VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — So these won’t be remembered as the Vonn-couver Olympics after all. It’s looking like they will belong to the entire U.S. delegation instead.
The Americans reached 34 medals with a silver and a bronze in short-track speedskating Friday night, and two more were clinched with the men’s hockey team and men’s team pursuit in speedskating advancing to a gold-medal match in which they can get no worse than silver.
That makes 36 medals, topping the U.S. record of 34 set at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and matching the record for the most by any country at any Winter Olympics, set by Germany in Salt Lake City.
“It’s a great time to be an American,” said Katherine Reutter, who got a silver in the 1,000 meters at the short track. “One of the many things I was yelling was ‘I love the USA!'”
Unless something wild happens over the final two days, the U.S. will win the overall medals race for only the second time, and the first since 1932 in Lake Placid.
And, look who’s leading the gold race: Canada, with 10. Maybe the hosts’ “Own the Podium” campaign will pay off after all.
Speaking of the U.S. and Canada, get ready for a raucous rematch on the ice. One week after the Americans ran roughshod over the Canadians in their game, on their ice, the nations will meet again for gold on Sunday.
The U.S. advanced easily, riding six first-period goals to a 6-1 victory over Finland. The Canadians beat Slovakia 3-2, but it was pretty tense at the end. Canada blew a 3-0 lead in the third period and had the entire nation on edge for the final 4:53 after Slovakia got within a goal.
The speedskaters locked up a top prize by knocking off Sven Kramer and the Dutch in a semifinal race.
At the short track, Apolo Anton Ohno — who became the most-decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history earlier in these games — picked up his eighth career medal by getting bronze in the 5,000-meter relay. He had a chance for another but was disqualified from the 500 meters final.
Lindsey Vonn was supposed to win all sorts of Alpine medals. Although she is going home with a gold and a bronze, she also had three DNFs for failing to finish her other events, including the slalom on Friday.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — With minutes to go until his exclusive negotiating window was to expire, Michael Jordan struck a deal to buy controlling interest of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Owner Bob Johnson announced in a statement that he’s agreed to sell the Bobcats to Jordan, who been a part-owner of since 2006. Jordan has been running the team’s basketball operations.
The purchase price and details of Jordan’s ownership group — called MJ Basketball Holdings LLC — weren’t immediately available.
The league’s owners must still approve the purchase.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NBA fined Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum $25,000 for publicly criticizing game officials.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The head of the new Meadowlands Stadium thinks Arizona’s decision not to bid on the 2014 Super Bowl doesn’t necessarily make the future home of the Giants and Jets the favorite to land the NFL title game.
Mark Lamping said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday night that The New Meadowlands Stadium Companies is concentrating solely on presenting a solid bid to the league by the April 1 deadline.
The Jets and Giants will start play in their new 82,500-seat, $1.6 billion stadium this season.
Miami and Tampa also plan to present bids for the game. League owners will award the game at their annual meeting in May.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kurt Busch turned a lap of 188.719 mph to claim the top starting spot for Sunday’s NASCAR race. Jeff Gordon was second with a lap at 188.646. Ryan Newman qualified third and was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch held the previous track record of 185.995 mph. In all, 18 drivers bettered that speed.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Mark Wilson and Camilo Villegas were tied for the lead at 11-under 131 halfway through the Phoenix Open.
Wilson birdied the last four holes for a 5-under 66, while Villegas bogeyed No. 18 when he missed a 14-foot putt for par. The 28-year-old Colombian settled for a 69 after tying the tournament first-round record with a 9-under 62 on Thursday.
Eleven players were within two shots of the lead at TPC Scottsdale, where a crowd estimated at 101,709 attended the second round Friday under thinly overcast conditions.
Anthony Kim (65), Ryan Moore (66) and Rickie Fowler (67) were 10 under.
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — David Ferrer defeated Fernando Gonzalez 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-4 to set up a Mexican Open final against fellow Spaniard and best friend Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Ferrero won his semifinal over Juan Monaco of Argentina, taking the first set 7-5 and advancing when Monaco retired with a rib injury.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic advanced to his first semifinal of the season, beating seventh-seeded James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 in the Delray Beach International.
Karlovic, the only seed remaining in the tournament, will play defending champion Mardy Fish in the semifinals.
The 73rd-ranked Fish beat fourth-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-3.
Unseeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland also advanced.<M
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Defending champion Novak Djokovic edged unseeded Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final of the Dubai Championships.
Djokovic will play Mikhail Youzhny, who defeated Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 7-6 (4) to reach the Dubai final for the second time in four years.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Elena Dementieva cruised past Magdalena Rybarikova 6-0, 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the Malaysian Open.
The match was delayed for 3 hours by rain at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort. Dementieva will play sixth-seeded Sybille Bammer, who rallied to defeat Chang Kai Chen 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 after a rain delay.
