Vonn hopes to go out healthy, with medals

From wire dispatches

Lindsey Vonn arrived at her pre-Olympic news conference wearing gloves, which seemed a little odd since she was inside a warm auditorium.

“Don’t want to get sick,” she explained. “Just being safe. I wore them on the plane over here as well. Just trying to stay healthy.”

Finally healthy again, Vonn arrived in South Korea determined to return to the top of the podium after a devastating knee injury forced her to miss the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

At 33, Vonn is trying to become the oldest woman to win an Olympic Alpine medal. Her first race of these Olympics comes Friday in the super-G slalom.

“Obviously I’ve been waiting a very long time for these Olympics,” she said.

“Had a lot of ups and downs since Vancouver [in 2010]. But I feel like I’m coming into these Olympics on a hot streak. I’m skiing exceptionally well. I have a lot of confidence.”

Hockey

South Korea celebrated the first Olympic men’s hockey game in its history Thursday night in front of a flag-waving crowd cheering nearly every moment. Coaching the team was former Penguin and two-time Stanley Cup-winner Jim Paek. “This was huge: First night in the Olympics, first game ever in the Olympics, first goal scored in the Olympics, it was a fantastic night,” Paek said. “And why it was fantastic: because our players played extremely hard, and that’s what matters.” Seoul-born Paek said.

Figure Skating

The husband-and-wife figure skating pairs team of Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim finished 15th in their event but they were about more than just medals. “We wanted to skate for the 17 children who died in the Florida shooting,” Alexa said. “Today was about much more than us. Our motivation was to skate for those who were lost today.”