Sochi 2014 Olympic Update (Day 3)
Judged events are a constant in the Olympics and they can make up some of the more popular sports in the Olympic program. There are a number of reasons for this and one of the biggest reasons is that they are the events that elicit the most debate among fans. They are the events that many people look at and see that they can figure out what is happening. They are sports that many people do know and can generally see when someone was better than the other athletes. It can lead a lot of people to judge these events themselves and when it doesn’t go the way that many believe it can lead to controversy. The fact that many of these judged events have had a history of being corrupt over time does not help the case. If something seems off in these events many times it is because there is something off. Figure Skating has been one of the worst out of all the sports as they have constantly been faced with serious fixing allegations. Time and time again there have been controversies in Olympic figure skating with judges being paid off to help certain countries take home a medal. Many times it has been blatantly obvious as to what is happening as athletes have fallen while skating and still earned gold despite other athletes skating perfectly. Despite a number of tweaks to the judging system the accusations and rumours continue to flow in. It would all happen once again in Sochi as rumours would begin to circulate about a fixing scandal in the Ice Dance and Team competitions. The reports would state that the Russian and American judges would work together to help their countries earn gold medals. The American judge would help the Russians win the team event by granting higher scores while the Russian judge would help the Americans win the Ice Dancing competition in the same manner. That was the reported deal in the backrooms of Sochi and on Day 2 the reports seemed to be coming true. The Russians would win the Team Figure Skating event and the reports would grow even louder One part of the potential fix has already been done and the other will not be seen until later in the Olympics. The Ice Dancing Competition has always been between the Canadian pairing of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and the American pairing of Meryl Davis and Charlie White. Both teams train in the same facility with the same coach and have been the two best teams in the Ice Dancing world championships. To think that the Americans could win the competition is not very far from the truth as they have been the better of the two pairings as of late and seemed ready to take the Olympic gold. If they do take the gold there is no doubt that the talk will be more about the fixing scandal than their performance. If they do not win expect many to say that they might have deserved it but judges may have been scared to give them the win for fear of the scandal. It will have an effect in the coming weeks as the reports will continue to surface and with the Russians winning the team event, even though they deserved it, the scandal continues to gain steam. It is the first major controversy in the Olympics and one that could have an impact on the competition in the future. It is sure not to be the last controversy of the Olympics as one of the biggest sporting events in the world is sure to see plenty of people disagree with the decisions of judges. Controversy follows the Olympics and the fixing scandal in the figure skating is almost par for the course. The Olympics are just beginning and there will be plenty more to watch for in the coming days including controversy that is sure to come up once again.
Canadian Story:
Hamelin at Home
Charles Hamelin entered the 2014 Olympics looking to become the most decorated Canadian Olympic athlete ever and he would take a step towards that winning another Olympic Gold Medal at the Men’s 1,500m to open the day
History on the Hill
The Moguls have been good to Canada and it would be again as the Canadians would repeat the performance of the women finishing 1 and 2 with Alexandre Bilodeau finishing with the gold medal and becoming the first Freestyle Skiing athlete ever to repeat in the Olympics
Curling Start
Curling has always been a strong Canadian sport but the world is getting better and the Canadians would see that as the Men would go 1-1 in their opening day while the Women would win their first and only game of the day
Scare for the Women
The Canadian Women’s hockey team would go into their game against Finland with Finland yet to score a goal against Canada but it was not an easy game as the women would score three goals in the third period after a great performance by Finnish goaltender Noora Raty
Day 3 Medal Results:
Alpine Skiing
Women’s Super-Combined
1. Maria Hoefl-Riesch (Germany)
2. Nicole Hosp (Austria)
3. Julia Mancuso (USA)
Biathlon
Men’s 12.5km Pursuit
1. Martin Fourcade (France)
2. Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic)
3. Jean Guillaume Beatrix (France)
Freestyle Skiing
Men’s Moguls
1. Alexandre Bilodeau (Canada)
2. Mikhail Kingsbury (Canada)
3. Alexandr Smyshlyaev (Russia)
Short Track
Men’s 1,500m Final Race
1. Charles Hamelin (Canada)
2. Tianyu Han (China)
3. Victor An (Russia)
Speed Skating
Men’s 500m
1. Michel Mulder (Netherlands)
2. Jan Smeekens (Netherlands)
3. Ronald Mulder (Netherlands)
Day 4 Medal Events:
Biathlon
Women’s 10km Pursuit
Cross-Country
Women’s Individual Sprint Free
Men’s Individual Sprint Free
Freestyle Skiing
Women’s Ski Slopestyle
Luge
Women’s Final Run
Ski Jumping
Women’s Individual Normal Hill
Snowboarding
Men’s Halfpipe
Speed Skating
Women’s 500m
The Sport Addiction 