Well, that's it. The XXI Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver are officially over, and they went out with an eclectic/eccentric bang, courtesy the closing ceremony. Inside, video and screengrabs of the ceremony's newsworthy moments, along with your open thread discussion!
The Vancouver Olympics come to a close tonight after two weeks of what was arguably the most mishap-filled competition in modern history. Inside, a look at all the "best of the worst" Olympic moments that made these Games worth forgetting.
It was a bumpy night for Olympic men's short track speed skating, as competitors went down in both the quarterfinal and semifinal. History repeated itself moments ago in the final race, and Apolo Ohno—who had won silver—was disqualified.
Former figure skating gold medal winner and commentator Scott Hamilton gets...excited during tense triple axel, double toe-loop combinations. And now that figure skating is over, he's finally spent. Spent and satisfied. And boy does he need a smoke.
Some might say so! With malfunctions both technical and human, with real sadnesses and imagined ones, these winter games have been fraught with hiccups and hold-ups. So do we leave them with a grim feeling?
Let the countdown to Olympic sportscaster Mike Milbury's inevitable suspension begin! After tonight's quarterfinal hockey game between Canada and Russia, Milbury had some choice words for the Russian athletes, saying that they "came with their Eurotrash game." Video inside.
During last night's short program, Tom Hammond noted that an American woman has made the figure skating podium every Olympics since Peggy Fleming. This year, that streak might be broken. That sort of ruins the Olympics, doesn't it?
Women's figure skating began tonight in Vancouver with NBC's live coverage of the Olympic short program. American skater Mirai Nagasu's routine went swimmingly (ha), but she ended it with a visibly bloody nose. What caused it? Inside, an in-depth investigation.
I don't know how to explain everything that this post contains in a lede, but I'll try: tonight's Olympic ice dancing was... INSANE. Inside, Linkin Park, Requiem for a Dream, Home Alone, a sexxxy commercial and Schindler's List—seriously.
Russia's Ice Dancing pair took to the Olympic ice tonight with toned down versions of the Aboriginal costumes that drew criticism at last month's European Championship. The skin-darkening makeup? Gone. Their dance was still offensive, though—and it sucked.
We just finished the last quarter (or whatever it's called) of the USA/Canada hockey game. We won! But all anyone could talk about was how pissed they were that the game was shown on MSNBC and not NBC. So what?
Oh last night was a corker. The girls snowboarded and Julia Mancuso continued her silver rush, but mostly men twirled around on ice and we all clapped and swooned. Now that it's over, we're worried. Was it the best event?
Oh, Johnny. Dear, dear Johnny Weir. You just skated the routine of your life at the Olympics. It was fabulous, as always. Flawless, too. And even though the judges screwed you, we won't forget how great you were. Video, inside.
Tonight, Russia's 50-year-long domination of Olympic pairs figure skating ended as China took home gold. The best thing about the evening's coverage, though, was the MASSIVE amount of on-ice failure. Inside, a video montage of the best of the worst.
