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American Morning

Record Breaking Day for American Athletes at Winter Olympics

Aired February 21, 2002 - 07:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, as Daryn was talking about, a huge record breaking day for American athletes at the Winter Olympics. With his father on hand, Jim Shea became the first ever third generation Olympian and then crowned the moment by winning the gold in the skeleton sledding event.

American athletes won a total of five medals on the day, their best one day Winter Olympic performance in history. All the excitement and inspiration came on the eve of a big moment for American figure skater Michelle Kwan, who now goes fort the gold tonight.

And CNN's Carol Lin is in Salt Lake City with the very latest for us now -- good morning.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Yes, we share your feelings about Jimmy Shea's win yesterday in the skeleton. It was amazing for this 33-year-old young man, who lost his grandfather, as you said, in a tragic car accident. And yesterday as he was taking the medals podium, he struggled to pull his grandfather's funeral card out of his helmet that he took with him down that amazing gold winning ride.

He took 15 curves face down on that icy shoot and he had his grandfather's funeral card in the helmet. He had his grandfather's gold medal from 1921 in his pocket and it brought him a lot of luck.

And Jimmy Shea said that when he took the podium stand, he knew that his grandfather was there in spirit with him, as well as his father, there at the start line.

The United States, it was a big win for them. USA wins three out of six skeleton medals. It is the first time that they have competed in the skeleton since 1954, and what a great way to kick off the sport. It was a really emotional moment.

ZAHN: And in addition to all that, if that wasn't enough, you had Apollo Anton winning his first gold, but maybe not the way he wanted to. Fill us in on that.

LIN: Yes, it was really bizarre. Yes, it was very bizarre. Paula, it was an all and out battle crossing that finish line, 19- year-old Apollo Anton pushing through, trying to overtake Korea's Kim Dong-sung. But Kim Dong Sun leans in and crosses the finish line first. And he grabs the Korean flag thinking that he's snatched the gold. But all of a sudden a judgment came in that he did something called cross tracking, which was lean in and prevent another skater, inhibiting another skater's movement.

So by default, Apollo Anton wins the gold medal there, for which he is grateful. Well, the Koreans now are really upset about this and they are filing a complaint and an appeal in this process. But Apollo Anton says he feels that he deserves the gold medal, that he did feel that Korea leaned into him and that it was a violation.

ZAHN: We're calling it the lawyers Olympics now, I guess.

LIN: Yes.

ZAHN: Let's talk about a little bit about the showdown for American women on ice tonight.

LIN: Oh, yes. Michelle Kwan, United States, going in for the gold. She lost the gold, won the silver in 1998. She is in first place. But close behind her is Irina Slutskaya from Russia, a big competitive match there, and don't count out 17-year-old Sasha Cohen from the United States. She is a young, rising star in figure skating. And we're going to preview more of that in the next hour.

ZAHN: And I know they don't like to run through their full routine in advance of the big night, but I know a bunch of folks analyzing it last night were saying Sasha Cohen just skated remarkably well during her rehearsals.

LIN: Yes. The girl's got skill and she's got attitude. ZAHN: All right, thanks, Carol. We will see you in a little bit. Appreciate it.

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