Day 4’s Olympic Stud: United Statesman Seth Wescott, who defended his title as gold medalist in the Men’s Snowboard Cross. Wescott started out at the back of the final race, but like a chess prodigy or a brilliant Stratego player, he struck like lightning when it counted. A few well-timed jumps and a nasty corner cut-off took him to first place, robbing Canadian Mike Robertson of what seemed like an easy win. (Down, Canada, Down!) Wescott then draped himself in the American flag, while his soul patch handled interviews from the adoring media. Watch Wescott describe his winning run, with a lazy drawl that only further underscores the mad genius of his run.
Honorable Mention: Didier Defago. It sounds like the secret identity of a fashionable European superhero, a continental Superman disguised by day as a melancholic tabloid journalist for La Planete Quotidienne. But no: Didier Defago is the Swiss skier who won the gold medal in the downhill. In the process, he gave Switzerland its first downhill gold medal in 22 years, thereby becoming the greatest hero in Swiss history. (He also kicked Bode Miller down to a bronze medal, thereby downgrading part one of Miller’s comeback narrative from “respectfully unimpressive” to “tantalizingly unsatisfying.”) And did we mention Didier’s got a cleft chin big enough to swallow Luxembourg?
If You Like Crashes: NBC is keeping it classy with a a daily “Thrills and Spills” recap (spoiler alert: It’s mostly Spills). Hooray for Fail-Porn!
More Olympics coverage:
Olympic Stud of Day 3: Canadian skier Alexandre Bilodeau
Olympic Stud of Day 2: U.S. speed skater Apolo Ohno
Olympic Stud of Day 1: U.S. curler Chris Plys
PopWatch on Ice: Shen and Zhao win pairs gold following collective gasp
Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony: Best and Worst
Image credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
“La Planete Quotidienne” – love it! LOL
I just love how these snowboarders, at the top of their game, racing down these tracks in torn jeans! Awe to the some.
Really?? I actually can’t STAND the Team USA pants this time around!! Unless I am mistaken, they are not actually jeans, but rather snowboarding pants made to look like dirty, torn jeans. Which: UGH. Making Team USA look like the d-bags on the mountain who ski/ride in jeans? For the OLYMPICS, no less? Classy.
WTFNYC is right, they are snowpants made to look like denim. Burton (A VT company, homestate to many of the Ski/Snowboard team)does the Team USA Snowboard outfits, and they came up with the distressed denim look. The plaid jackets the you sae coaches wearing at the snowboard cross gate are also part of the uniform. I don’t think they look like d-bags, but I am also not a huge fan of the uniform.
Fail Porn! It’s not just for NASCAR fans. I was torn between Defago and Westcott for SOTD, so either was a fine choice. I’m no fan of Bode Miller, but his run was very good and was out of the gold by only 9/100 of a second.
Does technically being two people disqualify China’s pairs skaters Shen and Zhao from being stud of the day? Because no one–no one–is more beautiful on the ice. And the ability to hurl another human being–or be hurled–as far and as high as they do on every throw seems to beg for stud status.
I totally agree. I’m really surprised they weren’t the collective studs of the day. And they broke a 20 year streak of Russians winning the gold in pairs skating.
Man, I was so looking forward to another Canadian getting a gold medal- darn you Seth! But good job anyway.
yay for Seth Wescott! I had absolutely no idea who the guy was before the games, but I probably rewound my DVR like five times to watch the race over again. So glad he won- and definitely the stud of the day!
Congrats Scott! you rock. Is and was a fun sport to watch-the board pants were a little sloppy looking for the olympics. Here is to our FIRST little Alaskan Native Callie to do well today!
Hey! I resent the jab at bode miller. the dude is a skiing legend… the most decorated alpine skier in US history. not to mention he lost the gold by only .09 seconds c’mon!
completely agree, kat and lisa simpson (above). I’m not a fan of Bode’s but it’s a great accomplishment to medal, period, and as a new skier, I can’t even imagine going that fast down a hill!! Let’s show some love for our athletes that work hard, not tear them down.
Congrats, Seth. Just so you know, the Charlie Chaplin hair growth goes ABOVE the mouth. Find a razor…Stat!
They need to recognize the sexy that is the male half of the German pair who won silver last night in ice skating. He has a Dr. Hotness Monster from Grey’s quality about him.
Oops I meant bronze.
YES – thats exactly who i thought of! i suggest that stud of the day be awarded to the pants the male ice skaters wore.
Yay for Seth! I loved watching him defend his gold medal. It was fun watching him win 4 years ago & it was awesome watching him come from behind to win the gold again!
“while his soul patch handled interviews from the adoring media.” hahaha awesome..I love me some soul patch on my men
Hey, to be fair, Wescott is the defending gold champs and Robertson wasn’t even expected to medal, so it was hardly like he rose up as the underdog (re: Robertson’s easy win). But it was a hell of a comeback, and choked as I was to see us lose, can’t help but respect the guys skills. Great races, and event.
Watching the race with Seth Westcott, was a totally cool & exciting for me, and as a older(60)woman, he is pretty hot, as a snowboarder,,,keep on with it Seth!
The snowboard cross final got my room of disaffected college students screaming at the TV and cheering for the US. Go Olympics!
Seth is definitely a hottie! What an amazing win. My honorable mention would be Aleksandr Smirnov & his amazing thighs.