US Women Dominate Olympics. Here they are practicing before the qualifiers. Photo Matt Heineman.

The women's halfpipe. Photo Matt Heineman

Todd gets extreme with the announcing. Photo by John Stouffer.

Women's Podium. Photo John Stouffer.

1) Hanah Teter
2) Gretchen Blieler
3) Kjersti Buuas
4) Kelly Clark

Kelly seriously had the best run ever done by a female rider until she went down on her last hit, a frontside 900 attempt. I think she should have taken the gold even with a straight air in the halfpipe. Although I have always preached that going big is the biggest trick.

Press conference. Photo by John Stouffer.

That should not diminish Hannah's vicotry. She had a super sweet 900 grabbed and some very big airs; I am sure you will see it all tonight on TV. Also Gretchen has a super sweet final run with a crippler to back to back 5s and a 900 at the bottom of her run. Kjersti rode really well dropping the crippler 7 off her last hit.

The other rider who had difficulty but rode really well was Torah Bright. She undoubtedly had the most technical runs of the day starting things out with a really big backside 360 into a switch backside 540. THAT'S RIGHT, SWITCH BACKSIDE 5. In her final run she put down a complete run, but alas had to settle for 5th. Todd felt that she should have been on the podium. Let us know what you think. Working on piecing the show together right now.

John Stouffer's BLOG

Back-to-Back Pipe Victories, Back-to-back Nights
Current mood: refreshed

Back-to-Back Pipe Victories, Back-to-back Nights

Torino 2006 Day 9

The last 48 hours have been a blur, from Shaun White winning gold and Danny taking his second silver, to the women also repeating the feat.

I'm not really sure I can detail what it took to put together the men's halfpipe show and to get it on the air, but let me just say, after the men's pipe contest, we were at the venue until 4 a.m. in the morning trying to wrap up almost 2 hours of coverage for NBC's prime time viewing. It was a lot, with tons of drama put in. Once the shows were put together, they were good. Really hyping Shaun White for what he was, the favorite. It was a big of the Shaun White show, and that's what people wanted, so we gave it to him. The story had all the drama and we had to make sure that came through.

We ended taping those shows at around 4 in the morning, and I headed back to the hotel for a shower and two hours of sleep, while Todd, Pat, and Mark just slept in one of the rooms at the NBC trailer compound behind the venue.

I hopped back in the shuttle around 8 am, and headed back to the pipe for more action. Breakfast was waiting for all of us, and Pat, Todd, and Mark had just woken up, claiming they got a solid four hours of sleep. I brought over deoderant, toothpaste, and clean T-shirts for them to wear if they wanted, and they were all stoked.

By 9:30, we were back in the booth, getting ready for play calling again. This day wasn't as hard, because we didn't have as many segments that would go on the air, and we wouldn't have to call as many women in the qualifying rounds. We focused on the 15 or so we thought were contenders, including the Americans, Japanese, French, and a few others like Cheryl Maas and Kjersti Buaas.

The women's pipe was gripping, watching our three team members going in the first several runs. In fact, Kelly Clark went first and posted the highest score of the qualification round, which was super surprising because judges' scores usually inflate through a contest. Kelly, Hannah and Gretchen all made it through first round, then everyone waited for the Elena Hight's second round score to see if she could make it as well.

We all got to take about a 20 minute break during the second round while some of the low-scoring women went. I walked into the stands to check it out. Not as crowded as the day before, but still several thousand people were there, maybe like 5000 total. Still great for a halfpipe contest! Ran into Rob Campbell, who works for Future Snowboard Magazine, and one of his editors, Tracy. Tracy had partied with Giacomo and the Fins the night before in Bardonecchi, and had on one of Giacomo's T-shirts that said: "Training Kills Riders, Go Party!" He reported that the Fins were in great shape at the party, and Giacomo was ruling it with the ladies. Way to go, Italian Stallion.

Later, I ran into Flow Team Manager Andrew Mutty. He went down to Torino and hit the Octogon party, and reported that it got going good once Danny Kass showed up! Another classic Kass spotting!

Then it was back to the booth to watch the final runs, and see who would make it into the finals.

Only one American wasn't in yet. Elena Hight. The super 16 year old. Since her first run was solid, everyone was confident she could do it. And she did with ease.

Other big second round qualifiers Switzerland's Manuale Laura Pesko, Torah Bright, and Kjersti Buaas. Japan's Soko Yamaoka took a run to Blink 182. Todd thought it was cool that Blink was played at the Olympics

Then everyone took a short break and it was time for the finals.

12 women got two runs. Best run counts. They drop in according to who had the top qualifying scores in the first round, then who had top scores in second round.

Kelly Clark was going last, and could see what everyone else did, including her own team mates.

One by one they dropped in and scores were posted. Hannah Teter went before Kelly and Gretchen, stuck a solid run with a big 900, and posted the scored to beat: a big 44.6.

Gretchen pulls the Crippler frontside 540, to backside 540, to frontside 540, to frontside 900 and moves into second place with a 41.5.

Kelly had huge airs, a frontside 700, but a slight bobble at the end of her run, but still takes third with a 41.1. Could there be a sweep for the US as many had predicted? One run still to go.

Torah Bright, the girl who doesn't stop smiling, and looks great doing it, was pushing the technical level of riding, with a switch backside 360 to switch backside 540 and cab 720. Her 41 was just one-tenth of a point out of bronze. Todd was a bit surprised by the judges' call on that.

Elena pulled a 900, to frontside 720, and a 720, but she wasn't getting the height out of the pipe and moved into sixth place.

So as the final runs are taken, and Norway's Kjersti busts into second place with a stunning run and a score of 42, just a half point ahead of Gretchen. That bumps Kelly out of the top three and into fourth.

But all three top Americans are up next, and Kjersti is not assured a medal.

Kelly knows she can still get in there, but has to throw down a flawless run. She busts out huge airs out of the pipe, going bigger than a woman has ever gone. But she falls on her last 900--one she probably didn't need to win. However, Hannah had a big score, almost 4 points over her, and Kelly knew she had to do something monster to pull it all out. Todd and Pat were freaking in the booth, so bummed that she didn't pull it out. So close, but so far away.

Two riders to go.

Gretchen and Hannah. Gretchen was sitting in third, for a bronze. She dropped in and did another big, technical run a bit cleaner than her last, and that was it. At the bottom she was pumped, knowing it was a good one. Scores dropped with a 43.4 and she was in second. Silver medal.

Hannah sat at the top, getting hugs from her coaches, ready for her victory lap and to claim the gold. And she actually topped her first score, got to the bottom and the hug-fest continued.

Her brother was there, Gretchen was there, Kelly was hugging everyone too, and you could see the emotion was flowing out of all of them. Gretchen just smiling, Kelly wouldn't take off her goggles, knowing she was so close but just missed by the sketched edge of a gigantic 900 at the bottom of the pipe.

In Kelly's interview with Tina Dixon at the bottom of the pipe, she let it out: " I just went for it. Not quite the way I wanted it to turn out, but I'm happy." The whole event was over by 3:30.

During the flower ceremony, Hannah had a flag draped around her back like Shaun and Danny did the day before, and Gretchen waved a little American flag on a stick. All three medalists hugged each other on the podium, and kept smiling.

I walked down to the press conference after the flower ceremony, and over the loud speakers, a voice said: "Sponsors are the best playmates for the Games." I've heard several times the last two days, and still not sure what it meant.

In the press conference afterward, it was packed. Hannah told the crowd that her brother Abe got her into snowboarding, then praised Vermont maple syrup. It was classic.

Gretchen described the whole experience as an incredible day. "To medal at the Olympics was a dream of mine since I was young."

Someone asked Kjersti how she felt about breaking up the US sweep? She replied: "On my last run, they told me I was the last one who could get in between the US riders, so I had the whole weight of Europe on me. But the U.S. has the best pipes and best weather for riding, and it's hard for Europeans to travel over there and train."

Someone asked if the U.S. riders were bummed that Kjersti ruined their sweep, but Gretchen said she was stoked for Kjersti because she's a friend and put together a great run. They were bummed for Kelly, but pointed out that she already had a gold medal, so it was okay.

Someone asked if Hannah had another trick she was going to bust out if she wasn't winning? She answered: "You'll never know!" and laughed. And then Gretchen told her to leave it at that.

Hannah was asked about her knee: She said that she had been doing squats all summer to get in shape, and that she could squat 280. She's been super fit, and didn't feel any pain in the knee at all now.

Someone asked how the gold was going to change Hannah's life. She said: "I might actually be able to purchase a boat now and do some wakeboarding. I'm still going to be grateful. I came into this having a lot of faith and being supported by my family. I don't think I'm going to change. Maybe just smile a little bit brighter and get my teeth whitened for the cameras."

Then the moderator told the crowd that the press conference was over, and Hannah announced that they had to go pee in cups now.

One more question, how did you stay calm before the finals, and Gretchen said that she and Hannah took a powder run at the top of the resort before the finals. "We had to slip under a rop, sorry, that's what snowboarders do sometimes, but it was good powder and good to get away."

After the press conference, the NBC crew still had to put together a show. Billy Mathews, our boss, let us head back to the hotel to shower and change, and we were supposed to be back by 7. We were and had some dinner in the crew tent, then waited in the office checking e-mails and shooting the shit. By 9:15 it was dark and the full moon was out again. The venue was empty, but we were back in the announcers booth, ready to knock out the Voice overs for the show and get out of there at a reasonable midnight or 1 am. That didn't happen. We waited for segments to get put together and it sounded like the show segments kept changing lengths.

Todd began a game of Fart Tennis with Pat, where one person farts and the other has to fart back at him within a certain time or lose a point.

They've now started calling me "Stats McGee" and the commentary in the booth is hilarious, as sleep deprivation kicks in, and so does the coffee and Red Bulls.

Someone at the other end of our microphones hears Pat acting like a morning radio DJ, and cues up a song for him, that we can all hear over our head sets. He starts asking for 80s classics like Steve Miller Band, Rod Stewart, and others. Some they have, some they don't. At one point, Todd announces in frustration when the iPod didn't have a song: "Ah for Pod's sake!" A classic line.

A little later, the power goes out in the edit rooms right when we're voicing a segment. We almost leave the booth, but then get told the power was coming back on within a few minutes. None of us wanted to walk down to the NBC trailers and then back up to the top of the stands where our sound booth was. On one trip, I counted it was 135 stairs. Kind of like 5-6 stories. A good way for us to stay in shape.

At 11:30, it looked like it started to snow. We had been hearing about the possibility of snow for days, but kept getting great, blue skies and warm weather.

A big screen across from the stands was going through all its waiting screens, and kept flashing the saying of this Olypics: "Passion Lives Here." We started wondering how much passion was left in us at 1:30 in the morning. By 2 pm we were taking the last segments, and I notice right before Gretchen's last run, the scores were wrong, and point it out. Pat looks at it for a minute then figures it out and relays the message. It was the first time I had seen anything out of place. Not bad for the amount of sleep our crew had had. I realized we had a great crew putting these shows together.

When Kelly goes, Pat and Todd really build up the fact that she was on another level from the rest of the women, and if she had landed that run, she would have walked with her second gold.

Finally, the taping was over. We head back to the trailers, and get stopped by some security who insist on seeing our badges. There was noone else around, and we were just laughing at how serious they were about it. But when in Rome ….

Ah, we all realized that tomorrow didn't need to be an early one. Next up, Boardercross in two days, but one good morning sleep in was in order. That's a wrap from Italy for now.