The U.S. Olympic Committee is currently weighing a possible run for the 2024 Summer Games. If that's ruled out, the 2026 Winter Olympics would be an option.

Sochi is giving USOC chairman Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun the chance to talk informally with the voting members of the International Olympic Committee.

"We can get some really good input: Is it time for a U.S. bid and, if so, where should it come from?" Blackmun said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. "I think people genuinely would like to see a U.S. bid. There are some that think winter would be better than summer and some who think summer would be better than winter.

"There's a recognition that the U.S. is an important market, and at some point in the future, the games should go back there."

The U.S. hasn't hosted the Summer Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games. The last Winter Games in the U.S. were held in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

The IOC may be eager to encourage another bid from the U.S. because it would bring a high-profile player into the race and boost interest in the Olympics. Whether IOC members want the U.S. to win is another matter.

The U.S. was shot down by the IOC in its two most recent bids, with New York rejected for the 2012 Olympics and Chicago for 2016.

The USOC has been consulting with cities interested in going for 2024, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. Los Angeles has hosted the games twice, in 1932 and 1984.

The USOC hopes to make a decision by the end of this year. The IOC bid process begins in 2015, with the host city to be selected in 2017.

Other potential bidders for 2024 include Paris, Rome, Doha and a city in South Africa.

"The last thing we want is to bid and lose," Blackmun said.


 


FARRINGTON TAKES HALFPIPE


It was one of those Olympic-style pauses. Two minutes. Three minutes. To the four women sitting on the bench at the bottom of the halfpipe, it felt even longer.

In the end, the cowgirl won the gold.

Kaitlyn Farrington, the 24-year-old from Idaho whose parents sold off their cattle to bankroll her career, sparked the second upset on the halfpipe in two nights. She smoothed out a near-flawless run Wednesday to edge Aussie Torah Bright and take down the American favorite, Kelly Clark.

"I'm sure they do not miss those cows today," Farrington said of her folks.

The running joke in her family comes when her parents tell her to "Cowgirl Up," and over a long day that included six runs — two each in qualifying, semifinals and finals — Farrington did just that.

The winning run earned a score of 91.75. It included one of the tougher combinations in the sport — a double-twisting jump with a near-blind landing, followed by a 2½-spin jump. It closed with a twisting, head-over-heels flip at the bottom.


DAVIS MUST REBOUND


Shani Davis went from sure thing to nothing in 2½ laps.

The two-time defending Olympic champion in the 1,000 meters got shut out of a medal on Wednesday, finishing eighth in a race he has dominated in recent years.

Now, the 31-year-old from Chicago has three days to clear his mind and make adjustments before he skates in the 1,500 on Saturday at Adler Arena.

Davis was one of the U.S. speedskating team's best hopes for a gold medal. The Americans have yet to make the podium through the first five days of competition.

"It's unfortunate for us," he said. "Now we move forward and try to figure out what we can possibly do to fix it."

Davis has never won the 1,500 at the Olympics, earning silver medals in 2006 and 2010. But it's his other strong event, one of his "babies" as he calls the two sprint races.

Davis planned to study video of the loss to "see what these guys were doing that I wasn't doing."

"I just got to try to piece it together and figure it out for myself so I can possibly fix it for the 1,500," he said.


SKI JUMP INJURIES


Gold medalist Kamil Stoch of Poland and Russian ski jumper Mikhail Maksimochkin were injured after crashing during landings Wednesday night while training for the individual large hill event at the Sochi Olympics.

Stoch, who won gold in the normal hill event on Sunday, was the last jumper of the night when he fell after missing his landing. He was attended to by medical staff and suffered a bloodied nose but walked off the hill after having a brace put onto his left arm.

"He's going to the village with a doctor, but he's OK," Poland coach Lukasz Krusek said.

Paramedics earlier immobilized Maksimochkin with a neck and back brace and strapped him down on a stretcher before taking him away. The Russian was taken from the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center in an ambulance escorted by a police car.

On its website, governing body FIS said Maksimochkin had not suffered any serious injuries, but would remain in hospital overnight.

Contributor: The Associated Press