Australia's Canadian-born mogul silver medalist Dale Begg-Smith felt the full force of the Aussie media after his lukewarm response to finishing in second place on Sunday.

Begg-Smith barely cracked a smile as he received his medal, infuriating journalists in his adopted homeland who let the skier know what they thought of his apparent nonchalance.

He was described as “Mr. Miserable”, “the ice man”, and “Mr. Mysterious”, and critics said his lack of emotion made them cringe.

Apparently a silver medal just isn't enough to make the Spam Man flash his pearly whites. Then again, he didn't exactly do cartwheels when he won the gold medal in Torino, so I don't know what the Australian press expected.

Snowboarder Torah Bright is probably Australia's next best hope for a medal in Thursday's half pipe event. The bubbly 23-year-old has bags of energy and an infectious personality, so expect her smile to melt the ice if she finishes inside the top three.

Nodar Kumaritashvili, the luger who died tragically when his sled flipped off the track in practice Friday, phoned his father before the Olympics to tell him he was scared about the layout of the course.

The 21-year-old Georgian told his father David he was afraid of one of the high-speed turns, but that he would still go as fast as he could in an attempt to do the very best he could, it emerged Monday.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Kumaritashvili said he had urged his son to use his legs to slow himself down on the part of the track that worried him. But Nodar apparently said he had come too far in his career to slow down, and that he would have to go as fast as possible if he wanted to fulfill his ambition of a top-10 finish.

Organisers allowed the competition to carry on after making several changes, which included putting a safety fence around the faster bends, padding the steel poles on the outside of the track, and moving the starting point further down the course.

Germany's Claudia Pechstein made a last-gasp bid to overturn her Olympic ban on Monday after filing a second appeal against her two-year suspension.

Pechstein is hoping to compete in her fifth Olympic Games, but her original appeal against abnormal blood levels was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in November.

Although Germany's most successful Winter Olympian never actually failed a blood test, results of a test at the World Allround Championships suggested she may have benefitted from a transfusion.

The women's 5,000-meter final will take place a week tomorrow on Feb. 24, although it is not clear whether a decision will be made in time for her to compete.

If Pechstein is not able to race, expect Martina Sablikova to take up the mantle of favorite.

Spectators have had to wait until Day Four of the Games for action to get underway on the apline skiing course, but it was worth the wait, if only to hear the names of parts of the Dave Murray downhill course for the first time.

There's the Loveshack, the Toilet Bowl, the Weasel, Boyd's Chin, Fallaway, and Coach's Corner.

The course, named after a member of Canada's famed "Crazy Canucks", one of Canada's most successful Men's Alpine Ski Teams, is over 3km in length and descends about 780 meters. It has long been respected as one of the most challenging courses in the world.

Veteran Swiss skier Didier Cuche has not always had ambitions of representing his country on the Olympic stage.

35-year-old Cuche followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a certified butcher in Switzerland before he got his true calling in life.

At the World Championships in Val d'Isere last year, Cuche became the oldest man to win a WC or Olympic super-G race at the age of 34.

Cuche, from Les Bugnenets , was the subject of a 2007 French documentary called Le Doute meaning The Doubt, which followed his career as a 30-year-old skier returning to the sport after a serious knee injury.

The race favorite in the men's downhill, with his hand in a cast after breaking his thumb,

I learned last night that ice on an Olympic speed skating rink needs to freeze at 15.8 degrees Fahrenheit (-9 degrees centigrade). I also discovered that getting water to freeze evenly is apparently harder than it looks.

Problems with three ice resurfacing machines at the speed skating venue caused a lengthy delay Monday during the men's 500m,

Two machines are used to clean the ice, but the Richmond Olympic Oval was down to just one because of problems with the other. Then the second one acted up after the first 10 pairs completed their opening 500m race.
A third backup machine without Olympic logos was sent out, but it also failed to perform a smooth resurfacing.

A Zamboni used at the Olympic Oval in Calgary was on its way to Richmond and should arrive Tuesday.

Usually when they re-ice, the machine strips off the top couple of millimetres and then lays fresh water on the top which refreezes. The two initial machines, not the usual brand because of Olympic contractual reasons, broke down and spilled a load of water, causing inconsistent patches of ice all the way around the risnk, especially on the turns.

Just how close did Bode Miller come to winning a gold medal on Day Four of the Games?

Well, he was 0.07 seconds behind Didier Defago, and a further 0.02 adrift from Aksel Lund Svindal.

That may not really mean much to the casual viewer, other than to know that he "only just lost".

So, if you're tired about hearing about "two tenths ahead" or "six one hundredths behind", consider this: Svindal finished 1.9 meters behind the winner, and Miller finished 54 centimeters—one-and-a-half feet—behind him.

Basically Miller missed out on the silver medal by a quarter of the length of one of his skis, and the gold medal by an additional ski length.

US alpine skier Lindsey Vonn got her first chance to test her injured right shin in two training sessions on Monday.

After four consecutive days of postponements and cancellations, the 25-year-old covergirl of American skiing hit the slopes for the first time since the injury almost two weeks ago.

Vonn led all skiers on the testing upper section of the downhill course, but she said the course was a lot bumpier than she had predicted.

Saying the practice run was probably the worse thing for her rehab, Vonn said she hit to fight through the pain to complete the run, even though she took painkillers and used numbing cream on the sore shin.

She will be considered one of the favorites, if not the favorite, in the first women's alpine skiing event tomorrow, although she will hope the course is a little smoother than it was yesterday afternoon.

The downhill is Vonn's best chance to win a gold medal at the Games, so expect her to put everything on the line to make it to the bottom of Cyprus Mountain in front of everyone else.

A problem-free competition tomorrow will give her a lot of confidence for the rest of the Olympics, but any big fall could put her participation in the other four races in doubt. Keep an eye on Vonn if she trains today to get a better idea of how her shin responded to yesterday's practice.

South Korea make history in the men's 500-meter speed skating with Tae-Bum Mo winning the gold medal, the first time his country have succeeded at this distance.

Here are four facts about Mo:

• Mo won the biggest race of his life on his 21st birthday. He said his victory was a present for the Koreans.

• Mo wasn't even considered to be a serious contender in the race, considering his best distances are 1,000 and 1,500 meters.

• Competing as a Junior, he won two Gold medals at the World Junior Championships in 2006 at Erfurt in the 500 meters and 1,500 meters events.

• Mo was born in Seoul, South Korea. He is 5′10″ tall, he weighs 158 pounds, and he makes his home in Namyangju, South Korea.