cornell's olympic showing (pat-pat)

[pfibiger]

I don't know about taking classes, but he does seem to live in Ithaca during the summers. From an Ithaca Journal story about Cornell related Olympians:


Joe Nieuwendyk
Canadian men's hockey team

Cornell player 1985-87

Nieuwendyk is closing in on 500 career goals in his National Hockey League career. He has scored 489 career goals and is having a great season with 20 goals and 18 assists with the Dallas Stars.

This will be Nieuwendyk's second Olympics. He also was a part of the 1998 Canadian squad.

Nieuwendyk spends his summers in Ithaca with his wife, Tina, and young daughter, Tyra, who turns 1 at the end of April. The Nieuwendyks are expecting their second child in September.

"It's going to be a really exciting Olympics, really sentimental and patriotic," said Nieuwendyk, who said he flies the American flag outside his Dallas home.

 
full article:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20020202/topstories/1574723.html

[Beeeej]

We seem to have this discussion on a twice-yearly basis, and the same people always express the same recollections.

As of the last time I checked, about a year ago, Joe had not completed his degree.  It's possible but unlikely that he's done it since.

Beeeej

[Greg Berge]

> The Nieuwendyks are expecting their second child in September.

Would it be bad form to hope for a boy (class of '23)?  ;-)

[Erica]

Hughes lands on Wheaties box

From staff and wire reports

More reason to add Sarah to the list of important who's who related to Cornellians. I'm telling you, she could easily make over a million dollars a year if she really wants to. In addition to the Wheaties box, she is presenting tomorrow night at the Grammies and sitting next to Janet Jackson. And I thought she didn't go to the Closing ceremonies because she had the flu....


SALT LAKE CITY — Olympic champion Sarah Hughes will
have her image in every cereal aisle in America.
Wheaties, the so-called "Breakfast of Champions,"
announced Monday that it will put the 16-year-old
American figure skater on its boxes. The gold
medalist put on a stunning performance last week to
upset compatriot and favorite Michelle Kwan and
Russian Irina Slutskaya at the Salt Lake City
Winter Games.

Wheaties first put a star athlete on its boxes in
the early 1930s, featuring former Olympic swimming
champion Johnny Weissmuller.

Hughes will become only the second figure skater to
appear on the box.

Kristi Yamaguchi, 1992 gold medalist, was first.

[RichS]

There was a nice video salute to Sarah Hughes at the Garden last night between periods of the Rangers-Devils game.  Included was a clip of her performance some years ago...I could not hear from what year...when she skated at MSG.

[Ken71]

Rick Reilly of SI weighs in on Sarah -

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2002/02/26/life_of_reilly/

[Al DeFlorio]

Yikes, what a great article.  Greg's *really* gonna love it.

Rich, thanks for letting us know about the MSG salute.

[CUlater \'89]

That's a nice piece by Reilly but as usual he overstates things to make his case.

He writes:
"Hughes had been outskating diva Michelle Kwan for two years. In speed, and in height and difficulty of jumps, Hughes had blown by Kwan as if she were a 1975 Plymouth Duster. "

Of course, presentation is a factor too and actually is the more important factor in the long program, since it is used to break ties (and thus led to Sarah's gold).  Over the past eight years, there have been several skaters who were better at the jumps than Kwan, but she was acknowledged, even by her critics (other than Greg of course), to be a far superior skater in terms of presentation.  Her failure to win the gold in either of the last two Olympics is a victory for those who put athleticism before grace on the ice (Note:  I'm not saying she deserved to win this year, she didn't, but if she had, there would be more of a case for emphasizing the presentation elements rather than the technical elements for up-and-coming skaters).

He also writes:
"So while Kwan and Irina Slutskaya bonked under finals pressure, Hughes looked like a kid running in a meadow."

Even Sarah herself admits she was under no pressure when she skated since she felt like her chances were so remote, so she just went out to have fun and do the best she could.  So it was a lot easier to look like "a kid running in a meadow" for her than the others, for whom this was their last chance to win.


Now if only he could have mentioned the hockey connection!

[Jordan 04]

And speaking of tributes to her, there's going to be a parade down good 'ole Middle Neck Road on Sunday....starting up at the train station and heading down to Parkwood, where she grew up skating.

Although I've also read that actually her first lesson was at Iceland in NHP  :-D

[nshapiro]

And, since Great Neck North does not have a marching band, the Great Neck South marching band will probably be in the parade....

South always was the favorite "showcase" of the district, North was...and probably still is...treated like the ugly stepsister

[Jordan 04]

I'd hardly call our collection a "marching band" ;-)

More of a  "let's take the symphonic band outside and have them walk" band.

[jtwcornell91]

I was remarking to my officemate's wife that it sounds like Hughes should always come in fourth in the short program so she can skate with no pressure in the finals. :-)