Wayne Rooney's injury record

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26 July 2003: sprained ankle

Rooney was carried off with a sprained ankle during Everton's friendly with Rangers at Ibrox after an ostensibly harmless challenge with Bob Malcolm. Everton feared he would be discover for quaternary weeks and woman the start of the season, but he came on as a substitute against Arsenal on the opening day

29 March 2004: sprained ankle

Rooney injured his ankle against Middlesbrough at Goodison and appeared to aggravate it during England's 1-0 friendly defeat in Sweden the mass Wednesday. The injury resulted in him missing two weeks of action for Everton

24 June 2004: metatarsal

Having starred for England throughout Euro 2004 in Portugal, Rooney limped off during their quarter-final against the hosts. It was later addicted Rooney had unsmooth his fifth metatarsal and would be discover for eight weeks, but he did not make his return until the end of September

April 29 2006: metatarsal

With just six weeks until England's World Cup opener against Paraguay, Rooney was carried off with a fractured metatarsal bone in his correct measure after an innoxious challenge from Chelsea's Paulo Ferreira. The initial forecasting said he would definitely woman the group stages, if not the whole competition – but Rooney featured in all but one of England's matches

August 12 2007: metatarsal

Rooney broke a metatarsal for the third time in threesome years – this time his mitt measure – when Reading's Michael Duberry inadvertently stamped on his foot. Tests addicted Rooney had suffered a hairline fracture which he returned from slightly earlier than the six-to-eight weeks originally diagnosed

November 9 2007: sprained ankle

Barely a period after returning from his third metatarsal injury, Rooney injured his ankle in training and mitt metropolis United's Carrington training connector on crutches. The mover made his return on schedule a period later, but missed England's crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia

October 1 2008: sprained ankle

Rooney limped off against the Nordic side AaB Aalborg with an injured ankle, with Sir Alex Ferguson unsure of the severity of the injury but rating him doubtful for the Blackburn correct threesome days later. Rooney started and scored at Ewood Park

March 30 2010: sprained ankle

A intertwine with Bayern Munich's Mario Gómez mitt Rooney crumpled on the connector – replays show he inflicted damage to his correct ankle. The mover was helped off by the United physio and mitt the connector on crutches with a protective cast over the foot

Belles hit the big time

DONCASTER Rovers Belles can look nervy to a gleaming future after becoming originator members of the newborn Football Association Women's Super League, according to cock-a-hoop chairman Jonathan James.

And he says the club's new-found elite status won't just put the town on the transpose - but also on the television.

James and his colleagues famous this week as Doncaster were titled alongside Premier League heavyweights Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton in the lucrative eight-team sectionalization - set for squawk soured in the season of 2011.

The Belles went close to feat bust last assemblage and relied on donations from the public and local businesses in visit just to survive.

But James says Super League status - and the material FA resource that comes with it - should safeguard the future of the edifice for generations to come.

He said: "This is enthusiastic news for the club, enthusiastic for the players and fantastic for the town.

"The Belles hit been related with women's football in this country for more than 40 eld and long may it continue.

"We were originator members of the Premier League.

"Now, becoming originator members of the Super League should bring a lot more feeling to some people for some eld to come.

"And it will also raise the profile of the town and the Doncaster Rovers brand."

The Belles stand to benefit from around £75,000 a assemblage in FA resource after being awarded a two-year concern to join the league.

Satellite television broadcaster ESPN has already signed up to provide springy coverage of the newborn competition.

James said: "I poverty to impart everyone who has supported our edifice over the eld and helped to keep us feat last year.

"We've now been given a bigger platform on which to play the game.

"But if we keep doing the things that hit got us this far, then this edifice should move to roll for some eld to come.

"In some ways it should be easier, in terms of attracting sponsors for instance.

He added: "With the artefact that it's feat I can wager this association attracting the prizewinning girls from around the world.

"The FA hit got some very big ideas.

"This won't just put Doncaster on the transpose - but it'll also put us on the telly!

"In fact we could end up on the television more times than the men's side."

Birmingham, Bristol Academy, Lincoln and metropolis hit also been acknowledged Super League franchises.

Manager John Buckley said: \"It's a enthusiastic step nervy for the club.

"All the hard work has become to fruition and it's up to us now to verify our game to the next level.

"It would hit been a major disappointment had we not got in. I conceive the history of the edifice was a major factor.

"Now we rattling need to near on and essay and bring the glory days back to the Belles.

"There'll be quite a taste of pressure on me to essay and bring in international class players," he added.

"But that's something I'll definitely relish and I conceive we're all looking nervy to the challenge."

* When news of the newborn Super League was prototypal mooted the Free Press

mounted a campaign to back their effort for inclusion.

NCAA Basketball March Madness 2010 Line-Up

NCAA Bracket 2010 Update: NCAA Basketball March Madness 2010 Line-Up. The backup who plays for Michigan State is the smallest players on the court. But his height has never become in the way of his game. He is revered by his team men for his speed, stamina and skills.

Fans who had turned in great drawing to watch their stars performed relished the game. The grapheme attraction was Wes Johnson. He scored 31 points, which turned discover to be his career-high. All three when combined together makes him a dangerous player.

High scorers were Wes President for Syracuse with 31 points and Elias Harris with 24 points for Gonzaga. Syracuse moves on in the brackets.

IPL Auction Results: Pune, Kochi In

The IPL auction of 2 newborn teams on March 21 is won by desert and Rendezvous for Pune and Kochi respectively.

21st Mar, 2010: The IPL showcased its financial strength erst again today when the 2 new franchises that were bought netted a mind-boggling total turn of $703m.

The desert group, one of the most visible names for cricket fans thanks to its perennial sponsorship of Team India, won the Pune francise for $370m, and Rendezvous Sports, a association of 5 companies, won the Kochi concern for $333m.

Like cricinfo put things in persective, the turn that the desert group effort for Pune is more than the entire turn netted by the BCCI in the sell of 8 teams before IPL1. This means that the returns for the existing IPL team owners, assuming apiece of the teams is worth at least $300m now, are in excess of at least 200% (Reliance bought Mumbai Indians for $100m).

The desert group effort for Ahmedabad and Nagpur, too, (and were highest there, too) but chose Pune finally. The Adani and Videocon groups, which were the only ones to effort at the cancelled earlier regular sell on March 7, 2010, for the 2 new teams, failed to win this time.

The 2 new teams will make their debut in IPL 2011.

UNI relishes victory

Oklahoma City — “The Shawshank Redemption” might be in trouble.

Back in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Northern Iowa roommates Adam Koch, Jake Koch and Ali Farokhmanesh hit put together a big board to rank every the movies they’ve seen. The idea started when every threesome were tired digit winter break.

“The Shawshank Redemption” has the top spot. But if Northern Iowa’s season were to be prefabricated into a movie?

“This is a pretty awing story, I think,” Adam Koch said following UNI’s 69-67 conclusion over Kansas University on Saturday.

The movie’s hero — for the second straight game — was the senior Farokhmanesh, who hit the game’s large effort with 34 seconds left.

With his team leading 63-62, Farokhmanesh had the ball in his safekeeping on a two-on-one break.

He started to verify the ball inside so he could pass it to teammate Johnny Moran. But when he saw Kansas’ Tyrel Reed back soured defensively, he didn’t hesitate in putting up the large three-pointer of his life.

“It’s a wide-open shot,” Farokhmanesh said. “If I didn’t make that, I shouldn’t be playing basketball.”

Make the effort he did, prevention some hopes of a KU comeback.

Many coaches would second-guess the selection to put up a quick effort in that situation. But UNI’s Ben Jacobson — who harps to his players that he’ll never yell at them or verify them discover for poor effort selection — isn’t digit of them.

“When he’s open, that’s a good shot,” Jacobson said. “The situation rattling doesn’t make a disagreement when he’s got the ball in his safekeeping and he’s open.”

Later, Farokhmanesh stamped KU’s fate for good, hitting a free throw with five seconds left to put UNI up four.

He immediately looked up to his mother, Cindy Fredrick, who smiled back at him while putting her mitt in the air.

“It’s digit of those moments ... you don’t conceive that’s going to happen for you,” Farokhmanesh said. “To hit it happen is amazing.”

Following the game’s test buzzer, Farokhmanesh immediately looked for digit person: teammate, roommate and best someone Adam Koch. The digit leapt into apiece others’ arms.

When the digit started playing together at UNI, they had talked about their dream of going to the postseason. Friday, they talked to apiece another at the hotel, imagining what it would be like to knock soured the tournament’s top team.

After the game, Farokhmanesh — the 6-foot movie buff who was only recruited by Div. I schools Northern Iowa and St. Louis discover of lowly college — didn’t hit to astonishment some more.

“You guys were asking us the another day if we were intimidated to play them,” Farokhmanesh said. “Nobody was rattling picking us to win. Nobody thought we had a chance against them.

“To actually come discover and do it, it’s a whole another thing.”

India lose semi-final berth in World Cup

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India today unredeemed all chances of motility into semi-finals in Hockey Domain Cup. The team conceded ending in the must-win contend by 2-3 against England.

Earlier, England submissive the most leave of the basic half in the Stakes B Concern Cup duplication.

Despite two penalization corners, India unsuccessful to exterior their relationship alter as England spanked bag a facility goal with boundary individual.

The base unit notwithstanding seems to tally learnt from its mistakes in the preceding two games and is co-ordinating fountainhead with each remaining.

For a convenient result in the position half, India will pauperism to change its man-marking as antitank lapses keep to preserve.

Will Olympics hockey boost the NHL?

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The 2010 Vancouver Olympics hockey final, with the US losing in overtime to Canada, heightened the sport's profile. Will the NHL benefit?

The phenomenal showing of the US and Canadian teams in this year’s winter Olympics could give the struggling National Hockey League a much needed boost.

Canadian star Sidney Crosby, who scored the winning goal against the US during overtime of Sunday's gold-medal game, and US goalie Ryan Miller have become household names during the 13-day games. Each will return to his NHL team this week – Mr. Crosby to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mr. Miller to the Buffalo Sabres – along with their 44 other teammates, all of whom are also NHL players.

“There’s a good chance that there’ll be some at least short-term positive effect,” says Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. “It could entice people to spend some more [time] with hockey.”

In Pictures: Top 12 inspiring Olympics moment

The league has been struggling with low viewership in recent years, especially after stalled negotiations over the league’s salary cap shut down the 2004 season.

Versus, the sports network that airs weekday NHL games in the US, has averaged about 278,000 viewers per game this season. In that respect, there is much room for improvement.

Despite the success of its players in Vancouver, the NHL remains undecided about whether to continue to allow players to participate in future Olympics. The league has to take a two-week hiatus in the middle of its season to accommodate Olympic scheduling and though players’ salaries are insured in case of injury, there’s no way to mitigate the losses a team might experience were one of its star players to suffer a serious injury during the Games.

"It's clear when you look at these Games from 30,000 feet, it's all good, but you do have to take a step back on ground level and look at the impact on our season," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters during the Games

"From an ownership standpoint, in the middle of the season, we would just as soon skip it," says Rocky Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, in an interview with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. "It doesn't add any more to our sport."

If the NHL is able to capitalize on the success of the Olympics, it’s possible the gains would only be short term.

“It depends on how the league builds on [the Olympics],” says Mr. Zimbalist. Coming out of the close of the games, they have a “small opening” to attract new fans.

But hockey is a “second-class professional sport in the US,” says Zimbalist, suffering in comparison to the popularity of other sports like football, baseball, and basketball. And the success of 1980 US hockey team against Russia – the so-called "miracle on ice" – didn’t change that.

This Olympics benefited from stellar US and Canadian teams, as well as being able to air games live in prime time because of the little or no time difference for viewers in the US. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will suffer from an 8- to 11-hour time difference for American viewers.

The decision on whether NHL players will travel to Sochi won’t be made until the league and the players sit down to negotiate the NHL's next collective bargaining agreement, which expires after next season.

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/new-economy/2010/0301/Will-Olympics-hockey-boost-the-NHL

The 2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony

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MTV News dispatched a team to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and not only got the inside scoop from some of the top athletes at the games but also made some friends along the way. We asked dancer and Canadian radio personality Rachel David to blog about her experience performing at the closing ceremony, which featured performances by Michael Bublé, Neil Young, William Shatner and a host of other Canadian luminaries.

By Rachel David

Sunday night (February 28) marked the conclusion of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games here in Vancouver. But what does almost every closing to every big event have? A crazy-a-- party!

Being a hip-hop dancer for the closing ceremonies has been a party throughout every rehearsal, but Sunday was especially crazy. The entire day was such a surreal experience. From the moment I walked through security, I was greeted by happy smiling faces and those smiles continued on throughout the day.

Not only was it the last day of the 2010 Winter Olympics, but it was also the gold medal hockey match between rivals U.S.A. and Canada. I have never seen such an intense game in my life! To be backstage with hundreds of Canada's finest performers and watch them patriotically cheer on their sport was an experience in itself.

The actual closing ceremony was fascinating to watch. As a dancer, I had met all the other dancers and had seen their costumes but I didn't actually know what any of them actually did (everything was so top secret that no one was allowed to tell anyone what their actual roles were). I didn't see what everyone had been learning over the past seven months until I was backstage watching this extraordinary party.

I felt my biggest rush of adrenaline when I actually got into the stadium as I was running past artists such as Michael Bublé and Nickleback on my way to my pre-set position. It was then that everything started to really sink in. I remember standing seconds away from bursting out on stage and just feeling my heart pumping through my neon pink hoodie. As Kos started singing all I could think of was how proud I was to be performing because this was the first Olympics to ever have hip-hop and break dancing in it.

When I was on stage, I felt as light as a feather (thanks to my adrenaline) and when I got off my high continued. As I look back on this experience, all I can say is "Wow, I was just a part of one of the biggest shows ever put on in the entire world!" I can truly say dancing at the closing ceremonies was the icing on the cake and the perfect way to close my Olympic experience.

Source: http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/03/01/winter-olympics-closing-ceremony/

Canada's pot of goldCanada's pot of gold

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It was Vancouver, then Vonncouver, then even Vancuso for a while, I think. But mostly it was rainy. And mild. It was kind of like having the Winter Olympics in Seattle, only with not as much flannel.

Unless you count the pattern on the American snowboard uniforms.

What started out tragically as an Olympics defined by the death of an athlete, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, ended as an Olympics defined by Canada's gold medal in men's hockey.

And if you don't believe that, then you didn't see the ninety-year-old grandmother sitting in her wheelchair on the curb, waiving a Canadian flag at the honking traffic. You weren't on Robson Street six hours after the overtime win against the United States, the only Yankee idiot who dared walk into the belly of the beast that late.

The hockey win gave Canada a Winter Olympics-record 14 gold medals in Vancouver. The silver won by the U.S. also set a record: Americans won 37 medals here, more than any country ever has before at the Winter Games.

It was a good 16 days for North America. (What about Mexico, you say? Well, they had Hubertus von Hohenlohe, the 51-year-old alpine skier who is descended from German royalty. He's also a photographer. And a businessman. And a pop singer called "Andy Himalaya." All true.)

About that medal count: It was being tallied everywhere here. On the way to Cypress Mountain there was even a billboard on the front lawn of a private residence that was keeping track. Only problem: They hadn't updated it. The counter said 001 and Canada had won its second medal earlier in the day, a bronze by Kristina Groves in the women's 3,000-meter speedskating race.

Also about that counter: There were three spots for numbers. Three spots? Really optimistic considering no one's ever won more Winter Olympics medals than the 37 the Americans captured here.

The counter was also wrong at Yaletown Brewing Co. last Monday night. It hadn't updated to include the gold medal won by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in ice dance.

Which was surprising, since the one thing you can be sure of is that Canadians love their gold medals. After each one of them, the Heritage Horn on top of the main press center -- that building with sails for a roof -- played the opening four bars of "O Canada."

At 115 decibels.

It's how Vancouverites know when it's lunchtime. No kidding.

We didn't hear much about the medal count until the Canadians started winning golds. But once they started, ooh boy, you couldn't get away from it. Even the volunteers got in on the act.

Suddenly, the front page of a major city paper read: "CANADA LEADS THE GAMES IN GOLD."

It was certainly an accomplishment. Before Alexandre Bilodeau won the men's moguls on Feb. 14, Canada had never captured an Olympic gold medal on home soil. The celebration that night had been building since Montreal in 1976. It was carried over from Calgary in 1988.

"Our kids are crying they're so excited," one woman, Suzanne Rose, 36, of Quilchena, British Columbia, told me.

Another woman walking to her bus that night screamed into her phone: "Dude, we won gold! And I was there!"

The Olympics were held in a big city again, and it looks like that's mostly how it will be from now on. The Summer and Winter Games have just become too big. One thing you miss: The kind of intimacy you get from a place like Lillehammer, Norway, which Olympic writers are always talking about. One thing you gain: Paragraphs like these next two.

One night British Columbia turned, well, downright British when particularly daft fellow whistling the "Superman" theme smacked us in the face with a wet British flag. He was wearing it like a cape and sprinting down the sidewalk near the trendy Yaletown neighborhood.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/01/1780228/canadas-pot-of-gold.html

U.S. and Canada appear evenly matched

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Reporting from Vancouver, Canada - An icy dream dawned six months ago in a rink near Chicago, where candidates for the U.S. Olympic hockey team began a journey that will end today a few hours before the flame is extinguished on the Vancouver Games.

Around the same time the same dream was planted in Calgary among prospective members of Team Canada, who have shouldered the hopes of a nation that considers hockey a way of life.

The U.S. and Canada will compete today at Canada Hockey Place for the Olympic gold medal, pitting NHL teammates against each other in a rivalry that has become, to Canadians' chagrin, increasingly even.

The U.S. won the World Cup in 1996 on Canadian soil. Canada won the Olympic hockey tournament at Salt Lake City in 2002. Team USA won the teams' preliminary-round match for its first victory over Canada in Olympic play since 1960, but that was a week and -- for Canada -- a starting goaltender ago.

"Don't get me wrong. We'd like to do it for the country and we'd like to do it for everybody involved. We'd like to do it for ourselves, first," said Canada Coach Mike Babcock, whose team faltered in its early games but steadied when Roberto Luongo replaced Martin Brodeur in net.

"Someone's going to be very happy and we expect it's going to be us."

Canada has the advantage of home ice and a flag-waving, face-painting, maple leaf-wearing crowd that is sure to fill every corner of the arena.

"You come out on the ice you see everybody screaming, wearing red. It gets the guys going even more," Luongo said Saturday.

Because of that support, because Canada has enough native talent to have entered two medal-contending teams in this tournament, Canada should be the favorite.

Not so, say the Canadians. They say they're the underdogs because they were slow starters and the U.S. went 5-0 to reach today's finale, including a six-goal first period in a 6-1 semifinal romp over Finland on Friday. They were unanimous in their praise of goalie Ryan Miller and his tournament-leading 1.04 goals-against average and .954 save percentage.

"They have a good team and they have depth," said Jarome Iginla, who scored twice in Canada's gold-medal triumph at Salt Lake City.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who's favored.

"If we play as well we did in the last game in the first period, I like our chances," U.S. defenseman Brian Rafalski said. "Both these teams are capable of winning. It's going to be who can get out there and get the job done."

The way each team was structured will determine how the job is completed.

Canada has an array of offensive options, with Joe Thornton, Sidney Crosby and Ryan Getzlaf as its top three centers on three dynamic lines. The U.S. can't match that.

But where the U.S. might have an edge is in its deliberate composition. Iginla said Canada "has four first lines." But in a short tournament like this winning doesn't require four top lines -- it requires grinders and role players like tournament faceoff leaders Ryan Kesler (76.3%) and Joe Pavelski (69.6%) and penalty killers Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury.

Kings winger Dustin Brown wasn't an obvious choice for Team USA because his stats aren't dazzling. But he's a banger, an abrasive force in front of the net. And that's where the U.S. is most likely to score, not off finesse and rushes but off deflections and screens and tips.

Callahan and Drury, he said, are "very skilled in their own right, but the penalty killing is their thing and they do that very, very well. They've been a key to our success on the PK. Maybe if you take one or two of those players out our PK is a lot worse than it is and we're not sitting here in this game."

Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, the closest thing the U.S. has to a game-breaker, said choosing specialists instead of taking the most talented players was the right strategy.

"Look at a team like Canada -- they've got a ton of skill and highly talented players that they fit into different roles, and that's not really the situation with our team," Kane said.

"I think our team was picked on players for the situation. Guys like Chris Drury, he's an older guy and he's there for leadership and penalty killing. David Backes on the fourth line is running over guys. And myself and Zach Parise and Paul Stastny, we're counted on to produce offense.

"It seems every player was picked for a reason and they did a great job picking it, I think."

In a game that appears to be so evenly matched, one of those picks could make the difference today.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olympics-hockey-advance28-2010feb28,0,58708.story

India's triple strikes stuns Pakistan

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New Delhi: Prabhjot Singh made his presence felt in the match against Pakistan as he extended India's lead to 3-0 soon after resuming play post half-time.

Earlier, India's specialist drag flicker Sandeep Singh pierced Pakistan's defence as he helped India take a 2-0 lead at half-time. The first half went into extra time and India had a chance to convert a penalty corner that they did to put tremendous pressure on Pakistan.

Shivendra Singh drew first blood as he slammed the first goal of the match. Rajpal Singh set up the goal with a precise pass. The home crowd erupted as the ball zoomed past the Pakistani wicketkeeper.

India are up against arch-rivals Pakistan in a high voltage hockey World Cup match without their first choice goalkeeper Adrian D' Souza.

Their eight Olympic gold notwithstanding, India have not won a major international title since their 1975 World Cup triumph in Kuala Lumpur.

After finishing a lowly 11th out of 12 teams in the last World Cup at Monchengladbach, Germany fours years ago, Indian hockey plunged to a new low in 2008 by missing out on an Olympic berth for the first time in 80 years.

After all these lows, this mega event brings with it an opportunity of a lifetime for Indian hockey to regain its lost glory in front of countrymen.

But achieving it is no mean task for the Rajpal Singh-led side and the first two matches - Pakistan and Australia - carry a lot of significance since result of these encounters would decide their fate in the tournament.

The match also gives Rajpal and his men an opportunity to avenge their 3-6 defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the semifinal of the Champions Challenge I tournament in Salta, Argentina.

The much-anticipated game carries a lot of importance for both the teams not only in the context of sporting ties between the two countries but also on the diplomatic front.

Source:http://www.mynews.in/News/Hockey_World_Cup_India%27s_triple_strikes_stuns_Pakistan_N39531.html

Wayne refuses John Terry handshake

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The two players were thrown together for the first time since the scandal that resulted in the City defender making himself unavailable for England selection and abandoning his World Cup dream.

With Terry leading the team out of the Stamford Bridge tunnel and Bridge one of the last to come out to the pitch with City, all eyes were on the team hand-shakes prior to kick-off.

The Sky TV cameras were predictably on Terry as the City players filed past.

But when Bridge came to the Chelsea skipper, the City defender seemed to extend an arm and a quick glance at his former friend before looking away and declining the invitation. Bridge's hand had actually trailed underneath the former England captain's hand.

The heightened tension was almost farcical as the City players made their way down the line of Chelsea stars, headed by Terry.

In the end, the pair were the only two not to greet each other during the traditional handshake on the field.

There had been boos for Bridge and cheers for Terry from the Chelsea supporters when their names had been read out.

'Team Terry' emblazoned clothing was also available outside Stamford Bridge.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/chelsea/7331044/Wayne-Bridge-refuses-John-Terry-handshake.html

Despite Apolo Anton Ohno's disqualification

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VANCOUVER - Apolo Ohno thought he had earned yet another silver medal last night, but he only had himself another short-track controversy.

Ohno was disqualified in the 500-meter race final after subtly bumping Francois-Louis Tremblay of Canada, causing Tremblay to crash just before the finish line. Instead, Charles Hamelin captured gold, Sung Si-Bak of Korea was second and Tremblay won bronze. Sung also fell in the final yards, then scrambled across the line.

"There was no space to move up," Ohno said. "I kept waiting and waiting and waiting and on the last corner I ran up on the Canadian guy. I put my hand up so I wouldn't run into him. There was just no space.

"You know, it's the head Canadian referee out there and there were two Canadians in the race," Ohno said.

The night was far from a total loss for the Americans, however. Ohno and his teammates won a bronze behind Canada and Korea in a wacky 5,000-meter relay finish, with Ohno on the final leg. And Katherine Reutter of Champagne, Ill., captured silver in the women's 1,000-meter race, assuring the U.S. Olympic team of a record medal haul in Vancouver.

Reutter, 21, slipped in behind gold medal winner Wang Meng of China with one lap left in the race and held off challenges from Park Seung-Hi of Korea and Zhou Yang of China, who was disqualified.

"I feel like everything I've ever done has paid off," Reutter said. "This is my moment I've been dreaming of. I thought I might be bawling (if I won a medal), but it was just this explosion of happiness. I have put so much of myself into my sport, more than I ever thought I could."

Reutter became something of a national celebrity after she had Stephen Colbert autograph her thigh on his "Comedy Central" show. She is from the same town as Bonnie Blair, and was inspired to become a speedskater when Blair visited her high school.

As for Ohno, he went against the top three 500-meter skaters in the world in last night's final. He skated last for most of the race before making his desperate move coming off the final turn. According to the referee, Michel Verrault, Ohno had been a bit too desperate.

This was never supposed to be Ohno's strongest event, and the qualifying heats were typically crazy adventures as well. As an older skater, his sprinting speed was in question. He came into the race ranked only ninth in the world at 500 meters, and already appeared in trouble in a quarterfinal heat, skating behind the pack in fourth and last.

But short track is short track, and Thibaut Fauconnet of France lost an edge and took out Tyson Heung just in front of Ohno.

Ohno successfully hurdled both bodies and moved easily onto the semifinal, where he ran into an extremely difficult draw - against two Koreans and Tremblay, ranked second in the world.

He persevered, however. Lee Ho-Suk of Korea lost his balance on a straightaway and went down. Then Ohno sling-shotted himself with two laps to go and held on to finish first, qualifying for the final.

After Reutter took silver and the relay team bronze, the U.S. Olympic team was assured of surpassing its all-time record medal count of 34 attained at Salt Lake in 2002. The Americans already have 34 medals, and will win two more in the finals of long-track team pursuit and men's hockey.

The all-time record by any country is 36 medals, held by Germany at Salt Lake, a record the Americans will at least tie here. The U.S. is trying to become the first team since Germany in 1976 at Innsbruck to lead a Winter Olympics, wire to wire, in total medals.

The U.S. still has additional shots at medals with Bode Miller in the slalom today, and from its four-man bobsled team, which stands in first place after two of four runs.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/winter_olympics_2010/2010/02/27/2010-02-27_despite_ohno_dq_two_more_medals.html