2010 Memories, Day 6-7: Americans steal the spotlight before Christine Nesbitt steals it back
Credit to Author: Harrison Mooney| Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 14:00:52 +0000
Follow along as we look back at the moments that made headlines each day during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Feb. 17-18, 2010: Day 6 at the Vancouver Games was dominated by American athletes, who snagged three of the seven gold medals up for grabs. No one was shocked. These three athletes — Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White and Shani Davis — were already household names before they arrived in British Columbia, and each lived up to the hype.
Vonn, who planned to compete in all five women’s alpine events, became the first American woman to win Olympic gold in downhill after besting longtime rival Julia Mancuso by half a second.
In the halfpipe, White had no rivals, and the snowboarding icon made that abundantly clear by landing a double McTwist 1260 in the final (he called it the Tomahawk), and a second consecutive gold medal along with it.
Speed skater Davis made history for the second straight Olympics. Four years after becoming the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Games, Davis repeated the feat, becoming the first man to successfully defend the 1000m gold.
But enough about the Americans. On Day 7, speed skater Christine Nesbitt won Canada’s third gold medal of the Games, outskating Annette Gerritsen of Netherlands to triumph in the women’s 1000 metres.
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