A Toast to a Host With the Most

Published by dianavb on

Steven Bradbury: A mastermind in the sport of short-track speedskating, he was well-positioned in the men’s 1,000 final, way behind the pack, waiting patiently for the other four competitors to wipe out so he could cruise home for the gold. My kind of Olympic champion. The wily Aussie is now forever a part of the sporting lexicon: Whenever an athlete succeeds through nothing more than dumb luck, it’s now called “pulling a Bradbury.”

Wayne Gretzky: He snubbed Patrick Roy, he left Joe Thornton off the roster, he acted like a crazy man during Team Canada news conferences, he wound up winning the gold medal. He pulled a Bradbury.

The LA Times article, A Toast to a Host With the Most has some nice Olympic recaps.

Comments

#1

marco –

Some of this guy’s comments were a little uncalled for:

<q>Herb Brooks: Amazing to report, the old disciplinarian got a little lax here. Won it all with much lesser players the last time around. … Figure skating coaches: Judging from the evidence at the women’s competition, apparently you need them.</q>

You had to know that there would be those that would love to see Kwan fail precisely because she didn’t have a coach. I mean, who does she think she is? Does she think she’s so good she doesn’t need a coach? Yeah, she does and yeah, she is. But there’s always that subconscious need to make it look like she’s great because she has help. The individual, intelligent acheiver is never popular. Her bronze medal is a vindication for many, I bet. But not in a good way.