BEIJING (AP) — The United States has gained two more medals at the Beijing Games.
American and two-time Olympic champion David Wise took home the silver in ski halfpipe with his first-run score of 90.75. The 31-year-old Wise was the only winner the men’s event had ever known until he was beaten by New Zealand’s Nico Porteous.
American Alex Ferreira threw down a strong first run, twirling his right ski pole at the bottom in elation before ending up with the bronze.
Porteous overcame the swirling wind to win on a day when many skiers couldn’t land their best tricks due to the strong gusts.
Also at Beijing:
— The last Alpine skiing race of the Beijing Olympics has been pushed back a day because of strong winds. The mixed team parallel event was rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday, the last day of the Winter Games. It was supposed to start Saturday morning and was delayed twice because of gusts of up to about 40 mph before it was scrapped for the day.
— Chinese organizers say a total of 97,000 spectators have attended medal events, less than two-thirds of the 150,000 predicted on the eve of the Olympics more than two weeks ago. The number was revealed at a meeting of IOC members by the executive vice president of the local organizing committee. Plans to sell tickets to international visitors were scrapped last year because of the coronavirus pandemic and the block was extended to residents of China in January.
