhile, the United States and Canada play in men's hockey today, and tensions between the nations are running as high as they have since the South Park movie. American Ryan Kesler put it bluntly, saying "I hate them" more than once before backpedaling on that statement. The U.S. and Canada are both medal contenders, so tensions would run high based only on that fact, but there's certainly a big brother-little brother component to the rivalry as well.

For the unaffiliated fan who wants a rooting interest, I submit Brian Burke's emphatic defense of these games, the prospect of the U.S. to wearing 1960-inspired jerseys, and the Canucks' talent advantage as reason to cheer for the U.S. in a rare underdog role.

The unaffiliated fan who doesn't care who wins doesn't even need to root for a good game. That's more or less guaranteed, with the only two teams made up entirely of NHL players taking the ice.

Source:sportingnews.com/

Amy Williams holds back tears at emotional Vancouver medal ceremony

Amy Williams shows off her Winter Olympics gold medal after the ceremony in Vancouver. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Amy Williams promised to toast her Olympic skeleton gold medal with "a sip of champagne" after being presented with it in front of a cheering crowd at the Whistler Medals Plaza.

Williams held back tears as the Union Jack was raised over a Winter Olympic podium for the first time since Rhona Martin's curling team took gold at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

But she admitted she had shed tears earlier in the day, when she paused to view internet footage of her brother and twin sister cheering her home on TV in the local pub in Bath. Williams said: "I'm going to have a sip of champagne tonight but I'm going to save the party for when I get home. I did have tears when I saw the scenes at my local pub. It really choked me up."

Williams insisted the experience of being awarded her medal in such a public way had scared her and her two German rivals, who won silver and bronze, far more than throwing themselves head-first down a 90mph ice track.

She added: "All three of us were just shaking before going on. To have the medal now is just incredible. I didn't think I would get a medal – I was just hoping to do better than my training runs.

"I've been in a bubble since I won and it feels like it's got thicker. It feels a little bit more real now that I'm holding the medal. I've had a message of congratulations from the Prime Minister and the whole thing is amazing."

Source:guardian.co.uk/