December 11, 2024

Winter Olympics: Team USA medal winners at the Beijing Games

Lindsey Jacobellis (Frank Augstein/AP)

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GOLD

LINDSEY JACOBELLIS — SNOWBOARDING/WOMEN’S SNOWBOARD CROSS

Jacobellis is finally an Olympic gold medalist. Let that sink in for a moment because Jacobellis has been trying for 16 years. Jacobellis helped make the wild sport of snowboardcross famous. Who could forget her premature celebration as she approached the finish line in the 2006 Turin Games, an ill-timed board grab that sent her tumbling out of the lead? In a way, she became one of the best-known silver medalists of all time. Now Jacobellis will be remembered as the first American gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics. – AP

CHLOE KIM — SNOWBOARDING/WOMEN’S HALFPIPE

There were doubts, and falls, and fear for Chloe Kim. Ultimately, there was a gold medal, too. The 21-year-old American’s second straight trip to the top of the Olympic podium — a trip taken Thursday after a terrible pre-contest training session that made her wonder if she really could make it — came with a timely reminder not only for her, but for everyone else paying attention to her latest domination of the halfpipe. “It’s unfair to be expected to be perfect, and I’m not perfect in every way,” Kim said. – AP

NATHAN CHEN — FIGURE SKATING/MEN’S SINGLES

With a nearly perfect free skate on the heels of a record-setting short program, the 22-year-old Yale student walked away with the gold medal at the Beijing Games on Thursday. He became the first American figure skating champion since Evan Lysacek in 2010 and capped one of the most dominant four-year runs in the history of the sport. – AP

JUSTIN SCHOENEFELD/ASHLEY CALDWELL/CHRISTOPHER LILLIS — FREESTYLE SKIING/MIXED AERIALS TEAM

Ashley Caldwell thinks of Christopher Lillis as family, and Justin Schoenefeld as something even more. Together, they’re Olympic gold medalists. The trio of Americans won gold in the Olympics’ first mixed team aerials event Thursday, giving the United States its first medals in the freestyle skiing discipline since Jeret “Speedy” Peterson in 2010. – AP

LINDSEY JACOBELLIS/NICK BAUMGARTNER —SNOWBOARDING/MIXED SNOWBOARD CROSS TEAM

The running joke was American snowboardcross racer Nick Baumgartner always referring to them as a pair of 40-somethings. “I’m 36,” Lindsey Jacobellis playfully corrected time after time in interview after interview. For these two, and all their vast experience, age proved to be one thing — golden. Jacobellis won her second title of the Beijing Olympics, teaming with Baumgartner to capture the new event of mixed team snowboardcross on Saturday. – AP[More Sports] U.S. women’s hockey team will play Canada in Olympic final »

ERIN JACKSON — SPEEDSKATING/WOMEN’S 500M

Erin Jackson bolted off the line, her powerful legs attacking the ice, her destiny awaiting at the end of a frenetic dash around Beijing’s magnificent speedskating oval. She didn’t view herself as some sort of trailblazer. She didn’t think about the slip that could’ve snatched away her spot on the U.S. Olympic team. She simply wanted to go faster than everyone else. “I came here to win,” the 29-year-old said. Mission accomplished. – AP

KAILLIE HUMPHRIES — BOBSLED/WOMEN’S MONOBOB

Former Canadian bobsledder Kaillie Humphries easily won the inaugural women’s monobob event. It was her third Olympic gold medal and her first for the U.S. It was also the first sliding medal for the U.S. in seven events so far at the Beijing Games. Humphries, who has four medals, began sliding for the U.S. in 2019 and got her citizenship in December. That allowed her to represent the U.S. in Beijing. – AP

SILVER

JULIA MARINO — SNOWBOARDING/WOMEN’S SLOPESTYLE[More Sports] Russian skater can compete, but medal ceremony won’t be held »

Before this, the 24-year-old Marino’s biggest days in snowboarding came when she won the Winter X Games in 2017 — and when she took a World Cup big air title on scaffolding built in Fenway Park in 2016. On Sunday, she linked a backside 900 to a pair of double corks in her second run, and vaulted to first place. She stayed there for the next 45 minutes. – AP

JAELIN KAUF — FREESTYLE SKIING/WOMEN’S MOGULS

At the Tetonia Club in Alta, Wyoming, they clung to one simple phrase as the bedlam gained steam while their daughter, sister and friend, Jaelin Kauf, edged closer and closer to the Olympic silver medal: “Deliver the love.” Kauf delivered the love. A spot on the podium was a fitting reward to go with it. Half a world away from Alta, the 25-year-old Kauf finished second Sunday in freestyle moguls, an event her family has set the standard in over decades. Kauf’s mom, Patti, and her dad, Scott, are multiple-time champions in the freestyle discipline from back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Patti also won three Winter X Games titles in skicross. – AP

ALEXA KNIERIM/EVAN BATES/MADISON CHOCK/ZACHARY DONOHUE/VINCENT ZHOU/NATHAN CHEN/KAREN CHEN — FIGURE SKATING/MIXED TEAM

RYAN COCHRAN-SIEGLE — ALPINE SKIING/MEN’S SUPER G[More Sports] U.S. men’s hockey team beats Germany, earns top seed in Olympics knockout round »

As Ryan Cochran-Siegle set off at around noon Tuesday for a super-G run that would earn a silver at the Beijing Games — the first Olympic Alpine medal for a U.S. man since 2014 — it was around 11 p.m. Monday night back home in Starksboro, Vermont (pop. 1,756). So his mother, Barbara Ann Cochran, grabbed a laptop and settled into bed in her pajamas to keep tabs on how the boy she put on skis at age 2 would fare. Mom, you see, came from the “Skiing Cochrans” family of Olympians, and was the slalom champion at the 1972 Sapporo Games. – AP

COLBY STEVENSON — FREESTYLE SKIING/MEN’S BIG AIR

Stevenson crashed out on his first run but rebounded with a nosebutter triple cork 1620 and a switch double cork 1800 on his final two runs. One of the world’s best on slopestyle, he had never finished higher than sixth at a World Cup big air event. “I’m totally on a cloud,” he said. “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I mean, it was just a miracle that I ended up here today.” – AP

ELANA MEYERS TAYLOR — BOBSLED/WOMEN’S MONOBOB

Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. won silver in the event. It was the fourth medal of Meyers Taylor’s career, the most won by anyone in USA Bobsled history. – AP

BRONZE

JESSIE DIGGINS — CROSS-COUNTRY/WOMEN’S SPRINT FREESTYLE

Jonna Sundling of Sweden won the race in 3:09.68, finishing 2.88 seconds ahead of teammate Maja Dahlqvist on Tuesday. Jessie Diggins of the United States took bronze, 3.16 seconds behind. – AP

MADISON HUBBELL/ZACHARY DONOHUE — ICE SKATING/ ICE DANCE

The American duo of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue claimed bronze in their final Olympics. The two have already announced they plan to retire. – AP

MEGAN NICK — FREESTYLE SKIING/ WOMEN’S AERIALS[More Sports] Erin Jackson victorious at Olympics, becomes 1st Black woman to win speedskating gold »

American Megan Nick was a surprise bronze medalist, holding off teammate Ashley Caldwell. –AP