Biden collision hurts ex-Oly duo

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This article was published 15/02/2010 (6011 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — TWO former Olympians were injured when the United States vice-president’s motorcade was involved in a three-car collision on Sunday near Vancouver, RCMP said Sunday.

Joe Biden’s vehicle was not involved in the crash and he arrived at his destination safely, RCMP officials said in a news release. The vice-president was in British Columbia to watch U.S. athletes compete in the 2010 Olympics.

U.S. media identified the injured women as Peggy Fleming, an ice skating gold medallist in 1968, and Vonetta Flowers, who won a gold medal in bobsledding in 2002. Both were taken to hospital and released later on Sunday, according to a statement given to U.S. media.

PITTSBURGH — While the Ryan Getzlaf watch was in full effect Sunday, Team Canada officials were dealing with the added concern of seeing Sidney Crosby wincing in pain in his last NHL game before the Olympics.

The Pittsburgh star, and arguably Canada’s top centre, was seen grimacing on the bench after blocking a slapshot in the Penguins’ Sunday game against the Nashville Predators.

Crosby took a Kevin Klein shot off his right foot halfway through the second period, but continued through his shift. When he arrived at the team bench, Crosby bent over for a couple of minutes.

He did return to the ice for his next shift and played the rest of the game, won 4-3 by the Predators in a shootout.

Canada’s men play their first hockey game of the Olympics on Tuesday against Norway.

Team management is also keeping its eye on Anaheim’s Getzlaf, who is trying to play through a sprained ankle and is questionable for the Winter Games.

VANCOUVER — Heavy rains have washed away so much snow at Cypress Mountain in the last few days that Vancouver Olympic organizing officials were forced to refund general admission tickets for the men’s and women’s snowboardcross.

The decision affects about 8,000 spectators and would represent $400,000 in lost ticket revenue. That number, however, could grow much larger unless the organizing committee manages to find a way to replace the lost snow. General admission accounts for about 40 per cent of the mountain’s overall spectators.

There are eight more events to be held at Cypress Mountain, including men’s halfpipe on Wednesday and women’s halfpipe on Thursday. Dave Cobb, the organizing committee’s deputy CEO and executive vice-president said organizers would wait before announcing any further cancellations.

— From the news services