Bill Demong is a thrill seeker on and off the ski jump

What's crazier -- executing a 400-foot jump on skis or suggesting you'd rather win a gold medal than have your fiancee accept your marriage proposal.

Well, everyone knows American Nordic Combined gold medalist Bill Demong is a thrill-seeker. After all, it takes guts to stick with a sport that can get you killed and is virtually unknown outside of Northern Europe. But Demong was treading in dangerous new territory during a Thursday interview on Fox News.

Asked if his marriage proposal was more important than winning gold, Demong said, "I gotta say ... she could say no once, I still got another chance. This one was like 'this all of nothing right now,' 25 years on the line!"

In fairness, Demong took about 5 seconds to formulate his response, and at least he told the truth.

Check out the entire interview:

-- Austin Knoblauch

Vonn thinks tireless Billy Demong may be two tacos short of a Nordic combination

American ski queen Lindsey Vonn, who thinks she worked hard to earn her gold medal in the downhill, says she is in awe of nordic combined long hill gold medalist Billy Demong.

"I love Billy," Vonn said Friday after she failed to finish her first run of slalom. "He's such a hard worker. I've never seen anyone like him before. I think he truly loves pain. He pushes himself to the limit every day of his life."

Vonn remembers once filming a commercial during training in Chile.

"I was up shooting on the hill and he just hiked up the whole mountain, and around the mountain, up and down," she said. "In the summer when I'm in the gym, he's off doing cycling tours with Lance Armstrong and almost beating them. I'm always shocked by the physical excursion he puts himself through. I think he honestly enjoys it."

-- Chris Dufresne

Bill Demong wins gold, Johnny Spillane silver in large hill Nordic Combined

Bill Demong won gold and Johnny Spillane won silver, his third silver medal of the Vancouver Games, in large hill Nordic Combined on Thursday.

 

Demong, starting sixth in the 10-kilometer cross-country after the morning ski jump, quickly made up time on the leaders and won easily.

 

Despite falling near the end of the race, Spillane passed Bernhard Gruber of Austria to win the silver. Gruber ended up with bronze.

 

The U.S., which had never won a Nordic Combined medal before these Games, now has four total. Spillane won a silver in the normal hill event, and the U.S. won silver in the team event.

 

The cross-country race was run in much better weather than the morning ski jump, but the soft, sometimes choppy snow put a premium on the proper wax and ski setup. Unlike the team relay when Demong was done in by bad skis, he had the perfect combination to put the Americans atop the podium.
   

But the damage had been done to the sport's better athletes.

“It's a joke,” Norway's Magnus Moan fumed of the final Nordic combined race at the Winter Games after managing to jump just 112.5 meters in a driving, wet snow and tail wind that pushed him down early.

Day by day: U.S. Olympic medal haul so far

The U.S. has won 26 medals through Tuesday, Feb. 23, with seven gold, nine silver and 10 bronze.

U.S. wins its first medal in team Nordic combined

The team of Brett Camerota (Park City, Utah), Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Billy Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.) and Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) made history for the United States, winning the silver medal in the team Nordic combined Tuesday at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, claiming the nation’s first Olympic medal in the event.

Austria’s Mario Stecher used a strong finish to overtake Demong entering the stadium for the last time and crossed the line with a final time of 49:31.6, 5.2 seconds ahead of the Americans’ 49:36.8.

Germany won the bronze medal with a 49:51.1.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver

Photo: From left, Brett Camerota, Todd Lodwick, Johhny Spillane and BIll Demong. Credit: Wally Skalij, Los Angeles Times.

U.S. in second place in team Nordic combined

The United States is in second place after the large hill portion of the team Nordic combined competition, with the 4x5-kilometer relay scheduled for 2 p.m. this afternoon.

The American quartet of Brett Camerota (Park City, Utah), Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Billy Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.) and Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) posted a score of 505.8, trailing only Finland’s 507.0, which will give the Finns only a two-second advantage to start the relay. Austria is in third with a 479.9 and will start 34 seconds behind the Americans.

The U.S. has never won a medal in this event, with a best finish of fourth at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Spillane became the first American to win a medal in Nordic combined earlier in these Games.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Johnny Spillane. Credit: Javier Soriano / AFP

Johnny Spillane (silver) wins first-ever medal for U.S. in Nordic Combined

American Johnny Spillane won the silver medal in the Nordic Combined on Sunday at Whistler Olympic Park, the first-ever medal for the United States in the Nordic Combined, which features one jump on the normal hill and a 10-kilometer cross-country race.

Jason Lamy Chappuis — who was born in Missoula, Mont., but has always raced for France — overtook Spillane on the final straightaway for the gold medal, winning the individual race in 25 minutes, 47.1 seconds, four-tenths of a second ahead of Spillane.

Italy's Alessandro Pittin won the bronze, finishing eight-tenths of a second behind Chappuis and just ahead of American Todd Lodwick.
   

Lodwick was in second place and Spillane was in fourth after the morning normal hill ski jump.

Both athletes had to overcome equipment problems leading up to the Games.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver

Photo: Johnny Spillane after the morning ski jump. Credit: EPA

Todd Lodwick, Johnny Spillane in good position for U.S.' first-ever Nordic combined medal

Americans Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane are in contention to earn their nation's first-ever medal in the Nordic combined after completing the ski jump portion of the event at Whistler Olympic Park on Sunday morning.

Lodwick, a five-time Olympian, stands in second place and Spillane is in fourth heading into the afternoon's cross-country race.

Both athletes had to overcome equipment problems leading up to the Games.

"I've been here before," Lodwick said. "And it's not something to stress out about."

-- David Wharton in Whistler, Canada

Photo: Todd Lodwick reacts after his jump in the morning part of Sunday's Nordic Combined event. Credit: Elaine Thompson, AP.

2010 Winter Olympics daily schedule

Competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics begins at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, with the opening ceremony following at 6 p.m. The closing ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28.

Interactive map: Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games

Our interactive map of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games covers the sporting venues and sightseeing spots in the host city, the Whistler skiing village and the scenic Sea to Sky highway connecting the two towns.