1. Sights High Sweden’s Beginning

2. Kalla’s Wild Ride Wearing bib #31, Charlotte Kalla finished the 10K freestyle (cross-country skiing) with a time of 24:58.4, just 6.6 seconds ahead of Estonian Kristina Smigun-Vaehi. This was Sweden’s first gold of the Olympics. She won Sweden’s first women’s individual cross-country skiing gold since 1968, upsetting bronze-winning Norwegian Marit Bjoergen.

3. More On Cross-Country A native of Tarendo, Sweden, Kalla stands just 5’4” and is 22 years old. She skied with the pressure of an entire nation on her back. –S–Sweden is considered “second-fiddle” to Norway in cross-country skiing, and it was huge to take this gold so early in the Olympics.

4. A Breath of Fresh Air In the 12.5K pursuit (biathlon), Bjorn Ferry overcame a 1:12 “head start” (and from 8 th place) to defeat leader, favorite, and eventual bronze medalist Vincent Jay (France). At 32, Ferry is in his 3 rd Olympics. Before this gold, he had yet to win a medal. Announcers said he may “want it too badly” as he was coming into the final shooting leg—in almost a dead tie with Jay. –B–Both Ferry and Jay missed one target in the last range, as did eventual silver medalist Christoph Sumann. –T–That miss was Ferry’s only miss of the day. –A–After the penalty lap, just.6 seconds separated Jay and him. Jay began to die, and Sumann caught him for silver. Ferry enjoyed a “victory lap” at the end of his run.

5. There’s No Iron or Brass Medal Sweden has many memorable 4 th place finishes that just missed the podium. – While Kalla took gold, Anna Haag finished within 5 seconds of the podium, but ended up in 4 th. – In the men’s 15K freestyle (cross-country skiing), Marcus Hellner finished 4 th, within 2 seconds of bronze. – In the 10K pursuit (biathlon), Anna Carin Olofsson- Zidek came back from starting 20 th to finish 4 th.

6. More 4ths and Disappointments… In the women’s sprint classic, Anna Haag has the third best qualifying time, but she won the imaginary iron medal (finished 4 th ) in the end. Emil Jonsson was a favorite in the men’s classic sprint. He finished third in his semifinal heatm, eliminating him from competition. In moguls, medal hopeful Jesper Bjoernlund finished 8 th, well out of medal contention.

7. Kalla’s Continuance and Haag’s Redemption (sort of) In the team sprint, Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag took home the silver medal. Germany won the gold, and Russia nabbed the bronze. “Charlotte Kalla had all the stuff to be an Olympic champion, but Anna Haag let down a bit.”- NBC’s Olympic Coverage. Sweden had the lead after Kalla’s first leg and Kalla’s third leg (Sweden’s 5 th leg), but Haag lost the lead each time. http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-cross- country-skiing-photos/#photoScrollHref

8. SLINGSHOT-ENGAGE In the men’s 30K pursuit, Swede Johan Olsson led most of the race, and fellow Swedes Marcus Hellner and Anders Soedergren were in the picture also. Late in the race, the field was ready to make a move on Olsson. The Swedes slingshot Hellner to the front, and he won the race by just 2 seconds over Germany’s Tobias Angerer. Olsson won bronze, and Soedergren finished 10 th. Norweigian favorite Petter Northug Jr. finished 11 th, to the pleasure of Swedish fans.

9. HAAG IS BACK Anna Haag took silver in the women’s 15K pursuit. Marit Bjoergen (Norway) recovered from a disspointing bronze in the 10K to win gold. The bronze went to Justyna Kowalczyk (Poland). Haag outtouched Kowalczyk by.4 seconds. Bjoergren won gold by 8.9 sec.

10. Tough as Nails In the super-combined (alpine skiing), Anja Paerson recovered from her downhill fall to take the bronze. She was 7 th after the downhill, but turned in a blistering slalom time of 44.62 seconds, which was better than that of gold-medalist Maria Riesch. The silver went to Julia Mancuso of the USA. Lindsey Vonn led after the downhill, but crashed in the slalom.

11. MEN AGAIN The Swedish men won gold in the 4x10km relay classic. The team members are (in order of run): – Daniel Richardsson – Anders Soedergren – Marcus Hellner – Johan Olsson The silver went to Norway and the bronze to the Czech Republic. Sweden won gold by 15.9 seconds.

12. Review Game! Who won Sweden’s first gold medal of the Olympics? How many Olympics (counting this one) has Bjorn Ferry been in? Name one member of the men’s 4x10K relay team. In what event did Anja Paerson redeem herself?

13. Tie-breaker question When you are finished writing, tap your desk. –S–Silver and bronze count, so don’t stop writing if someone else taps. –I–If you know some but not all, tap. If no one gets all, the person who gets the most right wins. –N–Name the 5 alpine skiing events.