Regular Joe puts silver in his Pack

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY – A regular Joe twisted and soared to a silver medal in the men’s aerials competition in freestyle skiing, winning after one of his teammates went from a gold medal to last place on a single blown jump.

Joe Pack, 23, put the Americans back on the medal platform after the U.S. squad was shut out – for the only day of the Olympics – on Monday.

He’s a hometown favorite, a football and soccer star at nearby Park City High School who can be seen riding his dirt bike around his adopted hometown once the snow melts.

Before the games, he had spoken about the boost he would get from the local crowd. He proved quite prescient; one of the fans waved a sign encouraging, “Go Huge Joe.” After his first jump, Pack grabbed his ski like a guitar and mimed a few riffs for his audience.

“It was a great contest,” he said.

A stunning miscalculation by defending aerials gold medalist Eric Bergoust left him on his back and in last place after his second jump. The gold medal went to Ales Valenta of the Czech Republic, while Alexei Grichin of Belarus won bronze.

JUDGING

It’s the latest craze, City: questioning the Olympic judges: On Tuesday, it was the Lithuanians – fifth-place finishers in ice dancing – who filed a protest with the International Skating Union over the votes that dropped the pair in the standings during Monday night’s finals.

And the Russian Olympic Committee fired off a letter to the International Ski Federation, complaining of biased judging in the freetyle aerials competition. Russian Olga Koroleva led after the first jump of the final Monday, but slipped to fourth after the second jump.

The new complaints came as ISU investigators interviewed a championship judge who allegedly witnessed a “confession” of a vote-swapping deal by the French woman in the middle of the judging scandal.

CROSS-COUNTY-SKIING

Tchepalova wins gold: For the second time in as many Olympics, Julija Tchepalova of Russia has won a gold medal. This time, she did it much quicker.

Tchepalova, winner of the 30-kilometer freestyle in 1998, captured the first Olympic women’s 1.5K cross-county sprint. It was her second Salt Lake City medal, along with the bronze she won in the 15K freestyle event.

Evi Sachenbacher of Germany won the silver and Anita Moen of Norway the bronze. Favored Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic lost in a qualifying heart.

In the men’s 1.5K race, Tor Arne Hetland of Norway grabbed the lead in the final 100 meters to win his first gold medal in two Olympics. Peter Schlickenrieder of Germany won the silver and Cristian Zorzi of Italy won the bronze.

Americans Carl Swenson, Torin Koos, Lars Flora and Kris Freeman were all eliminated in the early heats.

CURLING

Swedish women eliminated: Great Britain moved into the Olympic semifinals with a pair of tie-breaker victories. They eliminated Sweden 6-4, then did the same to Germany, 9-5. Next for Great Britain: a medal round game against powerful Canada.