Miracle in Vancouver -- Evan Lysacek Gets the Gold in Men's Figure Skating!

For the first time since 1988, a Russian did not win the gold medal in men's figure skating at the Winter Olympics, and the American, Evan Lysacek, stood at the top of the medal's podium at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

This is not quite like the Miracle on Ice, a theme I have written about, when the US men's hockey team received the gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, but close!

I had written earlier in this blog about Lysacek's coach, Frank Carroll, who had coached such Olympians as Michelle Kwan, but whose students had never, until now, received a gold medal at the Olympics. I liked Carroll's quote, that you are only as good as your last student. Now, Carroll, the coach, and Lysacek, the figure skater, are clearly at the top of their careers

According to The New York Times, when the final scores were posted, Carroll turned to Evan Lysacek and said: My God, you’re the gold medalist! You are the Olympic champion! They hugged. Congratulations to both of them for their incredibly hard work, discipline, dedication, determination, and for believing that technical mastery and artistry would yield the top prize in figure skating!

Kudos also to Johnny Weir who skated beautifully and who earned 6th place.

Yes, Evan Lysacek, despite not doing a quad, got the gold, and Plushenko, of Russia, got the silver. Takahashi of Japan was the bronze medalist.

Time to celebrate the comeback of US Figure Skating!