vancouver olympics Times – Sports Daily

Wang Meng won her third gold medal at the Olympic short track. Charles Hamelin got his first, then quickly made it two. Apolo Anton Ohno picked up a DQ, then pulled out his eighth career medal Friday in what could be the final Olympic event for the guy with the soul patch. Quite a closing night for roller derby on blades.

Wang will go down as the biggest short track star of the Vancouver Games, besting teammate Zhou Yang for that honor. Both had two golds apiece going into the final women’s event, the 1,000 meters, but Zhou was disqualified for a daring move with three laps to go and she finished last anyway.

Wang has been suffering from a cold in recent days. She had a hacking cough, was sweating heavily and drinking from a water bottle as she spoke to reporters, somewhat breathlessly.

“It was not an easy win,” she said. “I feel really tired, exhausted.”

Katherine Reutter gave the Americans something to cheer about after Ohno was disqualified in the 500 final, finishing just behind Wang to claim silver. South Korea’s Park Seung-hi earned the bronze.

Wang added to her golds in the 500 and 3,000 relay, while Reutter won her second medal of the Vancouver Games. She had been part of the U.S. relay team that won bronze.

“I feel like I’ve been initiated in this club and not really many people are there,” Reutter said, who giddily tossed her flowers into the crowd after the medal ceremony.

One problem, though: How to prevent her Olympic medals from banging together and getting scratched.

“I can’t think of a better problem to have,” Reutter said, still draped in the U.S. flag as she came through the mixed zone. “I put absolutely everything I had on the line and it paid off.”

Hamelin came into the Vancouver Games as Canada’s best hope for short track glory, but he had only finished fourth in the 1,000 and seventh in the 1,500. Meanwhile, his girlfriend and teammate Marianne St-Gelais had won two silvers.

Hamelin finally came through on the last night. He slipped by South Korea’s Sung Si-bak coming off the final turn, then held on when Sung lost an edge and crashed into the padded boards.

Right behind them, Ohno was trying to get inside Canada’s Francois-Louis Tremblay, but wound up knocking him into the boards – a move that got the American DQed, denying him a third individual medal at these games after he came across the line second.

Sung slid across the line and wound up with the silver. Tremblay got up to finish and received a bronze for his effort.

“It was just amazing,” said Hamelin, who hopped atop the padded boards to hug and kiss St-Gelais, cheering him on from the side of the rink.

Ohno said he didn’t deserve to be disqualified, claiming that he put his right hand out merely to protect himself as he surged on Tremblay, looking to make the pass.

“I thought I had eight,” Ohno said.

He did before the night was done.

Coming back for the 5,000 relay, he teamed with J.R. Celski, Travis Jayner and Jordan Malone to extend his own record for most decorated short track skater and U.S. Winter Olympian.

But this night belonged to the hosts.

Hamelin joined with his little brother Francois, Olivier Jean and Francois-Louis Tremblay to give the Canadians their second gold, sending the crowd at Pacific Coliseum into a frenzy.

The South Korean team of Kwak Yoon-gy, Lee Ho-suk, Lee Jung-su and Sung Si-bak held on for silver. Kwak got to the line just ahead of Ohno, who slipped inside for the bronze when China’s skater went wide coming off the final turn.

source: sports.yahoo.com
By PAUL NEWBERRY AP National Writer

The International Figure Skating Union’s Grand Prix Series enters its 15th season this weekend with its first event: The Trophee Eric Bompard Cachemire, in Paris. Competition starts Friday in competition, the first of six that will lead up to the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in December and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It will feature some interesting storylines.

Ladies’ Singles

Carolina Kostner

This event has perhaps the most stacked ladies’ field of the Grand Prix season. Two of figure skating’s greatest rivals will meet in this event as Korean World Champion Kim Yu-Na and 2008 World Champion and faces Grand Prix Final champ Mao Asada of Japan.

Kim, who has been training with Brian Orser in Toronto, blew away the field at the worlds in Los Angeles with a record score. She will show off new programs choreographed by David Wilson – George Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F Major” in the long program and a short program to a medley of music from “James Bond 007″, considered unusual music for figure skating.

The archrivals will also be joined by Italy’s Carolina Kostner, but the hotly-anticipated comeback of American Sasha Cohen has been iced as the 2006 Olympic silver medallist who is making a comeback, has pulled out of the competition after suffering an injured calf in practice. Japan’s Yukari Nakano and Caroline Zhang of the U.S. may also challenge. There are no Canadian women in this event.

Entries: Mao Asada (Japan), Candice Didier (France), Sasha Cohen, United States, Gwendoline Didier (France), Elene Gedevanishvili, (Georgia), Alexe Gilles (USA), Yu-Na Kim (South Korea), Kiira Korpi (Finland), Carolina Kostner (Italy), Yukari Nakano (Japan), Caroline Zhang (USA), Anna Jurkiewicz (Poland)

Men’s Singles

Brian Joubert, the 2007 world champion from France, launches his season in front of his home fans and will no doubt be trying to vindicate himself after finishing with what he considered a disappointing bronze medal at the 2009 Worlds.

A five-time world medallist known for his big jumps, Joubert is likely to be challenged in Paris by Nobunari Oda. The Japanese skater is in top form, winning last year’s NHK Trophy, after being banned for three months by his national federation in 2007 for drunk driving. Russia’s Sergei Voronov and Tomáš Verner of Czech Republic will also be in the running for spots on the podium. Vaughn Chipeur is the only Canadian man in the event as he begins his quest for the nation’s second spot at the Olympics.

Entries: Vaughn Chipeur (Canada), Chao Yang (China), Tomas Verner (Czech Republic), Brian Joubert (France), Yannick Ponsero (France), Alban Preaubert (France), Peter Liebers (Germany), Nobunari Oda (Japan), Sergei Voronov (Russia), Javier Fernandez (Spain), Ryan Bradley (USA), Adam Rippon (USA)

Pairs

Canadians Bryce Davison and Jessica Dubé will face the world’s finest pairs competition right off the bat in Paris when they return to the romantic style of skating that so suited them before their experimental season last year. They will meet world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, the reigning world champs. It’s the first of two meetings between the two teams during this Grand Prix season. The second will be at Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ont., in late November.

Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, coached by Olympic champ Oleg Vassiliev, may also figure into the podium.

Entries: Adeline Canac and Maximin Coia (France), Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir (USA), Huibo Dong and Yiming Wu (China), Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison (Canada), Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur (France), Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov (Russia), Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, Germany

Ice Dance

Canadians Tessa Virtue, of London, Ont. and Scott Moir, of Ilderton, Ont. are making their return to the Grand Prix circuit after missing the series last season when Virtue had to have surgery on both of her shins. They returned late in the season to earn bronze at the world championships, and they feel confident now that they are the best ice dance team in the world. They will debut their highly-anticipated new programs: a flamenco original dance and a free dance to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Virtue and Moir enter the competition as the clear favourite but can expect some good competition from the French team of Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, Sinead and John Kerr of Great Britain, and Americans Emily Samuelson and Evan.

Entries: Zoé Blanc and Pierre-Loup Bouquet (France), Kristina Gorshkova and Vitali Butikov, (Russia), Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbell (USA), Sinead Kerr and John Kerr (Great Britain), Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre (USA), Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (France), Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer (Russia), Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates (USA), Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canada)

Tokyo’s hopes of hosting the 2016 Olympics were shattered Friday as the Japanese capital was eliminated in the second round of voting by the International Olympic Committee.

Rio de Janeiro was named the winner of rights to stage the 2016 Games, beating Madrid in the final round of voting to become the first South American Olympic host. Rio had 66 votes to Madrid’s 32.

Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting before Tokyo’s exit left the race down to the Rio and Madrid. Tokyo had 22 votes in the first round and 20 in the second.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama released a statement Saturday congratulating the Brazilian people on Rio de Janeiro’s win in a bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

‘‘I want to offer my heartfelt appreciation for the citizens of Tokyo and athletes,’’ said Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara. ‘‘Let’s use this precious experience, while tackling environmental issues and contribute to the development of world cities. I pray for the success of the Games in Rio de Janeiro.’’

Under host city voting procedures, the city with the fewest number of votes in each successive round of balloting is eliminated until one city has reached a majority of the valid votes cast.

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The International Olympic Committee is no stranger to tough decisions. It took the risk of sending the games to Beijing and said “No” to New York in the aftermath of 9/11. Yet, despite all of that accumulated experience, some IOC members are struggling with their latest conundrum: choosing the Olympic host for 2016.
Just two days ahead of the vote, many were undecided.
And that means two things—it’s still too close to call between Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid and, for the next couple of days, IOC members are going to feel that they are the most popular people on the planet. Everyone in Copenhagen, where they are gathered, seemingly wants to be their new best friend.
Want to meet Michelle Obama? Not a problem if you’re an IOC member who needs a little pointer on which way to vote. The first lady, beating her husband to the Danish capital, has a two-room suite in the IOC hotel, with homely white leather furniture and an interactive table that, at the touch of a hand, gives bird’s eye views of how a Chicago Olympics might look.
Mrs Obama arrived Wednesday, two days ahead of the U.S. leader, and got straight to work on impressing IOC members.
“We’re not taking anything for granted, so I’m going to go talk to some voters,” she said.
IOC members who have been through this selection process repeatedly, previously sending the games to London, Beijing, Athens and Sydney, told The Associated Press that they could not remember a tougher choice. The AP canvassed the opinions of a dozen IOC members. With all four cities seen as amply capable, technically at least, of holding the Olympics, they said much will ride on how well or badly the cities make their case in final 45-minute presentations to the IOC on Friday before the successive rounds of secret balloting.
“I have two favorites,” IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz said. “It’s going to come down to the last, last presentation. It’s going to come down to the last minute.”
As tension mounted, so did tempers. Despite fresh IOC warnings that the cities should avoid criticizing their rivals, the Spanish Olympic Committee’s vice president, Jose Maria Odriozola, told the national Efe news agency that “Rio is the worst bid.”
Rio bid organizers said the criticism was “totally unacceptable” and formally complained to the IOC.
The outcome Friday could hinge on which cities are eliminated first and, if and when their favorites are knocked out, how IOC members subsequently line up behind the other candidates. That makes predicting a winner perilous and means that even members who say they already have made their choice are still worth lobbying.
“It is difficult enough to know where the first-round votes are going to go, so trying to imagine where the swinging votes are going to go is impossible,” said Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, whose father served as IOC president for 21 years.
“Events in the next 48 hours will decide the winner, because they will have a significant influence on the second- and third-round votes,” he said.
Samaranch said he believes nearly all the IOC’s 106 members already have a favorite. But IOC vice president Chiharu Igaya said “many” members are undecided.
Added British IOC member Craig Reedie: “This is really close. The closer it gets the more people will say, let me think about it. We all want to see the presentations. It’s what people see that will count. Decided? No, I haven’t actually. I’m getting close.”
Late, high-powered lobbying can be important—as then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie, proved when London campaigned successfully for the 2012 Olympics. Blair traveled to Singapore ahead of the vote and spent two days lobbying members, inviting them to his hotel suite for one-on-one meetings.
Chicago tore a leaf from Blair’s playbook: Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett met with him last week to solicit his advice and get tips on navigating the IOC voting process.
But for the first time, there are no IOC executive board meetings in the days leading up to the vote. That means less opportunity for schmoozing.
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Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull will aim to become the best team in F1 after steering them to their first Grand Prix win in China.
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One the most sexy Olympic Beauty is Olympic champion Wu Minxia.
Wu represented China at the 2004 Summer Olympics, earning a gold medal in the 3 meter women’s synchronized springboard along with Guo Jingjing before winning a silver medal in the 3 meter women’s synchronized springboard, coming in second place behind Guo Jingjing.

China’s Olympic champions Wu Minxia (near the camera) and Guo Jingjing dive during the women’s three-meter springboard synchronized preliminary at the “Good Luck Beijing” FINA Diving World Cup. [Xinhua]

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Asian countries will unfortunately support Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Chinese State Sports General Administration Director Liu Peng told Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Monday, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry. In response to Nakasone’s request to support the bid, China’s state sports director said Japan is capable of hosting a successful Olympic Games.
Since Japan has several Human rights issues still open it should put efforts on that before having international events. Japan is still not a foreign-friendly country and foreigners are viewed with suspicion.
Liu was also quoted as saying that he felt that the Japanese government and people are determined to host the Olympics, after seeing the sites that would be used for the event. The Chinese official expressed the hope of promoting sports exchanges with Japan.

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Overnight hotel room inventory during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada are getting a boost from an unlikely source. Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) will park the 1,132 cabin, 91,740 Gross Tonnage ‘Norwegian Star’ passenger liner under a private charter arrangement at Vancouver’s North Shore, directly across from Stanley Park, during the games.
Four night accommodation packages aboard the 2,240 passenger ship range from $2,010 for an inside cabin to $9,400 for the Owners Suite. Six night packages begin at $2,999. Rates are in US Dollars and are based on double occupancy. Third & fourth persons sharing a cabin each pay from $100 per night. Rates do not include service fees, port charges and taxes.
Benefits for Winter Games families staying on the ‘Norwegian Star’ are that meals aboard ship are inclusive as well as 24 hour complimentary in-room meal service and kids & teens ‘Youth Staff’ supervised activities. Nightly ‘Baby Sitter’ services at $5 per hour are also available.
Daily transfers from the ship to Vancouver’s City Transit Hub with connecting access to all Olympic Venues plus Vancouver Airport transfers for arriving and departing ‘Norwegian Star’ GolfAhoy guests are included in package prices.
The 965 ft. long ‘Norwegian Star’ has been chartered by ‘Newest Special Projects 2010 Limited Partnership’, an Edmonton, Alberta travel company for the duration of the Winter Games.

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Cabins and packages can be booked through GolfAhoy Cruise Planners, call Toll Free 1-877-415-5442 http://www.GolfAhoyCruisePlanners.com (select the ‘Registration’ tab on the home page) or internationally phone +1-780-415-5442.
Four night minimum ‘Norwegian Star’ 2010 Olympic Winter Games

* Vancouver package dates are from Feb.16 to Feb.20 & from Feb.20 to Feb.24.
* Six night package dates are from Feb.10 to Feb.16 & from Feb.24 to Mar.02.

“If 2010 Winter Olympic Games accommodations aboard a cruise ship are not your first choice, GolfAhoy Cruise Planners is offering four night minimum hotel and Olympic event ticket packages at the Four Seasons Resort Whistler located in the village on Blackcomb Mountain from $8,650; Marriott Vancouver from $8,950 and Plaza 500 Hotel Vancouver from $6,325. These GolfAhoy four nights Winter Olympic hotel packages come with Category A Tickets to three Alpine events, $200 daily F&B hotel credits and $100 daily Spa credit per room and on site GolfAhoy VIP hospitality center with complimentary beverages and snacks,” added Anthony Webber, Managing Director, Caribbean Cruise Lines (Canada) Ltd. and U.S. subsidiary GolfAhoy Cruise Planners http://www.GolfAhoyCruisePlanners.com
Golfers from around the world visiting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games might be inclined to add a two or three day pre or post Olympic Games golf add-on excursion package to their travel plans. GolfAhoy http://www.GolfAhoy.com/7820 has exclusive escorted group golf trips to the 4 Star Crown Isle Golf Resort on picturesque Vancouver Island.

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The number of travelers to China dropped by 2 million in 2008 in what was supposed to be a banner year for tourism but became one dampened by Olympics-related security measures and the global economic crunch.
It was the first decline in visitor numbers since 2003, when a deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, kept many people away.
The number of inbound travelers fell to 130 million last year, China’s National Tourism Administration said on its Web site.
“All major inbound source markets, except for Hong Kong and Russia, slumped last year amid the economic downturn,” the administration’s director, Shao Qiwei, was quoted as saying by the official China Daily newspaper Thursday.
Neither statement mentioned other factors affecting travel to China, though industry experts also blamed tightened visa restrictions before the Beijing Olympics and a May earthquake in southwest China that left 90,000 dead or missing.
Authorities feared protests around the Olympics would mar the flawless image of China that the government wanted to promote and made visa procedures more strict in an effort to weed out potential troublemakers such as foreign activists. That also kept out many would-be visitors.
“The high cost of hotel and air tickets may also have had an effect, but taking into consideration the spending power of foreigners compared to Chinese, they wouldn’t just drop their plans because of higher prices,” said Li Lei, chief editor of Chinese travel industry Web site Tourismvane.com.

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Defending Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from a Hong Kong exhibition tournament because she is still recovering from a shoulder injury just weeks ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year.

The three-time Grand Slam winner started playing tennis again just over two weeks ago and isn’t in proper condition, organizers of the Jan. 7-10 Hong Kong event said in a statement on their Web site Wednesday.

“I’m just not ready to play against the top-class competition in Hong Kong, although I remain hopeful for Australia where I’m the defending champion,” Sharapova said in a statement.

The Australian Open is Jan. 19 to Feb. 1.

“Maria needs to get ‘tennis fit’ now and she’s working hard,” Sharapova’s agent, Max Eisenbud, said.

Sharapova has not played competitively since pulling out of the Rogers Cup at Montreal in late July after beating Poland’s Marta Domachowska in a nearly three-hour match in which she double-faulted 17 times.

The Russian was examined by a trainer midway through the three-set victory and withdrew from the event before her next match.

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As athletes stroke the sporting gold at the Beijing Olympic Games, those big-name sporting brands hope that the effort or cash spent in preparation for the Games would also be proved lucrative. However, sometimes, things are unpredictable, just like “anything is possible”.

Being one of the of ficial sponsors, Adidas, involved with the Games since 1928, determined to secure a bigger slice of the Chinese market, where it is in strong competition with Nike.

“The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will serve as a platform for the brand to become the leading sports brand in China,” said Erica Kerner, director of Adidas’s Beijing 2008 Olympic program me. Through a combination of TV, pr int , outdoor, public relations, digital, point-of-sale and roadshows across the country, the”Im possible is Nothing” Olympic marketing campaign aims to bring sport engagement with Chinese consumers to a new level”.

Especial ly on July 5, Adidas opened its largest Brand Center worldwide, with a size of 3,170m² occupying four floors, inside the new Sanlitun Village Shopping Center in Beijing, featuring a range of unique interact ive elements that will provide consumers with a truly special retail experience.

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IT’s a strange world in which Michael Phelps can win a record eight Olympic gold medals and still be challenged for pre-eminence in the year of the Beijing Games.

But a bolt from the blue Caribbean, in the shape of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, managed to drag the spotlight from the Water Cube to the Bird’s Nest, as two of history’s greatest athletes framed the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge declared the two men the “icons of the Games”.

In a record-breaking year for records, the pair were also the foremost exponents of the art of going where no athlete has gone before.

Appropriately for the first Olympics staged in China, Phelps and Bolt represented the Yin and Yang of great champions — the swimmer and the runner, water and earth, a diet of 12,000 calories a day versus chicken nuggets for breakfast. Phelps lit up the Games by day (thanks to NBC’s insistence on morning finals in the pool) and Bolt by night.

But where Phelps’ triumphant march was expected, even demanded (NBC was counting on it), Bolt’s sudden rise to superstardom was a joyous gift for his troubled sport, beset by doping scandals which had tarnished its credibility along with some once-great names.

It takes a huge talent to hold 90,000 people in thrall but Bolt captured them at the Bird’s Nest from the moment he dashed down the straight to win the 100m in a world record 9.69sec, becoming the fastest man on the planet, despite a side-stepping celebration over the last 20m that may have cost him up to 0.1sec.

But Bolt’s Calypso rhythm and youthful exuberance brought much-needed star quality to the main stadium.

The only time that 21-year-old Bolt was deadly serious was when he stepped onto the blocks for the 200m final. A 200m specialist as a junior competitor, he was desperate to break his hero Michael Johnson’s lauded world record of 19.32sec from Atlanta in 1996.

Bolt ran the half-lap with his eyes only on that mark and every fast-twitch fibre straining forward, stopping the clock in an astonishing 19.30sec.

And he wasn’t finished there. The showman of the Games then combined with former world 100m record-holder Asafa Powell and his Jamaican team-mates to set a third world record in the 4×100m relay.

His name was attached to three of the five world records to fall at the Bird’s Nest.

If Bolt was the king of the track, Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva was the queen of the air, after she soared to a world record of 5.05m in the pole vault to clinch her second successive Olympic gold medal.

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Relish the memories – 2008 was a special year for sport, and the outlook for the next few does not appear half so rosy.

Next year is thin in terms of big international events. The World Athletics Championships take place in Berlin, and it is left to rugby union – a minority sport globally – to provide another highlight when the British and Irish Lions tour South Africa, the world champions. And further ahead, the successor hosts of two of this year’s stellar events, the Olympic Games and the European Football Championships, have hard acts to follow, with fewer resources and the global economic crisis to combat.

The Beijing Olympics was the apex of 2008. China opened its doors to the world and demonstrated that it could organise a successful sporting extravaganza. It did so by hurling massive amounts of money and manpower at the Games, in a manner that perhaps only an authoritarian state could. The yin and yang nature of the event was symbolised by the happiness and pride of the Chinese people at hosting the world’s biggest sporting party on the one hand, and their government’s refusal to budge an inch over human rights on the other.

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Harbin, capital city of northeast China’s Heilongjiang province and host to the 2009 Winter Universiade, is considering a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, senior officials revealed two months before the opening of the Universiade, from Feb 18-28.
“If the hosting of the 2009 Winter Universiade can win applause from all the guests, it will enhance our confidence to bid for the Winter Olympic Games,” said Li Zhanshu, governor of Heilongjiang province. “We are considering a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, although the decision has to be approved by Chinese sports authorities.”

Harbin, dubbed as “ice city” due to its beautiful scenery in winter, failed to make the short list for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, but won hosting rights for the 2009 Winter Universiade four years ago.
Vancouver, Canada, will host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

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Sailing scored a major coup as its television coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games was recognized as ‘The Best Sports Coverage by the Host Broadcaster’ at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) “Olympic Golden Rings” ceremony, held last night (16 December) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC’s Olympic Golden Rings ceremony recognises the contribution made by the world of television to the success of the Olympic Games. Sailing won the gold award for The Best Sports Coverage by the Host Broadcasting Organisation, the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB). IOC President Jacques Rogge was amongst the leading figures from both the sporting and broadcasting world who attended the awards ceremony held at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne on Tuesday evening.

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World champion Mao Asada’s skill with the triple axel earned her a victory over longtime rival Kim Yu-na at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating finals on Saturday.

Jeremy Abbott of the United States won after hitting every jump in the free skate.

Asada’s triple axels — two launched at the start of her free skate_ proved decisive as she won with a total of 188.55 points, just 2.2 ahead of South Korea’s Kim at the Goyang Ice Arena north of Seoul.

“I am happy that I could land two triple axels in my program and that I was able to win here in Korea,” Asada said. “It is really special.”

It was a particularly satisfying victory for Asada of Japan, who had finished second to Kim at the last two Grand Prix finals.

Abbott breezed past Takahiko Kozuka of Japan for gold in his first Grand Prix final. Abbott earned 237.72 points, while Kozuka had 224.63.

Ice dancing world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder capped off a victorious Grand Prix season with gold, and Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China rallied to win the pairs title.

But it was the showdown between Kim and Asada, rivals since their days as juniors, that took center stage at the sellout event. Even South Korea Prime Minister Han Seung-soo was in the audience.

Kim, the world bronze medalist, had won her last five consecutive Grand Prix series events. Asada, the reigning world champion, won the NHK Trophy but the finals title had eluded her.

Kim admitted to nerves Friday but pulled off a narrow, half-point lead over Asada in the short program. Fans showed their love for “Queen Yu-na” by throwing more than 550 stuffed animals and 500 flowers onto the rink, organizers said.

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GOYANG, South Korea : South Korean starlet Kim Yu-Na took first place in the ladies short programme at the ISU Grand Prix Friday, held in Goyang on the outskirts of Seoul.

In front of a huge home crowd, Kim scored 65.94 points to take top ranking despite making one mistake in her routine.

After nailing her opening jump combination of triple flip and triple toeloop, she botched the takeoff on her triple lutz, managing only a single rotation in the air.

A solid skate in the remainder of her routine enabled Kim to narrowly edge her Japanese rival Mao Asada, who is second at 65.38 points.

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Beijing has started selling souvenir sets of left-over grass and steel from its famed Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium for 2,900 yuan (420 dollars) each, Chinese media reported Thursday.

The packs include grass cut on the night of the Games’ closing ceremony, preserved in a clear box, and model Olympic torches made of steel that was not used for construction of the National Stadium, the Beijing News said.

There are 10,000 souvenir sets available for sale inside the Bird’s Nest, as well as various department stores around Beijing and online, the report said.

The Bird’s Nest, which seats 91,000 people, became the symbol of the Games held in August in China’s capital, attracting worldwide attention for its striking design of interlocking steel girders.

It hosted the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics competition and football final.

It has since proved a hit with tourists, attracting 60,000 visitors on its October 1 opening day, and thousands of people every day since.

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