Team USA won its second alpine skiing gold medal Friday as reigning World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin,18,beat two Austrians at their own game,the slalom.Shiffrin overcame a bobble when her left ski left the snow,a mark of a skier's strength and maturity,to win the slalom gold at the youngest age in Olympic history.Austria's Marlies Schild,32,whose 35 World Cup slalom victories are the most in history and is Shiffrin's idol,took the silver,and her compatriot Kathrin Zettel won the bronze,her first ever Olympic medal after years of effort.
The precocious American Shiffrin began competing in Europe at age 16,traveling with her mother.I want to get farther than anyone's ever gotten,Shiffrin said.She's been showing the aptitude and determination to do just that.*
In speedskating,Team USA had been shut out of the medals going into Friday,consternating team members and fans alike.This was remedied in the 5,000 meter short track relay,when Russia,led by anchor Victor Ahn,won the gold and the Americans with their anchor C.R.Celski hung on for silver,as China and the Netherlands fell to the wayside and Kazakhstan lagged behind.China ended up with the bronze.Still,the US won six short track medals at Vancouver 2010 and a total of 18 in Olympic history,so a sense of disappointment in their Sochi performance remains.*
The featured videos this week are both by Madonna:"Live To Tell" and "Like A Virgin."
"Live To Tell" unfolds to a height of drama seldom reached in a music video;while "Like A Virgin" takes us to Venice,a tribute to the Italian American Madonna's European roots.
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