Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann won the first gold medal of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Saturday with the fatal crash of a Georgian luger weighing heavily on his mind. The death of 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run Friday loomed large on the first day of medals contention, in which the Netherlands and Slovakia picked up top honors and Canada waited to win a first gold in home Olympics. Nowhere was the loss more palpable than at the luge track, the world's fastest in high-mountain Whistler. Amid soul searching and quick modifications, the men's luge competition went ahead, but ran from the lower women's start as an added precaution. Walls were raised at curve 16 exit where the first-time Olympian died. This time nobody was hurt. Away from the luge, warm weather and wet snow forced the delay of Alpine skiing men's downhill at the Winter Olympics - and also helped delay host Canada's hopes of ending a jinx that has denied it from winning gold in two previous Games on home soil - Calgary in 1988 and Montreal in 1976. Scheduled for Saturday, the event was put off until Monday due to bad course conditions and poor weather, an International Ski Federation spokeswoman said. The women's super combined, originally scheduled for Sunday, will now take place Thursday. Canada had hoped for a speed skating medal, but that title went to Dutch world champion Sven Kramer, who stormed to gold in the 5,000m. Slovakia's Anastazia Kuzmina won her first gold in the women's biathlon 7.5km sprint, edging out Germany's Magdalena Neuner, a six-time world champion. Freestyle skiing provided the day's remaining hope for Canada to break its jinx through mogul runner Jenn Heil, though she finished qualifying in second place behind Hannah Kearney of the United States. After Friday's tragedy, the International Luge Federation (FIL) shortened the men's luge to reassure shaken sliders. Adjustments were planned for women's and doubles starts as well. Three-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl was quoted as saying Saturday that a “tiny driving error” and not the speed of the track was to blame for Kumaritashvili's death. The Vancouver women's hockey tournament, meanwhile, opened Saturday with a pair of shutouts. Canada opened its gold medal pursuit with the biggest victory in the sport's Olympic history. The Swedes' 3-0 win over Switzerland looked pedestrian compared to the Canadians' 18
