1. Floating with the flakes
Ryan St. Onge of the U.S. practices before
the men's Freestyle Skiing aerials final at
Cypress Mountain on Thursday. He glides
through the sky at high speeds, but makes it
looks so easy.
Golden moment
Canada's Sidney Crosby (87) is congratulated
by his teammates after scoring the game-
winning goal in overtime against the U.S. in
the gold medal hockey game on Sunday.
On paper, it appears too fanciful to believe. If
you told someone, before the Olympics, that
USA would beat Canada early in the
tournament, yet it would still come down to a
rematch with Canada playing the USA in the
gold medal game, and that the contest would
go into overtime with none other than Sidney
Crosby scoring the game winner, no one
would believe you.
Yet that's exactly what happened.

2. Dominant force
Jimmie Johnson makes a pit stop during a
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race on
Sunday in Las Vegas. Johnson, the four-time
defending Sprint Cup champ, won the race.
Bobsled madness
United States bobsledder Jamie Moriarty of
USA-3 stumbles at the start and has to be
pulled into the sled with teammates Mike
Kohn, front, Bill Schuffenhauer, left, and Nick
Cunningham,during the men's four-man
bobsled competition on Friday.
Celebration time
Austria's Mario Stecher celebrates with
teammate David Kreiner, right, after crossing
the finish line to win the Nordic Combined
Team final at the Olympics on Tuesday.
Austria won the gold medal ahead of the
U.S., who won silver.

3. Coaching failure
Dutch coach Gerard Kemkers, left,
encourages Netherland's Sven Kramer, right,
during the men's 10,000-meter speed skating
race on Tuesday. Kramer, who was on his
way to winning the race, was disqualified for
failing to switch lanes after his coach directed
him to the wrong lane.
Blazing a trail
Italy's Massimiliano Blardone clears a gate
during the men's giant slalom event at
Whistler, Canada on Tuesday.
The slalom is an alpine ski event that tests
the skier’s agility and ability to make tight
turns around gates. The speed of the slalom
is slower than that of downhill racing, and
gates range in number from 55-75 gates in
the men’s events, to 40-60 gates in women’s
events.
Slalom is the shortest of the ski courses, with
no practice runs allowed and skiers given two
runs. The winner has the lowest combined
time from the two runs. Disqualification
occurs if a skier misses a gate.

4. Ski madness
Canada's Ashleigh McIvor, center, clears a
jump ahead of France's Marion Josserand,
right and Norway's Hedda Berntsen during
the women's ski cross final at Cypress
Mountain on Tuesday. McIvor won the gold
medal in the event.
The trick is only the first two competitors to
cross the finish line move on to the following
round until the final heat determines the
winner. But that's not all, to win not only do
they have to navigate these downhill man-
made and natural rollers, jumps "kickers",
high banked turns and tabletops at speeds in
excess of 70 km/h, but you have 3-5 other
people who want the same thing you do... to
finish first.
Even though contact is frowned upon you
can imagine things get quite heated out
there on course. Ski Cross is a high
adrenaline sport not only for the athletes, but
for the viewers as well. This combination of
terrain and format are guaranteed to produce
epic thrills and spills making ski cross the
perfect spectator sport and a full-on thrill ride
for all involved.

5. Painful in second place
Erika Lawler of the U.S. watches the
scoreboard during the medal ceremony after
Canada beat her team 2-0 to win the
women's ice hockey gold medal on Thursday
in Vancouver.