Sochi Paralympics Day One

After a brilliant opening ceremony on Friday, the competing began early on day one in terms of the GB team but saw instant success in the Womens Downhill - visually impaired as Jade Etherington and her guide Caroline Powell took silver and was only three second from gold which went to Slovakia's Henrieta Farkasova and guide Natalia Subrtova with Russia's Aleksandra Frantceva and guide Pavel Zabotin taking the bronze. GB's other representatives Kelly Gallagher and Charlotte Evans finished in sixth.

The Women's Downhill -standing saw gold for Marie Bochet (FRA) with Russia's Inga Medvedeva taking the silver and the American Allison Jones securing the while in the sitting event, Anna Schaffelhuber (GER) took the gold while Alana Nichols (USA) secured the silver with fellow American Laurie Stephens claiming the bronze.

The Men's Downhill - visually impaired saw gold for Spain with Yon Santacana Maiztegui and guide Miguel Galindo Garces sealing the win with Slovakia's Miroslav Haraus and guide Marcos Hudik taking the silver while Mac Marcoux and guide Robin Femy (CAN) sealed the bronze.

The Men's Downhill - standing saw gold for Markus Salcher (AUT) with Alexey Bugaev (RUS) taking the silver and Vincent Gauthier-Manuel (FRA) claiming the bronze while in the sitting event, Japan took gold and bronze in the shape of Akira Kano and Takeshi Suzuki with Canada's Josh Dueck taking the silver.

The Biathlon eventing began with the Women's 6km- sitting with Andrea Eskau (GER) with Svetlana Konovalova (RUS) claiming the silver with Olena Iurkovska (UKR) sealing the bronze while in the standing discipine, a Russian 1-2 saw Alena Kaufman taking the gold and Anna Milenina securing the silver and Iuliia Batenkova (UKR) claiming the bronze. The 6km -visually impaired saw another Russian 1-2 with Mikhalina (Alexey Ivanov) taking the gold and Iuliia Budaleeva (Tatiana Malteva) claiming the silver while Oksana Shyshkova and guide Lada Nesterenko (UKR) secured the bronze.

The Men's 7.5km - sitting saw Roman Petushkov (RUS) seal the gold with Maksym Yarovyi (UKR) take the silver with Japan's Kozo Kuno claim the bronze while in the standing discipline, Russia took gold and bronze with Vladislav Lekomtcev and Azat Karachurin while Mark Arendz (CAN) claimed the silver. The Men's 7.5km -visually impaired saw Ukraine's Vitaly Lukyanenko and guide Borys Babar take the gold with Russia's Nikolay Polukhin and guide Andrey Tokarev claimed the silver with Vasili Shaptsiaboi and guide Mikhail Lebedzeu (BLR) sealing the bronze.

GB's wheelchair curling campaign got off to a bad start as they lost to Canada 6-3 but they day will be remembered for the silver up on the slopes with the first medal table looking like this...

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	4	6	2	12
2	Germany	2	0	0	2
3	Ukraine	1	1	3	5
4	Slovakia	1	1	0	2
5	Japan	1	0	2	3
6	France	1	0	1	2
7	Austria	1	0	0	1
8	Spain	1	0	0	1
9	Canada	0	2	1	3
10	United States	0	1	2	3
11	Great Britain	0	1	0	1
12	Belarus	0	0	1	1

Sochi 2014 Paralympics Opening Ceremony

After a very successful Sochi Winter Games, the focus returns to the Russian coastal city for the opening ceremony of the Sochi Paralympic games in what will be the biggest Paralympic games of all time.

A graphic animation of the Firebird began the ceremony with a countdown and a flurry of fireworks as the excitement built to the competition that will feature 45 nations competing for 72 medals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Paralympic president Sir Philip Craven were introduced to the crowd and a group of dancers dressed in the Russian colours entered the stadium floor and formed the Russian flag to a rapturous reception from the stadium audience.

The centre of the floor opened and a choir entered as the Russian flag was carried into the arena by a selection of athletes and dignitaries representing the host nation and the Russian national anthem was sung by the beautifully costumed choir as the flag was raised on the stage.

Centre stage, a wonderful rendition of Tchaikovsky's 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy was played via a selection of glasses with amazing accuracy and led on to a set of Snowflake dancers who performed  to a chorus from the choir as the Firebirds entered in the air.

The athletes parade begins with the entry of Australia as the procession would follow the places in the Cyrillic alphabet and 15-year-old Millie Knight carried the flag for Great Britain who combines her training with studying for her GCSE's.

As the procession continued, thoughts turned to what the Ukrainian entry would be like after a pre-ceremony announcement suggested that there would be a limited representation. The time came and a loud cheer greeted the flag bearer who entered alone signifying that the limited representation would be exactly that with the parade ending with the host nation who ironically entered to the tune
'Goodbye America'.

The stage was lit as an array of wheelchair dancers entered to a wonderful graphic surface as the Firebirds graced the air and then the focus turned to centre stage as the speeches began with the Sochi organising president Dmitry Chernyshenko and Paralympic president Sir Phillip Craven.

This led to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president officially opening the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games followed by a stunning display of fireworks with the Paralympic flag entering the arena as the March of Life continued carried by a selection of Russian representatives as the marchers formed the Paralympic logo.

The Paralympic anthem sounded as the raising ceremony took place for the Paralympic flag which was followed by the oath being taken by the Russian representatives for the athletes, judges and coaches.

A wedding scene graced the stage with characters from Chekov's famous works as a large ship - The Ice Breaker, sailed onto the stage to an operatic interlude as the sea was formed by a mass amount of performers who are rejoined by the Firebirds and the Paralympic Logo is formed as a montage is show of how the Paralympic games came to be.

The Paralympic flame is greeted with the animation of the Firebird that began the ceremony and is paraded between a number of torch bearers resulting in the final two parading the torch to the cauldron situated outside the stadium where a magnificent lighting took place leading to the igniting of the main cauldron to a mass display of fireworks that flooded the air and brought the ceremony to a close with a superb display.

So begins nine days of what should be an amazing 2014 Paralympic games!

Goodbye Sochi 2014

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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...

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