Apollo Ohno was just featured on NBC, talking about various aspects of the games- the U.S. men’s team’s surprising success, his own success, and the possibility that he may have laced up his skates for the last time. As he trains close to the Canadian border, he said that he understands how much winning the gold meant to the host nation this afternoon, but he was pulling, of course, for his countrymen. He said that he was thinking about how proud the U.S. should be. Here’s the amazing part– the U.S. really should not have made it this far. They were a young team facing experts. Think about it- who are the NHL’s really great players? Do the names Gretsky, Lucic, Brodeur and Ovechkin ring any bells? They play for North American teams in the hockey league… yet none of them are American. So our boys were up against the best, and fought absolutely valiantly. The silver is nothing to scoff at!

This may well have been Ohno’s last games. He said he will be at Sochi, Russia, in 2014… but he may not be wearing his skates.

My prediction is that Bode Miller won’t be participating either. NBC just featured a spolight on him as well, a gold, silve and broze medal winner within the last two weeks. Snowboarder Shaun White, too, was featured, as well as late Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who perished on a practice run shortly before the Opening Ceremonies.

While the games, then, started on a sad note, there are nothing but smiles today! The official Closing Ceremony is set to begin any minute now.