Quick Update

Just a quick post before I head out of town yet again.

Chinese gymnastics nationals are going on now. Check out Komova's Youtube Channel for videos. Canadian nationals are going on as well. Blythe at the Gymnastics Examiner is liveblogging the event.

Former USA Swimming national team director Everett Uchiyama was those named a list of lifetime bans. Uchiyama was banned for inappropriate sexual behavior.

Dinara Safina lost in the first round of the French Open to Kimiko Date Krumm who turns 40 this fall.

Caster Semenya's return to competition was delayed after the meet in which she was supposed to run was canceled.

TJ Lanning will skip the 2011 skiing world cup circuit as he recovers from a fractured neck suffered last November.

A good read on Jesse Owens being awesome can be found here.

Weekend Update

In a week of changing the results of Olympics past, Polish cross country skier Kornelia Marek was officially disqualified from the Vancouver Games after testing positive for EPO.

Justin Gatlin will return to competition July 24th following a four year doping suspension. The sprinter is a former world record holder in the 100m. In other track and field news, sprinter LaShawn Merritt accepted a provisional suspension following a positive drug after. He used an over-the-counter male enhancement product that contained a banned stimulant. Some people need to learn how to read labels...

The Bryan brothers won their 60th ATP tour title this weekend. With two more titles, they will hold the all-time tour record. Justine Henin won her first WTA tour title since un-retiring, winning the Porsche Grand Prix while playing with a broken finger.

Ian Thorpe is considering making a comeback to competitive swimming. I love the Thorpedo.

Sidney Crosby fails at growing a play-off beard. The joys of being a 22-year-old star...

Mark Grimmette was named Sports Program Director for USA Luge, a nice way to begin retirement for the five-time Olympian.

Jordyn Wieber's much talked about new floor exercise from Pacific Rims:

News and Notes

Nodar Kumaritashvili's family received an insurance settlement from VANOC. The amount, as well as when the family will receive the settlement is unknown.

Joannie Rochette will now be able to skate in "Thin Ice." It was confirmed the Polish cross country skier Kornelia Marek officially doped in Vancouver. In other drug news, the case against Andre Agassi for crystal meth usage has officially been closed due to a statute of limitations expiration.

Even in the USA Speedskating shake-up, Jae Su Chun will remain the head coach for the short track team. Russian cross country skier Elena Vedeneeva was given a two-year ban for refusing a drug test. The puck used to score the winning goal in the men's hockey gold medal game will be put in the Hockey Hall of Fame along with Sidney Crosby's stick and gloves.

Usain Bolt will attempt to break the world record in the 300 meters on May 27th in the Czech Republic. Nikita Kriukov beat Petter Northug in today's cross country 1.1K. Anna Olsson won the women's race, followed by Justyna Kowalczyk and Marit Bjoergen.

For an interesting read, click here to learn about the visually impaired biathlon.

Breaking away from the Olympics, congratulations to Washington University's women's basketball team for reaching the Final Four. Bring home a national title!

Weekend Update

Marlies Schild won the final women's World Cup race of the season today, a slalom. Kathein Zettel was second and Maria Riesch was third. Riesch eked out a three point win over Zettel for the overall title in slalom.

Felix Neureuther won today's men's slalom. Reinfried Herbst won the overall title.

Tucker Fredricks won the 500 meters overall world cup in speedskating today by finishing four in the season's final race. Jan Smeekens won the race and finished second in the overall standings. Jenny Wolf won the women's 500 title and took the overall title while Havard Bokko won the men's 5,000. Kristina Groves won the won's 1,500 meter race today to take the overall title. Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon retired following today's races. Shani Davis won the men's 1,500 today. Martina Sablikova took the overall title in the women's 3,000 and 5,000.

At the track and field indoor World Championships, Americans LoLo Jones, Brian Clay, Christian Cantwell, and Debbie Dunn all won gold medals. Australia beat Germany to win the field hockey world cup. Norway had a solid day in Nordic events, winning the team Nordic combined world cup race. Petter Northug won today's men's 50K cross country skiing race while Marit Bjorgen won the women's 30K race.

News of the Day

I re-watched Cool Runnings last night and discovered that Al Trautwig was a bobsled commentator in 1988. Another sport impacted by the strange commentator...

Lindsey Vonn clinched her third World Cup overall title today with a win in the Super-G. This was also the 33rd individual World Cup title of her career, the most for any American. Elisabeth Goergl was second, Nadia Styger third, and Maria Riesch four. Vonn has decided to skip tomorrow's slalom. Even if the race has no implications for her, I think she would come off as a better sport if she raced.

Ted Ligety finished third in today's giant slalom, clinching the overall title. Carlo Janka won the race to clinch the overall title. Scott Macartney retired after 12 years on the US Ski team.

Lindsey Jacobellis won today's snowboard cross World Cup race in Italy.

Patti Lank's team's fortunes have changes at the US curling championship, slipping to third overall. Amy Wright's team (including the awesome Jordan Moulton) is the top seed. They will play Erika Brown's team Saturday morning for the right to advance directly to the finals. The looser will play in the semi-finals. The teams led by Mike Farbelow and 2006 Olympic bronze medalist Pete Fenson took the top two spots in the men's tournament.

News Update

Lindsey Vonn crashed in today's World Cup giant slalom in Germany. Maria Riesch finished third and is now only 165 points back on Vonn with two races to go in the season. Tina Maze won the race and Kathrin Hoelzl finished second to clinch the overall giant slalom title. Vonn was officially awarded the overall super-combined title.

Erik Guay won today's men's Super G to clinch the overall title. He was third going into today's race. Ivica Kostelic was second in today's race and Aksel Lund Svindel was third. Svindal also finished third in the overall standings, just two points behind Michael Walchhofer.

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han won the pairs junior world title in figure skating. Takahashi/Tran of Japan were second and Stolbova/Klimov of Russia were third. Ilinykh/Katsalapov have an eight point lead on the rest of the field following the original dance. Paul/Islam are in second, Monko/Khaliavin are in third and the Shibutanis are in fourth.

Usain Bolt was named Laureus Sportsman of the Year. Serena Williams won the women's award. Sidney Crosby's missing equipment has been found. It was mistaking put in other equipment bags following the game. In the first doing incident from Vancouver, Polish cross-country skier Kornelia Marek tested positive for EPO.

The International Luge Federation is donating money to reubuild the house belong to Nodar Kumaritashvili's family. It was destroyed in a fire several years ago. In Haiti's return to international sporting competition following the earthquake there, the team fell 9-0 to the U-17 women's soccer team from the USA in CONCACAF qualifying.

Weekend Update (Part 2)

Swiss skier Dominique Grisin won today's women's Super-G, denying Lindsey Vonn her 33rd World Cup title. Vonn finished second and Julia Mancuso was third. Canadian Eric Guay won the men's Super-G. Hannes Reichelt of Austria was second and Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal and Switzerland's Tobias Gruenfelder tied for third. Michael Walchhofer of Austria still leads the Super-G overall standing, but Svindal and Guay could catch him in the final race. Carlo Janka of Switzerland is also only now only 46 points behind overall World Cup leader Benjamin Raich of Austria heading into the final weekend.

Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann won his sixth world cup title of the season Sunday. Poland's Adam Malysz, the runner up to Ammann in both events at the Olympics, was second and Austrian Thomas Morgenstern was third. In cross country skiing, Norway 2 defeated Norway 1 in a World Cup relay in Finland. Germany beat Russia in a photo finish for third. Norway also won the women's relay followed by Germany and Italy. Maksim Burtasov of Russia won the title at the under 26 biathlon European Championships.

Aiko Uemura of Japan won a women's moguls world cup race this weekend. Canadian Jennifer Heil, the overall leader, was second and American Shannon Bahrke was third.

In the first modern pentathlon World Cup event of the season, David Svoboda of the Czech Republic won gold. Russia's Serguei Karyakin was second and Andrejus Zadneprovskis was third.

USA Cycling named its track cycling world championship team on Friday. The squad will be led by individual pursuit defending world champion Taylor Phinney. Daniel Holloway, Colby Pearce, and Giddeon Massie round out the rest of the men's squad. Sarah Hammer, Lauren Tamayo, Dotsie Bausch, and Shelley Evans were named to the women's team.

Also, feel free to comment on any of my entries. I would love to hear what readers are thinking!