Despite a limited audience in comparison to the success of the London 2012 coverage, it has been a pleasure to cover what has been an interesting and inspiring 16 days and look forward to covering the Paralympics in two weeks.
Monday, 24 February 2014
Sochi Closing Ceremony
The ceremony began with a montage of some of the successes of the game alongside a countdown to what would be a ceremony to remember. Fireworks light up the sky as a forest of lights lit up the stadium. An array of birds flocked above water as a row boat appeared in the air but tied in well the the water effects.
A silvery sea of dancers arrived to create a lovely images below the boat and formed a Mexican wave in a figure 8 fashion to the tune of the 'A wonderful life' from the Hollywood classic film.
A superb routine continued with a brilliant forming of the Olympic rings with the fabled broken snowflake from the opening ceremony but ended with the full forming of the fifth ring to wide celebration.
The crowd greeted the entry of Vladimir Putin as the dancers parted and the Russian team entered carrying the national flag to what was a sort of victory parade as they topped the medal standings.
The flag finished at the stage and was raised to the tune of the Russian national anthem as the forest of lights mirrored the flag to applause.
A large globe appeared on the stadium floor as a marching band entered the stadium and played very well and the flag bearers of all of the represented nations entered with golden girl Lizzy Yarnold carrying the flag for Team GB to the tune of 2Unlimited's classic 'No Limit'
The rest of the athletes paraded into the stadium which created a superb wave of colour and to the tune of Boney M - Gotta go Home and Daft Punk - One More Time as Blur - Song 2 got the parade jumping as the athletes paraded to their seats.
A victory ceremony for the cross country skiing took place for the Ladies 3okm seeing a clean sweep for Norway with Kristin Stoermer Steira taking the bronze, Therese Johaug collecting the silver and the new Olympic champion Marit Bjoergen receiving gold and becoming the most successful female in Winter Games history.
The second ceremony was for the men's 50km mass start and another clean sweep but to the joy of the crowd, one for the host nation, Iilia Chernousov taking the bronze while Maxim Vylegzhanin collected the silver and the new Olympic champion Alexander Legkov received the gold.
A cast of characters entered to the tune of violinists performing the Polka as the stage was transformed into a Marc Chagall painting. Rachmaninoff concerto two was played wonderfully as an array of pianists and dancers graced the stage. A beautiful cast of ballet dancers performed to a wonderful classical piece as they gathered below a staggeringly light chandelier before departing the stage.
A giant library appeared and the children of the opening sequence went on a tour of the literary greats including Chekov and Dostoyevsky with a vortex of paper circling the stage. A circus entered the stage with a wide range of performers including unicyclists, acrobats and a 'big top' style tent formed in centre stage.
The stage looked wonderful with colour as the acrobats performed some very clever techniques as a flurry of fireworks lit up the stage as the tent disappeared from view, the stage went black and a montage of successes on the slopes played.
The stage lit up again as the Greek national anthem played with the rising of the Greek flag with the Olympic anthem following as the Olympic flag was lowered and exited the stage.
The handover of the flag took place between Russia and Korea and the anthem of the Korean Republic was played and a superb montage of Korea played to show what would await the world in 2018 in PyeongChang.
Back in the stadium, a wonderful show of light and dance from the Koreans outlined ' The Dream Program' ending in a 'See you in PyeongChang'.
Next up was the speech to thank the athletes, the organisers, the fans and volunteers that shaped the games and the Thomas Bach, IOC president thanked Russia for such an amazing 16 days thanked all of the volunteers and declared that the games were closed with a parting invitation to meet again in four years.
The children returned to be greeted by the Russian mascots - Bear, Hare and Snow Leopard as a mirrored curtain departed and a flamed cauldron appeared with the trio of mascot and saw the Bear extinguish the flame.
The stage filled with dancers as the children reappeared in an airship as a sea of yellow filled the stadium and fireworks lit up the sky to the sound of Tchaikovsky in a wondeful way to bring the Sochi games to a close.
A silvery sea of dancers arrived to create a lovely images below the boat and formed a Mexican wave in a figure 8 fashion to the tune of the 'A wonderful life' from the Hollywood classic film.
A superb routine continued with a brilliant forming of the Olympic rings with the fabled broken snowflake from the opening ceremony but ended with the full forming of the fifth ring to wide celebration.
The crowd greeted the entry of Vladimir Putin as the dancers parted and the Russian team entered carrying the national flag to what was a sort of victory parade as they topped the medal standings.
The flag finished at the stage and was raised to the tune of the Russian national anthem as the forest of lights mirrored the flag to applause.
A large globe appeared on the stadium floor as a marching band entered the stadium and played very well and the flag bearers of all of the represented nations entered with golden girl Lizzy Yarnold carrying the flag for Team GB to the tune of 2Unlimited's classic 'No Limit'
The rest of the athletes paraded into the stadium which created a superb wave of colour and to the tune of Boney M - Gotta go Home and Daft Punk - One More Time as Blur - Song 2 got the parade jumping as the athletes paraded to their seats.
A victory ceremony for the cross country skiing took place for the Ladies 3okm seeing a clean sweep for Norway with Kristin Stoermer Steira taking the bronze, Therese Johaug collecting the silver and the new Olympic champion Marit Bjoergen receiving gold and becoming the most successful female in Winter Games history.
The second ceremony was for the men's 50km mass start and another clean sweep but to the joy of the crowd, one for the host nation, Iilia Chernousov taking the bronze while Maxim Vylegzhanin collected the silver and the new Olympic champion Alexander Legkov received the gold.
A cast of characters entered to the tune of violinists performing the Polka as the stage was transformed into a Marc Chagall painting. Rachmaninoff concerto two was played wonderfully as an array of pianists and dancers graced the stage. A beautiful cast of ballet dancers performed to a wonderful classical piece as they gathered below a staggeringly light chandelier before departing the stage.
A giant library appeared and the children of the opening sequence went on a tour of the literary greats including Chekov and Dostoyevsky with a vortex of paper circling the stage. A circus entered the stage with a wide range of performers including unicyclists, acrobats and a 'big top' style tent formed in centre stage.
The stage looked wonderful with colour as the acrobats performed some very clever techniques as a flurry of fireworks lit up the stage as the tent disappeared from view, the stage went black and a montage of successes on the slopes played.
The stage lit up again as the Greek national anthem played with the rising of the Greek flag with the Olympic anthem following as the Olympic flag was lowered and exited the stage.
The handover of the flag took place between Russia and Korea and the anthem of the Korean Republic was played and a superb montage of Korea played to show what would await the world in 2018 in PyeongChang.
Back in the stadium, a wonderful show of light and dance from the Koreans outlined ' The Dream Program' ending in a 'See you in PyeongChang'.
Next up was the speech to thank the athletes, the organisers, the fans and volunteers that shaped the games and the Thomas Bach, IOC president thanked Russia for such an amazing 16 days thanked all of the volunteers and declared that the games were closed with a parting invitation to meet again in four years.
The children returned to be greeted by the Russian mascots - Bear, Hare and Snow Leopard as a mirrored curtain departed and a flamed cauldron appeared with the trio of mascot and saw the Bear extinguish the flame.
The stage filled with dancers as the children reappeared in an airship as a sea of yellow filled the stadium and fireworks lit up the sky to the sound of Tchaikovsky in a wondeful way to bring the Sochi games to a close.
Sochi Days 15-16
Day 15 saw an Austrian 1-2 with Mario Matt taking gold and Marcel Hirscher taking silver with Henrik Kristoffersen collecting the bronze in the men's slalom while the men's relay saw gold for Russia with Germany taking silver and Austria collecting the bronze.
The ladies cross country mass start saw a clean sweep for Norway with Marit Bjoergen claiming the gold, Therese Johaug collecting the silver and Kristin Stormer Steira taking the bronze.
Finland stunned the highly favoured Americans in the men's ice hockey bronze medal match with a 5-0 win while in the men's parallel slalom saw Vic Wild take gold for the host nation with Zan Kosir taking the silver for Slovenia with Benjamin Karl (DEN) securing the bronze.
The ladies team pursuit speed skating saw an Olympic record from the Netherlands as they continued the domination of the sport with the gold ahead of Poland who took the silver and Russia who secured the bronze.
Day 16 brought the curtain down on what has been a brilliant two weeks of competition and saw the final three gold medals claimed, the four man bobsleigh saw gold for the Russian foursome of Alexander Zubkov, Alexey Negodaylo, Dmitry Trunenkov, Alexey Voevoda with the silver going to the Latvian team of Oskars Melbārdis, Daumants Dreiškens, Arvis Vilkaste, Jānis Strenga and the bronze to Steven Holcomb, Curtis Tomasevicz, Steven Langton, Christopher Fogt of the USA.
The men's mass start saw a Russian clean sweep with gold going to Alexander Legkov, silver to Maxim Vylegzhanin and the bronze to Ilia Chernousov while the men's ice hockey final saw Canada retain their Olympic title with a 3-0win over Sweden.
The final medal table sees the host nation top the standings with Great Britain in 19th in their best ever medal haul.
The ladies cross country mass start saw a clean sweep for Norway with Marit Bjoergen claiming the gold, Therese Johaug collecting the silver and Kristin Stormer Steira taking the bronze.
Finland stunned the highly favoured Americans in the men's ice hockey bronze medal match with a 5-0 win while in the men's parallel slalom saw Vic Wild take gold for the host nation with Zan Kosir taking the silver for Slovenia with Benjamin Karl (DEN) securing the bronze.
The ladies team pursuit speed skating saw an Olympic record from the Netherlands as they continued the domination of the sport with the gold ahead of Poland who took the silver and Russia who secured the bronze.
Day 16 brought the curtain down on what has been a brilliant two weeks of competition and saw the final three gold medals claimed, the four man bobsleigh saw gold for the Russian foursome of Alexander Zubkov, Alexey Negodaylo, Dmitry Trunenkov, Alexey Voevoda with the silver going to the Latvian team of Oskars Melbārdis, Daumants Dreiškens, Arvis Vilkaste, Jānis Strenga and the bronze to Steven Holcomb, Curtis Tomasevicz, Steven Langton, Christopher Fogt of the USA.
The men's mass start saw a Russian clean sweep with gold going to Alexander Legkov, silver to Maxim Vylegzhanin and the bronze to Ilia Chernousov while the men's ice hockey final saw Canada retain their Olympic title with a 3-0win over Sweden.
The final medal table sees the host nation top the standings with Great Britain in 19th in their best ever medal haul.
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Russian Fed. | 13 | 11 | 9 | 33 |
| 2 | Norway | 11 | 5 | 10 | 26 |
| 3 | Canada | 10 | 10 | 5 | 25 |
| 4 | United States | 9 | 7 | 12 | 28 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 8 | 7 | 9 | 24 |
| 6 | Germany | 8 | 6 | 5 | 19 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 8 | Belarus | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | Austria | 4 | 8 | 5 | 17 |
| 10 | France | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 11 | Poland | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 12 | China | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 13 | Korea | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 14 | Sweden | 2 | 7 | 6 | 15 |
| 15 | Czech Republic | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 17 | Japan | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 18 | Finland | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 19 | Great Britain | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 20 | Ukraine | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 23 | Latvia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 24 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 25 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Friday, 21 February 2014
Sochi Day 14
The summary for today has to start win the disappointing GB performance in the men's curling final against a rampant Canada, in what is a tradition for GB they were behind after three ends but a woeful set of ends saw them hand a two to Canada despite having the hammer and going 8-2 behind.
A one for GB made it 8-3 but they conceded late on as Canada went to 9-3 and that was it for the GB hopes but a silver medal is still a big achievement.
Earlier on, the bronze went to Sweden who beat China 6-4 who bounced back after defeat in the semi finals against GB and ensured the same three teams took the medals in both competitions.
Canada seem to be having a good day all around as they have taken a 1-2 in the women's ski cross with Marielle Thompson taking gold, Kelsey Serwa securing silver and Anna Holmund (SWE) collecting the bronze.
The women's 4x6km relay saw a gold for Ukraine with Russia taking the silver and Norway collecting the bronze while in the speed skating both GB representatives, Elise Christie and Jon Eley successfully qualified for the semi finals.
Eley missed out on the men's 500m final finishing fourth and last in his semi but came so close to qualifying but a mistake stopped him from going second and had to settle for fourth and a place in the 'B' final but only to classify 5th place and so on overall but managed third in that final so is placed 7th.
The A final saw Russian Victor Am breeze through for gold with Wu Dajing (CHN) taking the silver and Charle Cournoyer sealing the bronze.
Elise Christie skated in the women's 100m semi final and was taken out on the final turn but a review saw he penalised for a third time in the games meaning the hopes of a medal are dashed.
The final saw Korea take gold and bronze with Seung Hi Park taking gold, Kexin Fan (CHN) take silver with Shim Suk Hee collecting the bronze.
The women's slalom saw a new note in the history books as Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) became the youngest ever winner of the gold with an Austrian 2-3 with Marlies Schild taking the silver with compatriot Kathrin Zettel collecting the bronze.
Back to skating and in the men's 5000m relay, Russia took the gold giving Victor An his second gold of the day alongside Semen Elistratov, Vladimir Grigorev and Ruslan Zakharov with an Olympic record time of 6:42.10. America took the silver with the team of Eduardo Alvarez, J.R. Celski, Chris Creveling and Jordan Malone with China's Dequen Chan, Tianyu Han, Jingnan Shi and Dajing Wu collecting the bronze.
A one for GB made it 8-3 but they conceded late on as Canada went to 9-3 and that was it for the GB hopes but a silver medal is still a big achievement.
Earlier on, the bronze went to Sweden who beat China 6-4 who bounced back after defeat in the semi finals against GB and ensured the same three teams took the medals in both competitions.
Canada seem to be having a good day all around as they have taken a 1-2 in the women's ski cross with Marielle Thompson taking gold, Kelsey Serwa securing silver and Anna Holmund (SWE) collecting the bronze.
The women's 4x6km relay saw a gold for Ukraine with Russia taking the silver and Norway collecting the bronze while in the speed skating both GB representatives, Elise Christie and Jon Eley successfully qualified for the semi finals.
Eley missed out on the men's 500m final finishing fourth and last in his semi but came so close to qualifying but a mistake stopped him from going second and had to settle for fourth and a place in the 'B' final but only to classify 5th place and so on overall but managed third in that final so is placed 7th.
The A final saw Russian Victor Am breeze through for gold with Wu Dajing (CHN) taking the silver and Charle Cournoyer sealing the bronze.
Elise Christie skated in the women's 100m semi final and was taken out on the final turn but a review saw he penalised for a third time in the games meaning the hopes of a medal are dashed.
The final saw Korea take gold and bronze with Seung Hi Park taking gold, Kexin Fan (CHN) take silver with Shim Suk Hee collecting the bronze.
The women's slalom saw a new note in the history books as Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) became the youngest ever winner of the gold with an Austrian 2-3 with Marlies Schild taking the silver with compatriot Kathrin Zettel collecting the bronze.
Back to skating and in the men's 5000m relay, Russia took the gold giving Victor An his second gold of the day alongside Semen Elistratov, Vladimir Grigorev and Ruslan Zakharov with an Olympic record time of 6:42.10. America took the silver with the team of Eduardo Alvarez, J.R. Celski, Chris Creveling and Jordan Malone with China's Dequen Chan, Tianyu Han, Jingnan Shi and Dajing Wu collecting the bronze.
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Norway | 10 | 4 | 8 | 22 |
| 2 | Russian Fed. | 9 | 10 | 7 | 26 |
| 3 | Canada | 9 | 10 | 5 | 24 |
| 4 | United States | 9 | 7 | 11 | 27 |
| 5 | Germany | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 6 | 7 | 9 | 22 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 8 | Belarus | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | France | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 10 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | China | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 12 | Korea | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 13 | Austria | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 |
| 14 | Sweden | 2 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| 15 | Czech Republic | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 17 | Japan | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 18 | Finland | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 19 | Great Britain | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 20 | Ukraine | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 23 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 24 | Latvia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 25 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Sochi 2014 Day 13
Day 13 began with an early wake-up to see the GB women take on Switzerland in the bronze medal match. They had a similar start to the semi-final as after four ends they trailed 3-1 but a superb two in end five squared the game at the halfway point. Mirjam Ott put the Swiss back in front with the seventh being blanked then Eve Muirhead scored a two in end eight to give GB the momentum and mean the hammer could be hers in the final end.
The penultimate end saw Switzerland level at 5-5 and the GB followers knew that with the hammer in the final end, it was Eve's to win or lose and what a way to win the match as she guided her final stone into the house with perfection to an emotional celebration from the team and the crowd.
A 6-5 victory and a bronze medal is a brilliant reward for the girls from Scotland who have worked so hard in this Olympics and never let defeats get the better of them as they secured a well deserved place on the podium. Well done to Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Claire Hamilton and Lauren Gray for an emotional and exciting two weeks and for what will be one of my favourite memory of the games!
The gold medal game was less exciting even being a neutral as at times it was a struggle to see if either side wanted to win but the ninth end saw the excitement finally appear as they Canada led 4-3 with Sweden with the hammer but Canadinan skip Jennifer Jones left four in the house putting huge pressure on Sweden's Maria Prytz who blew her shot and allowed Canada to steal two and lead 6-3.
The final end ended early as with two stones apiece left, Jones cleared the house meaning the Swedes had no chance of forcing an extra end and with that Jones and her girls celebrated wildly at securing Olympic gold. The flower ceremony took place minutes later and it was a proud moment for the GB fivesome taking the first curling medal since Rhona Howie's heroics in 2002.
The ladies freestyle half pipe skiing saw GB skier Emma Lonsdale finish 18th in qualifying to miss out on the final and sadly she announced her retirement later in the day but in the final itself, Maddie Bowman took gold for America with Marie Martinod (FRA) taking silver and Ayana Onozuka (JPN) collecting the bronze.
The men's ski cross saw a what is surely the most bizarre phot finish in history as the quarter final saw Armin Niederer, Egor Korotkov and Victor Oehling Norberg qualify witht the latter sealing a semi-final place by the width of an ankle over the line but in the final it was a clean sweep for France as Jean Federic Chapuis took gold with fellow Frenchmen Arnaud Bolovent taking silver and Jonathan Midol collecting the bronze.
History was made in the ladies figure skating as Adelina Sotnikova became the first Russian to win the title and did so with a stellar long program scoring 149.95 for a total score of 224.59 ahead of Korean Kim Yuna who came so close to retaining her title from Vancouver but had to settle for silver with Carolina Kostner (ITA) taking the bronze.
The nordic combined team saw gold for Norway with the silver going to Germany and bronze to Austria while the women's ice hockey saw a surprise in the bronze medal match as Switzerland stunned Sweden 4-2 to secure the bronze while the gold medal game saw the might of Canada and the USA face off with America leading 2-1 before Marie-Philip Poulin struck in the final minute force Overtime and sealed the win herself to give Canada a fourth consecutive crown.
The biggest news of the day is that GB have now set a new record medal haul in their history of the Winter Games as with the guarantee of a medal in the men's curling final, the women's bronze success means a minimum of four medals overall but right now the medal table sits like this...
The penultimate end saw Switzerland level at 5-5 and the GB followers knew that with the hammer in the final end, it was Eve's to win or lose and what a way to win the match as she guided her final stone into the house with perfection to an emotional celebration from the team and the crowd.
A 6-5 victory and a bronze medal is a brilliant reward for the girls from Scotland who have worked so hard in this Olympics and never let defeats get the better of them as they secured a well deserved place on the podium. Well done to Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Claire Hamilton and Lauren Gray for an emotional and exciting two weeks and for what will be one of my favourite memory of the games!
The gold medal game was less exciting even being a neutral as at times it was a struggle to see if either side wanted to win but the ninth end saw the excitement finally appear as they Canada led 4-3 with Sweden with the hammer but Canadinan skip Jennifer Jones left four in the house putting huge pressure on Sweden's Maria Prytz who blew her shot and allowed Canada to steal two and lead 6-3.
The final end ended early as with two stones apiece left, Jones cleared the house meaning the Swedes had no chance of forcing an extra end and with that Jones and her girls celebrated wildly at securing Olympic gold. The flower ceremony took place minutes later and it was a proud moment for the GB fivesome taking the first curling medal since Rhona Howie's heroics in 2002.
The ladies freestyle half pipe skiing saw GB skier Emma Lonsdale finish 18th in qualifying to miss out on the final and sadly she announced her retirement later in the day but in the final itself, Maddie Bowman took gold for America with Marie Martinod (FRA) taking silver and Ayana Onozuka (JPN) collecting the bronze.
The men's ski cross saw a what is surely the most bizarre phot finish in history as the quarter final saw Armin Niederer, Egor Korotkov and Victor Oehling Norberg qualify witht the latter sealing a semi-final place by the width of an ankle over the line but in the final it was a clean sweep for France as Jean Federic Chapuis took gold with fellow Frenchmen Arnaud Bolovent taking silver and Jonathan Midol collecting the bronze.
History was made in the ladies figure skating as Adelina Sotnikova became the first Russian to win the title and did so with a stellar long program scoring 149.95 for a total score of 224.59 ahead of Korean Kim Yuna who came so close to retaining her title from Vancouver but had to settle for silver with Carolina Kostner (ITA) taking the bronze.
The nordic combined team saw gold for Norway with the silver going to Germany and bronze to Austria while the women's ice hockey saw a surprise in the bronze medal match as Switzerland stunned Sweden 4-2 to secure the bronze while the gold medal game saw the might of Canada and the USA face off with America leading 2-1 before Marie-Philip Poulin struck in the final minute force Overtime and sealed the win herself to give Canada a fourth consecutive crown.
The biggest news of the day is that GB have now set a new record medal haul in their history of the Winter Games as with the guarantee of a medal in the men's curling final, the women's bronze success means a minimum of four medals overall but right now the medal table sits like this...
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Norway | 10 | 4 | 7 | 21 |
| 2 | United States | 8 | 6 | 11 | 25 |
| 3 | Germany | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 4 | Russian Fed. | 7 | 9 | 7 | 23 |
| 5 | Canada | 7 | 9 | 4 | 20 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 6 | 7 | 9 | 22 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 8 | Belarus | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | France | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 10 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 12 | Sweden | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 13 | Austria | 2 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| 14 | Czech Republic | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 15 | Korea | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 17 | Japan | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 18 | Finland | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 19 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 20 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 22 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 23 | Latvia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 24 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =25 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| =25 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Sochi Day 12
Day 12 was all about curling from a GB perspective as both teams played for the chance to reach the Olympic Final.
Eve Muirhead and her girls began the day with their semi-final against the unbeaten Canadians and had a bad start by losing three in the opening two ends but closed to 3-2 before going 5-2 down and blanking the next two ends. Muirhead managed to pull back to 5-4 going into the final end but the Canadians took the vital one in the tenth end to secure a place in the final and mean Team GB would have to face off against Switzerland for the bronze medal.
Despite the disappointing result, fans moved on to the men who faced off against Sweden who are the current world champions and got off to a good start with a one in the second end but lost two in the third to go behind they pulled back and led 3-2 at the halfway point. Both teams traded one in the next two ends but the tie turned in the penultimate end as Sweden took a two to go 5-4 up.
The final two stones of the match will go down in British Olympic history for different reasons, Sweden's Edin had a chance to limit GB to one but a huge mistake saw him takeout two of his own stones meaning Murdoch could win the match there and then and a superb spine-chilling shot saw his stone glide into the house to a roar as he secured the two and a place in the Olympic final.
Away from Ice Cube Arena, the men's giant slalom saw Ted Ligety take gold for America while a French 2-3 saw Steve Missilier take bronze and compatriot Alexis Pinturault take the bronze.
In the 4x6km relay, Norway took the gold with the silver going to the Czech Republic and the bronze to the Italians while in the women's bobsleigh the gold went to Canad with a double for the USA with silver and bronze.
The men's team sprint saw gold for Finland with the host nation taking the silver and Sweden taking the bronze medal while in the women's sprint, Norway took the gold with Finland taking silver and Sweden the bronze.
In the men's snowboard parallel giant slalom,Vic Wild (RUS) took the gold and the silver went to Nevin Galmarini (SWI) with Zan Kosir (SLO) securing the bronze. The women's event saw Patrizia Kummer (SWI) claim the gold with Tomoka Takeuchi (JPN) securing the silver and Alena Zavarzina (RUS) collecting the bronze.
The women's speed skating 5000m saw the Netherlands continue their medal haul in the arena with a 2-3 but the gold went to Czech skater Martina Sablikova with the silver going to Ireen Wust and the bronze to Carien Kleibeuker.
The medal table after day 12 is as follows...
Eve Muirhead and her girls began the day with their semi-final against the unbeaten Canadians and had a bad start by losing three in the opening two ends but closed to 3-2 before going 5-2 down and blanking the next two ends. Muirhead managed to pull back to 5-4 going into the final end but the Canadians took the vital one in the tenth end to secure a place in the final and mean Team GB would have to face off against Switzerland for the bronze medal.
Despite the disappointing result, fans moved on to the men who faced off against Sweden who are the current world champions and got off to a good start with a one in the second end but lost two in the third to go behind they pulled back and led 3-2 at the halfway point. Both teams traded one in the next two ends but the tie turned in the penultimate end as Sweden took a two to go 5-4 up.
The final two stones of the match will go down in British Olympic history for different reasons, Sweden's Edin had a chance to limit GB to one but a huge mistake saw him takeout two of his own stones meaning Murdoch could win the match there and then and a superb spine-chilling shot saw his stone glide into the house to a roar as he secured the two and a place in the Olympic final.
Away from Ice Cube Arena, the men's giant slalom saw Ted Ligety take gold for America while a French 2-3 saw Steve Missilier take bronze and compatriot Alexis Pinturault take the bronze.
In the 4x6km relay, Norway took the gold with the silver going to the Czech Republic and the bronze to the Italians while in the women's bobsleigh the gold went to Canad with a double for the USA with silver and bronze.
The men's team sprint saw gold for Finland with the host nation taking the silver and Sweden taking the bronze medal while in the women's sprint, Norway took the gold with Finland taking silver and Sweden the bronze.
In the men's snowboard parallel giant slalom,Vic Wild (RUS) took the gold and the silver went to Nevin Galmarini (SWI) with Zan Kosir (SLO) securing the bronze. The women's event saw Patrizia Kummer (SWI) claim the gold with Tomoka Takeuchi (JPN) securing the silver and Alena Zavarzina (RUS) collecting the bronze.
The women's speed skating 5000m saw the Netherlands continue their medal haul in the arena with a 2-3 but the gold went to Czech skater Martina Sablikova with the silver going to Ireen Wust and the bronze to Carien Kleibeuker.
The medal table after day 12 is as follows...
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Norway | 9 | 4 | 7 | 20 |
| 2 | Germany | 8 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 | United States | 7 | 5 | 11 | 23 |
| 4 | Russian Fed. | 6 | 9 | 7 | 22 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 6 | 7 | 9 | 22 |
| 6 | Switzerland | 6 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 7 | Canada | 5 | 9 | 4 | 18 |
| 8 | Belarus | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | France | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| 11 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 12 | Austria | 2 | 6 | 1 | 9 |
| 13 | Sweden | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| 14 | Czech Republic | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 15 | Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 16 | Korea | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 17 | Japan | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 18 | Finland | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 19 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 20 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 22 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 23 | Latvia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 24 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =25 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| =25 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Sochi 2014 Day 11
A very early start to UK viewers saw David Murdoch's team seal a semi final place in the curling with a stunning final stone that was one of the riskiest shots seen in this year's games as they were 5-4 behind going into the final end and with the final stone from Norway they removed a GB stone and one of their own which left Murdoch with a brilliant chance to take the two which he did spectacularly to claim a 6-5 win and setup a semi final tie against Sweden tomorrow.
The men's biathlon 15km mass start was run in heavy snow and fog and saw a photo finish between Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) and Martin Fourcade (FRA) with the Norwegian taking the gold by literally a few centimetres denying Fourcade of a third gold of the games and meaning he had to settle for silver with Czech Ondrej Moravec taking the bronze.
A Norweigian 1-2 in the nordic combined large hill saw J. Graabak take gold with compatriot M.H.Moan taking the silver and German F.Riessle taking bronze while in the short track speed skating men's 500m, Jon Eley secured qualification for the quarter finals.
Elise Christie finally had some luck after her two previous problems as she raced through to the quarter finals of the women's 1000m with the third fastest time and she did so despite being fourth in her heat late in the race but a stellar comeback saw her fly past the field and create an unassailable gap to come home in first.
The women's 3000m relay saw gold for Korea with Canada taking the silver and Italy collecting the bronze while in the women's giant slalom, Slovenia's Tina Maze claimed her second gold of the games with Anna Fenninger (AUT) with the silver and Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) taking the bronze.
The men's snowboarding cross saw Pierre Vaultier claim gold for France with Nikolay Olyunin (RUS) taking the silver while Alex Deibold (USA) collected the bronze while in the men's 10000m speed skating it was a fourth clean sweep of the games for the Netherlands as Jorrit Bergsma stormed to gold with an Olympic record time of 12:44.45 with Sven Kramer taking silver 4.57 behind and Bob De Jong a further 18 seconds behind.
The men's biathlon 15km mass start was run in heavy snow and fog and saw a photo finish between Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) and Martin Fourcade (FRA) with the Norwegian taking the gold by literally a few centimetres denying Fourcade of a third gold of the games and meaning he had to settle for silver with Czech Ondrej Moravec taking the bronze.
A Norweigian 1-2 in the nordic combined large hill saw J. Graabak take gold with compatriot M.H.Moan taking the silver and German F.Riessle taking bronze while in the short track speed skating men's 500m, Jon Eley secured qualification for the quarter finals.
Elise Christie finally had some luck after her two previous problems as she raced through to the quarter finals of the women's 1000m with the third fastest time and she did so despite being fourth in her heat late in the race but a stellar comeback saw her fly past the field and create an unassailable gap to come home in first.
The women's 3000m relay saw gold for Korea with Canada taking the silver and Italy collecting the bronze while in the women's giant slalom, Slovenia's Tina Maze claimed her second gold of the games with Anna Fenninger (AUT) with the silver and Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) taking the bronze.
The men's snowboarding cross saw Pierre Vaultier claim gold for France with Nikolay Olyunin (RUS) taking the silver while Alex Deibold (USA) collected the bronze while in the men's 10000m speed skating it was a fourth clean sweep of the games for the Netherlands as Jorrit Bergsma stormed to gold with an Olympic record time of 12:44.45 with Sven Kramer taking silver 4.57 behind and Bob De Jong a further 18 seconds behind.
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Germany | 8 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 2 | Norway | 7 | 4 | 7 | 18 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 6 | 6 | 8 | 20 |
| 4 | United States | 6 | 4 | 10 | 20 |
| 5 | Russian Fed. | 5 | 8 | 6 | 19 |
| 6 | Switzerland | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 7 | Belarus | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Canada | 4 | 9 | 4 | 17 |
| 9 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 11 | France | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 12 | Austria | 2 | 6 | 1 | 9 |
| 13 | Sweden | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 14 | Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 15 | Korea | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| =16 | Czech Republic | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| =16 | Japan | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 18 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 21 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 22 | Finland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 23 | Latvia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 24 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =25 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| =25 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Sochi 2014 Days 9-10
Day Nine saw four medals awarded in the men's Super G with Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) claiming gold, Andrew Weibrecht (USA) sealing silver and a shared bronze between Bode Miller (USA) and Jan Hudec (CAN) both coming home in a time of 1:18.67.
The two-man bobsleigh saw gold go to the Russian pair of Alexander Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda with Switzerland's Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann secured silver with USA duo Steven Holcomf and Steven Langton taking the bronze.
Sweden sealed gold in the men's cross country relay with Russia taking silver and France the bronze while in curling, GB's men went down 7-6 to Norway
Over in the Ice Dancing competition, it was gold for the USA pair of Meryl Davis and Charlie White who were clear of Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir with the bronze collected by Russian's Elena Ilnykh and Nikita Katsalapov.
The ladies snowboard cross saw gold for Eva Samková (CZE) with Dominique Maltais (CAN) taking solver with Chloe Trespeuch (FRA) while in the ladies speed skating 1500m, Netherlands had a clean sweep with Jorien ter Mors claiming gold ahead of Ireen Wust who took silver and Charlotte van Beek who sealed bronze.
Day Ten saw history for Belarus as Darya Domracheva claimed her third gold of the games ahead of Gabriela Soukalova (CZE) who took silver and Tiril Eckhoff (NOR) taking the bronze.
GB's curling teams had a mixed day with Eve Muirhead's girls securing a place in the semi finals with an early 9-6 victory over Russia that hinged on a stunning take out by Anna Sloan in the eight end but had to settle for fourth place in the group after comeback from Denmark from 7-4 down to win 7-8 in the afternoon after GB had blown several chances to win but qualify to face Canada on Wednesday. The men lost to China 6-5 meaning they had to play a tie-break against Norway on Tuesday.
The final of the men's aerials saw Belarus continue their gold streak as Anton Kushnir scored 134.50 with Australian David Morris took silver with 110.41 and Zongyang Jia (CHN) took the bronze with 95.06.
Germany took gold in the men's team ski jumping with Austria claiming silver and Japan securing bronze and after 10 day the medal table is as follows...
The two-man bobsleigh saw gold go to the Russian pair of Alexander Zubkov and Alexey Voevoda with Switzerland's Beat Hefti and Alex Baumann secured silver with USA duo Steven Holcomf and Steven Langton taking the bronze.
Sweden sealed gold in the men's cross country relay with Russia taking silver and France the bronze while in curling, GB's men went down 7-6 to Norway
Over in the Ice Dancing competition, it was gold for the USA pair of Meryl Davis and Charlie White who were clear of Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir with the bronze collected by Russian's Elena Ilnykh and Nikita Katsalapov.
The ladies snowboard cross saw gold for Eva Samková (CZE) with Dominique Maltais (CAN) taking solver with Chloe Trespeuch (FRA) while in the ladies speed skating 1500m, Netherlands had a clean sweep with Jorien ter Mors claiming gold ahead of Ireen Wust who took silver and Charlotte van Beek who sealed bronze.
Day Ten saw history for Belarus as Darya Domracheva claimed her third gold of the games ahead of Gabriela Soukalova (CZE) who took silver and Tiril Eckhoff (NOR) taking the bronze.
GB's curling teams had a mixed day with Eve Muirhead's girls securing a place in the semi finals with an early 9-6 victory over Russia that hinged on a stunning take out by Anna Sloan in the eight end but had to settle for fourth place in the group after comeback from Denmark from 7-4 down to win 7-8 in the afternoon after GB had blown several chances to win but qualify to face Canada on Wednesday. The men lost to China 6-5 meaning they had to play a tie-break against Norway on Tuesday.
The final of the men's aerials saw Belarus continue their gold streak as Anton Kushnir scored 134.50 with Australian David Morris took silver with 110.41 and Zongyang Jia (CHN) took the bronze with 95.06.
Germany took gold in the men's team ski jumping with Austria claiming silver and Japan securing bronze and after 10 day the medal table is as follows...
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Germany | 8 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| 2 | Russian Fed. | 5 | 7 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 5 | 5 | 7 | 17 |
| 4 | United States | 5 | 4 | 9 | 18 |
| 5 | Norway | 5 | 3 | 7 | 15 |
| 6 | Switzerland | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 7 | Belarus | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Canada | 4 | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| 9 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 11 | Sweden | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 12 | Austria | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 13 | France | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 14 | Japan | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 15 | Czech Republic | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 17 | Korea | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 21 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 22 | Finland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 23 | Latvia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 24 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =25 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| =25 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Sochi 2014 Day Eight
Day Eight began with a mixed morning for British hopes with Elise Christie being disqualified from her second consecutive event this time in the 1500m after looking to have easily qualified, she had infringed on the finish line when sprinting past Italy's Fontana and left hopes of a medal in tatters.
Over in the Ice Cube after a lucky win yesterday for Team Murdoch their luck turned today as the final stone saw them lose 7-5 to Canada leaving them with a 5-2 record in joint third but Eve Muirhead made sure there was a win to celebrate for the British fans as her team beat Korea 10-8.
Chemmy Alcott went in the women's super G but could only place 23rd as Anna Fenninger (AUT) took the gold with Maria Hoefl-Riesch securing silver and Nicole Hosp (AUT) collecting the bronze.
In the final of the women's 1500m the gold went to Yang Zhou (CHN) while Suk Hee Shim (KOR) took the silver and Arianna Fontana (ITA) collecting the bronze while in the men's 1000m, it was a Russian 1-2 as Victor An took gold and compatriot Vladimir Grigorev in silver with the Netherlands continuing their skating medal haul with the bronze for Sjinkie Knegt.
Out on the slopes in the women's 4x5km cross country, gold went to Sweden with the silver going to Finland and the bronze to Germany and the afternoon focused around the long awaited Ice Hockey tie between the might of the USA and Russia and after a frantic three periods ending at 2-2, the match went to overtime which saw no score and meant that the game would be decided by penalty shots which saw the USA triumph with the win.
Later on, the medal ceremony for the victorious Lizzy Yarnold took place ad it was nice to see a first gold mdeal of the games for GB while in the women's curling, Eve Muirhead and the girls faced Switzerland and went 6-2 down at the half way stage before pulling back to 6-4 down after seven ends but going further behind at 7-4 but in end 9, a well earned two put them only one behind at 7-6 but went on to lose 8-6.
In the men's skeleton, gold went to Alexander Tretiakov (RUS) with Martins Dukurs (LAT) taking the silver and Matthew Antoine (USA) taking the bronze with impressive placings for the two Brits with Kristian Bromley in eighth and team-mate Dominic Parsons in ninth.
Over in the Ice Cube after a lucky win yesterday for Team Murdoch their luck turned today as the final stone saw them lose 7-5 to Canada leaving them with a 5-2 record in joint third but Eve Muirhead made sure there was a win to celebrate for the British fans as her team beat Korea 10-8.
Chemmy Alcott went in the women's super G but could only place 23rd as Anna Fenninger (AUT) took the gold with Maria Hoefl-Riesch securing silver and Nicole Hosp (AUT) collecting the bronze.
In the final of the women's 1500m the gold went to Yang Zhou (CHN) while Suk Hee Shim (KOR) took the silver and Arianna Fontana (ITA) collecting the bronze while in the men's 1000m, it was a Russian 1-2 as Victor An took gold and compatriot Vladimir Grigorev in silver with the Netherlands continuing their skating medal haul with the bronze for Sjinkie Knegt.
Out on the slopes in the women's 4x5km cross country, gold went to Sweden with the silver going to Finland and the bronze to Germany and the afternoon focused around the long awaited Ice Hockey tie between the might of the USA and Russia and after a frantic three periods ending at 2-2, the match went to overtime which saw no score and meant that the game would be decided by penalty shots which saw the USA triumph with the win.
Later on, the medal ceremony for the victorious Lizzy Yarnold took place ad it was nice to see a first gold mdeal of the games for GB while in the women's curling, Eve Muirhead and the girls faced Switzerland and went 6-2 down at the half way stage before pulling back to 6-4 down after seven ends but going further behind at 7-4 but in end 9, a well earned two put them only one behind at 7-6 but went on to lose 8-6.
In the men's skeleton, gold went to Alexander Tretiakov (RUS) with Martins Dukurs (LAT) taking the silver and Matthew Antoine (USA) taking the bronze with impressive placings for the two Brits with Kristian Bromley in eighth and team-mate Dominic Parsons in ninth.
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Germany | 7 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | Russian Fed. | 4 | 6 | 5 | 15 |
| 4 | Canada | 4 | 5 | 3 | 12 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 |
| 6 | United States | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 |
| 7 | Norway | 4 | 3 | 6 | 13 |
| 8 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | China | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 | Belarus | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 11 | Austria | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 12 | France | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | Sweden | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 14 | Japan | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 15 | Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 16 | Korea | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 18 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 20 | Czech Republic | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 21 | Finland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | Latvia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 23 | Australia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =25 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| =25 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Sochi 2014 Days Five-Seven
Day Five began with an early wake up for curling fans as the GB women faced Canada and despite being 8-6 behind in the final end had a great chance with the final stone to level the match and force an 11th end but Eve Muirhead went for the gamble to try and win and failed giving Canada the one point and a 9-6 win.
The men had better luck as they secured a 4-2 win over Switzerland in a tight contest that saw no score until the third end but was enough to put them on three wins and one loss. A highlight of the afternoon was the the figure skating pairs that saw a number of superb routines and others that saw bad falls denting medal hopes but in the end it was a Russian 1-2 with Tatiana Volosozhar/ Maxim Trankov take gold with compatriots Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov securing silver with the bronze collected by Germany's Aliona Savchenko, Robin Szolkowy.
The ladies downhill saw a shared gold medal as Dominique Gisin (SWI) and Tina Maze (SLO) both finished with an identical time of 1:41.57 with a bronze for Lara Gut (SWI) only .10 of a second from making it an historical three way gold.
The luge doubles saw a gold for Tobia Wendl (GER) with Andreas Linger (AUT) taking silver and narrowly ahead of Andris Sics (LAT) who collected the bronze while in the nordic combined, Germany secured another gold in the shape of Eric Frenzel with Akito Watabe (JPN) in second and Magnus Krog (NOR) taking the bronze.
The ladies snowboarding halfpipe saw a close run final with the USA taking first and third as Kaitlyn Farrington secured gold with a score of 91.75, just .25 ahead of Australia's Torah Bright who took silver and American Kelly Clark taking bronze in 90.75.
Netherlands and speed skating seem to go hand-in- hand as yet again they took two medals this time in the mens 1000m as Stefan Groothuis secured gold with Canadian Denny Morrison taking silver but .04 away from sharing the gold with Michel Mulder securing bronze for the Dutch.
Day six saw a gold for France as Martin Foucade swept home in the men's biathlon with Erik Lesser (GER) taking silver and Evgeniy Garanichev (RUS) in the bronze medal position while in the cross country ladies classic, Poland took gold as Justyna Kowalczyk secured first place ahead of Charlotte Kalla (SWE) who took silver and Therese Johaug (NOR) in third with the bronze.
The GB women bounced back in the curling group with a 8-7 win over China with a crucial last stone by skip Eve Muirhead to give them a great position in the group while the men continued their winning run with a 5-3 win over USA.
The free skiing men's slopestyle saw an American clean sweep with Joss Christensen taking gold, Gus Kenworthy taking silver and Nicholas Goepper securing bronze while over in the luge team relay, it was gold for Germany ahead of Russia in second and Latvia third.
Gold for China in the short track ladies' 500m as Jianrou Li sealed the win with Arianna Fontana (ITA) with the silver and Seunghi Park (KOR) taking bronze while the speed skating 1000m saw another haul of medals for the Netherlands but for a change there was no gold for the team in orange as the gold went to Hong Zhang (CHN) but it was silver for Ireen Wust (NED) and Margot Boer (NED).
Day seven saw a gold for Sandro Viletta of Switzerland in the men's super combined with Ivica Kostelic (CRO) taking silver and Christof Innerhofer (ITA) securing silver while in the women's 15km individual, Darya Domracheva (BLR) secured the gold and Selina Gasparin (SWI) took silver with the bronze going to Nadezhda Skardino (BLR) in a Belarus first and third.
The men's 15km classic saw Dario Cologna secure gold for Switzerland with Johan Olsson in silver and Daniel Richardsson taking bronze and both for Sweden.
Eve Muirhead and her team equalled the record of scoring for the second time in three days as she skipped them to a 12-3 win over Japan in a match that only lasted seven ends due to a magnificent five stone haul in what was to be the final end and the signal for Japan to concede while David Murdoch led his team against Denmark this afternoon to a superb 8-6 victory despite being 1-5 down and coming back to 6-6 before holding a 7-6 lead into the final end and secured a one to complete the win.
The women's skeleton saw a frantic afternoon as GB's Lizzy Yarnold topped the standings after three runs with compatriot Shelley Rudman who won silver in Turin 2006 in 11th but a stunning final run from Yarnold saw her take gold and the first of 2014 for GB meaning a second consecutive win in the skeleton after Amy Willams four years ago with American Noelle Pikus-Pace sealing silver ahead of Elena Nikitina of Russia taking bronze with Shelley Rudman down in 16th.
The evening session saw the final of the men's figure skating with Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) taking the gold with Patrick Chan (CAN) claiming silver and Denis Ten (KAZ) collecting the bronze while in the womens aerials, Alla Tsuper took gold for Belarus with Mentgtao Xu (CHN) took the silver and Lydia Lassila (AUS) taking bronze.
So after a week of competition the medal table is as follows ...
The men had better luck as they secured a 4-2 win over Switzerland in a tight contest that saw no score until the third end but was enough to put them on three wins and one loss. A highlight of the afternoon was the the figure skating pairs that saw a number of superb routines and others that saw bad falls denting medal hopes but in the end it was a Russian 1-2 with Tatiana Volosozhar/ Maxim Trankov take gold with compatriots Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov securing silver with the bronze collected by Germany's Aliona Savchenko, Robin Szolkowy.
The ladies downhill saw a shared gold medal as Dominique Gisin (SWI) and Tina Maze (SLO) both finished with an identical time of 1:41.57 with a bronze for Lara Gut (SWI) only .10 of a second from making it an historical three way gold.
The luge doubles saw a gold for Tobia Wendl (GER) with Andreas Linger (AUT) taking silver and narrowly ahead of Andris Sics (LAT) who collected the bronze while in the nordic combined, Germany secured another gold in the shape of Eric Frenzel with Akito Watabe (JPN) in second and Magnus Krog (NOR) taking the bronze.
The ladies snowboarding halfpipe saw a close run final with the USA taking first and third as Kaitlyn Farrington secured gold with a score of 91.75, just .25 ahead of Australia's Torah Bright who took silver and American Kelly Clark taking bronze in 90.75.
Netherlands and speed skating seem to go hand-in- hand as yet again they took two medals this time in the mens 1000m as Stefan Groothuis secured gold with Canadian Denny Morrison taking silver but .04 away from sharing the gold with Michel Mulder securing bronze for the Dutch.
Day six saw a gold for France as Martin Foucade swept home in the men's biathlon with Erik Lesser (GER) taking silver and Evgeniy Garanichev (RUS) in the bronze medal position while in the cross country ladies classic, Poland took gold as Justyna Kowalczyk secured first place ahead of Charlotte Kalla (SWE) who took silver and Therese Johaug (NOR) in third with the bronze.
The GB women bounced back in the curling group with a 8-7 win over China with a crucial last stone by skip Eve Muirhead to give them a great position in the group while the men continued their winning run with a 5-3 win over USA.
The free skiing men's slopestyle saw an American clean sweep with Joss Christensen taking gold, Gus Kenworthy taking silver and Nicholas Goepper securing bronze while over in the luge team relay, it was gold for Germany ahead of Russia in second and Latvia third.
Gold for China in the short track ladies' 500m as Jianrou Li sealed the win with Arianna Fontana (ITA) with the silver and Seunghi Park (KOR) taking bronze while the speed skating 1000m saw another haul of medals for the Netherlands but for a change there was no gold for the team in orange as the gold went to Hong Zhang (CHN) but it was silver for Ireen Wust (NED) and Margot Boer (NED).
Day seven saw a gold for Sandro Viletta of Switzerland in the men's super combined with Ivica Kostelic (CRO) taking silver and Christof Innerhofer (ITA) securing silver while in the women's 15km individual, Darya Domracheva (BLR) secured the gold and Selina Gasparin (SWI) took silver with the bronze going to Nadezhda Skardino (BLR) in a Belarus first and third.
The men's 15km classic saw Dario Cologna secure gold for Switzerland with Johan Olsson in silver and Daniel Richardsson taking bronze and both for Sweden.
Eve Muirhead and her team equalled the record of scoring for the second time in three days as she skipped them to a 12-3 win over Japan in a match that only lasted seven ends due to a magnificent five stone haul in what was to be the final end and the signal for Japan to concede while David Murdoch led his team against Denmark this afternoon to a superb 8-6 victory despite being 1-5 down and coming back to 6-6 before holding a 7-6 lead into the final end and secured a one to complete the win.
The women's skeleton saw a frantic afternoon as GB's Lizzy Yarnold topped the standings after three runs with compatriot Shelley Rudman who won silver in Turin 2006 in 11th but a stunning final run from Yarnold saw her take gold and the first of 2014 for GB meaning a second consecutive win in the skeleton after Amy Willams four years ago with American Noelle Pikus-Pace sealing silver ahead of Elena Nikitina of Russia taking bronze with Shelley Rudman down in 16th.
The evening session saw the final of the men's figure skating with Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) taking the gold with Patrick Chan (CAN) claiming silver and Denis Ten (KAZ) collecting the bronze while in the womens aerials, Alla Tsuper took gold for Belarus with Mentgtao Xu (CHN) took the silver and Lydia Lassila (AUS) taking bronze.
So after a week of competition the medal table is as follows ...
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Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Sochi 2014 Day Three and Four
In the women's combined, Germany took gold as Maria Hoefl-Riesch came home with the best time in the downhill and slalom with Nicole Hosp (AUT) in taking Silver and Julia Mancuso sealing bronze. The men's 12.5km pursuit saw a French double as Martin Foucase sealed gold with compatriot Jean Guillaume Beatrix in bronze position with Ondrej Moravec (CZE) taking silver while Ole Einar Bjoerndalen narrowly missed out on a medal in fourth and with it missed the chance to set a new record for medals won in the Winter Games.
The men's moguls saw a Canadian 1-2 with Alex Bilodeau taking the gold and Mikael Kingsbury sealing silver with the bronze going to Alexandr Smyshlyaev (RUS). Speed skating dominated the day and in the men's 1500m short track, Charles Hamelin (CAN) took the gold with China's Han Tianyu with the silver and Russia's Victor An sealing the bronze with Team GB's Jack Whelbourne in 7th after a fall. GB hopes in the women's 500m short track are Charlotte Gilmartin and Elise Christie who successfully qualified for the quarter-finals on Thursday.
The Netherlands completed a clean sweep in the men's 500m short track with Michel Mulder taking the gold ahead of compatriots Jan Smeekens in second and Ronald Mulder in third.
Day Four saw Sang Hwa Lee take gold in the women's 500m speed skating with Olga Fatkulina (RUS) taking silver and Margot Boer (NED) taking bronze and continuing the good run the Netherlands have in the skating arena. The women's 10km pursuit saw the gold claimed by Darya Domracheva (BLR) with Tora Berger (NOR) taking silver and Teja Gregorin (SLO) sealing bronze.
British hopes in the men's sprint cross country were ended at the quarter-final stage as Andrew Musgrove only failed to qualify but in the final, the gold went to Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) with a Sweden 2-3 with Teodor Peterson in second and Emil Joensson in third. In the women's event, Norway took gold to hold both titles with Maiken Caspersen Falla in the gold medal position and compatriot Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg taking the silver with Vesna Fabjan (SLO) taking the bronze.
A perfect day for GB in curling began with a last-gasp win for David Murdoch's team with a 7-6 victory over a strong German said who blew the chance to win with the last stone as it glided clean through the house to the joy of the Brits.
However, to say the women went one better would be an understatement as skip Eve Muirhead and her team set an Olympic record for total score and highest score in a single end with a 12-3 demolition of USA with the Americans's conceding after the minimum requirement of six ends.GB went 2-0 up with USA pulling back in the third but the fourth end saw history made as miraculously, Muirhead had the luxury of having to clip a single stone to ensure a record seven stone haul in the house which put them 9-1 up. USA took two in the fifth end but GB scoring three in the sixth was the signal for the handshake from the American's that saw an end to the match with Canada up next for the victors.
Just like in the men's slopestyle on Day One, GB had hopes in the women's in the shape of Katie Summerhayes but sadly she could only finish seventh with the gold going to Dara Howell with a stunning score of 94.2 with Devin Logan (USA) second with a score of 85.4 and Kim Lamarre third on 85 but there event had a delay when Canada's Yuki Tsuobota was taken off on a stretcher after a heavy fall.
The women's luge saw a German 1-2 as N.Geisenberger took the gold with T.Huefner sealing silver and American E.Hamlin claiming bronze. The women's ski jumping normal hill saw German Carina Vogt take gold ahead of Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (AUT) taking silver with Coline Mattel (FRA) claiming bronze.
The evening session saw a dramatic men's snowboarding halfpipe with favourites Danny Davis and Shaun White of the USA both having poor first runs and in the second set of runs it was a tense contest as Switzerland had gold and silver in their grasp after a stunning run from Iouri Podladtchikov saw him score 94.75 while David Hablutzel scored 88.5.
Taku Hiraoka of Japan went third with a slick run of 92.25 and the time came for the dominator of the sport for the past eight years, Shaun White step up knowing a repeat of his qualifying run would seal the gold.However despite a brilliant run, not only did he not take gold he missed out on a medal completely finishing fourth and meaning a first gold for Podladtchikov who had been in the American's shadows over the past eight years to bring an exciting day to a close.
The medal table at the end of day four sees Norway on top will 11 medals with Germany and Canada joining them on four golds while Great Britain sit 21st with a single bronze.
The men's moguls saw a Canadian 1-2 with Alex Bilodeau taking the gold and Mikael Kingsbury sealing silver with the bronze going to Alexandr Smyshlyaev (RUS). Speed skating dominated the day and in the men's 1500m short track, Charles Hamelin (CAN) took the gold with China's Han Tianyu with the silver and Russia's Victor An sealing the bronze with Team GB's Jack Whelbourne in 7th after a fall. GB hopes in the women's 500m short track are Charlotte Gilmartin and Elise Christie who successfully qualified for the quarter-finals on Thursday.
The Netherlands completed a clean sweep in the men's 500m short track with Michel Mulder taking the gold ahead of compatriots Jan Smeekens in second and Ronald Mulder in third.
Day Four saw Sang Hwa Lee take gold in the women's 500m speed skating with Olga Fatkulina (RUS) taking silver and Margot Boer (NED) taking bronze and continuing the good run the Netherlands have in the skating arena. The women's 10km pursuit saw the gold claimed by Darya Domracheva (BLR) with Tora Berger (NOR) taking silver and Teja Gregorin (SLO) sealing bronze.
British hopes in the men's sprint cross country were ended at the quarter-final stage as Andrew Musgrove only failed to qualify but in the final, the gold went to Ola Vigen Hattestad (NOR) with a Sweden 2-3 with Teodor Peterson in second and Emil Joensson in third. In the women's event, Norway took gold to hold both titles with Maiken Caspersen Falla in the gold medal position and compatriot Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg taking the silver with Vesna Fabjan (SLO) taking the bronze.
A perfect day for GB in curling began with a last-gasp win for David Murdoch's team with a 7-6 victory over a strong German said who blew the chance to win with the last stone as it glided clean through the house to the joy of the Brits.
However, to say the women went one better would be an understatement as skip Eve Muirhead and her team set an Olympic record for total score and highest score in a single end with a 12-3 demolition of USA with the Americans's conceding after the minimum requirement of six ends.GB went 2-0 up with USA pulling back in the third but the fourth end saw history made as miraculously, Muirhead had the luxury of having to clip a single stone to ensure a record seven stone haul in the house which put them 9-1 up. USA took two in the fifth end but GB scoring three in the sixth was the signal for the handshake from the American's that saw an end to the match with Canada up next for the victors.
Just like in the men's slopestyle on Day One, GB had hopes in the women's in the shape of Katie Summerhayes but sadly she could only finish seventh with the gold going to Dara Howell with a stunning score of 94.2 with Devin Logan (USA) second with a score of 85.4 and Kim Lamarre third on 85 but there event had a delay when Canada's Yuki Tsuobota was taken off on a stretcher after a heavy fall.
The women's luge saw a German 1-2 as N.Geisenberger took the gold with T.Huefner sealing silver and American E.Hamlin claiming bronze. The women's ski jumping normal hill saw German Carina Vogt take gold ahead of Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (AUT) taking silver with Coline Mattel (FRA) claiming bronze.
The evening session saw a dramatic men's snowboarding halfpipe with favourites Danny Davis and Shaun White of the USA both having poor first runs and in the second set of runs it was a tense contest as Switzerland had gold and silver in their grasp after a stunning run from Iouri Podladtchikov saw him score 94.75 while David Hablutzel scored 88.5.
Taku Hiraoka of Japan went third with a slick run of 92.25 and the time came for the dominator of the sport for the past eight years, Shaun White step up knowing a repeat of his qualifying run would seal the gold.However despite a brilliant run, not only did he not take gold he missed out on a medal completely finishing fourth and meaning a first gold for Podladtchikov who had been in the American's shadows over the past eight years to bring an exciting day to a close.
The medal table at the end of day four sees Norway on top will 11 medals with Germany and Canada joining them on four golds while Great Britain sit 21st with a single bronze.
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Norway | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| 2 | Canada | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Germany | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 5 | United States | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | Switzerland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Russian Fed. | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 8 | Austria | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | France | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| =10 | Belarus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =10 | Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =10 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =10 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Sweden | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 15 | Czech Republic | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| =17 | Italy | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| =17 | Japan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| =19 | China | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =19 | Finland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =21 | Great Britain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| =21 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Sochi 2014 Day One And Two
After an exciting and colourful opening ceremony, the focus turned to the slopes as early morning viewers had the chance to see the Men's Snowboard Slopestyle Final which featured GB in the shape of Jamie Nicholls and Billy Morgan but despite the former being in the medals late in the competition he ended in 6th with fellow Brit Morgan in 10th. This meant that the first medal of the Games went to USA's Sage Kotsenberg who finished ahead of Staale Sandbech of Norway and Mark McMorris of Canada.
The Women's Moguls saw a family affair at the top of the podium as the Dufour-Lapointe sisters took Gold and Silver with Justine beating Chloe to the finish while American Hannah Kearney took Bronze. The highlight of the day saw Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway) take Gold in the Men's 10km Sprint Biathlon to equal the most medals won in Winter Games at 12 drawing level with compatriot Bjoern Daehlie and can go clear in the Men's Pursuit on Monday,Austria took Silver via Dominik Landertinger while Czech Jaroslav Soukup took Bronze.
Norway ensured a lead in the medal table with a second Gold and a Bronze in the Women's 15km Skiathon with Marit Bjoegen and Heidi Went sandwiching Sweden's Charlotte Kalla while the Men's 5000m Speed Skating saw a clean sweep for the Netherlands with Sven Kramer sealing Gold with Jan Blokhuijsen taking Silver and Jorrit Bergsma winning Bronze.
Day Two saw an all Eastern European podium in the Women's 7.5km Sprint with Anastasiya Kuzmina (SVK) securing Gold with Olga Vilukhina taking Silver while Vita Semerenko sealing Bronze.
In the 30km Skiathon, Dario Cologna (SWI) took Gold by a narrow margin over Marcus Hellner (SWE) with Matin Johnsrud Sunby, a further second behind take bronze for Norway. GB competed in the Figure Skating:Team Event but sadly finished tenth in qualification that saw the hosts, Canada and the US topped the qualification group and go into the final with Italy and Japan but the final the same result medal wise as Russia took gold, Canada took Silver and the US secure Bronze with Japan finishing fifth behind Italy.
Felix Loch (GER) took Gold in the Men's Luge with an overall time of 3:27.53 with Albert Demchecko (RUS) landing Silver ahead of Armin Zoeggeler (ITA) who in taking Bronze made it six medals in six separate Winter Games.
Favourites Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR)and Bode Miller (USA) could only manage fourth and eighth as Matthias Mayer (AUT) took Gold in the Men's Downhill with Christof Innerhofer (ITA) taking Silver ahead of Kjetil Jansrud of Norway.
Ski Jumping saw Gold for Kamil Stoch (POL) with Peter Prevc (SLO) taking Silver and Anders Bardal securing Bronze with the Women's 3000m Speed Skating seeing a close finish with Irene Wust sealing Netherlands' first Gold of the Games with Martina Sabikova (CZE) taking Silver and Olga Graf taking Bronze for the host nation.
The highlight of the day saw a first medal for Team GB as Jenny Jones took Bronze in the Women's Slopestyle behind Enni Rukajarvi (FIN) in the Silver medal position with American Jamie Anderson winning Gold.
So after two days the medal table looks like this....
The Women's Moguls saw a family affair at the top of the podium as the Dufour-Lapointe sisters took Gold and Silver with Justine beating Chloe to the finish while American Hannah Kearney took Bronze. The highlight of the day saw Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway) take Gold in the Men's 10km Sprint Biathlon to equal the most medals won in Winter Games at 12 drawing level with compatriot Bjoern Daehlie and can go clear in the Men's Pursuit on Monday,Austria took Silver via Dominik Landertinger while Czech Jaroslav Soukup took Bronze.
Norway ensured a lead in the medal table with a second Gold and a Bronze in the Women's 15km Skiathon with Marit Bjoegen and Heidi Went sandwiching Sweden's Charlotte Kalla while the Men's 5000m Speed Skating saw a clean sweep for the Netherlands with Sven Kramer sealing Gold with Jan Blokhuijsen taking Silver and Jorrit Bergsma winning Bronze.
Day Two saw an all Eastern European podium in the Women's 7.5km Sprint with Anastasiya Kuzmina (SVK) securing Gold with Olga Vilukhina taking Silver while Vita Semerenko sealing Bronze.
In the 30km Skiathon, Dario Cologna (SWI) took Gold by a narrow margin over Marcus Hellner (SWE) with Matin Johnsrud Sunby, a further second behind take bronze for Norway. GB competed in the Figure Skating:Team Event but sadly finished tenth in qualification that saw the hosts, Canada and the US topped the qualification group and go into the final with Italy and Japan but the final the same result medal wise as Russia took gold, Canada took Silver and the US secure Bronze with Japan finishing fifth behind Italy.
Felix Loch (GER) took Gold in the Men's Luge with an overall time of 3:27.53 with Albert Demchecko (RUS) landing Silver ahead of Armin Zoeggeler (ITA) who in taking Bronze made it six medals in six separate Winter Games.
Favourites Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR)and Bode Miller (USA) could only manage fourth and eighth as Matthias Mayer (AUT) took Gold in the Men's Downhill with Christof Innerhofer (ITA) taking Silver ahead of Kjetil Jansrud of Norway.
Ski Jumping saw Gold for Kamil Stoch (POL) with Peter Prevc (SLO) taking Silver and Anders Bardal securing Bronze with the Women's 3000m Speed Skating seeing a close finish with Irene Wust sealing Netherlands' first Gold of the Games with Martina Sabikova (CZE) taking Silver and Olga Graf taking Bronze for the host nation.
The highlight of the day saw a first medal for Team GB as Jenny Jones took Bronze in the Women's Slopestyle behind Enni Rukajarvi (FIN) in the Silver medal position with American Jamie Anderson winning Gold.
So after two days the medal table looks like this....
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Norway | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | United States | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| =4 | Canada | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| =4 | Russia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Austria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| =7 | Germany | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =7 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =7 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =7 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Sweden | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| =12 | Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| =12 | Italy | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| =14 | Finland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =14 | Slovenia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =16 | Great Britain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| =16 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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