U.S. curlers get their first victories

The American curling teams finally reached the win column yesterday.

U.S. men curlers beat France, 4-3, after four straight losses. Regular skip John Shuster was benched for the match because of his poor shotmaking. Alternate Chris Plys was promoted to the skip spot and vice skip Jason Smith threw last rock.

The U.S. foursome tied it with two in the ninth after France scored a deuce in the seventh for a 3-1 lead. Smith's final throw gave the Americans three stones in the house, and France couldn't get closest at the end.

Honorary team captain Vernon Davis, a Pro Bowl tight end for the San Francisco 49ers, was in attendance to cheer on the team.

U.S. women's skip Debbie McCormick bumped out a Russian stone with her last rock, giving the Americans a 6-4 victory - their first after an 0-3 start.

The women won with a deuce in the final end. After McCormick's shot, the Americans raised their brooms amid chants of "USA! USA!"

American halfpipe bronze medalist Scotty Lago is heading home from the Olympics after risque pictures of him showed up on the Internet.

Lago, who was awarded his bronze medal Thursday night, was at a party, wearing a Team USA T-shirt when somebody snapped a photo of a woman kneeling below Lago's waist to kiss his medal. The picture showed up yesterday on the TMZ Web site.

He apologized to officials at the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and voluntarily decided to return home.

Meanwhile, having already won a pair of halfpipe gold medals, Shaun White said said he'd consider competing in halfpipe and slopestyle if that event is part of the Sochi Games. In slopestyle, riders do huge tricks while going down the mountain and through "features" - rails, big jumps and bumps.

Canadian Jon Montgomery won gold in the men's event. Latvian Martins Dukurs won silver and Alexander Tretyakov won bronze.

Malvern Prep product Eric Bernotas finished 14th for the United States. Other American finishers were Zach Lund, fifth; and John Daly, 17th.

Amy Williams won gold to give Britain its first individual Winter Olympics title since figure skater Robin Cousins prevailed at Lake Placid in 1980. Germans Kerstin Szymkowiak and Anja Huber took silver and bronze, respectively.

The win was not without controversy, as the Associated Press reported that protest was filed quickly after the race about the helmet Williams used, the second in as many days. Several nations, including the United States, argue that Williams' helmet doesn't conform to aerodynamic standards.

Noelle Pikus-Pace, of Eagle Mountain, Utah, finished fourth in her final race before retirement, missing bronze by a mere 0.10 seconds. Katie Uhlaender of Breckenridge, Colo., finished 11th in 3:37.93.

Two Swiss competitors have withdrawn from events following scary crashes, including a strong medal contender.

Swiss driver Daniel Schmid, who was not a medal favorite, pulled out of the two-man and four-man bob for "safety reasons" after two practice crashes. Yesterday, his sled overturned during training and his brakeman was taken from the track in an ambulance, then flown to Vancouver for observation. A team doctor said there were no serious injuries.

Swiss-1 driver Beat Hefti withdrew from two-man because of a concussion in a crash Wednesday. He hasn't decided whether to race in the four-man, which starts next Friday.

The International Ski Federation dismissed Austria's complaints about the bindings on the boots of normal hill winner Simon Ammann, of Switzerland. He will use those boots in today's large hill competition.

Ammann flew past his main rivals in the qualifying session yesterday. He jumped even farther in the trial round.

Marit Bjoergen, of Norway, became the first double gold-medal winner of the Vancouver Olympics after a dominant victory in the women's 15-kilometer pursuit. Anna Haag, of Sweden, won silver, with favorite Justyna Kowalczyk, of Poland, getting bronze in a photo finish.

Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic was ruled out for the season with four broken ribs and a collapsed lung, injuries she suffered before her bronze-medal performance in the individual classical sprint. *