The winter Olympics sure didn’t disappoint anyone this year. Turino 2006 was full of drama and unusual stories, enough to keep even those disinclined interested. The U.S.A did well as expected in many events, coming in second in total medal count to Germany. Many of the favored Americans met expectations as well. Apollo Anton Ohno racked up three medals (gold, silver, and bronze) in short-track ice skating, Sasha Cohen won the silver in women’s figure skating, and even the men’s curling team managed a bronze in the scarcely known Canadian sport. It was the U.S. snowboarding team that really stole the show. In both men’s and women’s half-pipe, the Americans almost swept, landing gold and silver for both sexes. Another happy story for this year’s Olympics was that Shani Davis was the first black athlete to win an individual gold at the winter Olympics in the 1,000 meters in long track skating.

The U.S., however, did have some disappointments this year in Turino. The first that comes to mind is of course Bode Miller, the outspoken skier, who was sponsored by Nike. He was a huge favorite in the days leading up to his races, but he failed to even place in any of his events due to a careless move in switching his skis seconds before one of the qualifying heats. For being the workaholic that he claims to be, Miller looked more like an amateur than an Olympian, especially when he later whined about how the public responded to his poor performances. Also the women’s hockey team didn’t do as well as usual, winning a bronze instead of their usual gold. Ultimately though, the United States did extremely well at this winter’s Olympics and truly gave us something to be proud of.