Turin 2006 Winter Games: Olympic Wrap-up

Now that the closing ceremonies are over, here’s a look back at the highlights of the games.

Battle for Scandinavian supremacy: Sweden defeated Finland, its neighbor to the east, 3-2 in the ice hockey gold-medal game. Czech Republic claimed the bronze with a 3-0 victory over Russia. The United States lost in the quarterfinals.

Maple Leafs are golden: Canada defeated Sweden 4-1 in the women’s ice hockey gold-medal game, while the United States, who was upset by the Swedes in the semifinals, earned the bronze with a 4-0 win over Finland.

‘The Godfather’ waltzes to victory: Russian Yevgeny Plushenko, known as “The Godfather” claimed gold in the men’s figure skating competition, soundly defeating silver medalist Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland and bronze medalist Canada’s Jeffrey Buttle.

Cohen slips into second place: Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa skated nearly flawless routines to capture the gold medal in the women’s figure skating competition. American skater Sasha Cohen led after the short program, but fell once and stumbled another time and slipped into silver-medal position. 2005 world champion and 2002 Salt Lake silver medalist Irina Slutskaya of Russia took home the bronze.

It takes two: Russian tandem Tatyana Totmiyanina and Maxim Marinin finished far ahead of two Chinese teams to claim the gold medal in the figure skating pairs competition. American duo Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto took home the silver medal in the ice dancing competition.

Americans smoke ’em halfpipe: The Americans dominated in snowboarding events for the second straight Winter Olympics, earning six medals in both halfpipe and snowboard cross. Shaun White and Danny Kass brought home gold and silver respectively in men’s halfpipe, while

Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler accomplished the same feat in the women’s competition. Seth Wescott became the first gold winner in the inaugural men’s snowboard cross event, while Lindsey Jacobellis had to settle for silver in the women’s event after blowing a substantial lead. After winning the gold medal White said, “I hope Sasha Cohen digs gold medals.”

Olympians who do it more than once: South Korean short track speed skater Ahn Hyun-soo had more success than any other competitor in Italy, becoming the only Olympian to take home four medals (3 gold, 1 bronze). German biathlete Michael Greis was the only other Olympian to take home

Three gold medals. Chad Hedrick (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) and Apolo Anton Ohno (1 gold, 2 bronze) were the only Americans to capture three medals.

Windy City wonder: Chicago-native Shani Davis, who won the gold medal in the 1,000-meter men’s speed skating event, became the first African-American to earn the top spot in an individual winter event in Olympic history.

Fire on ice: Apolo Anton Ohno followed his success in the Salt Lake City Games by taking home a gold and two bronze medals in Italy. Ohno claimed a gold and silver four years ago.

Larry, Moe and Curling: The United States men’s curling team captured the first-ever Olympic medal in the sport, claiming an 8-6 victory over Great Britain in the bronze-medal game.

Unfulfilled expectations: American alpine skier Bode Miller hoped to make as much of a splash on the slopes as he did with comments about occasionally skiing while intoxicated preceding the Olympics, but the 28-year-old New Hampshire native did not come away with any medals in the five events he competed in. He failed to finish two events, was disqualified in another and claimed fifth- and sixth-place finishes in the downhill and giant slalom respectively.

Germany loots medals: The German Olympic program departed the Italian Alps with the most medals: 29. They also claimed the most amounts of gold medals (11) and silver medals (12). The American contingent was second with 25 overall medals.