Ice dancers Meryl Davis (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Charlie White (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) have become something of a global sensation since coming up with an Indian-themed original dance this season. A YouTube video of the performance has racked up more than 210,000 views."It's very cool," said Davis, an anthropology major at the University of Michigan.
Skaters are given a prescribed rhythm for their original dance but can use any music or choreography that falls under that rhythm. This season, it's folk/country. Although many skaters opted for American country or Spanish music, choreographer Marina Zoueva wanted Davis and White to stand out.
The skaters called Anuja Rajendra, who combines Bollywood music and dance with exercise at her BollyFit studio in Ann Arbor, Mich. She showed them how to move their arms and bodies in true Indian style.
Ruggiero hopes to end career with gold
Nearly 12 years after competing in her first Winter Games, women's hockey player Angela Ruggiero (Simi Valley, Calif.) would like nothing more than to end her career the way it began: with a gold medal.
"It's something that I never would have dreamed of when I was little: to play in my fourth Olympics and represent the U.S. in so many games," Ruggiero said. "It's an honor to play for the team. I was a young kid in 1998 when we won the gold medal, and it's something we've been chasing since then."
Ruggiero, who will be 30 on Sunday, was 18 — and the team's youngest player — when women's hockey made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano Games. The U.S. has won silver and bronze the last two Winter Games as Ruggiero, a Harvard graduate, continued building her reputation as a skilled defenseman.
Ruggiero and forward Jenny Potter (Edina, Minn.) are the only players on the roster to have played in all three Olympics. Ruggiero is the all-time leader in games played for Team USA, which has been struggling recently against Canada. The U.S. is coming off a recent 4-2 loss to its biggest rival in Denver.
"Even though we're losing to Canada right now, people don't understand that we're a much younger team than Canada, and our coach is the master of timing," Ruggiero said. "In a weird sort of way, it's almost ideal."
World Cup bobsled, skeleton action resumes in Königssee, Germany
The bobsled and skeleton World Cup tour resumes in Königssee, Germany from Jan. 4-10. The U.S. team has collected 13 medals to-date, five of them gold.
Three World Cup competitions remain before the Vancouver Games. Nation quotas for Vancouver will be decided after the St. Moritz, Switzerland race, and the U.S. will name their team no later than Jan. 20.
Bobsled pilot Steve Holcomb (Park City, Utah) contributed six medals to the overall count after adding four gold medals to his resume. The reigning World Champion leads four-man standings and is sixth in two-man. John Napier (Lake Placid, N.Y.) posted his first top-ten result in two-man by claiming gold on his home track. Since then, Napier has maintained seventh place in two-man standings and is fifth in four-man.
Mike Kohn (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) will join Holcomb and Napier on the quest to qualify three U.S. sleds for Vancouver after Todd Hays (Del Rio, Texas) suffered a career-ending head injury during a training run in Winterberg, Germany. With three nations qualifying three sleds for Vancouver, Kohn will battle the Germans, Canadians, Russians and Swiss in the next two competitions to receive his first Olympic nomination as a pilot.
U.S. drivers occupy three of the top eight positions in women's bobsled world standings. Shauna Rohbock (Park City, Utah) is third after sliding gold and bronze medal performances this season. Erin Pac (Farmington, Conn.) is fifth after winning two bronze medals this year, and Bree Schaaf (Bremerton, Wash.) is ranked eighth.
The U.S. skeleton team will chase the podium in the final three World Cup events. Eric Bernotas (Avondale, Pa.), Zach Lund (Salt Lake City), Noelle Pikus-Pace (Orem, Utah) and Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.) have all finished with a season-best fifth place this year, but have yet to medal. Pikus-Pace is the highest ranked U.S. skeleton athlete in seventh.
Matt Antoine (Pairie du Chien, Wisc.) and John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.) have decided to battle head-to-head on the Intercontinental Cup tour. Only three nations will be granted three sleds at Vancouve, and the U.S. currently qualifies behind Germany and Canada. Antoine edges Daly by a 25 points on the world-rank list entering second half. Kyle Tress (Ewing, N.J.), who leads America's Cup points, will join Bernotas and Lund on the World Cup team.
Luger Hamlin included among Associated Press top female athletes
World luge champion Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.) finished 10th in the voting for female athlete of the year by members of the Associated Press.
Hamlin, headed to her second Winter Olympics, captured the world title in Lake Placid in February. The accomplishment ended a 99-race winning streak amassed by Germany in World Cup, World Championship and Winter Olympic events dating back to the late 1990s. Earlier this month, she added her first World Cup medal in Lillehammer, Norway.
"It is definitely not something I ever thought I would be grouped within," said Hamlin, 23,. "I think it is a great thing for luge and Olympic sports, in general, to get that recognition amidst a dominating field of professional athletes in mainstream sports."
Olympic gold medalists to attend U.S. figure skating championships
Twelve U.S. Olympic figure skating champions will attend the Jan. 14-24 U.S. Championships in Spokane, Wash.
The gold medalists will participate in an on-ice presentation during the Smucker's Skating Spectacular on Jan. 24 and will attend a "Destination Vancouver" fundraising dinner later that evening.
The Olympic champions scheduled to appear are Dick Button (1948, 52), Tenley Albright (1956), Hayes Jenkins (1956), Carol Heiss Jenkins (1960), David Jenkins (1960), Peggy Fleming (1968), Dorothy Hamill (1976), Scott Hamilton (1984), Brian Boitano (1988), Kristi Yamaguchi (1992), Tara Lipinski (1998) and Sarah Hughes (2002).
The championships are the final event before the selection of the team that will compete at the Vancouver Games.
Also, several of the figure skaters expected to make the U.S. Olympic team will perform on the Smucker's Stars on Ice Tour after the Vancouver Games. The 40-city tour begins April 1 in Fort Myers, Fla. Evan Lysacek (Naperville, Ill.) and Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin (Glen Mills, Pa.) and Ben Agosto (Chicago) are among the skaters performing.
Reality TV meets curling
Chris Plys (Duluth, Minn.), an alternate on the U.S. Olympic men's curling team, will appear on the new E! series "Bank of Hollywood."
Plys auditioned for the role in November and is set to appear on one of the episodes this season (exact air date not yet determined).
Plys, the 2008 world junior champion, was the youngest skip in the field at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and was selected as the alternate on John Shuster's (Duluth, Minn.) team for the Vancouver Games.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Olympic women's team, captained by Debbie McCormick (Rio, Wis.), gets back in action in Switzerland for training and competition, Jan 5-12. They'll then travel to Scotland for competition on Jan. 13-17.
Also, Shuster teamed up with Vancouver Olympians Jason Smith (Cape Coral,Fla.), Jeff Isaacson (Gilbert, Minn.) and John Benton (Stillwater, Minn.) to finish with a 6-1 record in a World Curling Tour event in Eveleth, Minn.
Briefly: World Cup luge action continues Saturday and Sunday in Koenigssee, Germany. … The U.S. cross country skiing Championships begin Saturday and run through Jan. 8 in Anchorage. … Nordic combined World Cup action continues Saturday and Sunday in Oberhof, Germany. … Freestyle skier Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, Calif.), snowboarder Steve Fisher (St. Louis Park, Minn.), bobsledder Steve Holcomb (Park City, Utah), short track speedskater Katherine Reutter (Champaign, Ill.), skeleton slider Rebecca Sorenson (Fort Collins, Colo.) and alpine skiier Marco Sullivan (Tahoe City, Calif.) will join Olympic medalists Bonnie Blair, Dan Jansen and Michelle Kwan and the Budweiser Clydesdales on a float in Friday's Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.
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