So, here's the top of the medals table at the start of today's competitions:
2. Canada 1, 1, 1
2. Netherlands 1, 1, 1
4. United States 1, 0, 1
5. Austria 0, 1, 0
5. Sweden 0, 1, 0
7. Czech Republic 0, 0, 1
And here are the medals to be awarded today:
-- alpine skiing, men's downhill;
-- biathlon, women's 7.5km sprint;
-- cross-country, men's skiathlon 15km classic plus 15km free;
-- figure skating, team ice dance free dance;
-- luge, men's singles;
-- ski jumping, men's normal hill individual;
-- snowboard, ladies' slopestyle, and
-- speed skating, ladies' 3000m.
Previous reports:
And the home team's on the board. Olga Graf (unknown enough that ru-facts.com thought she was a man) takes bronze in the women's speed-skating event, so Russia has its first medal of its games. The Netherlands and Czech Republic score the gold and silver.
ReplyDelete1. Norway 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze
1. Netherlands 2, 1, 1
3. Canada 1, 1, 1
4. United States 1, 0, 1
5. Czech Republic 0, 1, 1
6. Austria 0, 1, 0
6. Sweden 0, 1, 0
8. Russia 0, 0, 1
They said on NBC Sports Network that Graf is a Ukraine native, but it appears that she now lives in Kolomna, which is part of Moscow Oblast. An "oblast" is an administrative area that appears to be akin to a merged city-county situation in the United States, in that maybe Kolomna is to Moscow as, roughly, Lyndon is to Louisville.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Whatever, Russia's on the board, thanks to Ms. Graf.
The top U.S. performer was Jilleanne Rookard, a 31-year-old from Wyandotte, Mich., who finished 11th.
ReplyDeleteThey just finished the third of four runs in men's singles luge right now, but, unless something crazy happens in the fourth run, this thing is over. The gold medalist (again) is going to be Germany's Felix Loch.
ReplyDeleteHow luge works in the Olympics is that you get four runs down the track; all four of your times get totaled, and lowest aggregate wins. After three runs, Loch is already ahead by 0.388 seconds, and he added almost a whole tenth of a second to his lead on the second-place luger, Albert Demchenko of Russia, in Run 3.
The most successful Olympic luger of all time is German Georg Hackl, who is retired and who Loch is said to identify as one of his two heroes. Hackl won a silver medal at age 21 at Calgary 1988, gold at 25 at Albertville 1992, gold at 27 at Lillehammer 1994, gold at 31 at Nagano 1998 and silver at 35 at Salt Lake City 2002. Hackl won his gold medals by 0.306 seconds in 1992, 0.013 seconds in 1994 and 0.503 seconds in 1998.
Loch won his Vancouver 2010 gold at age 20--by 0.679 seconds. The silver medalist was Loch's German teammate, David Moeller, an up-and-comer who had finished fifth at Torino 2006. Moeller, at age 32, is 14th through three runs here in Sochi.
Loch's dad, Norbert, competed in the luge in Sarajevo 1984. Five years later, Felix was born in Sonneberg, in the former East Germany. Reportedly and literally while Felix was still in a stroller, Norbert had him at the luge track. Today, Norbert Loch is the coach of the German luge team.
At age 18, Felix Loch became the youngest world-champion men's singles luger of all time. At age 20, he became the youngest Olympics men's singles luger of all time. Now he's 24, one year younger than the greatest Olympic luger of all time started winning his gold medals. The fourth run is scheduled to start in about 20 minutes in Sochi, and Loch will be the 39th and last luger to slide down the track. Surely, he can already taste Gold Medal 2.
This week in 1979, the number 2 song in the country was "Y.M.C.A.," by the Village People.
ReplyDeleteNumber one was "Le Freak" -- for the fifth week in a row.
Watching Americans compete in Russia is a lot like watching the UK basketball team compete in Knoxville.
ReplyDeleteMen's singles luge gold for Loch of Germany, by 0.476 seconds. Silver goes to Russia; bronze, Italy.
ReplyDelete1. Norway 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze
1. Netherlands 2, 1, 1
3. Canada 1, 1, 1
4. United States 1, 0, 1
5. Germany 1, 0, 0
6. Czech Republic 0, 1, 1
6. Russia 0, 1, 1
8. Austria 0, 1, 0
8. Sweden 0, 1, 0
10. Italy 0, 0, 1
Armin Zoeggeler is the bronze winner, for Italy. He won gold in this event in Salt Lake City 2002 and Torino 2006.
ReplyDeleteItaly and Germany get on the board with these medals.
Top American was 13th-place Christopher Mazdzer of Pittsfield, Mass. Twenty-second was 18-year-old Tucker West of Danbury, Conn. His dad built a luge track in the backyard after the Salt Lake City games.
ReplyDeleteI hope Bob Costas's eye feels better soon. That looks like a real pain, and I hate it for him that it has come up during the Olympics.
ReplyDeleteOK ... primetime show ... time for some Team USA love ...
ReplyDeleteLadies' slopestyle snowboarding now ... this is a mesmerizing event. It's stunning how long these people fly through the air.
ReplyDeleteWell, a couple of Americans were knocked out of medal contention in the semifinal they were still showing. There's at least one U.S. snowboarder who can still medal in this event, and that's Jamie Anderson. NBC is touting her, Bode Miller and a couple of American ice dancers as the big stars of the rest of their prime-time show here. Hmmm ...
ReplyDeleteOK, here we go ... an American named Ganong just took the lead in the men's downhill ... wow ... the U.S. head coach positions himself up in a tree where he can see "30 seconds of the course."
ReplyDeleteNow we've got a Norwegian raised in Lillehammer ...
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Lillehammer guy takes the lead.
ReplyDeleteAnd now an Austrian ...
ReplyDeleteAnd now this guy is the leader ... 23-year-old Mathias Mayer, in his first Olympics ... the Austrian skiers are so tough ...
ReplyDeleteBode, whom the NBC dude compares to Phil Mickelson ... good comparison ...
ReplyDeleteWow ... sixth place for Bode Miller ... led the race at the first split ... gold-medal favorite ... now off the podium ... his wife pulls her hood over his face ... that's rough ...
ReplyDeleteOuch ... American Travis Ganong is knocked out of the medals by Aksul Lund Svindal of Norway, who won silver at Vancouver 2010. Bode, incidentally, won bronze in this event there. The gold-medal winner was Didier Défago of Switzerland ... not sure what's going on with him here in Sochi.
ReplyDeleteDéfago finished 14th here; Miller, eighth.
DeleteBut now Italian Christof Innerhofer scoots into second, pushing Norway's Svindal off the podium. Gold goes to Matthias Mayer of Austria; silver, to Innerhofer of Italy, and bronze, to Kjetil Jansrud of Norway. None had medaled in this event before, and only Jansrud had ever medaled in an Olympics--in giant slalom at Vancouver 2010.
ReplyDeleteBode Miller @MillerBode
ReplyDeleteCongrats to @matthiasmayer_ @InnerhoferChris @Kjansrud Skiing is hard
10:17 AM - 9 Feb 2014
Travis Ganong @TravisGanong
ReplyDelete5th place in the Olympic Downhill today!!!! Fired up that was fun and oh so close to a medal!!!!!… http://instagram.com/p/kMm1lfB3Ac/
7:27 AM - 9 Feb 2014
Both Ganong and Miller are scheduled to compete in the super combined on Feb. 14.
ReplyDeleteMiller won gold in super combined at Vancouver 2010.
DeleteOK, and now Jamie Anderson--the gold favorite in slopestyle snowboarding--has been bumped to second on her first of two finals runs. Tough night for Team USA ...
ReplyDeleteOh, my Lord, the woman who was leading this event just had the most terrifying fall you could pretty much imagine. It actually cracked the back of her helmet, but, apparently, the helmet did its job--because, after lying motionless on the snow for some time, the woman from the Czech Republic got up and ended up snowboarding across the finish line. Hooray that wasn't any worse than it was.
ReplyDeleteJamie Anderson's second run ...
ReplyDeleteWell, not that I can really tell, but the crowd and the NBC announcers seem pretty jazzed about Anderson's performance ...
ReplyDeleteIndeed, she gets a huge score, and she's guaranteed herself a medal--and right now is in line for gold ... U! S! A! U! S! A! ...
ReplyDeletePenultimate competitor falls on her face ...
ReplyDeleteLast competitor falls on her bottom ... that'll do it!
ReplyDeleteJamie Anderson, a 23-year-old from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., takes the first-ever Olympic gold medal in women's slopestyle snowboarding. The Czech Republic woman who fell so frighteningly on her second run was leading this event after the first. Instead, silver goes to Enni Rukajarvi of Finland, and bronze, to Jenny Jones of Great Britain.
ReplyDelete1. Norway 2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze
ReplyDelete2. Netherlands 2, 1, 1
3. United States 2, 0, 1
4. Canada 1, 1, 1
5. Austria 1, 1, 0
6. Germany 1, 0, 0
7. Czech Republic 0, 1, 1
7. Russia 0, 1, 1
7. Italy 0, 1, 1
10. Sweden 0, 1, 0
10. Finland 0, 1, 0
12. Great Britain 0, 0, 1
What? Did Tom Hammond just say that the results of the team figure skating are already locked in--Russia for gold, Canada for silver and the United States for bronze? I'm pretty sure he did.
ReplyDeleteWell, to the extent that is true, then I am more interested in what happened today in these three events:
ReplyDelete-- biathlon, women's 7.5km sprint;
-- cross-country, men's skiathlon 15km classic plus 15km free, and
-- ski jumping, men's normal hill individual.
I can't imagine the United States medaled in any of those events, but it's only 9:30 Central. There's still at least a half hour left in this prime-time NBC show, and it's kind of hard to imagine that NBC is going to be filling all of that time with what is basically a victory lap for the Russians. I don't know--maybe figure skating is that popular that we don't even need to have the competitive results in doubt to keep watching.
Yes, Tom Hammond did just say that Russia has already won the gold. And yet here we continue to watch figure skating.
ReplyDeleteCatching up:
ReplyDelete-- Biathlon, women's 7.5km sprint--Slovakia gold, Russia silver and Ukraine bronze;
-- Cross-country, men's skiathlon 15km classic plus 15km free--Switzerland gold, Sweden silver and Norway bronze, and
-- Ski jumping, men's normal hill individual--Poland gold, Slovenia silver and Norway bronze.
1. Norway 2 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze
ReplyDelete2. Netherlands 2, 1, 1
3. United States 2, 0, 2
4. Canada 1, 2, 1
4. Russia 1, 2, 1
6. Austria 1, 1, 0
7. Germany 1, 0, 0
7. Poland 1, 0, 0
7. Slovakia 1, 0, 0
7. Switzerland 1, 0, 0
11. Sweden 0, 2, 0
12. Czech Republic 0, 1, 1
12. Italy 0, 1, 1
14. Finland 0, 1, 0
14. Slovenia 0, 1, 0
16. Great Britain 0, 0, 1
16. Ukraine 0, 0, 1
T18:
Afghanistan 0, 0, 0
Albania 0, 0, 0
Andorra 0, 0, 0
Argentina 0, 0, 0
Armenia 0, 0, 0
Australia 0, 0, 0
Azerbaijan 0, 0, 0
Belarus 0, 0, 0
Belgium 0, 0, 0
Bermuda 0, 0, 0
Bosnia and Herzegovina 0, 0, 0
Brazil 0, 0, 0
Bulgaria 0, 0, 0
Cayman Islands 0, 0, 0
Chile 0, 0, 0
China 0, 0, 0
Chinese Taipei 0, 0, 0
Croatia 0, 0, 0
Cyprus 0, 0, 0
Denmark 0, 0, 0
Dominica 0, 0, 0
Estonia 0, 0, 0
France 0, 0, 0
Georgia 0, 0, 0
Greece 0, 0, 0
Hong Kong (China) 0, 0, 0
Hungary 0, 0, 0
Iceland 0, 0, 0
Independent Olympic participant 0, 0, 0
IR Iran 0, 0, 0
Ireland 0, 0, 0
Israel 0, 0, 0
Jamaica 0, 0, 0
Japan 0, 0, 0
Kazakhstan 0, 0, 0
Korea 0, 0, 0
Kyrgyzstan 0, 0, 0
Latvia 0, 0, 0
Lebanon 0, 0, 0
Liechtenstein 0, 0, 0
Lithuania 0, 0, 0
Luxembourg 0, 0, 0
Malta 0, 0, 0
Mexico 0, 0, 0
Monaco 0, 0, 0
Mongolia 0, 0, 0
Montenegro 0, 0, 0
Morocco 0, 0, 0
Nepal 0, 0, 0
New Zealand 0, 0, 0
Pakistan 0, 0, 0
Paraguay 0, 0, 0
Peru 0, 0, 0
Philippines 0, 0, 0
Portugal 0, 0, 0
Republic of Moldova 0, 0, 0
Romania 0, 0, 0
San Marino 0, 0, 0
Serbia 0, 0, 0
Spain 0, 0, 0
Tajikistan 0, 0, 0
Thailand 0, 0, 0
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 0, 0, 0
Timor-Leste 0, 0, 0
Togo 0, 0, 0
Tonga 0, 0, 0
Turkey 0, 0, 0
Uzbekistan 0, 0, 0
Venezuela 0, 0, 0
Virgin Islands (British) 0, 0, 0
Virgin Islands (U.S.) 0, 0, 0
Zimbabwe 0, 0, 0
Monday men's curling starts in Sochi in about three minutes!
ReplyDelete