I LOVE the Winter Olympics

The Olympics rock, but the Winter Olympics really really Rock! I love practically every event and watch almost every minute of it - the missing minutes being the really late show that doesn't start until almost midnight. And in the name of national pride I want to acknowledge that we are seriously leading the medal board (at this moment we have 24 medals with the next closest being Germany with 18). But in the name of international pride in all Olympic athletes I want to give out some big Woo Hoos for the following outstanding medal winners (needless to say ALL the Olympians - medal or not deserve a Woo Hoo for just being there). So here are some wins that had me on the edge of my seat! Sorry this is long BUT it is worth reading : )

WOO HOO
Bode Miller (USA) Alpine Skiing Events - 1 Gold / 1 Silver / 1 Bronze (and he's not done yet).
Michael Schmid (Switzerland) Men's Ski Cross - The Gold - Wowser was he fast.
Mark Tuitert (The Netherlands) Speed Skating Long Track - A Gold - He was so excited it makes me smile just thinking of it.
Shani Davis (USA) Speed Skating Long Track - 1 Gold / 1 Silver
Simon Ammahn (Switzerland) Adam Malysz (Poland) Gregor Schlierenzauer (Austria) - Ski Jumping Long & Normal Hills - 2 Golds / 2 Silvers / 2 Bronzes respectively - they are just THE ski jumping guys.
Lindsey Vonn (USA) Alpine Skiing Events - 1 Gold / 1 Bronze (and she's not done yet either)
Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) Alpine Skiing Events - A Gold - this guy came back from a serious injury the year before and has an adorable dad behind him.
Evan Lysacek (USA) Men's Figure Skating - The Gold - He has just been beautiful this year
Evgeny Plushenko (Russia) Men's Figure Skating - The Silver - He retired for 3 years and returned just for the Olympics - the man is such an amazing and powerhouse skater.
Diasuke Takahashi (Japan) Men's Figure Skating - The Bronze - He is fabulous and theatrical - a joy to watch.
Torah Bright (Australia) Ladies Half pipe Snowboarding - The Gold - with an awesome trick - so worthy. And go USA for getting the Silver (Hannah Teeter) and Bronze (Kelly Clark) here.
Maria Riesch (Germany) Alpine Skiing Events - A Gold
Shaun White & Scott Lago (USA) Men's Half pipe Snowboarding - The Gold & The Bronze - of course.... helloooo....it's Shaun White!
Marit Bjoergen (Norway) Cross Country Skiing - 1 Gold / 1 Bronze- she ruled and it was an exciting finish for the Gold.
Petra Majdic (Slovenia) Cross Country Skiing - The Bronze - Serious props for this gal who skied way longer than anyone who has several broken ribs and a punctured lung should ski. I am going to forgo any opinion on the politics of the accident that caused the injuries. I will only say that it takes some serious mental and physical strength to finish the long skiing event let alone finish fast enough to medal.
Julie Mancuso (USA) Alpine Skiing Events - 2 Silvers (and she's not done yet either)
Hongbo Zhao & Xue Shen (China) Pairs Figure Skating - The Gold - Here's the deal - they have been skating together for 18 years, were recently married and have medaled at the Olympics before (they're 36 & 31) but never been able to grab the Gold, so they put their marriage on hold in order to train and try once more for a Gold medal and it paid off - they were phenomenal.
Seth Wescott (USA) Snowboard Cross - The Gold - this was a come from behind exciting win.
Alexandre Bilodeau (Canada) Men's Moguls - The Gold - Not only Canada's first Gold on home turf but an excellent story about Alex being motivated by his older brother, Frederick, who has Cerebal Palsy.
Hannah Kearney & Shannon Bahrke (USA) Ladies' Moguls - The gold and The Bronze respectively. Moguls are just cool.
Apolo Ohno (USA) Short Track Speed Skating - 1 Silver / 1 Bronze - he is now the most decorated Winter Olympian in USA History with 7 total Olympic medals over 3 Olympics.
JR Celski (USA) Short Track Speed Skating - A Bronze - this young man came back from a horrific life-threatening accident in the not too distant past.
Johnny Spillane (USA) Nordic Combined - A Silver - This was one of two winter events we had never medaled in...UNTIL now - yay us! (Now we just have to conquer the Biathlon)

Honorable Mentions
Chris DelBosco (Canada) Men's Ski Cross -He came in 4th but he was so close and it was heartbreaking when he crashed on the verge of getting a medal.
Nobunari Oda (Japan) Men's Figure Skating - He's a great skater. I expect he'll medal in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
Johnny Weir (USA) Men's Figure Skating - Johnny finished 6th but he skated clean and did two terrific programs. He can be proud of what he did in Vancouver.

On a final note - I am always in awe of these athletes who get seriously injured in the course of their sports and yet fight to come back and do it again - it takes some kinda courage to my mind!
And I'll stay on top of this so the next updates won't be so long : )