Shaun White’s tearful farewell to Olympics: Live updates

Shaun White completed his legendary snowboarding career on his own terms, flying down the halfpipe at the Beijing Olympics with the flair that's been his trademark.But his final event did not result in his fourth gold medal. White wiped out in his final run Friday and finished fourth in the men's halfpipe.(Looking for a recap of Thursday's events? We've got you covered.)“It would have been nice to just cruise in and have a great, easy first run. But I had to fight for it,” White said after qualifying seventh earlier this week. “I had to work for it. That’s been this entire season, me just grinding it out, working for it.”Another of Team USA's biggest stars, Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, returned to action after DNFs in back-to-back technical races for the first time since 2011. Shiffrin had a clean run in the women's super-G -- it was her first-ever appearance in the event in the Olympics -- but she finished out of medal contention.In women's hockey, Team USA advanced to the semifinals after defeating the Czech Republic. They will play the winner of the Finland-Japan game.TV SCHEDULE:How and what to watch Friday from BeijingTEXT ALERTS:Sign up for behind-the-scenes access from our reporters on the groundOLYMPICS NEWSLETTER:All of our coverage straight to your inboxMEDAL COUNT:How each country is performing at the Winter Games 'It's pretty surreal': US skeleton racer Kelly Curtis hanging tough in unexpected first trip to OlympicsBEIJING – Kelly Curtis’ “Welcome to the Olympics” moment occurred somewhere between the first and second curve at the Yanqing Sliding Center on Friday when she “hit the roof” with her sled and pretty much lost all chance at posting a great time on her first run. Still, Curtis wasn’t too disappointed in her performance, which places her 18th at the halfway mark of the skeleton race. After all, she was always expecting her Olympic debut to occur in 2026, not this year. “If you asked me a year ago, I’d have said I was a really big long-shot to make it here,” Curtis said. “We have a phenomenal team with six athletes in the top 30 so they were all the iron that sharpened the iron.” Curtis has the distinction of being the first Black athlete, male or female, to compete for Team USA in skeleton. And it wasn’t an easy road for the 33-year old, who first tried bobsled, transitioned to skeleton and then saw incremental improvement year-by-year that motivated her to stay in the sport. In 2020, Curtis went through basic training at age 31 and joined the Air Force’s World Class Athlete Program, which gave her a pathway to train full time. Shortly before the Beijing Games, she moved to Aviano Air Base near the Italian Alps, which will give her prime positioning to train for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games in northern Italy. “It’s my first Games so there were normal raceday nerves, and then a little more on top of that I’d say because I know there’s more eyeballs on me this time,” she said. “It’s pretty surreal. Eight years ago I was in grad school on a bicycle watching the Sochi Olympics thinking, ‘Wow that looks crazy.’ ” — Dan Wolken Belgian skeleton racer from viral video gets back into competition: 'It was great honestly to feel that support'BEIJING – Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans captured the attention of the world at the start of these Olympics when she posted a distressed, tearful video on social media recounting how she ended up in an isolation facility after a positive test for COVID-19 upon arrival. In the video, Meylemans said she had been told she was going to the Olympic Village for quarantine to be treated as a close contact. Instead, the vehicle she was riding did not turn into the Village and took her elsewhere. The uncertainty about where she was going and what was happening shocked and frightened her and raised questions about how the Beijing Organizing Committee was treating athletes with COVID issues. After the video and the uproar it created, Meylemans was moved into the Village and her conditions improved. She was released in just enough time to get her practice runs and compete Friday. She currently sits in 11th place at the halfway point, .93 seconds behind leader Jaclyn Narracott of Australia. “I think the way the world responded was what got me out of isolation so quickly,” she said. “It was great honestly to feel that support especially from Belgium, to see other athletes reach out and support me. It’s unfortunate that it happened but we recovered well and did our best to just focus on racing.” Meylemans faced another obstacle when she pulled a hamstring in the final training run. She said it caused her significant pain, particularly the second time down the track, but was grateful just to be able to compete. She said it’s possible the lack of movement while in isolation contributed to the injury, which is especially tough to take because she does not believe she was ever actually positive for COVID-19 while in Beijing. Instead, she said, the Belgian team believes that that dead virus remnants of an infection from around New Year’s triggered the tests. Medical experts warned of that possibility heading into the Beijing Games given the highly sensitive testing threshold used to enter the so-called “Closed Loop” system. “These were all things I knew could happen,” Meylemans said. “It was more what happened (with the initial isolation facility) that was in my opinion not right. But in general, after that point, I was able to do my thing and focus on racing.” She said she did not think she needed an apology from the IOC, which worked on her behalf to improve her situation. “What happened, happened,” Meylemans said. “They made sure I got out of there, and that’s all that matters.” — Dan Wolken Team USA women's hockey advances to semifinalsBEIJING — Everything about the U.S. women’s hockey team and its run at the 2022 Winter Olympics has been rooted in the assumption it would at least play for gold, as it has at every Games but one.The road to get there has proved much tougher than anticipated, though.The Americans had their hands full Friday in the quarterfinals against a Czech Republic team playing in its first Olympic tournament. The third period began with the teams tied at 1.U.S. defender Lee Stecklein was credited with the game-winner, as her feed to the middle went through goaltender Klara Peslarova's five-hole with 13 minutes to play, and the U.S. went on to win 4-1. -- Chris Bumbaca Shaun White had tearful farewell to showboarding competitionShaun White is bidding an emotional farewell to snowboarding after he finished fourth in the halfpipe Friday at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, his fifth and final Winter Games. "A lot of emotions are hitting me right now," the three-time gold medalist said during an interview with NBC Olympics after his final competition. "I just want to thank everyone for watching. Everyone at home, thank you. Snowboarding, thank you. It's been the love of my life."White finished just off the podium in fourth place. White broke down in tears when NBC showed live footage of his family cheering him on from back home in Los Angeles, including his parents and actress girlfriend Nina Dobrev. He joked, "You are going to get me ugly crying.""I wanted more today but I'll take what I can get. I'm proud. It's been my life," he said. "Thank you. I can't wait to see you all."-- Cydney Henderson Mikaela Shiffrin after completing super-G: 'It's a really big relief'BEIJING – After her first two races, just finishing this one is something of a victory for Mikaela Shiffrin. The two-time Olympic champion was ninth in the super-G Friday, 0.79 off behind gold medalist Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland. But she crossed the finish line, avoiding another DNF after her name at the Beijing Olympics. "There's a lot of disappointment over the last week, a lot of emotions and it was not really easy to reset," Shiffrin said afterward. "Coming back and getting the chance to race again was just the perfect thing to do, actually."Shiffrin’s struggles in Beijing have been shocking. She was at a loss to explain what had happened, saying she doesn’t think she was overwhelmed by the expectations on her in Beijing.After the super-G, however, she felt better. "I just skied strong and it's a really big relief to be here now, in the finish, having run well," she said. "That's really nice for my heart to know that it's not totally abandoning everything I thought I knew about the sport." -- Nancy Armour US women's hockey team knotted up with Czech Republic entering third period of quarterfinal gameThe U.S. women’s hockey team is playing its quarterfinal matchup too close for comfort. The Americans enter the third period tied at 1 against the Czech Republic, with a spot in the semifinals on the line. Michaela Pejzlova gave the Czechs the lead five minutes into the second period after they didn’t muster a shot for the first 24-plus minutes of the game. That advantage lasted all of 48 seconds. Kendall Coyne Schofield turned up the intensity on the forecheck, won the puck and fired at the net. Hilary Knight fought her way through a pair of Czech defenders to the puck and lifted it over Czech goaltender Klara Peslarova for the equalizer.The U.S. had to spend the end of the period killing off a five-minute major boarding penalty committed by Dani Cameranesi. Alex Carpenter had a short-handed breakaway opportunity but was denied by Peslarova (30 saves).Now it comes down to the final 20 minutes. If the game is tied, overtime or a shootout will determine which team advances.— Chris Bumbaca Mikaela Shiffrin thankful, upbeat after completing super-GIt wasn't a medal-winning run, but for Mikaela Shiffrin, just making it to the finish line in the women's super-G was a step in the right direction.In an interview with NBC Sports after her ninth-place finish, Shiffrin discussed her feelings after she didn't finish in the slalom and giant slalom earlier in the Beijing Games. "That disappointment is huge and I know a lot of people feel it. And I feel bad for letting myself down or letting down the world," she said. "Mostly I feel bad because I wanted to ski the full track and I wanted to ski well. That was my biggest goal and I didn't really get to do that."She also expressed gratitude to the people who reached out to her in the wake of her earlier disappointments."I would never have expected to feel in this moment severely underperforming in an Olympics, I would never have felt that humans could be so kind. "I never would have expected that. It's the most surprising thing of my Olympic experience is how kind people have been in the face of my ... failure. I mean, it is failure. It is okay to say that. I'm okay with that and I'm sorry for it. But I also was trying and I'm proud of that."Shiffrin could still ski in two more events in Beijing: the women's downhill and the Alpine combined.-- Steve Gardner Russia lifted December doping suspension of skater Kamila ValievaBEIJING – The International Testing Agency confirmed Friday that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for the metabolic agent trimetazidine, and a final decision has not yet been reached on whether she can take part in the women's individual competition, which begins on Tuesday.In a lengthy statement, the ITA – which oversees the anti-doping program at the 2022 Winter Olympics – confirmed media reports about Valieva's positive test, specifying that the sample in question was taken on Christmas Day during the Russian Figure Skating Championships. It was analyzed by a lab in Stockholm, Sweden on Tuesday, after the conclusion of the team figure skating event and before the scheduled medal ceremony.It was unclear why it took so long to analyze the sample after it was taken in December. According to the ITA, Valieva was then provisionally suspended by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday night. She successfully appealed the suspension before a RUSADA disciplinary committee on Wednesday, which enabled her to practice Thursday and Friday.The International Olympic Committee, however, now plans to elevate the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, according to the ITA's statement. "The IOC will exercise its right to appeal," the ITA said, adding that "a decision is needed before the next competition the athlete is due to take part in."-- Tom Schad U.S. faces off against Czech Republic in women's hockey quarterfinalsBEIJING – This quarterfinals matchup will be the first-ever meeting between the U.S. women’s hockey team and the Czech Republic at an international tournament. The Americans are looking to rebound from a 4-2 loss to Canada that wrapped up preliminary play on Tuesday.Czech goaltender Klara Peslarova has a 1.18 goals against average through four games. Meanwhile, Alex Cavallini will return to net for the Americans after she posted a shutout in her Olympic debut against Switzerland two games ago. Cavallini has looked like the best goaltender for Team USA, although coach Joel Johnson has been intent on using all three netminders on the roster – and he hasn’t started one in consecutive games these Olympics.Forward Amanda Kessel enters the game leading the U.S. in points with six (five assists, one goal). Alex Carpenter’s four goals lead the squad in that category. -- Chris Bumbaca Shaun White concludes snowboarding career with fourth in halfpipeZHANGJIAKOU, China – Shaun White has more Olympic gold medals in the halfpipe than any other snowboarder. But in his final competition he could not get one more.White finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics on Friday, capping off a career in which he won three gold medals but couldn’t beat progressive younger riders and his aging body.White landed four double corks in his first run, earning him a score that was good enough for fourth after the first run. After his second run, he was still in fourth place but fell on his final run finishing his last Olympics just off the podium.Japan's Ayumu Hirano won the gold medal on the final run of the competition, landing two triple corks and scoring 96.0 points. -- Rachel Axon Men's halfpipe update: Shaun White moves closer to medal positionAustralian Scotty James, the 2018 bronze medalist, also laid down a monster run, good for a score of 92.50, and he leads the men's halfpipe competition with one final attempt remaining for each competitor.Three-time gold medalist Shaun White had a much cleaner trip down the pipe the second time, posting a score of 82. That puts him fourth overall, ahead of countryman Taylor Gold.Japan's Ayumu Hirano completed another triple cork in a clean second run, but the judges gave him a score of only 91.50 so he sits in second.-- Steve Gardner Men's halfpipe underway: USA's Taylor Gold on top after first runThey've completed one run and there's American on top of the halfpipe standings in Beijing. But it's not three-time gold medalist Shaun White.Taylor Gold was the only rider to score above 80 points the first time through the order. So his 81.75 is the score to beat at the moment.Japan's Ayumu Hirano completed the first triple cork attempted and landed in Olympic history, but fell at the end of his opening run. White, in the final competition of his career, is currently in fourth place heading into run No. 2. Only the best score of each rider's three runs will count.-- Steve Gardner Five iconic moments from Shaun White's stellar careerZHANGJIAKOU, China – For more than 20 years, Shaun White has dominated his sport. Between the halfpipe walls, he landed new tricks that helped push snowboarding forward and made himself a household name.After five Olympics and three Olympic gold medals, that comes to an end with White’s final competition, the halfpipe final in the Beijing Games. The final begins at 9:30 a.m. Friday in Beijing (8:30 p.m. Thursday night ET). “The thing I’m the most proud of would be staying on top of a sport that’s ever changing as long as I have,” White said. “The last Olympics, to be in a position where I was the last rider to go, one more run and I had never done that combination of tricks before and just put it down to win, that’s probably my legacy performance.”As White’s career comes to a close, here’s a look back at the moments that defined it, from the "Flying Tomato" to Olympic redemption.-- Rachel Axon Injured skier Nina O'Brien begins long journey back to the United StatesBEIJING – Getting athletes to the Beijing Olympics was a challenge because of COVID restrictions. Getting one home, on short notice, took an even greater effort. Nina O’Brien flew home early Friday, four days after breaking her left tibia and fibula in a crash just short of the finish line in the giant slalom.“It’s been very complicated. I’m lucky I had so many people working on it behind the scenes that I didn’t have to worry,” O’Brien told USA TODAY Sports while she was at the airport. “I got to pick which plan was best for me. But it was not simple logistically.”Because China’s borders remain largely closed due to COVID, O'Brien couldn't get a medical plane or a direct flight home. So she had to take an early-morning commercial flight that had her connecting through Tokyo. “This ended up being the quickest and most convenient way to get home,” O’Brien said.-- Nancy Armour Russian drug controversy continues to loom over figure skating competitionMedals have yet to be awarded in the team figure skating competition, and we may now know why. The "legal issues" that Olympic officials atrributed to causing the delay involve a positive drug test on the gold medal-winning Russian team, USA TODAY's Christine Brennan reported on Wednesday.Officials were told the athlete involved is a minor. And 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who's also the gold-medal favorite in the women's individual competition, is the only minor on the Russian team. She, like other Russian skaters, has largely avoided speaking with Western media while in Beijing. But she was seen at practice Thursday."She is not suspended," Olga Ermolina, a spokesperson for the Russian figure skating federation, said according to the Associated Press.Several media outlets, including Russian newspaper RBC, have reported Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication used to treat angina and vertigo symptoms. It was added to the IOC's banned list in 2014 because it can improve endurance and blood flow. -- Tom SchadRELATED: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour lays blame for the controversy squarely on the IOC Team USA medal count after one week in Beijing: 4 gold, 10 overallAfter the first seven days of competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, it's a good opportunity to look back at some of the highlights for the U.S. team.Through Thursday's events, the United States ranks fifth overall in total medals with 10. Austria has the most (13). Thursday's three gold medals pushed Team USA to a total of four, trailing only Norway with five and Germany with six. Taylor Gold takes old-school approach to snowboardingTaylor Gold knew it was a risk, was reminded often of the gamble he was making by not following the snowboarding crowd. As the world’s top riders followed the sport’s progression to more flips and spins, Gold sought a way to show his unique style in the halfpipe.After missing the Pyeongchang Olympics because of injuries, Gold’s bet paid off and helped him punch his ticket to his second Games.Still a stickler for precision, he built on the foundation of his riding with a one-of-a-kind trick linked in a run that others aren’t doing. While the rest of the field has zigged, Gold zagged – and his tricks in combination just might be enough for a medal in Beijing. Gold, 28, is part of a three-man U.S. contingent in the halfpipe final, which begins at 9:30 a.m. Friday in Beijing (8:30 p.m. Thursday night ET). -- Rachel Axon Chinese men's hockey team has surprising number of North AmericansBEIJING — The majority of the host team’s country was not born here. Many of them do not have Chinese ancestry. Yet they wore “China” on the front of their hockey sweaters with pride and talked of growing the sport they are so passionate about.“It was unique, seeing as I played for USA, now I’ve played against USA,” said China goaltender Jeremy Smith, who stopped 47 American shots Thursday but played for the U.S. at the 2008 world junior championships. “At the end of the day, I’m thankful and honored to be an Olympian – a Chinese Olympian.”Of the 22 players who dressed for China in its 8-0 loss to the U.S. at National Indoor Stadium on Thursday, 17 were either born or raised in the United States or Canada.How is this possible?International Ice Hockey Federation bylaws stipulate that a person can represent a country in the Olympics if they’ve lived there for two years and played for the national team.-- Chris Bumbaca Olympic TV ratings don't quite reach gold standard for NBCWhen NBC Sports' turn in the rotation to televise a Super Bowl coincided with also broadcasting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the month of February was thought to be an all-out ratings wipeout, leaving others networks in the dust. So far, that has yet to materialize with the Beijing Games being tuned out in record numbers and Sunday's Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals hoping to bring in 100 million viewers to help pick up the slack. Executives from NBCUniversal spoke on a conference call Thursday to discuss their plans and while ratings have been down more than 40% for the Olympics, optimism remains. -- Scooby Axson Source link