Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

The Olympic flame at Vancouver. (Photo by Mark Maloney)

February figured to be a tough time to be named Athlete of the Month by the U.S. Olympic Committee. 

It was as, inevitably, an Olympic gold medal wasn’t good enough for some nominees.

The USOC selections, announced Monday:

          Female Athlete of the Month — Julia Mancuso, Alpine skiing

          Male Athlete of the Month — Bode Miller, Alpine sking

          Team of the Month — USA I four-man bobsled

Mancuso won a pair of silver medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, in super combined and downhill. In her third Olympics, Mancuso finished 56 hundredths of a second behind teammate Lindsay Vonn in the downhill and 0.94 behind Germany’s Maria Riesch in the super combined.

Miller took a gold, silver and bronze from the Games, becoming the all-time winningest male in U.S. Alpine ski history. He is the 12th Alpine skier to win three medals at a single Olympics. A four-time Olympian, he has five career Olympic medals, second on the men’s Alpine list to Norway’s Khetil Andre Aamodt’s eight.

Miller’s Vancouver medals came in super combined (gold), super-G (silver) and downhill (bronze).

“The Night Train” became the first U.S. four-man bobsled team to claim Olympic gold since 1948. Driver Steve Holcomb, side-pushers Justin Olsen and Steve Mesler, and brakeman Curt Tomasevicz led after each of the four runs down the Whistler Sliding Centre track.

In the monthly awards, USA I finished ahead of the silver-medal squads in Nordic combined skiing and men’s hockey.

Mancuso was followed by silver-medal hockey player Jenny Potter and short-track speedskater Katherine Reutter, who won a silver and a bronze.

Behind Miller came gold-medal figure skater Evan Lycasek and triple-medal winning short-track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno.

Jeremy Abbott

Figure skater Jeremy Abbott, tennis player Serena Williams and the Women’s National Under-18 Hockey Team were named Tuesday as Athletes and Team of the Month for January by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Abbott won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship by beating, among others, two-time champ Evan Lysacek and three-time winner Johnny Weir. At 23, Abbott is the oldest first-time national champion since Rudy Galindo in 1996. The win also give Abbott a spot in next month’s World Championships.

Williams swept the singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open, going 10-1 for the month. She won the Aussie singles title by defeating Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3, a day after teaming with sister Venus to take the doubles crown. Serena, regaining the No. 1 singles ranking, now has 10 major singles titles and eight majors in doubles.

U18 Team USA

The under-18 hockey squad won the International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s U18 Championship for the second year in a row. Team USA finished 5-0, outscoring opponents 58-4. Included was an 18-0 semifinals victory over the Czech Republic, followed by a 3-2 overtime victory of Canada in the finals. Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.), who scored the game winner against Canada, led tournament goal-scorers with eight.

Her teammates: Brittany Ammerman of New Jersey; Blake Bolden of Ohio; Corinne Boyles and Megan Bozek of Illinois; Kate Brock, Jillian Dempsey and Jackie Young of Massachusetts; Caroline Campbell of Missouri; Brianna Decker, Alex Kelter, Jamie Kenyon, Amanda Kessel and Alex Rigsby of Wisconsin; Lindsey Fry of Arizona; Alex Nelson of Minnesota; Meagan Mangene of New York; Amanda Pelkey of Vermont, and Madison Packer and Taylor Wasylk of Michigan.

Results

Men — 1. Jeremy Abbott, figure skating; 2. Steve Mocco, wrestling; 3. Tyler Walker, Paralympic skiing.

Women — 1. Serena Williams, tennis; 2. Lindsey Vonn, Alpine skiing; 3. Alissa Czisny, figure skating.

Team — 1. U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Hockey Team; 2. Bob/Mike Bryan, tennis; 3. Keauna McLaughlin/Rockne Brubaker, figure skating