At press time, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada were half over. The United States was top in the medal count with 23 medals.  Canada with 8 medals was fifth behind Germany, Norway and Korea.  Half of Canada’s medals were gold-attesting to the success of its campaign to “Own the Podium”-marking the first time Canada has won gold at a home Olympics.  China was tenth in the medal count with 5 medals.  Three of China’s medals were gold, and all 5 were earned in skating events. t press time, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada were half over. The United States was top in the medal count with 23 medals.  Canada with 8 medals was fifth behind Germany, Norway and Korea.  Half of Canada’s medals were gold-attesting to the success of its campaign to “Own the Podium”-marking the first time Canada has won gold at a home Olympics.  China was tenth in the medal count with 5 medals.  Three of China’s medals were gold, and all 5 were earned in skating events.

China’s Medalists
On Feb. 16, Wang Beixing took bronze in the Ladies’ 500 m Speed Skating.  Lee Sang-Hwa of South Korea won gold and Jenny Wolf of Germany won silver.  On Feb 17, Wang Meng won gold for Ladies’ 500 m Short Track Speed Skating. On Feb. 20, Zhou Yang won gold for Ladies’ 1500 m Short Track Speed Skating. The most impressive win has to be in Pairs Figure Skating.  Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won gold, and Pang Qing and Tong Jian captured silver.  The third Chinese pair, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao took Fifth Place.

Ending Russian Dominance
Shen and Zhao’s win ended Russia’s dominance of pairs figure skating.  Russian teams had won pairs figure skating gold in the past 12 Olympic Winter Games (including a shared gold with Canada in 2002 amid a judging controversy).  The top Russian pair Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov placed fourth, just out of the medals.  The German team of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy took home the bronze medal.

Capturing the Elusive Gold
Shen and Zhao came out of retirement to take one last chance at Olympic gold-the only goal that had eluded them in their 18-year partnership on the ice.  They had married each other after retiring two years ago; they came back to the ice in May of 2009. 

On Feb. 15, Shen (31) and Zhao (36), who were in first place after the short program, stood in anticipation for their final score in the free skate.  Even after the score was announced and the crowd began to cheer, they stood, almost disbelieving, until the announcer proclaimed them in first place.  As the last competitors of the night, this meant one thing–Olympic gold was finally theirs.