XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 3)

"Well, that would be disaster for the Americans."

That was what I turned on the TV this morning to hear one of the (Team) USA (Curling) Network commentators saying. The U.S. women are trailing, 7-4, in the 10th end and about to drop their first game of the tournament, to Switzerland. Today is only the first of eight days of round-robin games, so, presumably, this is not going to be a fatal loss. Still, the commentators are talking about how the Swiss have not played very well today and that Team USA is letting slide by "a very winnable game."

And it should be pointed out that NBC OlympicTalk's preview of the Olympic curling tournament reads, "The U.S. women’s team probably has higher hopes than the men." The skip for the U.S. men is again John Shuster. The men face Norway--the silver medalists at Vancouver 2010--at 9 a.m. Central., and, if Team USA is going to put together a miraculous run, this game would be a good place to start.

This sounds like it could turn out to be another pretty good day for the Norwegians.

Meet Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, likely to become most decorated Winter Olympian ever in Sochi ... http://t.co/XSMpnQDyXX pic.twitter.com/7bCoIA6syg
— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) February 9, 2014

Today's medal events:

-- alpine skiing, women's super combined;

-- biathlon, men's 12.5 km pursuit;

-- freestyle skiing, men' moguls;

-- short track, men's 1500 m, and

-- speed skating, men's 500 m.

Medal leaders at the start of today's competition:

1. Norway 2 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze
2. Netherlands 2, 1, 1
3. United States 2, 0, 2
4. Canada 1, 2, 1
4. Russian Federation 1, 2, 1
6. Austria 1, 1, 0
7. Germany 1, 0, 0
7. Poland 1, 0, 0
7. Slovakia 1, 0, 0
7. Switzerland 1, 0, 0
11. Sweden 0, 2, 0
12. Czech Republic 0, 1, 1
12. Italy 0, 1, 1
14. Finland 0, 1, 0
14. Slovenia 0, 1, 0
16. Great Britain 0, 0, 1

16. Ukraine 0, 0, 1

Previous reports:

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 2);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 1);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 0);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day a);

-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976;

-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928, and

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924.