Winter Olympics - Sochi

First topic message reminder :

It's getting close.   Time to start a dedicated thread, methinks.

Official site:

http://www.sochi2014.com/en


Auntie Beeb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/2014/



Eurosport

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/olympics/

Well, the Judges took for ever, but it seems to have been worth it! But ..... will I have any fingernails left by the end of the competition!?

This competition is immense! Edge of the seat stuff. Loving it.

Jeez that poor lass took a massive hit. Hope she is ok.

spencerclarke wrote:Jeez that poor lass took a massive hit. Hope she is ok.

She walked away, but I guess that's going to need a trip for a serious check up - all the best to her.

Why are no medics checking her put? She smashed her helmet.

3rd or 4th this is getting horrible to watch!

Sorry for Anna Gasser, but absolutely delighted for Jenny Jones - superb stuff! Sounds like the commentary team will need some form of post race care!!

Awesome! Just awesome! I jumped off the sofa. Well done jenny jones, well done

Haha the commentators are a right mess! Great tv

What a fantastic race - Men's 15 + 15 Km skiathlon! Absolutely delighted to see Dario Cologna take the gold after such a poor season due to an ankle injury - what a way to return to competition!! Marcus Hellner takes silver, ahead of the Tour de Ski winner, Martin Johnsrud Sundby. Best Russian Vylegzhanin in 4th, VERY close to a medal - hard to bear! Bad luck for Legkov, who I think was the one who broke a pole at the crucial stage of the last climb and ended up 11th. I had hoped Tobias Angerer would have been higher up, having been in the leading group for so long, but he ended up 15th. I'm going to be a nervous wreck by the end of these competitions!!!!

I wonder if the lack of medals will start to get to the home fans soon? They haven't had many chances so far but the longer it goes without them getting a medal the more the russian media will get on their backs.

What a fantastic ladies slopestyle final. I did fear for Pancochova when she it the deck, good to see she was ok, but great to see Jenny Jones bag a medal!

spencerclarke wrote:I wonder if the lack of medals will start to get to the home fans soon? They haven't had many chances so far but the longer it goes without them getting a medal the more the russian media will get on their backs.

Think back to London 2012 how long it took GB to win their first gold. The press here were getting pretty edgy and the Olympics naysayers here were piping up: "Told you so.... told you it was all a big waste of money".

That sort of things happen when expectation is high, but remember, we've only just started the second full day of competition in Sochi. Give 'em a chance.

Not my opinion mate. As I say they haven't really had many chances so far and not many of their big guns have been yet. Just interested how the russians view it so far.

Ozzy3213 wrote:What a fantastic ladies slopestyle final.  I did fear for Pancochova when she it the deck, good to see she was ok, but great to see Jenny Jones bag a medal!

GB's first ever medal on snow, and it couldn't have gone to a more deserving person.   After a full day yesterday of the "Bill and Ted Show", where they enthusiastically hogged the cameras, yet failed to deliver, the gong has gone to the quiet one of the team..... the girl who just got her head down and did the job.   There's a lesson in that, I reckon.

Ed Leigh is shamelessly abusing his position as commentator to hype this event, no doubt in the hope of influencing Sport UK into allotting more money to Snowboarding.   Well, there is no doubt that it has captured the imagination of all of us, not just the surf dudes who put baseball caps on backwards and start every sentence with "whoooooooaaa..!"   He forgets that his role is to describe the action and that's all, not act as an agent for the sport.

I would quite agree that Snowboarding Slopestyle has been a highly entertaining addition to the Games, but when the budget discussions start, probably a couple of months after the Games have ended, I think it will be put in a more rational context.  

I think Ed Leigh should now go and lie down in a dark room before he has a brain haemorrhage.  Preferably until the Games are over.

Bleausardv2 wrote:Well, another day and more surprises! Admittedly Matthias Mayer had been tipped as a contender, and he duly delivered to give Austria the gold in the men's downhill, with Innerhofer in silver and Jansrud getting bronze for Norway. But Jansrud beating Svindal (who was 4th - the worst place in any Olympic event), and Travis Ganong ahead of his compatriot Bode Miller (8th)??? Anyway, congratulations to the medalists, and my sympathies to those not on the podium, especially Bode, who looked so strong in practice for his final Olympic downhill. Looked a monster course, but surprisingly few DNFs. All the best to Jenny Jones!

Svindall finished in the worst possible place: 4th. The Olympic downhill is like the Grand National; anybody can win it on the day. This is every racer's two minutes of "Do or die."

It was a brute of a course though. I too was surprised at the small number of DNF's.

After all that excitement, on a lighter note - the new colours on the race kit can be a bit confusing at times, especially in a tightly bunched field, like the last lap of the skiathlon! I wonder who designed that blue hat that the Norwegians use at the "flower ceremony" - they look like Smurfs (very fast Smurfs, but even so)!!

Bleausardv2 wrote:After all that excitement, on a lighter note - the new colours on the race kit can be a bit confusing at times, especially in a tightly bunched field, like the last lap of the skiathlon! I wonder who designed that blue hat that the Norwegians use at the "flower ceremony" - they look like Smurfs (very fast Smurfs, but even so)!!

I must admit in all the events it's been difficult to identify the nationalities. In the summer olympics the team colours are much clearer

spencerclarke wrote:

Bleausardv2 wrote:After all that excitement, on a lighter note - the new colours on the race kit can be a bit confusing at times, especially in a tightly bunched field, like the last lap of the skiathlon! I wonder who designed that blue hat that the Norwegians use at the "flower ceremony" - they look like Smurfs (very fast Smurfs, but even so)!!

I must admit in all the events it's been difficult to identify the nationalities. In the summer olympics the team colours are much clearer

There's no mistaking the Dutch speed skaters..!!

Haha I knew someone would mention that!

Great race in the 7.5 Km Women's sprint biathlon - I wasn't too sure how the Russian crowd would respond to Anastasiya Kuzmina winning the gold for Slovakia (as she's Russian born - Anton Shipulin's sister), but they seem very happy and that's (I think) the first time someone has defended a biathlon sprint gold medal? Russian happiness was boosted by Olga Vilukhina getting the silver with Vita Semerenko (Ukr) in bronze - all shot 10/10! Domracheva (1 miss) was 9th , just ahead or Berger (1 miss); sadly the best German was Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle (1 miss) in 11th. Nice to see Marie Dorin-Habert back in competition; 10/10 and 20th place - pretty good after a lay off.

That's the downhill stage of the women's super combined complete; not too manny DNFs. Good run from Julia Mancuso who was almost half a second ahead of Lara Gut with Tina Maze in third. Maria H-R currently in 5th, just over a second back and a reasonable run from Chemmy Alcott in 16th - bodes well for her later events. Now for the slalom section.

Oh, and belated congratulations to Felix Loch, also the world champion, for winning gold in the men's luge - combined age of 2nd & 3rd places (Albert Demchenko, silver and Armin Zoeggeler who won his sixth medal in six Olympic Games with bronze) was 82!!

Well done Chemmy Alcott. She only took part in the downhill element of the combined event as a training run. She's still coming back from the broken leg that has kept her out of action for so long. To finish in 16th is a highly creditable performance. She won't be taking part in the slalom element.

Was glued to the ski jumping Normal Hill Event last night. A brilliant performance by Kamil Stock to win Poland's 3rd gold medal in Winter Olympics history. I must admit, I was glad to see Tommy Morganstern get down safely. The crowd gave him a very special cheer.

Special kudos too to Noriaki Kasai of Japan, now in his seventh winter games..... and he wants to go for an eighth in four years time. At one point, the commentator informed us that only nine of the competitors in yesterday's event were born when Kasai entered his first Olympics. What a grand old trouper he is. And one of the nicest human beings to ever take part. A true gentleman.

I had a very early start this morning, waking up early to watch the men's curling. A bit irritating when Auntie cut the transmission to go to the Women's Combined skiing, but that's not their fault. The curling continued on red button. What to watch..? Oh.... decisions, decisions......

Good call by Chemmy I think - lot of DNFs from that slalom leg, and rapid turns on an injected course surely wouldn't help her leg. I hope we see Gagnon again in the later events, looked like an arm or wrist problem - hope it wasn't too serious, but no news at present. Update: Seems it was a shoulder injury, but as yet (13:55 UK time) no details on whether this might affect her remaining races, pending an MRI scan.

Really wonderful second run from Maria Höfl- Riesch to take gold, a successful defence of her title from Vancouver. Silver to Nicole Hosp, with Julia Mancuso looking delighted with bronze - good race; it's amazing how much time you can lose on a slalom course!.

Morning all,

boy am I glad to find out I'm not the only winter sports fan on these boards! Only stumbled across this thread by chance. How come so little coverage, it's the Olympics for crying out loud!!!

Absolutely love skiing (alpine variety) and enjoy watching it when I can (also enjoy watching the biathlon, and some of the ice events; the figure skating I find hard to get into with all the controversies though...).

Out of all the alpine events the slalom is undoubtedly my favourite, and so after a number of surprises (not least in the men's biathlon sprint - not that gold to Bjoerndahlen should ever be a surprise, but both Svendsen and Fourcade out of the medals was; also the men's downhill, although that quite often produces surprises, with outsiders winning), it was perhaps reassuring to see Riesch restore balance and win the super-combined with a fabulous slalom run on a difficult chopped up course. Hosp just made a couple of minor mistakes on the top section which ultimately cost her.

Looking forward to the biathlon this afternoon, and the freestyle skiing is always worth a watch.

Men's 12.5 Km Biathlon Pursuit: An exciting one, with Landertinger well in the mix until the final shoot and poor Jean-Philippe Le Guellec falling at that really nasty corner when skiing well and in the lead - at least he didn't go over the edge there as a couple other fallers did. Quite how Bjørndalen managed to get 4th place after 3 misses (0,1,1,1) is beyond me - he really must be in good form! So no 13th medal for him today, but Martin Fourcade made very few mistakes this time (0.0.1.0) to take a gold medal - I do wish he'd stop grandstanding after the final shoot though! Ondre Moravec took Silver; a just reward for shooting so well (20/20) with Jean Guillaume Beatrix making it a double celebration for the French by taking Bronze, from 14th place at the start. Other big gainers - Ustyugov (16 to 5), Schempp (15 to 6), Simon Fourcade (36 to 18) and Peiffer (34 to 19). Among those who slid back down were Landertinger (2-10), Shipulin (4-14), Soukup (3-20) and Le Guellec (5-26, after that fall). Hope it gets cooler again as that snow looked very soft in places.

It's been an exciting Olympics so far. Was delighted to see OEB win gold in the sprint race, he really seems to have found his speed again, it's been lacking for a while. Ladies sprint was a bit of a surprise with Kuzmina leading home Vilukhina and Semerenko. I would have expected Domracheva and Berger on the podium, a bit of a disaster for Soukalova with 3 misses.

Seen two minutes of highlights on the Mens sprint on BBC. Fourcade down well bar the showboating but I am glad he is now an Olympic champion, he deserves that title. I expected more from Shipulin and EHS.

Marit Bjoergen showed everyone how you win a gold medal, she was in control at all times in that race. Nice to see Kalla on the podium but was shocked to see Johaug of the podium, she was dropped quite easily on the last climb. Justyna K must be in some pain competing with her fractured foot, I can't see her winning a medal, not sure what she is gaining by competing on it.

Really didn't like being at work whilst the Olympics was on. Going to have a catch up night.

I'm also please for Fourcade who has dominated this sport in recent times. Might be the first of a few if he gets his confidence up. Strange that Svendsen is so out of it though.

Rumour on the (French) grapevine is that the Norway skis are better. Any truth in that?

Hey.... where have all these winter sports fans been all this time..??       The skiing threads have been a 1 2 1 between myself and Bleau all winter so far.  Where have you all been..?

Just a tip, chaps.... there are other threads in the "other sports" winter sports sub section. I look forward to seeing you there for the remainder of the world cup events after the Olympics are over.  I also know how delighted Bleau will be at Maria H-R winning gold.  I am too.  She deserved it.  She's been brilliant all winter.

Julia Mancuso has had to shoulder a very heavy burden since Lindsay Vonn was sidelined by injury.  The US sporting public have heaped a lot of expectation on her, so I was delighted when she won a bronze.  Americans tend to shun anybody who doesn't win gold.  She certainly won't get any endorsement contracts out of it after the games, but she has done well in exalted company and can hold her head up.

I am a little disappointed at how the combined event is so heavily weighted in favour of the slalom skiers.  OK, so they've cut the slalom element to one run which makes it a little fairer, but that is negated when they produce such a technical course.  The downhill specialists are bound to struggle.

You could argue that this is the Olympics and the course should be demanding, and I would agree with that to an extent, but in doing so, it does give the slalom specialists an advantage.  

Thoughts on that, anybody..?

The Fourth Lion wrote:Hey.... where have all these winter sports fans been all this time..??       The skiing threads have been a 1 2 1 between myself and Bleau all winter so far.  Where have you all been..?

Just a tip, chaps.... there are other threads in the "other sports" winter sports sub section. I look forward to seeing you there for the remainder of the world cup events after the Olympics are over.

I honestly didn't know they existed. I'll certainly hang around for the WC events for the rest of the winter.

The Fourth Lion wrote:I am a little disappointed at how the combined event is so heavily weighted in favour of the slalom skiers.  OK, so they've cut the slalom element to one run which makes it a little fairer, but that is negated when they produce such a technical course.  The downhill specialists are bound to struggle.

You could argue that this is the Olympics and the course should be demanding, and I would agree with that to an extent, but in doing so, it does give the slalom specialists an advantage.  

Thoughts on that, anybody..?

I agree to an extent (the extent is I agree it's a problem but I'm not sure what the solution is). The issue is of course a technical slalom course will generally provide bigger gaps than even the toughest downhill course, so that making difficult courses is always going to favour the slalom specialists. It does though seem to be more a case of being "there or thereabouts" after the downhill, and then all about the slalom.

With that in mind the likes of Pinturault or Kostellic must really be fancying their chances in the men's event.

I personally don't mind too much, but that's because I'm biased and love the slalom.

In any case it seems as if the super-combined is on its way out, given the few WC events in the discipline.

Well that's Andrew Musgrave through to the quarter finals of the cross country free sprint; 27th place with the top 30 qualifying. Sadly Andrew Young won't be joining him, and his sister Posy also didn't qualify - still, at least they produced a creditable effort. I see Katie Summerhayes was 7th in the ski slopestyle; she seems to feel the judging was fair and that she just made a couple mistakes in her second run after a fall in the first.

Open message to the Swedes - those curling medals are ours, keep off!

On the other topic, slalom is my least favourite discipline of the alpine events; I admire the technical expertise required but I've always found it really hard to do!

Now there's a surprise; Denise Herrmann wins her QF heat from Marit Björgen, which puts out Kikkan Randall! Sadly that's Andrew Musgrave out in his QF; best performance by a Brit in this event but that was a very strong heat and perhaps a couple tactical errors - roll on 2018! Dario Cologna also out after falling twice, I hope that doesn't indicate ankle snags. More upsets, Björgen falls in her semi (pole inside ski, according to the commentary team, that's my sort of error!) so she's out too. Women's Sprint final good for Norway; gold to Falla, silver to Östberg by a toe from Fabjan of Slovenia. Mayhem in the men's final with so many falls; Hattestad gets gold from Peterson, with a lucky bronze for an off form Emil Jönsson after 3 people ahead of him fell - mind you he had to work for it; suggestion was that he may have some fitness snags!

Meanwhile Marie Gagnon is confirmed as having dislocated her shoulder - apparently no fracture or nerve damage so she aims to ski the GS and slalom, although no Super G on Doctors' orders.

Women's 10 Km Biathlon Sprint: Sadly I missed almost all of this and can't find it on catch up, but there should be highlights on red button 2 this evening? However - a brilliant run from Darya Domracheva (0.0.0.1 - BBC please note that this means she missed 1 target, not 2!!) who started 9th but took the gold medal a stunning 37.6 seconds ahead of Tora Berger (0.0.0.1) who had started at almost the same time from 10th. Teja Gregorin took Bronze, a great result for Slovenia (good day for them!  BBC please note she is not Slovakian!!) Soukalova was 4th - good recovery from 29th after a poor sprint. Kuzmina, who won the sprint was 6th after missing 2 targets. Other good improvements - Zaitseva 28 to 11, Flatland 24 to 9 and Mäkäräinen 30 to 16. Not a good day for the Germans, with Evi S-S the best down in 27th (from a start in 11th position) after missing 6 targets - she beat Henkel (3 misses; 22nd to 29th) and Dahlmeier (just 1 miss but coming from 46th to 30). Very misty at the end!

I see the BBC have now put Teja back in her correct country!!!

Slightly sorry to see Shaun White couldn't do the triple, but congratulations to Russian born Iouri Podladtchikov, who now represents Switzerland, who claimed gold with 94.75 points - the Russians must be getting a bit fed up with this - Kuzmina  gets gold in the biathlon sprint for Slovakia and now another of their "exes" gets a gold for the Swiss! (Who at the moment are ahead of the Russian Federation in the official medal table, based on number of golds).

Women's Downhill: Great opening run from Suter; might take a while for that to be beaten? Nasty looking fall for Marchand-Arvier - she was up and moving but the slow motion looked as though her head took some of the impact, hope she gets checked over properly. That course is a bit of a brute, and the snow conditions could be a bit tricky.

So much for my predictions - Dominique Gisin has just taken the lead! Julia Mancuso will be disappointed with her run, especially after doing so well in the super combined - no medal for her today: same goes for Maria H-R, just trying too hard? My nomination for recovery of the day, at this stage, goes to Kaufmann-Abderhalden; almost slopestyle!

More like it from Tina Maze - much better form to tie with Gisin's time - a minor headache for the organisers if they need a second medal? We're into the later starters now, but better not write them off as both Miklos and Sejersted have produced very competitive runs. Coletti has fallen, didn't look too bad at first sight but she's not walking off - pause while she gets taken off in a stretcher; hope she isn't seriously hurt.

A tie at the moment for the gold medal and it's difficult to see anybody making a serious challenge to that now.

Chemmy Alcott will go in a minute and I hope she does herself credit.

I'm delighted for both the leaders. Dominique has always been a good racer who hasn't always got the results she deserved, and Tina has had a moderate season by her standards. She is clearly elated to have at last done herself justice.

What lovely conditions for ski racing though. A challenging course, bright sunshine and crisp snow. If the racers can't enjoy competing on this, they can't enjoy anything. I've loved watching it.

Chemmy looks delighted with her run. And why not..? Less than 2 seconds off the top spot, and finishing in 19th at the moment.

With all her trials and tribulations, she can be very pleased with that and I'm delighted for her.

Well, that's the last one down - quite a few DNFs today! Really well done to Gisin and Maze who both get gold medals; Russians digging into the box of spares? Also a good day for Lara Gut, who takes bronze, so 2 Swiss on the podium. The BBC reckon that this is the first time there has been "shared" gold medal in the Winter Olympics, so that's more history after the GB women set two records in the curling yesterday - 7 stones in one end and a winning score of 12!!

I hope Coletti's OK. Never nice to see someone have to be evacuated out.

A bit in two minds about the course, which strikes me as one of the toughest I've ever seen. That's great as a spectacle and to an extent of course the Olympics should challenge the best, but spectacle shouldn't come at the cost of unnecessary risks to the athletes. Yes, I know you could say that about all downhill courses - the discipline is almost by definition dangerous - but there is a balance to strike and I wonder if this course has just slightly gone too far.

Those concerns notwithstanding I enjoyed this morning's race. Tremendous run from Gisin, Maze (Maze just oozes class on skis) and then Gut. Both races now won by incredibly narrow margins.

Delighted for Chemmy who looked absolutely thrilled.

I do like that Dartfish facility; during one of the breaks they showed a Dartfish composite of Maze and Gut - they were swapping places all through that section, very close at that stage. I wonder if they have one of the two gold medallists? Chemmy seems to be happy, let's hope she stays fit for what might be better disciplines for her.

Yes, Chemmy much prefers GS and Super G so we can hope that her confidence is sky high now and she'll be able to make an even stronger challenge.  

The Dartfish is useful and interesting and when there is a stoppage for a faller or something like that, then that is a good time to use it rather than focus on a racer's injury.

Mike..... I see the point you are making about course safety and I agree that this course was probably one of the more borderline cases, but I don't think it is as dangerous as the Hahnenkamm which the racers all take part in every year quite happily.   Perhaps it is the unfamiliarity with the Sochi course that is the problem.  Kitzbuhel is a known quantity to the racers and they become comfortable with it.   Perhaps this course might have been better negotiated if the racers had been able to get more practice on it.  

It's all ifs and buts, I know, but I will admit that I am rather "old school" about such things and if the racers aren't complaining about it, then by default they are saying that it is ok.

I don't like to see racers injured and I too was concerned for Alex Coletti.  It upsets the other racers as well because they are all too aware that it could be any of them being loaded into the helicopter.   But they are racers and they accept the risks.  They all go into it with their eyes wide open.   I'm not one of those people who think that risk should be sanitised out of sport.

If the racers aren't happy with the course, they should say so and their concerns addressed.  That is only right and proper as it is they who are taking the risks.  I would go so far as to say that perhaps a representative (voted for by the racers themselves) of the racers should be allowed to view plans for race venues at events such as the Olympics - at the planning stage - and make their input at that time.    Such an innovation would be responsible and might actually achieve a better race in the end.  

But I get a little twitchy when people start talking about "Safety concerns" and "legislating for change".   I've seen what's happened in rugby where the health and safety Nazis are slowly but surely killing the game.  Rucking is completely unrecognisable now from what it was, scrummaging has become a joke and players now have to be "responsible for how their opponent falls when tackled".   Whaaaaat...?     And the safety drones aren't happy with that either.... they want to kill the game as a contact sport completely.

Those of us who love winter sport know how dangerous it is but I don't think we want it wrapped in cotton wool.  I don't think the racers want that either.  We can do a lot of things, as suggested above, to improve matters without letting the health and safety killjoys loose.   Do that and ski racing will cease to exist as we know it within five years.

That's just my opinion.

An exciting race in the cross country leg of today's Nordic Combined; Frenzel the class act of the field, pulling away from Watabe to take gold, with Krog winning a real tussle for bronze!

I wonder why, with so much live action, the BBC persist in showing the same thing on both BBC1/2 and one of the 2 red button feeds so much of the time (often curling or skating)?? Glad they covered this race though!

And I'm not watching the luge doubles - surely one of the most inelegant sports ever devised!

I felt quite sorry for Moan in the Nordic Combined.  He made a great effort to pull back the deficit from his ski jump, but only succeeded in giving all the others behind him a free ride.  I think he finished fifth or sixth in the end.

I was hoping Watabe could hold on for the gold but Frenzel had just too much class.   Still, Japan have their first medal of the games so all good for them.

I agree Luge Doubles does look rather strange, but the teamwork aspect does give luge racing another element.  I think the BBC should show more ski jumping...!! The Large Hill competition starts on Friday. Take note please, Auntie Beeb    

The Dutch are going great guns in the Speed Skating.  Another gold and bronze for them, this time in the men's 1000 metres.  Denny Morrison for Canada was pipped by 1/25th of a second.  That must be heartbreaking.

The Dutch completely own the Speed Skating track at these Games.

OK - wild speculation time; maybe not at these games, but if not then in the "normal" series, I reckon Hungary's Edit Miklos could spring a surprise!! I'm still hoping that Beat Feuz might get back to form too. Anyone else got any forecasts??

The Fourth Lion wrote: I think the BBC should show more ski jumping...!!  The Large Hill competition starts on Friday.  Take note please, Auntie Beeb

They could put it on a red button instead of mirroring BBC2!! I think I might have mentioned that I was in Ramsau last autumn and saw the Austrian teams training - the ramps were using water instead of snow which looked a little odd, but the actual jumping was quite spectacular from so close!

Just back from work and watching the curling. GB men with a 3-2 lead. The women lost what appears to have been a tight match with gold favourites Canada. Hoping to catch up a little with the days events.

I must admit lion. I'm someone that dips in and out of winter sports. I do enjoy them but only have freeview and love so many different sports. I'll try and post a little more in the future. I'm learning a lot on the beeb and here as well so sochi has been a massive success in my eyes so far.

I'm going to try and get to xscape for some snowboarding at some stage this year too.

Both mens and womens ice hockey have been good tonight. Swedish mens team look good. They could cause a few of the favourites a headache or two.

In the womens game USA v Canada nilnil end of first quarter. USA are under dogs so would like them to break the canadian monopoly if only for the group stage.

Not such good news - James Woods, obviously in pain from his injured hip, could only manage 5th; good effort in the circumstances. That gave the USA a clean sweep of the medals (some consolation for us, perhaps, is that the silver medal winner was born in London!). Incidentally, does anyone know how the Brit born French skier is doing?

Sad to hear that Elise Christie has been penalised in the skating, which means she doesn't get the silver we thought she had. I suspect that, being Brits, we won't protest against the decision?

On a lighter note, apparently biathlete Miri Gössner, who is missing these games because of injury, has posed for the latest edition of German Playboy!

Nicky Gooch reviewed the incident at trackside and decided that an appeal wouldn't change the result. In interview, Christie was pretty upset, which is only natural, and said that there was a gap, she went for it, and was pushed as she went through..... but she accepted the judges decision. I suppose we could interpret that as she's been hard done to but arguing won't do any good.

Seeing the replay, I think there was a gap, and it made sense for her to use the speed she had to try to use it, but it was too close to the bend and there was bound to be a collision in that situation. Unfortunately, it was her initial move that precipitated it so all in all, I don't think she can have any argument.

Sad, but hey.... she's still got the 1000 metre event, which is her specialist race. I hope she will use the disappointment of the disqualification to fire her up for that. But her body language in the post race interview suggests that Nicky Gooch might have his hands full getting her head right.

A curiously lacklustre performance by USA in the men's curling against GB. I would have expected more character from Americans. They aren't usually quitters, but this team were beaten before the half way point.

Loved the 10k x country ski for women. Kowalczyk powered her way through to win. Kalla takes silver and Johaug takes a very creditable bronze. Bjoergen looked tired. Are the years taking a toll, perhaps..?

Bleausardv2 wrote:

On a lighter note, apparently biathlete Miri Gössner, who is missing these games because of injury, has posed for the latest edition of German Playboy!

Type Miriam Gossner Playboy into Google images and scroll down. I wonder what her mother would say..?

The Fourth Lion wrote:Nicky Gooch reviewed the incident at trackside and decided that an appeal wouldn't change the result.  

Loved the 10k x country ski for women.  Kowalczyk powered her way through to win.  Kalla takes silver and Johaug takes a very creditable bronze.  Bjoergen looked tired.   Are the years taking a toll, perhaps..?

Thanks for the update - such a nice day here we just had to get out so missed both Christie and the 10km!