Americans Set Record at Winter Olympics

Also, music by the young pop star Justin Bieber.

25 February 2010

Canada's Charles Hamelin, left, and American Apolo Anton Ohno compete in speedskating

DOUG JOHNSON: I'm Doug Johnson. Today on our program, we play music from the new young pop star, Justin Bieber.

But first we tell about winning American athletes at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

(MUSIC)

Winning Olympic Athletes

DOUG JOHNSON: The Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, will end Sunday. The United States has won a record number of medals at the international games. Bob Doughty and Faith Lapidus tell about some of the winning American athletes on and off the ice and snow.

BOB DOUGHTY: On the twelfth day of the Olympics the United States broke its medal record for competition outside America. The men’s four-member Nordic team finished second in the Nordic combined race for a silver medal.

This made a total of twenty-six medals for American athletes. The United States had won twenty-five medals at the last Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy. The only time the United States had won more was on its own territory, in two thousand at the Salt Lake City, Utah Winter Games.

Nordic combined is ski jumping followed by a cross country ski race. Three men on the American team, Bill Demong, Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane had been to the Olympics before. But the pressure was on Brett Camerota, who was new to the Olympics. Experts say it was his excellent jump that put the team in medal position.