Nichols became disabled in 2000 when she was out snowboarding with her friends. She decided to try a back flip. It would be her last attempt. She landed on her back, on a rock, and had to be transported to the hospital. Alana found out that she was paralyzed from the waist down.

She earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Arizona, and from there ended up on the US Paralympic team. She ended up with a gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Just 16 months ago, she started training as a Paralympic Skier. When she told her coach that she wanted to make it to Vancouver, they told her to forget about it, and to just concentrate on getting better. One gold medal later, she proved them wrong.

Congratulations, Alana, on winning the first gold medal for the United States in the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics; and for winning gold medals in both summer and winter sports.

A comment from a reader got me to thinking… most of us really don’t know about Paralympic skiing. I didn’t until I started reading about it. Since Thursday is Sports Day on this blog, I thought I’d write about adaptive skiing. How is it different than regular skiing?

Since there are several different kinds of disability, the Paralympic games allow people with different kinds of disabilities to compete. Currently, the Paralympic games have skiing races for visually impaired racers, sitting racers, and standing racers.

Visually impaired racers, of course have trouble seeing. You might have heard about Canada’s Brian McKeever, who was supposed to ski for Canada in the regular Vancouver Olympics. Turns out that some of Canada’s other skiers did so well in the earlier events that he was excluded from the final race selection. Had he competed in the Vancouver Olympics, he would have had to ski alone. In the Paralympics, he will be able to ski with a sighted guide. So will all the other racers.

Standing racers often use regular skis, although their poles are sometimes a little bit different than regular ski poles. Some of these skiers have lost a leg in a war zone, others are disabled in other ways, but can skill ski while standing. Downhill skiers can use prosthetic arms and legs.

Racers that can’t stand use what is called a sit-ski. This is a kind of chair attached to skis. These racers are often paraplegic for one reason or another.

Hopefully that explains some of the terms that I’ve been using, or that you might hear if you decide to watch some of the Paralympic broadcasts over the next couple of weeks. :-)

Most of the competition is concluding in Vancouver; the only events left are the hockey finale, the men’s 50 km mass start, and the closing ceremony. Today there were several final events contested.

The men’s slalom concluded the alpine skiing events. Italy’s Giuliano Razzoli won the gold; Ivica Kostelić of Croatia won the silver. If that name sounds familiar, it should; Ivica is Janica Kostelić’s older brother. She won six medals in Salt Lake City and Torino. This is Ivica’s second medal of these games, and third total. Sweden’s André Myhrer won bronze. Nolan Kasper of the United States came in 24th; Bode Miller did not finish his first run.

Four man bobsled also concluded; the United States continued to do well and won the gold medal. Germany won the silver, and Canada won the bronze.

Cross country skiing’s equivalents of marathons began today with the women’s 30 km mass start. The winner’s names are probably familiar to you if you have been following these events. Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland came in first, Marit Bjørgen of Norway won the silver, and Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen won the bronze. Kikkan Randall came in 24th for the United States.

Curling concluded with the men’s final and bronze events. Canada won gold, leaving Norway in second place. Switzerland beat Sweden for the bronze medal.

Men’s ice hockey finals began with the bronze medal game. Finland beat Slovakia for the Bronze. The big game is tomorrow, with Canada playing the United States.

The men competed in parallel giant slalom, concluding the snowboarding events. Canada’s Jasey-Jay Anderson won gold; Austria’s Benjamin Karl won the silver, while France’s Mathieu Bozzetto won bronze.

Canada was having a great day today. They won the men’s team pursuit in speed skating, with the United States winning silver. The Netherlands took team pursuit bronze. The US women’s team pursuit team lost to Germany in the semifinals; Germany went on to beat Japan in final A for gold and silver. The United States raced Poland in final B for the bronze, and Poland won.

With only two events left, the United States has a total of 36 medals, and will have the most medals out of all countries at the conclusion of the games. The US will get one more medal in hockey; it will either be gold or silver. The United States is unlikely to get any medals in cross-country skiing. Canada, after never winning a gold medal on home turf ever, is guaranteed to walk away with the most gold medals, they currently have 13. Germany has 10 gold medals and is second in the total medal count, with 29. The United States has a total of 9 gold medals and could get one more tomorrow.

I can’t believe that we are entering the final weekend of competition. Day 15 featured the women’s slalom, the men’s cross country 4×10 km relay, the completion of women’s curling, men’s ice hockey semifinals, women’s parallel giant slalom, and the final night of short track speed skating.

In the women’s giant slalom, Lindsey Vonn skied with her broken pinky, but she ended up straddling a gate and was knocked out of the first round. Maria Reisch ends up winning the second gold medal of her Olympic games for Germany, while Marlies Schild takes the silver for Austria. The Czech Republic’s Šárka Záhrobská took bronze. Sarah Schleper, in what might be her final Olympic event, came in 16th.

It was a likely day for final races for Apolo Ohno as well. Ohno made it to the finals of the 500 m men’s race, but came in fourth. To get to the finals, he had to jump over a pair of fallen skaters. Ohno’s excellent career ended on a high note, with a bronze medal for team USA. It was Ohno’s 8th career medal. Charles Hamelin of Canada won the gold medal in the 500 m race that Ohno came in fourth in. The 5000 m relay was won by Canada, with South Korea winning the bronze.

The men’s 4×7.5 km relay took place in biathlon. The gold, silver, and bronze teams were Norway, Austria, and Russia, respectively. The United States came in 13th.

The United Stated did well in the first two runs of four-man bobsled, coming in first place. Canada and Germany were close behind. The event will conclude tomorrow.

Women’s curling concluded today, with Sweden winning the gold medal game against Canada, who took the silver medal. China beat Switzerland for the bronze.

Men’s hockey continued with the semifinals. As many people hoped for, the final game will be a showdown between the United States and Canada. Tomorrow, Finland will play Slovakia for the bronze.

The women competed in Parallel Giant Slalom (PGS) today. One American, Michelle Gorgone, competed in the event, qualified for the round of 16, and was knocked out before the quarterfinals. Nicolien Sauerbreij of the Netherlands wound up with the gold, while Ekaterina Ilyukhina of Russia took the silver.

Men’s and women’s team pursuit qualifications occurred today. The United States will face Canada tomorrow for gold and silver. The ladies advanced to the semifinals today (in a very close finish); they will race Germany tomorrow, in what may be Jennifer Rodriguez’s final Olympics.

The United States has currently won the most medals, at 34, but Canada, who had never won a gold medal on home turf before these games, currently has 10 gold medals (the US has eight). The Germans also have more gold medals than the US, with nine.

Day 14 held one of the events that many people look forward to the most, that is, the ladies’ free program. Today was also the continuation of the second run for the women’s giant slalom, the women’s 4×5 km cross country skiing relay, curling semifinals, the men’s aerials final, women’s hockey finals, and the nordic combined long hill/10 km sprint.

In figure skating, Kim Yu-Na of South Korea blew the competition away, receiving the highest score since the new scoring rules were put into place. Mao Asada of Japan won the silver, while Joannie Rochette of Canada won the bronze. All three skated well, although Rochette had a couple tiny mistakes. The United States’ Mirai Nagasu gave a lovely performance for fourth place, while Rachael Flatt gave a solid performance for seventh place. This marks the first time since the 1964 Innsbruck games where a skater from the USA did not make the medals stand in ladies’ figure skating.

The ladies finished the second run of their giant slalom today. Julia Mancuso had the third fastest run of the day, but it was not enough to bring her back from yesterday’s disastrous rerun, after being stopped because of Lindsey Vonn’s crash. Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg took the gold.

In the ladies 4×5 kilometer relay, Norway won gold, Germany was second, and Finland was third. As in yesterday’s men’s race, the gold medal anchor was well ahead (Marit Bjørgen), while the real race was for silver. While Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla made up a lot of time in the third leg, the lead was lost in the fourth leg, and they came in fifth. Kikkan Randall of the United States finished her leg in fourth place, but the US wasn’t able to keep up with the Nordic countries, and came in 12th.

In men’s curling, Canada will play Norway on Saturday for gold and silver medal determination. Sweden and Switzerland will play for the bronze medal. Tomorrow, the women’s Canadian team will play Sweden for the gold, while Switzerland will play China for the bronze.

In men’s aerials, Alexei Grishin won the gold for Belarus, while Jeret “Speedy” Peterson won the silver for the United States. Liu Zhongqing of China took the bronze.

The Canadians must be happy today. Their women’s hockey team beat the United States for the gold. The US took the silver, while Finland won the bronze.

The United States had a great day in Nordic Combined. Bill DeMong won the gold medal, and Johnny Spillane took the silver. The United States had never even won a medal in Nordic Combined prior to these Olympics, and this year, not only does the US get its first medal, it gets four medals, one of them being gold. In fact, the US received more Nordic combined medals than any other country this year.

The United States continues to lead the medal count with 32 medals. Germany is second with 26, while Norway has 19.

It was unlucky day 13 for Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn. Vonn crashed in her Giant Slalom run, injuring her pinky. Race officials decided to compress the start times for all the skiers, and Mancuso started her race before learning of the crash. Officials had to stop Mancuso’s run halfway through, and she had to go back up to the start house to redo her run. However, her run wasn’t quite as good the second time, and she ended up in 18th place after the first run. They postponed the second run until Thursday. Mancuso was visibly upset, and I don’t blame her. Of course, Vonn didn’t ask to crash either.

The two-woman bobsleigh event took place today, and Canada took the first two spots (once they got their first gold on home turf earlier in this Olympics, they have really turned the spigot on it seems, with a total of 7 golds so far). The team with Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse won gold. Meanwhile, the United States took another bronze, with Erin Pac and Elana Meyers taking the third best time.

The cross country skiing men’s 4×10 km relay had an exciting final. Sweden came in first, but the silver medal position was where the real excitement was. Petter Northug of Norway was more than a half minute back when he started the anchor leg of the relay. Martin Koukal of the Czech Republic and Emmanuel Jonnier were far in front of him. During his leg of the race, Northug caught up to Koukal and Jonnier, and overtook them both in the final minutes for the silver. Koukal of the Czech Republic ended up with the bronze.

In freestyle skiing, the women’s aerials final ended with a bang… or more like… a disappointing fall for China. Xu Mengtao was all set to win the gold… all she had to do was finish her trick with a good landing. That wasn’t to be. Lydia Lassila of Australia walked away with the gold.

In ice hockey, the US and Canada both advanced to the semifinals. If they both win their next games on Friday, they’ll duke it out in another showdown.

In women’s speed skating, the top two positions in today’s 5000 m race were the same as in the 3000 m race. Martina Sáblíková of the Czech Republic won the gold, while Stephanie Beckert of Germany once again ended up with silver. Clara Hughes, the Canadian flag bearer, won the bronze.

Short track speed skating was interesting to watch as well. In the men’s 500 m, Apolo Ohno and Simon Cho advanced to the semifinals on Friday. The big upset was in the ladies’ 3000 m relay. The United States team came in last place; however, because one of the Korean skaters bumped the Chinese skater, the judges had to decide on whether to disqualify the Koreans or not. While the Koreans took their victory lap, the judges deliberated. Those of us watching on television knew the results once we saw the Chinese skaters start to shout. The Koreans were disqualified, the Chinese were bumped up to the gold medal, and the United States won the bronze just for showing up.

As far as the medal count goes, the United States, Germany, and Canada all have 7 gold medals. The US has 28 total, while Germany has 24 and Norway has 18.

One of the most exciting athletes to watch during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is Lindsey Vonn. With plans to compete in all five alpine skiing events, Vonn was one of the favorites to win gold as the weeks coming up to the Olympics approached.

Unfortunately, while training for the Olympics, Vonn got into an accident and badly bruised her shin. There was a question of whether she would even be able to compete. Fortunately, weather conditions postponed the first date that she would have to race, giving her more time to compete. Still, she was in a lot of pain when she made her downhill race, which she won gold in. Her reaction to winning the gold was exciting to see; unfortunately, I can’t find a good link to it for you.

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics are Vonn’s third Olympics. In 2002 and 2006, she skied as Lindsey Kildow. She married her husband, Thomas Vonn, in 2007. She never received a medal until this Olympics. She is one of the most physically fit competitors around, using men’s skis in most of the events. These are longer, but can be more difficult to control.

Vonn is scheduled to race in the Giant Slalom today, and the Slalom on Friday.

The women’s Super G took place today. Lindsey Vonn won the bronze medal, but the gold went to Austria’s Andrea Fischbacher, who had never won an Olympic medal before.

The Large Hill individual event took place in ski jumping, and the medal results were exactly the same as they were in the normal hill. Simon Ammann of Switzerland won the gold, I believe making him the ski jumper with the most gold medals ever. Peter Frenette was the top US ski jumper, but at position 32, he didn’t move on to the second run.

Marcus Hellner of Sweden won the men’s 30 km pursuit in cross country today. So far, all the men’s cross country medals have gone to different people.

Shani Davis won the silver medal in the 1500 m speed skating race; Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands came home with the gold. In short track, Chinese skater Zhou Yang won the gold medal; the United States’ Katherine Reutter came in fourth in the final round. Apolo Ohno came in third in the 1000 m men’s race, making him the most decorated skater ever, with 7 medals.

As of right now, the US has won 23 medals, six of them being gold.

In cross-country, the women had their 15 km pursuit. Marit Bjørgen once again wins gold for Norway, while Sweden’s Anna Haag, who came in fourth in the 10 km individual race, ended up with the silver medal.

The ice dancers had their compulsive dance program. Unlike pairs and singles skating, ice dancing has three nights of competition. The Russian team of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin are first after the first day, but don’t count out Charlie White and Meryl Davis, or Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, just yet. They came in third and fourth, with two evenings of competition to go. The third US team came in 14th.

Skeleton finished its final day of competition. Jon Montgomery of Canada took the gold for the men, and Great Britain’s Amy Williams won the ladies’ event. Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States came in fourth, only one tenth of a second away from the bronze.

The ski jumping quals for the large hill occurred today. Nicholas Alexander and Peter Frenette of the United States made it to tomorrow’s event.

As far as good moments go, Evan Lysacek won the gold medal in men’s figure skating. I haven’t had the chance to see his performance yet, but his short program was outstanding. Johnny Weir came in sixth, and Jeremy Abbot improved his standings from Monday night to come in ninth overall. Evgeni Plushenko had to be satisfied with silver. Interesting to note, whenever an American world defending champion in men’s figure skating is at the Olympics, they have always won gold.

The ladies didn’t take halfpipe gold (that was Torah Bright, the Australian flag bearer), but the United States did get silver and bronze. Hannah Teter came back to the medal stand for the silver, while 2002 gold medalist Kelly Clark earned the bronze.

In speed skating, the Netherlands had a good day, as they earned silver and bronze in the 1000 meter women’s event. Christine Nesbitt of Canada won home gold, however.

In the 20 km individual biathlon event, there was a tie for the silver medal, and Norway earned one of them. Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen also won the gold.

Lindsey Vonn fell during the slalom portion of today’s super combined. Her German friend, Maria Reisch, won the gold. The United State’s Julia Mancuso came home with her second silver of the games, and Sweden’s Anja Pärson won the bronze. Vonn should be able to compete in the next event, the Super G, on Saturday.

I haven’t been following hockey or curling, but it looks like the United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden are in the ladies’ hockey semifinals. The United States and Canada could face each other in the finals. That would be an interesting game. The men are still trying to determine who will make the quarterfinals. I’m not sure how the curlers are doing.