White shocker, the snowboarder makes the stunning announcement one day before the competition is set to begin. Well tell you what it is today, wednesday, february 5th, 2014. From nbc news, this is a special edition of today countdown to the olympic winter games with matt lauer, live from olympic park in sochi, russia, and Savannah Guthrie, live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza. And good morning, welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Im matt lauer in olympic park in sochi. Matt, good morning to you, im Savannah Guthrie here in studio 1a. And dont make us wait any longer. What are we hearing from shaun white this morning . We have just received a statement from shaun white, hes giving to us first. And heres what he says, after much deliberation with my team, ive made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the Third Straight gold medal in halfpipe for team usa. The difficult decision to forego slopestyle is not one i take lightly. As i know how much effort everyone has
You lost 155 pounds. A big victory for a woman battling to drop the pounds on a top weight loss show. Losing 60 of her original body weight in less than five months. Now, the backlash escalating. People saying it was too much too fast. Why she says she finally feels alive. And good morning, america. Boy, so much of the country digging out from that storm yesterday. Theres slush all over the northeast. You see it right there on the streets. Starting to wipe away here in new york right now, but, josh, you had to fight through it a bit to get in late last night. Yeah, i did what i could to get out of los angeles where it was 70 degrees and sunny to get here. Late last night, or early this morning, 2 00 a. M. , it was already fine landing on a frozen runway, thats i wouldnt suggest it. Its not it doesnt it gives one pause. Glad youre okay. Thats the important thing. But, you know, these kind of conditions, they want this over in sochi at the olympics. And two snowboarders have already with
Rockefeller plaza. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to today on a thursday morning. Im Savannah Guthrie alongside Natalie Morales, diylan as well. I love that music. Its kind of catchy. Weve been doing the drum beat for a long time. Welcome to the Alpine Village about 30 miles up in the caucacus mountains. Thats not some kind of a movie backdrop. Thats the real thing behind us. The mountains along the river, got some nice people Milling Around here. You mentioned that some of the games have gotten under way. Well be talking to some of the athletes fresh from their qualifying rounds in just a couple of minutes. And also unfortunately well have more on that security alert coming from the u. S. Government, ladies. Well, we look forward to catching up on all of that. The olympics are under way, the figure skating tonight, one of the favorite events. As you said, that top issue is this terror warning. Its a scary one. Yes, it really is. Im joined here by kyra simmons of nbc. He has more
Good morning, everyone. Im alex witt. The first day of the sochi Olympic Games is marked by a disturbing new terror threat. The feds warning terrorists could try to smuggle explosives on to planes inside toothpaste tubes. U. S. Officials emphasize the warning is focused entirely on flights to russia, not on flights to or within the u. S. Those familiar with the advisory tell nbc news, it is based on very recent intelligence. There is no word so far on any plans to impose new restrictions on checked bags or carryones. The russians have already banned all liquids from carryones. U. S. Officials say there is no indication of any specific plot or target. Instead, this is an exercise of caution, and officials did not reveal the source of the intelligence. Meanwhile, the u. S. Navy warship taylor entered the black sea. Defense officials tell nbc news it will join the u. S. Command ship mt. Whitney. Both will remain on stand by during the games and offer assistance if athletes are forced to e
Theres a deter warning to airlines are being told to look out for explosives being smuggled on a plane in toothpaste tubes. Theyre telling people that are going to the Olympic Games to be on alert. The toothpaste tubes could contain ingredients to make explosive. This is the type of threat that is very concerning. I cant go into detail but i can tell you that our intelligence people are working on issuing and working on with departments. theyve been on alert with threats of with islamic extremists. with the talk about with sochi and conditions. coming up. Let our us a lot of People Police raid a joint operation done with the c h t Oakland Police and tell me the share of an homelands security. All happening this morning agencies served a search warning from eighth the ninth street and 36 ave. They say they recovered at least seven guns stolen vehicles and is the lot stolen auto parts. happening now Police Searching for the driver who hit and seriously hurt a person outside of San Franci