Seems like its not the first time in this Olympics that one of ours has blown it for stupid reasons, Bode Miller and Apolo Ahno come to mind.

msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/5340282

BARDONECCHIA, Italy - An Olympic celebration turned into a mountain-sized embarrassment for Lindsey Jacobellis.

Coasting to what should have been an easy victory, the American made a hot-dog grab of her board on the second-to-last jump. It caused her to fall and while she scrambled to her feet, Switzerland's Tanja Frieden sped past and became the first champion in the strange and wild sport of Olympic women's snowboardcross Friday.


Jacobellis won silver, but should have had the gold. She was well, well ahead of Frieden, and the other two women in the four-rider final had fallen long before.

Snowboarding is about style, though, so Jacobellis decided to show off for the fans in front of the grandstand near the end of her ride. But after she landed from her grab, she caught an edge, then went tumbling outside the blue line. When she recovered, she trailed Frieden over the finish line, then put her hands on her knees and held her palms up.

U.S. coach Peter Foley fell onto the ground in disbelief.

Yes, it was hard to think the only American rider in the finals — one of the best in the world — could blow this one, but she did.

Canadian Dominque Maltais won the bronze while teammate Maelle Ricker fell and failed to finish the four-woman finale. Maltais had smashed into the fence but managed to continue to the line.

In the men's competition Thursday, Canada's Drew Neilson dominated qualifying but was knocked out 5 seconds into the first round of the finals when his board got crossed with that of an opponent and he fell.

"I talked to him yesterday and found out what happened," Ricker said. "Hopefully I've got a game plan to not have that happen to me."

Ricker won this year's X Games in part because Jacobellis, the three-time defending champion, sat out to rest her sore knee. The American and Canadian have had some good head-to-head races, most notably in Chile last September, when Jacobellis beat Ricker in the finals.

Pomagalski, ranked eighth in the world and expected to contend for a medal here, went third in both qualifying rounds and had trouble with the snow buildup. Her first time left her out of the top 16. Forced to push in the second run, she wiped out into a gate toward the end of the run.

"We had to clean the track for the others," she said. "I'm disappointed."

Frenchwoman Karine Ruby will have a chance to add a third Olympic medal to those she won in 1998 and 2002 in the tamer snowboard discipline of giant slalom racing. She also had a tough first round. The first rider in each heat, she ran poorly in the first round, but made it through in the second. She is seeded 11th.

"It's a disadvantage to be the first qualifier," she said. "They didn't take (the snow) off, so I had to take it off for them."

You have to take your sport serious at this level, that's bush league.

Too bad but I have no sympathy.

STUPID!

A snowboarder hotdogging? What ARE the odds...

I can't take an event or series of events seriously that equates synchronized swimming with the biathlon. The olympics are completely irrelevant to me.

Sorry.

ETA

Have a look at this freak. Come on now...
"I couldn't feel my aura"

This is becoming all too prevalent in sports, especially here in America.

These people take this stuff way too lightly. Nevermind how bad it looks on the American team, it costs them huge bucks in sponsorship money as well.

Their coaches shoulder some of the blame too for not giving them the "what for" talk.

Quoted: A snowboarder hotdogging? What ARE the odds...

What's even sadder is if she wanted to hotdog they were handing out Gold medals at the halfpipe for that sort of thing..

like dude! that was like soooo bogus. no way...I'm so torques,



oh well, time to order another pizza and spark another fatty

Good.
That's what you get for being a primadonna.

Quoted: A snowboarder hotdogging? What ARE the odds...

snowbording is about hotdoging.  you don't race and your not serious.  if you want a big pile of medals go somewhere else.  snowbording is about having fun and riding hte mountain.  it's not as spiritual as wave riding but it's also not yet "downhill".

this is a bad turn for the sport.  

I have sympathy for Ahno - I think he is a pretty good kid.  Seems to have a square head on his shoulders.  Yes, I don't know why he was trying to pass, seems strange...but anyway...

As for Miller. He is an ass.  Yes, he is good, and yes he can get drunk the night before races and sometimes still win.  But, how many more races would he win if he did not act like a college Freshman.

The snowboarder...just being arogant and prideful....I believe the comes before the fall...right?

Quoted: snowbording is about hotdoging.  you don't race and your not serious.  if you want a big pile of medals go somewhere else.  snowbording is about having fun and riding hte mountain.  it's not as spiritual as wave riding but it's also not yet "downhill". this is a bad turn for the sport.

Regardless of the sport....this is the olypics...you are there to do just one thing....WIN or help your teamates to WIN...that is all...bottom line.

Lastly, people like that and all the young fools, hotdogging at the expense of others on the slopes give old school snowboarders a bad name.

Ha! Ha!

Quoted: ETA Have a look at this freak. Come on now... "I couldn't feel my aura"

OK. so he's a male figure skater so I expect him to be gay....but what a sissy!!!!

Its an embarrassment for the US.
I am sure other countries laughed at her example.
Played right into the stereotype.

Hope she feels like shit about it...maybe now she can grow up.

So far, a lot the American athletes have been quite the embarrassment to our country!

the agony of defeat...........

Do I care about this???  

Not in the least.  Isn't it curious that "sports" like snowboarding remain in the olympics and baseball with hundreds of millions of fans worldwide get tossed?

She'll put a gun in her mouth in no time after blowing a medal like that.

Quoted: Seems like its not the first time in this Olympics that one of ours has blown it for stupid reasons, Bode Miller and Apolo Ahno come to mind.

Yeah, because blowing it while trying to win is the exact same as just flat out making an ass out of yourself.

Quoted: So far, a lot the American athletes have been quite the embarrassment to our country!

I do have my fingers crossed for skater Emily Hughes...she seems like a sharp young lady and maybe she can pull off an upset like her sister did a few years ago.

Quoted: A snowboarder hotdogging? What ARE the odds...

I always thought that was the point of snowboarding.

Gee...Wonder why I don't give a damn about the Winter Olympics.

It's turning into the X Games.

Quoted: Have a look at this freak. Come on now... "I couldn't feel my aura"

I gotta ask ya: why does figure skating dominate the Olympics? It has little to zero appeal to (I'm assuming) most folks, usually accompanied by some hard luck-to-success story, and  doesn't reflect the edginess of modern day sports.  The snow cross is kick ass, and I'd like to see the skiing /shooting thing.

-McWatt

ETA:  who was that skater getting the big comforting "head on the bosoms" hug from his mother

Quoted: Quoted: A snowboarder hotdogging? What ARE the odds... I always thought that was the point of snowboarding.

Usually...except this event was the "boardcross" ..winner is the guy who crosses the line first..Like I said if she wanted to hotdog she should have done the halfpipe.

Quoted: Quoted: ETA Have a look at this freak. Come on now... "I couldn't feel my aura" OK. so he's a male figure skater so I expect him to be gay....but what a sissy!!!!

Good Lord.  I'd tell him to turn in his mancard, but I don't think he has ever been issued one.

Quoted: Quoted: Seems like its not the first time in this Olympics that one of ours has blown it for stupid reasons, Bode Miller and Apolo Ahno come to mind. Yeah, because blowing it while trying to win is the exact same as just flat out making an ass out of yourself.

Not quite sure as to who you are referring to.

Quoted: Its an embarrassment for the US. I am sure other countries laughed at her example. Played right into the stereotype. Hope she feels like shit about it...maybe now she can grow up.

Ain't that the truth! There was a time when the Olympic were some of the most inspiring and dramatic sporting events you'd see on TV all year. Of course, that was largely when they pitted The West against the Communist Bloc countries in a "winner takes all, fight to the death, (and for the commies) win the gold or don't come home" brand of competition. Watching our weightlifters against the old Russians, Bulgarians, and Czechs was some great TV, as was watching those East Germany women swimmers that looked like NFL linebackers (how did they do that?).

The end of the Cold War has really turned the Olympics into some pretty boring TV. I love to cheer for my country, but it's incidents like this one that have me switching channels away from the Olympics. Prima donnas with no class, who fail to understand what "representing your country" means is a big turn off. She made her bed, and now she'll have to lie in it.

Sucks to be her.

It's still impressive to watch the boarders, we have a lot of talent.

So far, a lot the American athletes have been quite the embarrassment to our country!

+1 Bingo if there's a way to screw up our guys have the market cornered.