To an olympic gold medal. And the puck goes down they hit the goal post. Before falling to canada in one of these games most breathtaking finishes. A loss the men of team usa try to avenge today. Friday, february 21st, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is a special edition of today at the olympic winter games with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from olympic park in sochi, russia. Good morning, everyone, im Savannah Guthrie alongside Natalie Morales and al roker and willie geist. We thought wed pay a visit because this is our last day covering the olympics. They head into the final weekend this weekend. And what about a night last night . Willie, al and i were at the hockey final against canada. I dont know what words to use to describe it. 3 30 to go. And we thought, were in. It happened so quickly. It was one opennetter we almost had. We were smiling a lot, maybe too much. Anyway, the entire womens hockey team, the silver medalists will join us in a little while. Natalie and i were watching the figure skating. We had drama, as well. Everyone thought going into this yuna kim was going to take the gold. In the end, Adelina Sotnikova took the gold. Well get into that controversy. And we have all three u. S. Figure skaters here live. That is part of our top story. The action here from sochi. And natalies got that. Thats right. As you were watching, its hard to make sense of the scoring system. Judging a score like figure skating is never easy. And we saw a little bit of that last night here in sochi. A Golden Moment for russias Adelina Sotnikova. Triple lutz. Triple toe. Nicely landed. The 17yearold overlooked by many, even in her own country. Now olympic champion on home ice. Oh. Oh, keep pushing. Despite a stumble, the russians elegant and technical performance edged out south koreas yuna kim. A performance for the ages. But this morning, theres a growing chorus questioning those results, asking if the russian Gold Medalist got a home ice advantage. An online petition demanding an investigation already has more than 1 million supporters. After the competition, american Ashley Wagner who finished seventh blasted the judging saying, i am speechless. Adding, people that want to watch a sport where you watch people fall down and somehow score above someone who goes clean. Beautiful combination. Taking bronze, italys carolina kostner. American gracie gold shined in her performance but just missed the medal stand and score. Yulia lipnitskaya fell again and still finished fifth. And american Polina Edmunds placed ninth. A heartbreak for the womens usa hockey team. And knight. Moving one in front. Score up 20 in the final minute, gold seemed within reach, then canada scored two quick goals. Tying it up with seconds to go. Then in overtime score the gold medal for canada. The u. S. Women settled for silver. Anne schleper tweeted not many words to say. I love my fans and i love my teammates. U. S. Men may have the final word today when they go up against team canada in the semifinals. The gold did go to an american in the first ever womens halfpipe in skiing. 20yearold Maddie Bowmans aerial acrobatics making her the youngest american to win gold at sochi so far. Best pipe run weve seen tonight. And weve shown you pictures of a photo finish in the mens ski cross quarterfinals. Now we have the video. Three of four racers crashed just feet from the finish line and slide across. An incredible ending. Meanwhile, coming up tonight in prime time, Mikaela Shiffrin is back on the slopes in her best event, the slalom. A skating event a lot of people talking about here for some time. Well continue talking about it with Scott Hamilton, a 1984 gold medal winner. The perfect person to ask about this. Scott, another olympics, another judging controversy. Hey, lets talk about it. What about the criticism . This new judging system is too opaque, hard to understand, it rewards people who fall and people dont understand the basics. You want my opinion or yours . No, i want yours. No, its complicated. And, you know, i like at all the judging criteria, the components which is kind of where the controversy is. When you have someone with the esthetics, the beauty of yuna kim and Adelina Sotnikova is really just a jumper and an athlete. And you compare the two and look at the components. In the rules, the components basically adelina checked off every box. She did what the rules told her to do and collected the most points. Ashley wagners comments after the competition. She basically said, people dont understand. Sounds like she doesnt understand either. How can they watch three skaters fall and see those skaters finish ahead of her and she didnt fall. And thats the complication. Thats where the associations, the federations get involved. They go to the ioc and say why, i want an explanation. The great thing about the scoring system, everythings on paper. Everything a skater can look at this and say, okay, i got credit for this, downgrade on that. And they get complete feedback on everything they do. But the judges are anonymous. The judges are anonymous. Thats going to change. I think after the next congress theyll reverse that and everybody will know who is giving what. The way it used to be. A long time ago. Yes. And heres the fundamental issue. In salt lake which was kind of the inspiration for all of this, they decided to change the scoring system. It wasnt the scoring system, it was how the judges are selected for these competitions. And i always thought like any other sport, they always have an affiliated organization. They should have that in figure skating, as well. Right now, the judges are members of their countrys delegation. Already it feels a bit compromised. But the result last night, you know, its going to be talked about. Yuna kim is the love. She gave the performance which was exquisite. It was amazing. But it was simpler than adelinas. It was two jumps simpler and that was the difference. Real quick, were you surprised at the result that yuna kim did not win the gold . Lets say nobody won the pool last night. Scott hamilton, sorry about that. Sorry for your loss. Well have a little bit more with gracie gold, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds live coming up. And we want to hear from you, too. Tweet us or on our facebook page. The u. S. Remains on top with 25 medals, eight gold, six silver, 11 bronze followed by russia, canada and the netherlands. Lets get caught up on the other headlines of the morning. Natalie has those. Thats right. Watching the breaking news out of ukraine this morning after several days of deadly violence there. Ukraines president is promising early president ial elections and a coalition government. Nbcs chief Foreign Correspondent is in kiev with the latest. Richard engel, good morning. Reporter this is a political change in the ukraine. The president agreeing to limit and calling for more early elections. This deal signed with the president and members of the opposition. The question now is will the people here in the square accept it. They have not disbanded. They told us they do not want just early elections for the president. They want to see him put in prison. They are fortifying their positions. They have not withdrawn. Negotiators are expected to come here and try to explain the deal to the protesters in the square to try to get them to disburse. If not, this crisis is not over. All right. Richard engel following the breaking news. Thank you. The head of the ntsb is blasting u. P. S. After hearing into the plane crash last august. Said the cargo shouldve followed recommendations to ensure that pilots avoid fatigue. The u. P. S. Cargo plane crashed while landing in birmingham, alabama. Both the p copilot were killed and Text Messages showed one of the pilots texted about feeling tired and had fallen asleep multiple times under previous flights. Some dramatic scenes on a miami expressway thursday after a woman stopped her car screaming that her 5monthold nephew couldnt breathe. Strangers came to her rescue helping the woman perform cpr on the infant turning blue. A Police Officer and two firefighters stuck in traffic also jumped out of their cars to help until the paramedics arrived there. The baby was hospitalized overnight and in stable condition now. Scary, though. Well, a little planning goes a long way, but clearly one bank robber in maryland did not come prepared. Take a look at the Surveillance Video from a pnc bank. The suspect was trying to leave when he dropped stacks of cash all over the floor. So he frantically tries to pick up all the money and decided to use an open umbrella as a better way to get the cash out of the bank. Thats bad luck. Later, police, when they caught up to him, he tried to run away, but he slipped on some ice and cut his head. So, yes, i guess opening that umbrella was bad luck, savannah. What not to do. Right. Exactly. Mr. Roker, youre following Severe Weather back home. Thats right. How many times have we said that over the last couple of weeks . Lets show you video just in. This from illinois. I believe seven tornadoes yesterday, some causing damage, this one not. But weve had a lot of power outages, a lot of big problems. And weve got more on tap for today as this system moves to the east. Show you the maps. Weve got a risk of strong storms. Right now, atlanta getting through the worst of it. Weve got showers and thunderstorms for atlanta. Then we start to see clearing. And temperatures will bottom out in the mid50s. Here we go from jacksonville all the way up to salisbury. Severe storms possible, charleston, wilmington, raleigh, all of that makes its way to the east. As it does, we look for showers and thunderstorms. New york city will get in on the action, as well. Airport delays likely. So far, over 3,000 airport delays today up and down the eastern seaboard. The storms will clear the coast by later tonight. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Happy friday bay area. You made it to the end of the week. Temperatures are chilly to start but weve got a great looking finish to the day. Well see clear and mostly cold conditions early on, but by this afternoon full on sunshine flirting with records, in the 70s in the inland valley. Once the sun sets temps drop. Keep that in mind if youre out on the town. Look where were headed. 65 in San Francisco. 73 in the east baxt as warm for saturday and sunday. Thats your latest weather. Savannah . Al, thank you so much. Now for more on last nights dramatic skating finale. Gracie gold, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds skated their hearts out skating in fourth, seventh and ninth. All of them in the top ten. Good morning to you. Good morning. How are you feeling after your first olympic experiences . Im feeling wonderful to walk away with a bronze medal in the beginning of the games and place fourth in my first olympic, im on cloud nine. Ashley, you came in here saying you had something fropro you wanted to show the world something. Do you feel like you did that . Absolutely. Im coming home with three clean programs. Im so proud of what i accomplished here and i proved to everybody i belong here. And polina, people have been so impressed by you. You brought your cheering squad. Youre 15 years old. Was it nerve wracking to step out on that ice . It was a great experience altogether. I was really excited to compete on the olympic ice, and i was really proud of myself for skating two programs. Andy have the highest difficulty with two triple triple combinations in my program. And im happy i nailed those, and im happy i came home with a great skate. Well, ashley, i have to ask you about some of this judging controversy. You were pretty blunt after the event saying in a way you felt cheated and felt that the judging was too hard to understand, it didnt make sense that three other people who fell finished in front of you. I mean, do you feel theres a problem with the sport in general . You know, i think that the ladies in the top three absolutely hands down belong in the top three, i dont even question that. I think the system is too opaque. Its not clear enough to the audience and needs to become more fan friendly so we can get a wider fan base. I think we need to get rid of the anonymous judging. And beyond that, you know what, im disappointed with the scoring for myself, but at the end of the day, i came home with three clean, long programs. Thats really what im focusing on. Let me cut to the chase, do you think the judges were unfair or biased towards you . You know what, i didnt see a Single Person skate. I was at the very end of the event. So i dont have anyone to compare myself to. I just know i went out there and did a really solid program. The scores i was pretty happy with. A little lower than i would have liked. But a bias against me, i cant say anything to that. I dont think so. A lot of people talking about the top of the podium. People expected yuna kim to take the gold. I know all three of you took your picture with her. Shes a hero of yours. Do you, gracie, have any problem with how it went down . The fact that adelina got gold and yuna got silver . Theyre absolutely opposite kind of skaters. Adelinas an athlete, jumps over the moon, yuna kim has a mature grace about her, and she already has an olympic gold in her pocket. And it was an interesting mashup. At this olympics, adelina come on top, but at another competition, it could have been yuna. Who knows. Well, polina, youre 15 years old, that has everybody talking about 2018. Are you one of those people . Are you thinking about the Winter Olympics four years from now . Sure. I think everyones thinking about the next olympics and everyones working hard to get to these amazing competitions. And you never know what will happen in four years, but im looking forward to training as hard as i can and doing the best i can. What about you, ashley and gracie . Hoping to be there four years from now in south korea . Absolutely. Im looking to make the podium in 2018. What about you, ashley . I came straight to the today show when i first landed in sochi. You guys started me off here in sochi and as soon as i stepped foot here, i was sold for four more years. Im ready to go and fight for what i like to think is mine. You have been making everyone proud. Figure skaters are famously disciplined. I just wonder, are you guys going to do anything fun to relax . How are you going to cut loose . Disciplined people, are you kidding me . I know. Do you sleep in, eat bad food . What happens now . We eat pizza in bed and watch Gilmore Girls. Thats how crazy and wild we are. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Congratulations on a great olympics. Thank you. And guys, well send it back to you. Thanks very much. The skating competition is driving a lot of conversation online. By the way, i did not get the Gilmore Girls reference. Our first and only of the week. A lot of people talking about this scoring online, guys. Natalie mentioned earlier that change. Org petition. We just looked. Its up over 1. 5 million names saying weve got to do something about changing this system. We looked online on twitter. Heres what were hearing. Chris writing yuna kim got robbed. Perfect performance, but the russian had the home crowd that influenced the judges. Another tweet from frederick. He writes, the russian had more difficulty and transitions so the score was higher, maybe the point spread was a little high. We also asked our facebook fans about what they thought about the scoring system. Should it be changed . Do they agree with the result was the question. 51 said, no, not a good result, 39 saying, yeah, the judges got it right this time. Keep that conversation coming. Go to todays facebook page. Tweet us orangeroom. We want to know what youre thinking. I guess a lot of people thinking the scores didnt match up with what their eyes told them as they were watching the competition. I was stumped while i was watching it. Didnt make sense. I guess if Scott Hamilton says, may not like the rules but we know what they are. Willie, thank you very much. By the way, thank you for 6 joining us for the hockey game last night. Coming up, a touching gesture. Young american grabs gold in the olympic debut of the womens skiing halfpipe and dedicates that medal to her late idol in that sport. Well talk about that historic win live. And the u. S. Womens hockey team on their instant classic against arch rival canada. But first, this is today on nbc. But first, this is today on nbc. Dear future olympian, one day you will be standing on and heres exactly how youll get there. Youll work hard and youll fall hard. Youll lose sometimes when you really should have won. Youll win sometimes when no one thought you had a shot. And youll never, ever stop. We know this. Because youre one of us. At citi, we believe in everyones potential, which is why citi and evan are giving back to Community Sports programs to help fiuture athletes every step of the way. A right. Ming up on ts friday morng, b costas will b here, t game thekating controversy his expie and remeer,hat video we ou thursd, that wolf roaming the hale athletes llage. 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