That's racing, folks

I do hope you all enjoyed Vancouver, either watching on the tube or as spectators. The Nordic events delivered a powerful punch of drama and soul that I shall never forget:

Petter Northug's exceptional, powerful final sprints in the stadium; the raw courage of Petra Majdic, winning a bronze after her devastating pre-race fall; Marit Bjoergen's ability and grace, during the entire Games -- especially in light of Justyna Kowalczyk's statements that the Norwegian might be doping by using approved asthma medication (A moment that I found rather unsporting); the drama of Brian McKeever's story; the solid performances of Kikkan Randall; the success of the U.S. Nordic combined squad. Wow.

There were highs, lows and everything in between -- for that's racing, folks. It's just at the Olympics, the stakes seem almost unbearably high. It's one race on one day, and anything can happen, especially in ever-changing weather, which was frequent.

The courses and jumps were brilliant and beautifully prepared, and the organizers and volunteers were warm, welcoming and ever-cheerful. I will never forget a minute of it, and I was honored to be one of the PA announcers for cross-country. The spectators created an electric environment that was truly engaging. All sport engenders it own nuances, but I am still so captivated by our sport and the people in it.

*** Speaking of Kikkan, she continued to demonstrate solid form by placing 24th in Lahti in the women's 15km over the weekend. The race was won by Bjoergen, followed by Kowalczyk while Norway's promising Therese Johaug was third. American Morgan Arritola also had a landmark season, landing in the top 30 of the World Cup.

The men's event in Lahti saw a win by France's up and coming Maurice Manificat, who won the 30km. The United States' James Southam was 36th. The team has one more World Cup coming up this weekend in Oslo. U.S. head coach Pete Vordenberg said, "We'll just keep our head down and keep hammering, that's what we'll do until the end."

*** In Nordic combined action, Jason Lamy Chappuis -- despite some tough skiing in the team relay at Whistler -- iced the overall World Cup title for the year. In Lahti, veteran Hannu Manninen of Finland won last Saturday's combined competition, edging out Felix Gottwald of Austria and Chappuis. Austrian Mario Stecher was fourth.

*** In ski jumping the golden man, Simon Ammann, continued his winning ways by taking the first event of the ski jumping in Lahti.

In Vancouver, a group of us went to the Swiss House on the evening he won his final gold medal. Surrounded by adorning sports officials and fans, we never got close enough to shake his hand, but we did see him.

The win in Lahti was his 14th World Cup victory and was followed by Poland's Adam Malysz, who is contemplating another year on the tour. Third place went to Thomas Morgenstern from Austria. Gregor Schlierenzauer, suffering the effects of the post-Olympic flu was fourth. Wolfgang Loitzl was fifth, thus giving Austria three flyers in the top five -- a sign of strength we have known of all season long. Janne Ahonen, who hurt his knee in a fall at Whistler Olympic Park, took part, but with the injury still not healed he finished in 27th position.

*** Now that the Russians have Sochi coming up, there will be more and more pressure for them to perform well, and at Lahti their jumpers were near the bottom. Denis Kornilov, Pavel Karelin and Ilja Rosliakov were 47th, 48th and 50th, respectively, and it didn't help matters one bit to get the news of that their head coach, the highly respected Wolfgang Steiert is stepping down. Steiert, of German decent, has been at the helm of the Russian program since 2004 and was making great progress in developing a strong jumping squad. This included a bright moment, when the currently injured Dimitri Vassiliev was fifth overall in the World Cup in the 2009 season. Vassiliev suffered a torn ACL just before the Olympics and could not compete. It has been reported that Swiss coach Berni Schoedler will lead the team in the final competitionss, but he too is expected to leave the Russian team at the conclusion of the ski season.

*** A small scandal in Norwegian ski jumping circles occurred this past week, with the opening of the sparkling, new jumps at Holmenkollen, just outside of Oslo. The iconic symbol of Norway, which was built at a cost of 220 million Euros, and will be used at next year's FIS Nordic World Championships, conducted an online poll of who should be first off the new jumps, and the results showed Norwegians to favor having their top women's jumper Anette Sagen take the first ceremonial leap, with national team star Bjoern Einar Romoeren being second in the polling. Yet, on the night before the first "official jump," Romoeren arrived at the hill and made the first jump while Sagen was still traveling back via airplane from an event in Japan. On the next day, Sagen did take her first jump of the hill that is long been considered a national treasure, and Romoeren was up to his ears in bad PR. He quickly made a statement of apology, aimed particularly at the Norwegian female community, which were deeply offended. Romoeren, a well liked jumper in Norway, is most likely not to attend several upcoming competitions, perhaps including the Holmenkollen jump and possibly ski flying at Planica. Sagen was ever-gracious saying, "that Bjoern Einar Romoreren jumped on the Holmenkollen first was only a media affair, I made the first official jump", she said.

*** Speaking of women's ski jumping, the event will be competed in next year's world championships in Oslo, giving them two appearances in world championships, which should help pave their way, in part, to full medal status at the Olympics. The winner of the final event of the season in the women's Continential Cup held in Zakopane, Poland was Austrian Daniela Iraschko, who took the overall crown, with jumps of 90.5 and 91.5 meters. Ulrike Graessler of Germany was second, while Annette Sagen was third.