On hot pink suits, World Cup debuts, …
Sat Nov 21 09:28:00 -0500 2009
Women's skeleton - 2 or 3 for Vancouver?
Fri Nov 20 16:50:00 -0500 2009
Evan Lysacek - one for the birds
Sat Nov 14 12:26:00 -0500 2009
Last March at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, a tuxedo-clad
Scott Hamilton on Olympic preparatio …
Sat Nov 14 10:18:00 -0500 2009
Scott Hamilton is at Skate America in Lake Placid this weekend. One of the… Read More
Lake Placid hosts the world
Fri Nov 13 15:52:00 -0500 2009
Waddell and Will among U.S. Ski Hall …
Fri Nov 06 14:54:00 -0500 2009
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard…
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100 days to go ... or rather 99!
Thu Nov 05 15:21:00 -0500 2009
As part of the 100 Days to the Winter Games celebration, three U.S. world champions talked to the media in a teleconference call on Wednesday: Erin Hamlin (luge), Chad Hedrick (speed skating), and Lindsey Vonn (skiing).
Luge… Read More
Why not more Olympic xc ski races?
Wed Oct 28 14:38:00 -0400 2009
Imagine if there hadn’t been a men’s 100-meter butterfly race at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Or a 200m individual medley.
If the men’s Olympic swimming program were limited to five individual races —… Read More
Summer ski jumping
Sat Oct 10 21:08:00 -0400 2009
The sound is like fighter jets. Until they are airborne. Then all is quiet as they soar toward the depths, skis in a V.
This is was what it sounded like standing next to the takeoff at the 90-meter ski jump at Lake Placid today,… Read More
Bode's inspiration?
Wed Sep 30 14:53:00 -0400 2009
In a press conference last Thursday, Bode Miller announced that he will be ski racing again this season and, after a two-year hiatus racing on his own team, that he is rejoining the U.S. Ski Team.
After 12 years racing 341… Read More
Golden nuggets and squished toes
Sat Sep 12 00:19:00 -0400 2009
Before every Olympics since 1988, the U.S. Olympic Committee has invited the press to a Media Summit — hosted this year in Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton from September 9-12, with 80 winter sport athletes in attendance.
Nordic combined's tour de France
Fri Jul 24 16:37:00 -0400 2009
There was more than one world champion on the roads of France this week. And it wasn’t Lance Armstrong or Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara.
Nordic combined world champions Read More
Luge's cool start tracks
Mon Jul 20 12:14:00 -0400 2009
On a sunny afternoon in July, luge world champion Erin Hamlin, 22, was decked out as if it were midwinter — in her speedsuit, elfin-looking luge shoes, gloves, and a helmet.
Haley Johnson's Snowfall Cards
Wed Jul 08 13:46:00 -0400 2009
Biathlete
She makes the Energizer Bunny look lazy
Wed Jun 24 11:21:00 -0400 2009
After winning the Boston Marathon twice, setting a world and multiple American records, and winning the inaugural women's Olympic marathon in 1984 - and setting an Olympic record that stood for 16 years - Joan… Read More
Kids never listen
Mon Jun 15 10:12:00 -0400 2009
Kids never listen to their parents, even if we sometimes know what we're talking about.
While doing her third grade homework a few months ago, my daughter asked me what 17 minus nine is.
"Eight," I replied.
"No it's NOT!" she shot back.
"Yes it is," I insisted.
… Read MoreGoing for Gold on Your SATs
Thu Jun 11 12:45:00 -0400 2009
Many Olympic champions have become motivational speakers. Gold-medal-winning swimmers Josh Davis and John Naber and gymnast Read More
A Tribute to a Champions’ Champion
Tue Jun 02 15:42:00 -0400 2009
Olympians are almost always inspiring. Their athletic talent, work ethic, sacrifices made, and challenges overcome have made them pinnacles in their sports. Their words and actions can motivate us to achieve our own successes, from a weekend 10k running race to a junior national championship.
… Read MoreExtreme skiing
Tue Apr 28 11:45:00 -0400 2009
"Cross-country skiing is hammering wicked hard, pushing your body to the limits, crossing that finish line, collapsing on the ground, and actually getting up and wanting to do it again," says World Cup skier Andy… Read More
Olympians talk about new superpipes
Fri Mar 20 16:32:00 -0400 2009
Peggy Shinn Blog - Lowell Bailey—gui …
Thu Mar 19 12:56:00 -0400 2009
One of my favorite parts about interviewing athletes is learning about their lives beyond their chosen sport. Over a decade, I've met a rower who's a trained chef, a cyclist who plays the trombone, and a skier who likes to take apart tractors.
But few - except the rower/chef - can… Read More
Catching up with Pete Fenson, 2006 O …
Tue Mar 10 08:32:00 -0400 2009
After his team came up short qualifying for Olympic Trials in late January, Pete Fenson was noticeably absent from the finals of curling's 2010 Olympic Trials. He was there, but rather than skipping… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - All in the curling family
Thu Mar 05 19:31:00 -0500 2009
Look at the roster at a curling tournament, and you'll notice a lot of the same last names. Birr, Brown, Fenson, George, Pottinger ... On the 20 teams that competed at the Curling 2010 Olympic Team Trials, held last week in Broomfield, Colo., nine… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Vonn and Lawrence …
Sat Feb 14 19:29:00 -0500 2009
After Lindsey Vonn won her second gold medal at the 2009 World Alpine Championships in Val d’Isere, France, the press was abuzz about the Minnesota native joining Andrea Mead Lawrence as the only American women to win two golds at a world championship.
Luge, not as scary as it looks
Tue Feb 10 16:58:00 -0500 2009
Standing next to the luge track at Lake Placid - and you can stand so close you feel as if you could reach out and touch them (if you wanted your arm ripped off)-I was startled at how fast the sliders went by. It's like they were shot out of a cannon.
It looks as scary as skydiving. Or… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - A Look Inside Doubles Luge
Sat Feb 07 18:46:00 -0500 2009
On the first day of the 41st Luge World Championships, held at Lake Placid, N.Y., over 1,500 school kids from Northern New York and Vermont came to watch. Each school "adopted" one of the participating nations and was supposed to learn about the people and culture of their… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Lake Placid: Insp …
Fri Jan 23 17:03:00 -0500 2009
Over the years, I've had the privilege of traveling to several cities that have hosted the Olympics: London (1908 and 1948), Squaw Valley (1960), Atlanta (1996), and Salt Lake City (2002) among them. I've even toured a few of the Olympic facilities in Moscow (1980).
But none of… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - John Morton recal …
Wed Jan 14 23:15:32 -0500 2009
In 1976, mainstream America was introduced to cross-country skiing when Bill Koch won a silver medal in the men's 30-kilometer race at the Innsbruck Winter Olympics. His feat astonished even his fellow Nordic skiers, who were probably some of the only Americans to witness it; no American… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog- "To the Athletes W …
Tue Aug 26 14:48:52 -0400 2008
The Games of the XXIX Olympiad concluded on Sunday like they began-in a festival of light and color. That bright blue - that Beijing blue - that had us swimming on the floor of the Bird's Nest during the closing ceremonies (and that served as the boundary to the indoor volleyball court) is… Read MorePeggy Shinn Blog - Best Olympic Memories
Mon Aug 25 11:59:32 -0400 2008
The end snuck up on me. Kind of like the finish line in a long race. It’s already Sunday, August 24 in Beijing — the last day of the 2008 Olympics — and the men’s marathon is underway as I type.Today, I overheard someone say, “I’m glad it’s almost… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - The Only Magic was the Marker
Mon Aug 25 11:49:28 -0400 2008
Even before the U.S. men’s and women’s 4x100-meter relay teams were disqualified for dropping their batons on the track of the Bird’s Nest, something seemed amiss.“I wonder what happened to their bibs?” I asked my husband.
Both the men’s… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - The Greater Olymp …
Thu Aug 21 13:16:30 -0400 2008
Andy Newell is one of America’s top cross-country skiers. He raced in the 2006…
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Peggy Shinn Blog - Nice Guys Do Finish First
Wed Aug 20 15:57:23 -0400 2008
Henry Cejudo was the first resident athlete I met at the U.S. Olympic Training Center when I visited the facility in June. He was sitting at a table in the cafeteria with a few of his teammates and was the first to introduce himself.… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Does Each Country …
Tue Aug 19 19:05:51 -0400 2008
As of Tuesday evening (Eastern time), the U.S. has won 79 medals in the 2008 Olympics: 26 golds, 26 silvers, and 27 bronzes.China is lagging slightly in… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Like a Butterfly With Sore Feet
Mon Aug 18 15:55:47 -0400 2008
Late Saturday afternoon, we watched badminton on TV. Badminton! And it was riveting, even though neither player was American. It was the gold medal match between two Chinese women, Xie… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Great Expectations
Sun Aug 17 17:24:58 -0400 2008
When Jason Lezak touched the wall in yesterday’s men’s 4x10 medley relay, he, Aaron Peirsol, and Brendan Hansen (plus Matt Grevers, Mark Gangloff, Ian Crocker, and Garrett Weber-Gale who qualified Team USA in the relay prelims) helped Michael Phelps win his eighth gold medal in… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - What do you love …
Sat Aug 16 16:31:38 -0400 2008
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Peggy Shinn Blog - That World Series Feeling
Fri Aug 15 14:04:25 -0400 2008
My Boston friends were right. With primetime coverage running from 8 p.m. until after midnight, the 2008 Olympics is, for viewers, like the 2007 World Series. Or the 2004 World Series for that matter, and the 7-game playoff series before that, when the Red Sox rallied against the Yankees in game… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Who is the greatest Olympian?
Thu Aug 14 10:43:48 -0400 2008
Since Michael Phelps won his 11th gold medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay on Wednesday morning, he's been called the greatest Olympian of all time.
By medal count, yes. Phelps has been spectacular, out of this world, a show unto himself. And he has three races still to… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - That little step
Wed Aug 13 16:04:38 -0400 2008
A friend emailed yesterday asking about that little step that gymnasts sometimes take on their dismounts from the various apparatuses. “The poor performer could have done an absolutely perfect routine, a quadruple twist (or whatever) in the air prior to coming down and making one step and… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Catching Up
Tue Aug 12 14:02:33 -0400 2008
Every morning, there’s a sense that I have to catch up — to see what I missed while I was sleeping.
This morning, my inbox has eight “Medal… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Almost Instant Replay
Mon Aug 11 13:46:48 -0400 2008
I tried to stay awake but couldn’t. Ever since having a kid, staying up past 10:30 p.m. is like pulling an all-nighter. We had watched women’s gymnastics and Michael Phelps swim…
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Peggy Shinn Blog - The Doghouse
Sat Aug 09 20:29:42 -0400 2008
It's Saturday morning, my mother-in-law's 83rd birthday, and I'm in the doghouse. My husband is in the kitchen making potato salad, and I can't seem to log off. Every time I try to shut down my computer, another bit of Olympic news pops up - Becca Ward has won a bronze… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - This Weekend: Wha …
Fri Aug 08 12:57:20 -0400 2008
Several friends have emailed or called asking how to find Olympic TV coverage - specifically, what sports are on and when. I have pointed them to nbcolympics.com but one friend wrote: "I tried to figure out that NBC TV schedule - forget… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - U-S-A!
Thu Aug 07 10:56:37 -0400 2008
Two days before the Opening Ceremony, the 2008 Olympics quietly kicked off with six first-round women's soccer games. I mean football games. The U.S. versus Norway match was televised on MSNBC, and Norway scored two goals in the first five minutes. Surely the U.S. women could score that many… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - TV Viewers: Start Your Engines
Wed Aug 06 10:44:02 -0400 2008
Olympic TV coverage starts Wednesday, August 6, in the morning with women’s soccer on MSNBC, men’s soccer on Thursday morning, then the opening ceremonies on…
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Peggy Shinn Blog - Defying gravity
Sat Aug 02 17:31:46 -0400 2008
(Photo: Beijing bound U.S. Olympians Kevin Tan (Gymnastics) and Misty May-Treanor (Beach Volleyball) trying on shoes during Team Processing.)… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - From the Mouths of Babes
Wed Jul 30 10:13:30 -0400 2008
No cheering squad is louder or more enthusiastic than a bunch of kids (except maybe silly-hat-wearing, body-painted members of Red Sox nation during the World… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - From the Podium Stand
Tue Jul 29 11:19:34 -0400 2008
On October 16, 1968, Tommie Smith and John… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - A Cool Solution
Thu Jul 24 18:55:56 -0400 2008
On May 17, 2008, mountain biker Georgia Gould collapsed near the end of a National Mountain Bike Series race in Santa Ynez, California. The temperature was around 100 degrees, and the Luna Chix team rider was way out front in the race. But after close to two hours riding hard in the heat, she… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - The team sport that isn’t
Thu Jul 24 10:16:20 -0400 2008
From the outside, road cycling looks like an individual sport. And it is in the time trial, where it's one rider against the clock. Road racing is a different story.
Thanks to the physics of cycling - which lets a rider save over 25 percent of his energy by drafting, or riding behind,… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog- "A rookie mistake?"
Sun Jul 20 13:14:42 -0400 2008
On July 16, USA Gymnastics announced that Morgan Hamm was confirmed on the men's Olympic team despite testing positive for a banned anti-inflammatory drug during the 2008 VISA… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog- "The Fog Blog"
Thu Jul 17 11:44:38 -0400 2008
In early July, algae at the 2008 Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao made headlines. The Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - The Fairer Sex
Tue Jul 15 16:57:32 -0400 2008
As the Tour de France winds into its second week, women's cycling continues to fly way beneath the radar. While many Americans have probably heard of Levi Leipheimer, who automatically qualified for the U.S. men's Olympic cycling… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Olympic TV coverage
Mon Jul 14 10:17:39 -0400 2008
On Wednesday, July 9, NBC Universal released its TV schedule for the 2008 Olympics. The company plans to present 3,600 hours of coverage on seven different networks and through
Peggy Shinn Blog - Inspiration? Or intimidation?
Fri Jul 11 16:23:53 -0400 2008
Dara Torres is going to the Olympics. Not the oldest Olympian ever - that honor is held by Sweden's Oscar Swahn, who won a silver medal at the 1920 Olympics in shooting at age 72 - the 41-year-old… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Just Shoot Me
Wed Jul 09 14:39:32 -0400 2008
Let's hope Tyson Gay draws lane 1 in his 100-meter sprint at the Olympics. He may get out of the blocks faster.
Or so says a study published in the June issue of
Peggy Shinn Blog - Before reality TV
Tue Jul 08 10:17:29 -0400 2008
Although hundreds of sports and their various disciplines have been added to the Olympic program since the first modern Olympiad in 1896, some of my favorites are the discontinued events. Club throwing anyone? A triathlon that combined gymnastics and track & field perhaps? Or running deer… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Remote wars
Thu Jul 03 17:42:51 -0400 2008
I’m gearing up for an epic battle this week. Not between Ian Crocker and Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly. Or Allyson Felix against anyone who can catch her in the 200-meter sprint on the track. Or even Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.
No, this battle is… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Biblical woes
Thu Jul 03 13:26:42 -0400 2008
In preparing for the Olympics, China hasn't had it easy. Plaguing the country have been the Sichuan earthquake and subsequent flooding, riots in Tibet, and even an algal bloom threatening the sailing venue (although isn't that Hong Kong's problem?). And, even though it's been… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - From breaststroke to butterfly
Thu Jul 03 13:09:51 -0400 2008
At swimming Olympic Trials on July 1, the NBC commentators noted that Michael Phelps has not lost the 200-meter butterfly since August 2002. And when he broke the world record in 2001 at age 15, he was the youngest male world record holder in swimming history. Since then, Phelps has broken his… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - H2Omaha
Mon Jun 30 18:42:52 -0400 2008
Before bidding to host the 2008 Olympic Trials for swimming, a city would have to have an Olympic-sized pool, right? And by Olympic-sized, I mean 50 meters long and many lanes wide, not those 25-yard pools that hotels and health clubs often refer to as "Olympic sized."
Wrong.… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - The Tourist Halts!
Wed Jun 25 18:41:03 -0400 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a friend with "Is China Ready for the 2008 Olympics?" written in the subject line. The message contained a series of photos showing amusing Chinese-to-English translations - or rather, mistranslations - on signs in public places:… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Eeny, meeny, mine …
Wed Jun 25 17:52:33 -0400 2008
After gymnastics Olympic Trials, the USA Gymnastics press release announcing the men's team was the most commented on article on teamusa.org. Most were upset that Raj Bhavsar was named as a replacement - for the second straight Olympics - not to the team itself.
Bhavsar finished third… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - The Olympic Train …
Wed Jun 25 11:41:46 -0400 2008
At 5'7" tall, I have never thought of myself as short. But standing in the lunch line at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in… Read More
Peggy Shinn Blog - Wrestling surprise
Wed Jun 25 10:21:25 -0400 2008
Underdogs
The wrestling world is aflutter -- if such a word can be used to describe wrestlers -- with Jake Deitchler's upset win in the Greco-Roman 66-kilogram class at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Las Vegas on June 14. Deitchler is 18 and just graduated from Anoka High… Read More
Blog Description
Blogger: Peggy Shinn
Random thoughts, observations, and comments from behind the podium (and sometimes under it), as told by freelance writer, Peggy Shinn.
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