good morning. state of cataroph the death toll in chile rises after that massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and sent naum waves as far away as japan and russia. golden boys. u.s. flies to gold in the four-man bobsled ending a 62-year drought in the event and tying team usa for the most medals ever won at a winter games. this morning the men of the night train show off their gold medals. and apolo eight. three olympics, eight medals, one man. he speaks out after his final race and about his place in the record books. today sunday, february 28, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on this sunday morning. i'm lester holt live in vancouver on this, the final day of the xxi winter olympic games. >> and i'm jenna wolfe in studio 1-a on this, the final day of us being separated. it's hard to believe we'll be looking ahead to 2012 in london. >> we've been here -- i've been here three weeks. i think that's long enough to apply for citizenship. i'm starting to pronounce my vowels differently so it's probably time to come home. but there is plenty of excitement first on this final weekend. yesterday team usa won two more olympic medals. the four-man bobsled took america's first gold in the event since 1948 and the speed ka skating pursuit team took silver. there are more medals to be won before the flame is extinguished tonight. >> the question is who will win gold in the men's hockey event. later today the u.s. takes the ice against canada in a rematch of last week. it's also a rematch of the 2002 gold medal game where canada beat the americans on our home ice in salt lake. but win or lose after today, team usa will have won the most medals ever by any country in the winter games. an impress i've stat for this country. >> one man responsible for three of those medals is apolo ohno. he skated his last race friday taking bronze with his teammates in the 5,000 relay. i had a chance to talk with apolo about that race, what the record meant to him and what is thoughts has been an olympic career beyond his imagination. we also talked about whether he is going to come back four years from now in russia. >> he also seems like he's matured so much in the last four years so i'm looking forward to seeing whether he's going to be back again. >> this guy is so settled, he's very settled and he says he's never had so much fun doing this sport, so it will be interesting to see what comes up in the future for him. >> good stuff. then in our next half hour he's not an olympian quite yet but he's well on his way. we'll meet the little guy who's tearing up the slopes with his snowboard skills. here's the kicker, he's 3 years old and stands two feet tall and he's better than you and i combined, lester, i can guarantee you that. >> we'll look forward to meeting him and seeing his skills. let's begin this morning with more on that massive earthquake in chile. one of the strongest ever recorded at a magnitude 8.8. officials now say the death toll is more than 300 and still rising. the area is still being rocked by aftershocks. one reported as recently as an hour before we went on the air. this morning we are getting word of at least 100 people trapped in a building in the city of concepcion near the epicenter. the quake affected at least two million people in chile. as the search continues today for more survivors, we are seeing dramatic video from cameras that were rolling as the quake was happening. nbc's george lewis has the latest. >> reporter: surveillance cameras caught the moment the earthquake hit. the ground shaking and shaking and shaking for a minute and a half. it seemed like an eternity to the three million people in chile exposed to the quake's severity. when it was over, there was this. in the capital, saunt yag owe buildings toppled. at least half a million homes destroyed or severely damaged. highways buckled and torn up. bridges destroyed. only a few pilings left standing. cars tossed around like toys. i don't know how i got out, this man said. but the building just fell. there was a gas leak and everything. those gas leaks and the electric lines touched off fires in many places. >> it got bigger and bigger and stronger and more intense and it was awful. it was terrible. >> reporter: rescuers went to work immediately. chile is a seismically active country so firefighters, medical teams and law enforcement have practiced for this. the chilean president michelle bachelet said there's no water, no electricity and very little gasoline. at the white house president obama pledged to help out. >> the united states stands ready to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts and we have resources that are positioned to deploy should the chilean government ask for our help. >> reporter: this is the strongest quake to hit chile in 50 years. it's a region where the earth's tectonic plates bump against one another. >> the plates are gng under either south america very quickly. we get these huge earthquakes along that margin. >> reporter: there have been dozens of aftershocks following the initial magnitude 8.8 earthquake, but the ground is still moving this morning. authorities are warning people to stay away from damaged, unstable structures. for "today," george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. >> cecilia lagos who was there joins us via skype. we're happy you're able to join us this morning. can you tell us about the severity and the number of aftershocks that you are experiencing? >> well, we are still having lots of aftershocks. last night it was quite -- it was quite a nice night to sleep and recover from the great terror we lived the night before. we experienced more than 60 aftershocks so far, some of them, maybe three of them really,eally strong. actually some of them are rated 5 on the scale and actually an hour ago or so we had another aftershock that in talca, one of the most affected areas in the country, reached the 7 number, the seventh level, so they were all panic the and running away in places like hospitals in the streets. >> we have seen a great deal of damage pictures coming out of concepcion which is closer to the epicenter. can you describe what you have seen, though, on the streets of santiago in the capital? can you describe the damage you've seen there? >> well, in santiago there are maybe two parts. the part that didn't come with any damage at all, like this one example which is one place, which is a successful face of the earthquake in terms of the construction and buildings that could make it. and then the other part, which is the oldest part of the city in which many buildings really collapsed because they couldn't make it. and there are some people, they are sleeping literally on the street. last night was a reay sad one for us. many people decided, decided to sleep on the streets because they were too scared to go into their house and try to sleep there because they were fearing their house would come down on them. and there is also a group, a large group of people that lost everything and they were forced to sleep on the streets last night. >> very difficult situation there. cecilia lagos, we appreciate you checking in and sharing your account with us this morning. thank you so much. >> thank you. and now here's jenna. >> okay, lester, thank you. the quake sent a tsunami across the pacific. in the end they were spared the worst. ly -- lee cowan is live in honolulu with the latest. >> reporter: the worst fears weren't realized but that was a wave big enough to focus the world's attention on it as it raced across the pacific and forced tens of thousands of people here in hawaii up to higher ground. it was the biggest evacuation since 1994. even though it ended up being a series of surges rather than a tsunami here, no one was crying wolf. there was every indication it could be every bit as big if not bigger than a wave that killed more than 60 people on the big island in 1960 and that was generated from a quake almost in the very same area as yesterday so people were taking this very seriously. sirens went off around 6:00 a.m. they gave people five hours of warning. they were stocking up on gas, stocking up on food. roads were clogged with traffic. a lot of people pulled over to the side and had tsunami watch parties looking down on the water expecting to see waves between six, eight feet, perhaps even higher. the navy sent about half a dozen of its ships out from pearl harbor. marinas were emptying out as pleasure boaters were heading to deeper water to ride out the wave. by early afternoon it was all over. the boats were coming back in, people were headed back to the beaches and everything was all clear. the experts are going to be looking now, jenna, at why the tsunami didn't end up being as big as what a lot of people thought but they insisted all of those warnings were necessary and yesterday's response proves that the warning system does in fact work and all those people would have certainly been saved had in fact the worst fears been realized here in hawaii. jenna, back to you. >> all right, lee cowan, good to know. thank you so much. time for a check of the morning's other headlines and we'll turn to melissa francis at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone. president obama has signed a one-year extension to several provisions of the patriot act. the controversial counterterrorism law was set to expire today. the act expands the government's ability to monitor americans in the name of national security. it was first signed into law after the 9/11 terror attacks. more than a quarter of a million people from new york state to maine are still without power this morning following friday's massive storms. crews are working around the clock to restore power and in new york city ice crashed through a skyscraper's glass atrium causing it to collapse and causing minor injuries hundreds of people packed into shamu stadium on saturday just three days after a killer whale dragged a veteran animal trainer underwater to her death. it was an emotional show that started with a photo montage of veteran trainer dawn brancheau. an investigation is under way and trainers at seaworld are no longer allowed into the water. tragic news for maria osmond. her 18-year-old son has committed suicide. a representative says 18-year-old michael blosil jumped from his los angeles apartment building. he left a note detailing a lifelong battle with depression. osmond said in a statement that her family is devastated by the tragic loss. and meanwhile, whole new meaning to grabbing a bite to eat. take a look at this panda in china. he went searching for food at a villager's house and they gave it to him. success. the man and his neighbors gave him food to munch on. clearly he was very happy. jenna, can you imagine, what do pandas eat? whatever they want. anything you have. >> good for the panda, i guess. melissa, thank you so much. janice huff is here with a check of the weather. good morning. >> did you hear you say you're ready for more snow here? >> no, no, no. i said no me snow please. >> after the last few days we had quite a bit across the northeast, it looks like things are going to calm down in some areas. the sun is out here in new york. on the southwest coast, though, southern california and parts of the four corners area you're going to see some rain and some everyone. i'm news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. we're off to a cloudy start here in the washington area with temperatures in the mid- to high 30s now. we'll be climbing up into the mid- and upper 40s by later on this afternoon. radar still shows a few light snow showers now, primarily across southern pennsylvania, but one or two snowflakes may live long enough to get up towards fredericksburg, maryland. temperatures will be climbing now here's jenna. >> all right, janice, thanks. we will have more right after ththis. ♪ [ woman ] 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doesn't mean the excitement is letting up, starting with team usa's first four-man bobsledding gold in 62 years. nbc's kevin tibbles reports. >> reporter: on the bobsled track usa made history. >> all of us have done such a great job this year. >> reporter: piloting a near perfect race, holcomb sped to victory. >> 93 miles per hour, steve holcomb has raced for gold. >> reporter: then it was time to celebrate with what the team calls the hokie dance. >> canada just by 0.2. >> reporter: a silver lining for the u.s. men's pursuit speed skating team. the race was an olympic farewell for five-time medalist chad hedrick who plans to retire from the sport after these games. skier bode miller came out of retirement to race at these olympics and won a medal in three of his four events. but saturday in dense fog, miller skied off the slalom course and did not finish. >> you know, i made little mistakes so i take responsibility for it. it was something i knew could happen, i was just willing to take the risk. >> reporter: as the games wind down, it was time for the figure skating gala, a place where the winners come to shine, including canada's bronze medalist joannie rochette, whose mother died suddenly in vancouver. on this, the final day, the final gold medal too is on the ice, as rivals canada and the united states face off in hockey. >> fans should be really into it. it should be loud and it should be a lot of fun to play. >> reporter: whatever the result, the united states is poised to set a record for most medals won at a winter olympic game. for today, kevin tibbles, nbc news, vancouver, british columbia. >> today's gold medal hockey game is truly a border war. sports olympic analyst jeremy roanic is here with a preview. if you had to script a canadian winter olympics and put two teams in the end, does it get any better than canada and usa hockey. >> absolutely not. we can go back to 1960, 1980, but in terms of american hockey, this is the best stage that we can have for our sport in the united states but now we're on canadian soil, which they call it canada's sport. so everybody from coast to coast can't wait for this meeting. there's a poll that 46% of all canadians worried about the americans more than anybody, so this is what everybody wanted. it's a perfect way to end the olympics. >> the canadian coach said of team usa, he says we know them and they know us. there won't be a lot of surprises. >> i believe that, because remember there's 44 nhl players playing this game. nobody plays overseas, everybody is north american and this is their style of game or our style of game, which is hard-hitting, up and down, fast and it's going to be -- it is going to be a lot of tension. >> the american team is younger, some say quicker, but the last time these two played earlier here in the olympics, it struck me, i'm not a hockey expert, that the canadians really outplayed the usa except for the final score. >> they did. going into the tournament we said that the goal tender ryan miller had to be the best player. he had to be the mvp of team usa in order for usa to have any kind of chance at a medal. but now we're in the gold medal game and ryan miller has been that guy but they are young, they are energetic. they have a lot of speed but they're going against a team that they beat a week ago and that revenge game is a very, very tough game to get over. it's going to be interesting to see how they handle it. >> martin broedeur is in goal. >> there's been a lot of different quirks going on with team canada because they didn't play as well as they thought in the beginning of the tournament. they put luongo in and they have been winning. >> when we started the olympics would you have seen the usa as an underdog in this sport? is there the potential for an upset if the usa wins? >> oh, absolutely. it would be a monumental upset. not 1980 upset but here we are on canadian soil and there's no question that a younger team, it is the youngest team in the olympics, if they beat canada it would be, it would be monumental. there would be a lot of people running for the border on the canadian side, that's for sure. >> jeremy, we really enjoyed you guys. we appreciate you getting up early and spending time with us. >> anything for hockey. >> all right, my frie. still to come on a sunday edition of "today," team usa claims another gold. the bobsledding night train is here live, but first these messages. 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