By the end of Friday, the eighth day of the Vancouver Olympic Games, the United States still possessed its lead in the medal count. America now holds 20 total medals (six gold, six silver, and six bronze) and is well on its way to surpassing the 25-medal effort in 2006. For the full tally, check out our medal tracker.
After losing their first four matches, the USA curling team decided to bench skip John Shuster. The move paid off for the Americans, who finally notched their first win with a 4-3 triumph over France.
In the men's Super G competition, America's own Bode Miller took home the silver. Once again, Miller was denied his first ever Olympic gold medal, this time by Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal.
Men's and women's skeleton concluded with medal rounds. In the women's event, Great Britain won its first medal of the Games when Amy Williams earned the gold. And in the men's event, Canada's Jon Montgomery won the gold after holding off the Latvian brothers, Martins and Tomass Dukurs. And we were reminded once again that skeleton looks absolutely terrifying. Which is probably why it's called "skeleton." "Ghost," "witch," and "vampire" would also have been suitable names.
There were weird NyQuil advertisements.
Sweden's hockey team avoided a huge upset at the hands of Belarus.
Ice dancing at the 2010 Games has officially commenced.
And finally, we learned that the father of a USA skier once ran one of the largest drug cartels in American history.
Follow along with SB Nation as we enter Day 9 of the Games, and explore our Winter Olympics section to keep up with everything that's going on in Vancouver.