VANCOUVER// Canada's joy on Day 12 of the Winter Olympics was not confined to the men's ice hockey win over Russia, The hosts' women's bobsleigh teams won gold and silver, with Kaillie Humphries the winning driver. Her first place took Canada to the top of the gold medal table alongside the United States and Germany, and it was accompanied by two silvers and a bronze. But while the host nation had plenty to be happy about, the day also brought some bitter disappointment.
South Korea were disqualified while they were celebrating what they thought was their victory in the women's short track 3,000 metres relay. The gold went to China, while the Koreans' cheers turned to tears and they rushed away after the referees ruled they had been guilty of a push in the relay exchange. It was also a painful day for Lindsey Vonn, the top American skier and downhill gold medallist, who crashed in heavy fog on the first run of the women's giant slalom and broke her little finger.
The dense fog at Whistler forced the postponement of the second round, with the Austrian Elisabeth Goergl leading France's Taina Barioz by 0.02 seconds. It was not known if Vonn would take part in the final women's skiing event, the slalom. In a different type of skiing, Australia's Lydia Lassila flew and spun her way to gold in women's freestyle aerials, cleanly landing two of the hardest jumps of the day.
"Ever since I started this sport, I wanted to jump like a man," said Lassila, when asked why she tried such a difficult jump on her first effort. Two athletes won their second gold on Wednesday, Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic in the women's 5,000 metres speedskating and Marcus Hellner of Sweden in the men's cross country relay. * Reuters
