Vancouver Blogger Sriseth

After Day 8 of the Olympics brought a another gold, expectations for Day 9 were high. Short track champion Charles Hamelin, long track speed skater Denny Morrison and Canada's top 2-men bobsleigh team were in action expecting podium finishes, but ended up in failure. Tens of thousands of exuberant Canadian fans poured into the streets of Vancouver on Saturday didn't get any news to be jubilant. Thankfully there was still fresh memories of Jon Montgomery's skeleton victory the previous night.

1,000m World record holder Charles Hamelin had the company of his brother in the final race for his favourite event, but sadly he could only beat his own brother. South Koreans proved once again they are the new dominant face in short track skating, while US Veteran Apolo Ohno had more energy at the finish line than Hamelins to grab the bronze. At Richmond Oval, there was still much hype about 'Denny vs Shani' contest in long track speed skating before the 1,500m event. One again it proved to be nothing as Denny Morrison failed to put up a decent performance finishing in 9th place. But the most devastating news for the Canadian fans came from Whistler sliding centre as bobsleigh duo Lyndon Rush & Lascelles Brown crashed during their second run denying a much anticipated medal.

While Canadians failed to get onto the medal podium, Americans continued their amazing run at the Olympics adding a silver and two bronzes to their already impressive medal tally. With a clear lead over favourites Germany, our neighbours South of the boarder are 'owning the podium' in Vancouver. With Canadian fans looking for restitution, Sunday's hockey match between rivals USA and Canada gets much attention both sides of the 49th parallel.

“It’s one of the toughest races I’ve ever skated. Since we’re not accustomed to raucously cheering crows, we had trouble hearing the people behind us.” -Charles Hamelin

"He worked, but working at this level isn't good enough. You have to be technically sound and the technique wasn't there." - Denny Morrison's coach Marcel Lacroix

"It's the Olympics right. That's big. Everybody tells me that it's big, but more than anything I like racing and this is a track where I'm good. I had a chance to do well, that's the most disappointing." - Lyndon Rush

“They can own the podium, we just want to borrow it. Just for the month of February, and we’ll give it back.” - Apolo Ohno