General Short Track Chat

[Laura (Lori)]

In order to protect the individual skaters' threads from going off-topic, and to give our members a fledging avenue to talk about other short-track topics that aren't related to a specific skater, we've created ONE general short-track thread to give y'all a little flexibility.

There are several great boards and blogs out there where skating (and skater) fans can chat about short-track topics, and it isn't our intent to duplicate these sites, so we aren't currently offering members the ability to create their own threads on this board.

Hopefully this thread will suffice for the time being!

If your topic is about a specific skater, please use that skater's thread to discuss it... ;D

[mtnme]

Another article about short track by Timbre Beck Murphy at suite101.com that had me laughing out loud!


how-to-speed-skate.suite101.com/article.cfm/begin_short_track_speed_skating

[mtnme]

Today - From USS
(The names in blue denote a TRF skater) ;D

________________________________________________________________________________

US Speedskating is pleased to announced the 2009-2010 Senior and Junior Category 1 athletes for long and short track.


Senior Category 1
Short Track Men

Apolo Anton Ohno

J.R. Celski

Jeff Simon

Anthony Lobello

Travis Jayner

Eddy Alvarez

Joey Lindsey

JP Kepka

(...mmm, am I missing something??? No Jordan Malone???) *place shruggie emotie here*



Senior Category 1
Short Track Ladies

Katherine Reutter

Kimberly Derrick

Lana Gehring

Alyson Dudek

Allison Baver

Mary Grace

Kristen Biondo


Junior Category 1
Short Track Men

Jonathan Sermeno

Robert Lawrence

Kyle Uyehara

Barry Winslow

Walter Rusk

Kyle Haun

John-Henry Krueger

James Rodowsky

Daniel Fiorenza

Julian Wood





Junior Category 1
Short Track Ladies

Vicky LaBourdette

Erin Bartlett

Petra Acker

Morgan Izykowski

Maddie Watton

Rachel Skrocki

Tamara Frederick

Sarah Chen

Alaina Fiorenza

Rachel Stewart

Katherine Ralston

EDIT:
Answer from Peri Kinder:

Yeah, it’s kinda crazy. Neither Jordan Malone or Jessica Smith qualified for Cat 1 because they didn’t attend a specific event. I believe it was North Americans. But because they were on world teams, they still qualify for the national training program. Does that answer your question?

Peri

_________________________________________________________________

.... yeah, it kinda does answer my question, but also brings up a few more! LOL. And it IS crazy, as I didn't think JP Kepka competed at all last year due to injury. (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this)

I could spend some time going through the 'certain to be very dense and tedious' rulebook, but I'm sure I'll come out of it merely as confused as I started, only with the additional fun of it REALLY just making my head hurt! LOL

[Laura (Lori)]

It DOES appear to be a somewhat complex and multi-layered process - someone once attempted to explain it to me, but quite honestly, I got the impression that some of the skaters themselves aren't quite sure how it works - maybe they rely on their coaches to point them in the right direction.

I do think that North American Championships was mentioned in that conversation as an important competition for Cat1 status, which jives with what Peri said.

I believe it involves 'times' and 'placements' as well.

As for J.P. - maybe there's consideration made for injury. Julian Wood was also severely injured and missed many major competitions because of it, but retained his Cat1 status. That doesn't explain Jordan's situation, though, 'cause HE was also injured...

Another interesting thing of note - did you see that Petra Acker made Cat1 in BOTH short track and long track? That's impressive.

[Deleted]

Admin--could not find Jennifer in the Index of Skaters--move this where it needs to be.



With her mom gone, speedskater Jennifer Rodriguez stays determined

By Linda Robertson
[e-mail]
Throughout her skating career, Jennifer Rodriguez has had one indefatigable source of inspiration: her mother.
Barbara Rodriguez was like a stopwatch from afar, providing the push Rodriguez needed in the demanding sport of long-track speedskating, which is as much about beating agony as beating your opponent.
Barbara fought cancer for 16 years. ''If Mom can stand the pain, I can stand the pain,'' was Rodriguez's mantra on the hardest laps.
She, in turn, motivated her mother. ''If Jen can do it, I can do it,'' Barbara would say.
On parallel paths, they tried to steal time.
Barbara succumbed June 15. She was 59. The cancer that started in a breast had spread to her nervous system.
She was at every one of Rodriguez's Olympic races -- 1998 in Nagano, Japan; 2002 in Salt Lake City; 2006 in Turin, Italy. Her first trip to the Winter Games came after a double mastectomy. Her third came after a recurrence of cancer, in her liver, and she learned to give herself injections so she could travel to Italy. There, inside the Lingotto Oval, she wore a blue Team USA beret to hide ''my bad, three-inch hairdo,'' and cheered with husband Joe.
Now Rodriguez faces the prospect of going to her fourth Olympics without her mother. She's entering the second year of a comeback at age 33 with the goal of competing in the 2010 Vancouver Games. Rodriguez, a Miami native and Palmetto High graduate, is the only Cuban-American to win medals at the Winter Olympics -- two bronzes in 2002 in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters. She's our J-Rod, a former roller skater nicknamed ''Miami Ice,'' and she wants to win another medal.
But she is weary from ''the worst year of my life,'' she said. ''I've been an emotional wreck.'' Divorce from skater KC Boutiette, who got her into the sport. Financial problems that have mired her in debt and forced her to sell her car, her training bicycle, her old skinsuits and maybe even her engagement ring. And now the death of her mother.
Rodriguez contemplated quitting, leaving the ice once and for all. That's not what Barbara would want.
''At first my mom thought the comeback was crazy, but she supported my decisions,'' said Rodriguez, who left Miami and the bike shop she and Boutiette owned together to move back to U.S. team headquarters in Utah. 'She said, `OK, you're going to do it and you're going to do it 100 percent.' ''
J-Rod's return was erratic: a few top 10 finishes, a World Cup victory in Nagano, a broken skate blade. Yet, she felt the old rhythm coming around, and the desire.
''I know my body is capable, I know it's in there,'' she said.
`HARD TO WATCH'
After the season, her mother became ill, afflicted with double vision, nausea and unbearable headaches. Barbara was set up in hospice at home. Rodriguez spent the past five weeks of her mother's life at her bedside, rubbing her head, holding her hand, talking as Barbara slipped from lucid reminiscences into hallucinations. The last couple weeks, Barbara couldn't tolerate medication and couldn't eat.
''It was really hard to watch her deteriorate and suffer so horribly,'' Rodriguez said of her father, Joe, and brother, Eric. ``In the past, she had always bounced back.''
Barbara's 10 cats knew she was dying. Her favorite, Bella, licked her face. On what turned out to be Barbara's last day, her family played her favorite music -- Christmas music.
'We hated it, but we said, `Here, Mom, we're playing this nonstop,' '' Rodriguez said.
Barbara was buried wearing her daughter's leather Team USA jacket from 1998. After the funeral, Rodriguez debated whether to continue skating. Did it make sense or was it a mistake, borne out of her frustration from 2006, when she overtrained and didn't win a medal?
She had poured all her savings into the Elite Cycling and Fitness shop, which Boutiette continues to run, and now she's nearly broke. Speedskating doesn't pay the bills. Unless you're Apolo Anton Ohno, the short-track skater who won Dancing With The Stars, you're stuck in obscurity until the comet-like illumination of the Olympics. Rodriguez receives $1,750 per month from U.S. Speedskating and the U.S. Olympic Committee, but like many Olympic athletes in fringe sports, she has no sponsors or endorsements. It's regrettable to see her and her peers struggle when it was revealed in the recent USOC shake-up that more than a dozen executives were earning outlandish six-figure salaries.
''If your sport is not on TV, your chances of sponsorship are slim,'' she said. ``There are only five speedskating tracks in the U.S. Americans don't have access to our sport, even though we have one of the best teams in the world.''
DONATIONS NEEDED
Rodriguez got financial aid from her mother, who worked for Junior Achievement of Miami, but her father, who owns a graphics business, can't afford to send checks. Rodriguez is hoping that even in these tough times, donors will step forward. One way to contribute is through the website Americaforgold.org.
She just wants to get to February. She has to. Her mother is gone, but her message of determination lives on. Rodriguez hopes to skate in tribute to Barbara in Vancouver.
''It's strange but sometimes it feels like she's still here,'' Rodriguez said. ``I feel her presence. She gives me strength.''

[mtnme]

Photo brought over from TRF. Goofing around with photo software to create questionable 'art'.
Original photo by Jerry Search (before it was messed with...) LOL

[Deleted]

From Universal Sports:

Speekskaters to have presence at media summit - A curious bit of scheduling has created a minor conflict for some American speedskaters. The 2010 U.S. Short Track Olympic Trials are scheduled for Sept. 8 to Sept. 12 in Marquette, Mich. The U.S. Olympic Team media summit for the 2010 Winter Games is scheduled for Sept. 9 to 12 in Chicago.

The summit allows various forms of media to stockpile interviews and content from projected Olympic athletes through press conferences, broadcast interviews, photo sessions and roundtable discussions. Hundreds of media members are expected to attend.

Some 75 athletes are also expected to participate, but they won’t include the short track speedskaters, who will be focusing on trying to make the Vancouver Olympic team.

USOC spokesman Kevin Neuendorf said the summit was set up before U.S. speedskating picked the dates for the Olympic trials in the early summer of 2008. He said it was determined that the time of the summit was a “dead period” for the national governing bodies and that there were no scheduling conflicts with the NGBs when the summit date was set.

“It’s never our intent to not have the athletes available,” Neuendorf said in a phone interview. “It’s a disservice to our athletes and the media.”

The USOC has set up a video teleconference for the short track athletes on Sept. 10 during an off day at the trials to preview the Vancouver Games. Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno, Allison Baver, Katherine Reutter, J.R. Celski and Kimberly Derrick are scheduled for the session. The USOC also hopes to provide at the summit nightly teleconferences staged at the trials.

[musicalmom]

article about the recession and Olympic planning...mentions Apolo...
(please move if I've put this in the wrong place...didn't see a Vancouver Olympics thread)

Recession proves challenge for VancouverEMMELINE MOORE
September 15, 2009 - 11:14AM .
Apolo Anton Ohno has already booked his spot and Ghana's one-man ski team Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong has checked out the slopes at Whistler.

In just under five months time the Winter Olympics will get underway in Vancouver.

Ohno and Nkrumah-Acheampong will be among hundreds of athletes competing in events ranging from speed skating, skiing, figure skating to ice hockey and curling from February 12-28.

But the recession is proving to be a major challenge for organisers of Canada's third Olympics after the 1976 Montreal Summer Games and the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge has expressed his confidence that the Vancouver Games will break even despite the budget deficit facing organisers.

But the IOC have had to take the unprecedented step of pledging to assist financially if there is any budget shortfall at the end of the Games.

With just nine corporate sponsors, two less than anticipated, the Vancouver Games organising committee (VANOC) has a $US37 million ($A42.93 million) shortfall on its $US1.75 billion ($A2.03 billion) operating budget.

"This is a very supportive, generous committment by the IOC but in no way does it guarantee to cover all costs and any deficit at the end of the Games," said Dave Cobb, executive vice president and deputy chief executive of the Vancouver Organising Committee.

"....the pressure remains to continue to find additional creative solutions to ensure we maintain a balanced budget."

As the search for sponsors continues, preparations for the Games are sliding into place.

Testing of all the venues was finally completed last week with the international women's ice hockey Canada Cup taking place in General Motors Place.

And ticket sales for the Games have been buoyant with organisers anticipating sales of $US260 million ($A301.68 million) for all events.

"We've learned more about the venue, our workforce and the technology that we'll be putting into place next February and the tournament has been a great momentum builder for 2010," said Denis Hainault, VANOC's general manager for the venue.

While sponsorship is proving a headache for organisers, it is also on the minds of athletes.

Such worries are far from the mind of five-time Olympic speedskate medallist Ohno, who leads the mighty US team, but athletes from smaller nations are scrambling to make their Olympic dream come true.

Such is the case for Nkrumah-Acheampong, nicknamed the Snow Leopard, who has needed more than resourcefulness to get to Vancouver.

Glasgow-born Nkrumah-Acheampong, who grew up in Ghana's sweltering capital of Accra, learned his skills on an artificial slope in Britain.

And his trademark leopard spotted ski race suit is being specially designed with new spots made up of hundreds of names from his supporters. Fans can donate a minimum of STG5 ($A9.61) to have their name on one of the Leopard spots.

[Deleted]

In talking to other people who are connected to other skating venues this weekend, sounds like even the local rinks are having a hard time keeping their heads above, in this case, ice. Money is tight. Ice time is expensive, and it seems everyone is scrambling.

[Laura (Lori)]

Here's the link to the article that Gasp posted on the Apolo Ohno and Allison Baver threads:

P&G inks marketing deals with six Olympics athletes
September 30, 2009

triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/othercities/cincinnati/stories/2009/09/28/daily26.html

...Jacobellis and Ohno will partner with P&G’s Vicks brand and the others will partner with P&G’s beauty brands. The athletes will appear in a range of advertising, public relations, in-store merchandising, mobile, digital and direct mail efforts...

[Deleted]

Not necessarily SHORT TRACK TALK--more Olympic focused.

Email Print Share Text Size A A A
-Six months of shaky decisions and turmoil came to a head for the U.S. Olympic Committee on Wednesday when its acting CEO said she would step down, bringing more chaos to an organization that was humiliated when Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Games fell flat.
Stephanie Streeter said she would not seek the USOC's CEO job on a permanent basis, and that she would leave in the next five months.
The decision came just five days after Chicago's humbling, first-round exit in a vote by International Olympic Committee members, who ultimately picked Rio de Janeiro. It also happened on the same day leaders of America's Olympic sports organizations said "No" in a 40-0 vote to this question on a survey they conducted: "Do you believe the acting CEO has the ability to be an effective leader of the Olympic movement?"
The United States contributes more money to the Olympics than any other nation, yet the USOC is rife with infighting and turnover, perceived internationally as arrogant, and populated with leaders who are having trouble turning things around.
"I'm incredibly saddened by the developments, which I lay largely at the feet of the USOC, which has clearly lost its way," said NBC Universal Sports and Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol. "It's a combination of people who don't have a full-time commitment to it, too many people who really don't have an understanding of international sports and relationships. I don't believe there will be another Olympics in the U.S. until the USOC really gets its act together."
USOC Chairman Larry Probst conceded that turning around the group's international reputation is not a one- or two-year project. "I'm talking 10, 15, 20 years," he said.
Chicago's elimination in the first round was universally viewed as an embarrassment, and one of the biggest surprises ever handed down by IOC voters. One IOC member, Denis Oswald of Switzerland, went so far as to call it "a defeat for the USOC, not for Chicago."
The USOC will hire a national recruiting firm by the end of the month to search for Streeter's replacement. The next CEO will be the third to sit in that chair in the span of about a year. The latest upheaval began in March when Jim Scherr was forced out after six years of relative stability and success.
Scherr, himself, has been approached by people in the movement to gauge his interest in a return. He acknowledged the small chance of that idea going anywhere but didn't rule out considering it.
"It's possible under the right circumstances," he said.
Ebersol said good candidates would be people with connections to major Olympic sports — such as swimming, gymnastics, skiing — with experience in marketing, international relations and the sports world.
Probst, who said he has no plans to step down as chairman, acknowledged some of the USOC's problems.
"We have plenty of good relationships, but the reality is, we don't have the political capital, the leverage, a spot on the IOC executive team," he said. "We need to do work over the long haul to have more of a presence."
In several conversations with The Associated Press in the past few weeks, Streeter made it clear she didn't want to stay on and would announce that after the IOC awarded the 2016 Games. She said she wants to return to the corporate world — she is a former CEO at Banta Corp. — though she realizes many people will view her decision as a direct result of the Chicago vote and the increasing calls for change in the USOC leadership.
"I had made this decision prior to the bid and clearly it makes sense to announce it as soon after as possible," she told the AP. "It makes sense to announce it at this time so the USOC has a clean slate when it goes into the search process."
Depending on how the CEO search goes, Streeter could be with the USOC through March 21, which is when the Paralympics end in Vancouver. The Vancouver Olympics are set for Feb. 12-28.
Whether her departure satisfies her critics will almost certainly depend on who the board chooses to replace her. The board also has been criticized as being out of touch with what the majority of the Olympic movement wants.
"This is just a first step," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics and a key member of the leaders of national governing bodies who answered the questionnaire on Streeter.
That questionnaire was a rough one for the leadership. It consisted of 63 questions, and almost every answer returned something overwhelmingly negative about Probst and Streeter. Streeter had said the NGB criticism was a small but vocal minority, but at the end of the day, the whole group banded together to call for her and Probst's immediate resignations.
"If you don't know what you don't know, you can't really lead from a dynamic vision," said Skip Gilbert, leader of the NGB bosses, speaking to what he called the leadership's lack of knowledge in Olympic areas. "Realistically, today is the day to make that change."
Ebersol, whose efforts have helped bankroll the Olympic movement to the tune of billions of dollars over the years, predicted Chicago losing out on the games will diminish the value of American TV rights by at least 15 to 20 percent, "just because it won't be the same level of advertising" a network could get from an American games.
He expects NBC will still bid, though that wouldn't be an indicator that all is well at the USOC.
"It won't just change from Stephanie Streeter not standing for re-election," he said. "The board has to be seriously re-examined for the fact that it lacks real leadership in all these key sports fields."
Streeter was under intense scrutiny immediately after moving into the job from the board of directors. The switch came as a surprise to many in the Olympic movement, in part because the USOC had been functioning relatively smoothly with Scherr at the helm.
She and Probst claimed the USOC needed a different, more businesslike approach to running things, especially considering the bad economy and the reluctance of some sponsors to re-sign with the USOC after the Beijing Olympics.
There were some successes — a handful of sponsors did come on board, and the USOC was able to increase funding for Winter Games athletes by one-fifth, partly by exceeding projected budget revenues.
Those successes, however, were barely a blip — overshadowed by the perceived missteps and criticism.
Her arrival never was accepted by the NGB leaders, who felt blindsided and wondered about the transparency of a move that elevated a volunteer board member into a paid position.
They found more to complain about when the board approved a pay package with a base of $560,000 — about 30 percent more than what Scherr earned. That only grew louder when the USOC botched the introduction of its TV network and drew criticism from the IOC.
"I think we miscalculated on the network," Streeter said when asked if she had any regrets from her seven months on the job. "We miscalculated the reaction from the IOC and our TV partners at NBC. I still think it's a good idea. In retrospect, I would've altered timing on the announcement."
There was also the complicated IOC-USOC revenue-sharing issue that Streeter and Probst managed to table — but not solve — about six months before the 2016 vote. Despite efforts on both sides, the lack of a resolution colors almost everything about how international Olympic leaders relate to the United States. Internationally, the Americans are perceived as taking too much of the money generated by the Olympics.
IOC member Willi Kaltschmitt of Guatemala said the USOC needs to "rethink, reorganize and regroup."
"There are a lot of wounds there," Kaltschmitt said. "It's an accumulation of things. We say 'dead corpses in the road.'

[Laura (Lori)]

The Long-Track Olympic Trials start this week, and there are some ST skaters that we have threads for here on BB who will be competing in various events:

The skaters in bold lettering competed in last month's ST Olympic Trials!

LADIES:
Petra Acker (500M, 1000M, 1500M, 3000M)
Maria Garcia (500M)
Mary Grace (1000M, 1500M)
Sadie Grace (1500M, 3000M
Ericka Hawke (500M, 1000M)
Erica Lanser (1500M, 3000M, 5000M)
Cherise Wilkins (500M, 1000M)

MEN:
Ryan Bedford (500M, 1000M, 1500M, 5000M, 10,000M)
Shani Davis (500M, 1000M, 1500M, 5000M)
Paul Dyrud (500M, 1500M, 5000M, 10,000M)
JP Kepka (500M, 1000M)
Robert Lawrence (500M, 1000M)
Ryan Leveille (1000M, 1500M, 5000M, 10,000M)
Joey Lindsey (500M, 1000M)

Good luck to all of you!

[Deleted]

Bank crashes, and the ice melts. Three cheers for the efforts of the Rocker Fund and those who have tried, in their own way, to ease the financial burden of the ST Olympic athletes.


Bank failure hits US Speedskating hardEmail Print Share Associated Press

MILWAUKEE -- U.S. Speedskating is coping with a $300,000 funding shortfall after its leading sponsor went bust.

DSB Bank NV was declared bankrupt on Monday by a Dutch court, putting a major burden on the governing body of American speedskating less than four months before the start of the Vancouver Olympics.

Robert Crowley, executive director of U.S. Speedskating, said the organization was scrambling to come up with additional sponsors but faced a tough task in the fragile economy.

"It's a huge blow," he said Saturday, during the U.S. trials at the Pettit National Ice Center. "It just creates a whole bunch of challenges for us when we wanted to be focusing on the Olympic Games instead of focusing on this challenge."

DSB was the biggest cash sponsor for U.S. Speedskating and was supposed to make its first payment on Sept. 1. The money never arrived, Crowley said, and now there's no chance of getting any of it.

"We're not going to let this affect the Olympic team," he said. "Our number one priority is making sure they're set. But it's going to affect a lot of stuff around it."

He said developmental programs would likely face cuts, which could have a long-term impact on a program that has produced more Winter Olympic medals for the U.S. than any other sport.

The group has landed several new sponsors in the past 45 days, including Panasonic, 24 Hour Fitness and PowerBar, but that won't nearly make up for the money it was expecting from DSB. The U.S. Olympic Committee might step in to provide some additional funding help, Crowley said.

Speedskating figures to provide some of the biggest U.S. stars in Vancouver, including Shani Davis, Apolo Anton Ohno and Chad Hedrick.

Many skaters at the U.S. trials were still wearing uniforms with a DSB logo, though a few blacked out the lettering once they learned the bank had gone bankrupt.

"It's a shame," said three-time Olympian Jennifer Rodriguez, who still had the bank's logo on the suit she wore while winning the 1,500 meters. "They were a fantastic sponsor for not only U.S. Speedskating but a lot of skaters across the world. I really don't know any of the details, but it's sad from a skater's perspective because they had been a big supporter of us."

[Deleted]

NBCU Sets Nov. 4 'Countdown To Vancouver'
Comprehensive Programming, Promotional Initiative Marks 100 Days Until Winter Olympics
Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 10/26/2009 12:01:00 AM
Nov. 4 will mark 100 days to the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

To commemorate the occasion and what lies with the Winter Games, NBC Universal will launch its "Countdown to Vancouver." The initiative encompasses Olympic-themed programming and promotion across all of the NBC

Universal networks; more than 1,250 original hours of pre-Olympic winter sport competition, largely on Universal Sports; and the launch of the Vancouver version of NBCOlympics.com. Moreover for the first-time, a nightly show will follow Olympic hopefuls as they compete and prepare for the Vancouver Games.

"This initiative is a key element in building momentum towards the Vancouver Games," said Gary Zenkel, president, NBC Olympics, in a statement. "The ‘Countdown to Vancouver' will live and breathe on Universal Sports with the more than 1,200 hours of Olympic sport coverage and a nightly show in these 100 days leading up to the Games that gives Americans the opportunity to follow their U.S. athletes as they prepare to live their dreams of being Olympians."



NBCU Countdown To VancouverThe countdown begins in earnest Nov. 4 when NBC's Today show features Olympic athletes and demonstrations. The Jay Leno Show, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will all feature Olympic athletes during the 100 days leading to the start of the Vancouver Games. MSNBC, CNBC and The Weather Channel will also feature Olympic-related content in the 100-day countdown, as will NBC's 235 stations and affiliates.

At 8 p.m. (ET) on Nov. 4, NBCU will install a "Countdown to Vancouver" primetime roadblock across all its services, including USA Network, Bravo and Syfy, featuring Vancouver Olympic hopefuls Apolo Ohno (short track speed skating), Lindsey Vonn (alpine skiing), Shaun White (snowboarding), Gretchen Bleiler (snowboarding) and Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto (figure skating). The one-minute Olympics promo spot is set to the music of Matisyahu's One Day.

Throughout the 100 day-period, NBCOlympics.com and UniversalSports.com will feature a "Countdown to Vancouver" clock in addition to content that builds on NBC Olympics digital success from the Beijing Games when more than 50 million fans used its mobile, video-on-demand and online platforms. For Vancouver, Olympics fans will again find comprehensive round-the-clock coverage on-line and on mobile. In an encore, NBCOlympics.com on MSN will be powered again by Microsoft's Silverlight technology to present HD quality video and offer DVR-style controls and enhanced navigation.

Additionally, Winter Olympic proponents will be connected to the Games with features like "Olympic Pulse," spotlighting tweets and blogs from athletes and NBC Olympic experts and social tools integrated within the video player. The mobile platforms will be significantly enhanced, including targeted alerts, as well as a custom smartphone application. Users will be able to embed an NBC Olympics widget.

The Countdown to Vancouver programming on Universal Sports will debut Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. with a one-hour Vancouver Olympics preview show. Vignettes highlighting Games hopefuls will continue each day and, starting Dec. 1, Universal Sports, a joint venture with Leo Hindery's Intermedia Partners, will present a nightly show that will continue through Feb. 12. Originating from Universal Sports' Los Angeles studio, Countdown To Vancouver will air at 9 p.m. and include Winter Olympic sport news and highlights, as well as analysis, features, interviews and guests from the world of Olympic sport.

Universal Sports and UniversalSports.com, with an assist from NBC Sports, will provide the lion's share of more than 1,250 hours of Winter Olympic sports coverage in the months ahead. In most cases, the competitions, which often in the past have been presented on a delayed basis and/or in summary fashion, will serve as de facto Olympic Trials for the athletes looking to secure positions for the quadrennial competition in Canada.

Among the athletes that are expected to participate in events televised by Universal Sports and NBC: two-time alpine skiing world champion Vonn in 14 events; five-time Olympic short-track speed skating medalist Ohno in six events; Olympic speed skating gold medalist Shani Davis seven times; Olympic gold medalist snowboarder White three times; world champion figure skatining Evan Lysachek in five events; and Olympic silver medalists figure skaters Belbin and Agosto in five events.

Competitions include the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating featuring Skate America, the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in primetime on NBC, the World Cup series of alpine skiing, short track speedskating, speedskating, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, cross country skiing, ski jumping, bobsled, skeleton, luge and curling.
A detailed schedule is available:UniversalSports.com/Sched

[Laura (Lori)]

Speedskating still struggles to get noticed
Associated Press / October 29, 2009

MILWAUKEE -- They work part-time jobs. They scrimp to pay the bills. Some even have filed for food stamps to make sure they get enough to eat.

Such is life for many U.S. speedskaters.

Is that any way to treat a sport that is responsible for more of this country's Winter Olympic medals than any other?...

...It could get worse after the Olympics. Even before DSB went out of business, U.S. Speedskating already was planning to suspend its athlete stipends at the end of March, giving the organization a chance to reassess finances and decide how much it could afford to dole out at the start of the new fiscal year June 1.

Read the full article at:

sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=oly&id=4606048