Silver Medal

ALBERTVILLE, France -- The U.S. women's 3,000-meter relay team in short track skating produced a wholly unexpected medal in the Albertville Olympics yesterday, the silver, and missed the gold that Canada won in a world record time of 4 minutes, 36.62 seconds by 1.23 seconds.It was the eighth medal won by the American team at these Games, matching the total of eight years ago in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. At the 1988 Calgary Games, the United States won just six medals.For a sport in which teamwork is critical and mistakes potentially dangerous, the U.S. effort might easily have been forgettable, or even disastrous.

Anne Arundel Community College's Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism Institute recently won 12 major awards at a regional competition in Washington and an international contest in New York City. Seven culinary students and four instructors were awarded a total of four gold, six silver and two bronze medals. "Winning four gold medals is an unprecedented accomplishment for the AACC Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism Institute," said Mary Ellen Mason, HCAT institute director. The first HCAT group won two gold, two silver and one bronze medal Nov. 8 at the Nation's Capital Chef's Association Category K Culinary Competition at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, where 24 students and instructors participated.

Charles Irwin has seen some Broadway magic over the years, but he had never seen the strange magic he saw this past Tuesday.In the finals of the high jump competition for men age 70 to 74 at the U.S. National Senior Sports Classic that morning, Irwin was entrenched in a battle for the gold medal. He and defending champ Hamilton Morningstar of Ann Arbor, Mich., had cleared 4 feet, but each had missed once at 4-foot-2.Morningstar was up first. He clipped the bar as he went over and what happened next seemed like a little miracle from one of the Broadway musicals Irwin performed in 40 years ago.Before Morningstar landed on the mat, the bar jumped up in the air, turned on its side and dropped perfectly back into place.

Clarksville's McFadden wins two silver medals PARALYMPICS Tatyana McFadden of Clarksville captured two silver medals yesterday at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. She started her day in the women's 200-meter final, where she won bronze at the 2004 Paralympic Games. This time she set a new personal best time, 28.43 seconds, to clinch silver. The Atholton graduate grabbed a second silver medal, this time in the women's 800 meters with a personal best time of 1:46.95. "Oh my gosh, I'm so overwhelmed," McFadden, 19, said after winning her second silver medal of the meet.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Dennis Koslowski was a little disoriented. He stumbled around the mat as sweat poured from his blond hair down to his square jaw and onto his muscular chest.In a span of nearly six minutes, Koslowski had lost and won, had seen his medal chances swing between gold and silver, and had felt his emotions dip and soar.But now, he finally was satisfied.Koslowski, 32, concluded his trip from a childhood of uncertainty to an international moment of triumph, winning a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling yesterday.

South River pole vaulter Jason Berger captured a silver medal at yesterday's sixth annual Pangaea International Track and Field Meet at the Fifth Regiment Armory.Competing in a meet that featured teams from throughout the state and one from Russia, Berger cleared the bar at 12 feet, 6 inches to claim second.Glenelg's Pat Tvarkunas won the event by clearing 13 feet and South River's Matt Freeman finished fifth by leaping 10 feet.The Seahawks' girls team got a third-place finish from Carolyn Calacicco in the 3,000 run.Calacicco finished the race in 11 minutes, 50.7 seconds, behind Aleksecwa Natacha of Russia and Bridget Quenzer of Mount de Sales.

ASHLEY CANTERNA, in four ballet positions, has the special recognition of being depicted on the cover of the October issue of the publication Dancer. The 15-year-old Linthicum girl recently returned from Varna, Bulgaria, where she won a silver medal in the junior division of the prestigious 2000 International Ballet Competition. Competing against some of the world's best, Ashley performed in three rounds, two with partners. She performed a classical piece with Ji Hoon Yeom, a soloist from a ballet school in Seoul, South Korea, and a contemporary pas de deux with her sister, Adrienne.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The youngest is 13 years old. The oldest is 16. They not only are the future of women's gymnastics in the United States, but they also are the present.Last night, under the bright lights and the big top at the Hoosier Dome, the U.S. women put a silver stamp on the 1991 World Championships.Using Kim Zmeskal's perfect 10 on the final vault, the U.S. women tumbled and leaped their way to a first-ever team medal, finishing with 394.116 points and the silver behind the Soviet Union (396.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Anita Nall's infectious smile was back.Her voice was vibrant and her eyes sparkled as brightly as the silver medal that had just been placed around her neck."

BIRMINGHAM, England -- The kids in leotards look up as Svetlana Boginskaya of Belarus glides across the balance beam like a ballerina on a grand stage. Boginskaya is supposed to be too old and too tall for this sort of thing, yet here she is, nearly five years past her prime, trying to write what could be the most improbable of Olympic tales.At 23, standing 5 feet 4, Boginskaya is back in gymnastics.During the European Gymnastics Championships, Boginskaya showed that she still can compete with the children by winning the silver medal in Saturday's all-around final.

BEIJING - Shawn Johnson had dark circles under her brown eyes and a headache, but when she jumped on the balance beam last night, she switched on her smile and defiantly pounded out a gold-medal routine. It wasn't the gold Johnson wanted. She had come here as the favorite to win the all-around title, had hoped to lead the U.S. team to a gold medal, had hoped to defend her world championship in the floor exercise and add to that a balance-beam gold medal. But through a succession of silvers - team, all-around, floor - Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, stuck out her chin, wiped away tears and insisted that silver was just as nice as gold.

BEIJING - The U.S. finally got untracked in the track and field competition at the Olympics yesterday. After a sluggish start over the first weekend that included no gold medals, Americans won five overall medals yesterday, including a 1-2-3 sweep in the men's 400-meter hurdles. Pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski also won a silver medal, and Stephanie Brown Trafton won a surprise gold in the women's discus - the first for a U.S. woman in the event since 1932. The U.S. hurdlers talked about the slow beginning for the track team at the Olympic Village and during the warm-up period for their final.

BEIJING - Nastia Liukin is having so much fun at these Olympics, she says she might stick around and compete again next year at the world championships. Shawn Johnson won't look beyond tomorrow's balance-beam final, her last chance to win a gold medal. Johnson won the silver medal in yesterday's floor exercise competition, her third silver medal of the Olympics, and it was a bittersweet finish for the defending world champion who had to compete first among the eight finalists and then watch and wait.

BEIJING - To win eight gold medals in a single Olympics, Michael Phelps not only needed to be at his personal peak for 10 days, he also needed his teammates to swim their best under intense pressure. That's exactly what happened today at the Water Cube. The U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team of Phelps, Cullen Jones, Garrett Weber-Gale and Jason Lezak came from behind to win the gold medal, upsetting France. The biggest hero of the day turned out to be Lezak, the American anchor. Lezak trailed France's Alain Bernard, the world-record holder in the 100-meter freestyle, by half a body length when the two swimmers turned from the final wall.

BEIJING - The water doesn't know what age you are, Dara Torres always says. Nor does it know how many medals you've won. Or how many precious tenths of a second you're behind the Dutch swimmer before diving into the pool in the clean-up position of the U.S. Olympic 400-meter relay team. Eight years after retiring, two years after giving birth, Torres began her latest and final Olympic competition today by swimming fiercely. But she was unable to overcome the lead of the Netherlands as the U.S. team won the silver medal.

A good way to enjoy watching the Summer Olympics is to snap on the television, put the recliner in the deep-comfort position and order Chinese takeout. I started my Olympics regime about a week early by ordering three versions of Moo Shu Pork, then settling into a recliner and alternately nibbling on the pancakes stuffed with meat and vegetables and working the remote control. Best Bite The Bamboo House Address: 26 Cranbrook Road, Cockeysville Phone: 410-666-9550 Hours: 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, noon-midnight Friday-Saturday The gold-medal winner.

Seven students from Mount Hebron High School won top awards recently on the National Spanish Examination.On the level one exam, Hye "Connie" Park won a gold medal for the second-highest score in Maryland, Kyoo "Chris" Park won a silver medal for the third-highest score, and Valerie Clark and Samuel Roy won bronze medals for the sixth- and seventh-highest scores, respectively.Jeffrey Weinstein won a silver medal for the fifth-highest score on the level three exam, and Karen Beck won a silver medal for the fourth-highest score on the level five exam.

Add steely nerved gambler to the list of words that can be used to define Kimmie Meissner. The Bel Air figure skater ditched her long program this fall, weeks before the start of the new season, betting that she could learn a more eye-catching routine in time to defend her national title in January and re-establish herself at the world championships in March. She did better than that. Despite some expected rocky moments at both Grand Prix events, Meissner finds herself competing tomorrow and Saturday at a competition that had eluded her: the Grand Prix Final.

Skiing BODE MILLER TV: Chs. 11, 4; 8 p.m.-11:30 p.m. When he's on the course, or off, Bode Miller is always the man to watch. The controversial Miller finished fifth in the downhill Sunday, which, considering the competition and small margin for error, was neither particularly disappointing nor unexpected. He's still a factor whenever he skis, which will be in today's alpine combined - a downhill run followed by two slalom runs. Miller won the silver medal in the combined in 2002, finishing first in the slalom but 15th in the downhill.