WHISTLER, B.C. — Noelle Pikus-Pace spent 10 years chasing a medal, and missed it by 0.10 seconds.
SEATTLE, WA - Vickie Williams, the owner of the L.E.M.S. Bookstore, the state's only black-owned bookstore, died last Friday at age 65. The bookstore is located along Rainier Avenue South in the.
Spoiled by a spoiler.
Amy Williams finished off a surprising — some protesters said tainted — run to the women’s skeleton gold medal at the Vancouver Games on Friday, giving Britain its first individual Winter Olympics title since figure skater Robin Cousins prevailed at Lake Placid in 1980.
“It was the perfect performance,” bronze medalist Anja Huber of Germany said. “She’s the right Olympic champion.”
Not everyone agrees.
The International Federation of Bobsleigh and Tobogganing said Canada filed a protest after the race about the helmet Williams used. A person familiar with the filing told The Associated Press that it was “more detailed” than the one filed by the United States a day earlier on the same grounds, that a series of tiny ridges called spoilers across the top of Williams’ helmet gave her an illegal edge.
“It’s pretty much the same as everyone else’s helmet,” Williams said. “And if people want to try and play mind games that’s fine.”
Williams finished four runs at the Whistler Sliding Center in 3 minutes, 35.64 seconds. Germans took silver and bronze. Kerstin Szymkowiak finished 0.56 seconds off Williams’ pace and Huber came in third.
Pikus-Pace finished fourth in her final career race, missing bronze by 0.10 seconds.
“I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied unless I gave it everything I had,” said the longtime racer from Eagle Mountain, Utah. “And I think I did that.”
Montgomery takes gold for Canada
Jon Montgomery has a maple leaf and “Canada” tattooed above his heart.
Now he’s got something to hang next to it.
The redhead with the scruffy beard and penchant for speed, won the Olympic gold medal in men’s skeleton, snatching it away from Latvia’s Martins Dukurs, who had been nearly flawless during three heats but made a critical mistake within feet of the finish.
![Williams Williams](http://robinchelldesign.com/images/kerstin.jpg)
Montgomery completed his four runs down the Whistler Sliding Center track, a course he knows so well he could probably navigate it blindfolded, in 3 minutes, 29.73 seconds — .07 seconds faster than Dukurs. Russia’s Alexander Tretyakov won the bronze.
On the last run of the night, Dukurs was carving down the ice, on his way to Latvia’s first gold medal in the Winter Olympics when he suddenly lost his line in the final curve, a long, sweeping right known as “Thunderbird.” He began weaving up and down the banked walls and when he finally came down, he brushed hard against the side, costing him valuable seconds.
American Zach Lund, who was kicked out of the last Olympics because a banned substance was in a hair-restoration product he took, was fifth, 0.52 from a medal.