Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Favorite Olympic Moment - Polish Pride!

Despite shoddy coverage by NBC (in my humble opinion), there were some unforgettable moments that struck me during this year's Winter Olympics. First was Shaun White's unbelievable half-pipe gold medal performance. Not only did he blow the field away, but rather than lay low on his 2nd run since he already had the gold in hand, he went all out and topped his first run. Second was the US men's hockey team surprising an over-confident Canada squad in their first meeting. The youngest team in the Olympics played with unmatched enthusiasm, heart, and grit. Then there was the amazing finish in the men's classic cross country ski 50K event. I don't think I've ever seen such intensity during a sprint finish as displayed by Norway's Peter Northug and Germany's Axel Teichmann. But, the most memorable moment for me was watching Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk edge out Norway's Marjit Bjoergen in a photo finish in the women's 30K cross country ski event. Both exchanged the lead down the final straight with each thrust of the ski poles, keeping everyone on the edge of their seats until Justyna's final efforts gave her a win by 0.3 seconds. Being half-Polish (Grabowski and Pankowski on my father's side) it was a great moment in sports history as Justyna became the first Polish woman to ever win a winter olympics gold medal. Gratulacje, Justyna!!!

Gold for Justyna! Photo by NBC Sports


Polish-American Athletes of Note in the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame


Baseball
Basketball
American Football
Boxing
Source: Wikipedia, National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame

1 comment:

Mitch R. said...

Yes, that double pole duel was quite the finish.