Sochi 2014 Olympic Update (Day 11)
Day 11 in the Olympics would feature a few more meal events than many days as the weather at Sochi would take its toll the day before. That meant that it was a big day for more athletes than usual as they would get their chance to step onto an Olympic podium. When going into the Olympics the athletes in every sport have given everything they have had for four years to achieve dreams they had as a child. These athletes all are looking for gold in the Olympics but not all can get that medal. For some of these athletes just winning a medal can be a surprise but for some winning a medal is expected and leaving the Olympics without one is a disappointment. These athletes are a part of a group of athletes whose only goal in the Olympics is to win a gold and that expectation comes along with the country that they are a part of. There are a few countries that enter the Olympics with Olympic medal hopes in most disciplines. These countries are those with big budgets for their programs where they can focus on multiple disciplines at one time. For most countries though the money is put towards only a few sports but in those sports they are the top of the top. This year in the Olympics that has been truer than ever as there have been more dominant performances by countries than ever in the Olympics. There are always sports where certain countries do well in but this ear there have been sports where countries have been absolutely unbeatable in. It seems that in every event for a sport certain countries are taking home gold or taking home multiple medals. There are the usual dominant performances by the Swiss and the Austrians in alpine skiing or the Canadians in Freestyle skiing. Then there is the new level of domination by the Germans in Luge and the Netherlands in Speed Skating. In luge the Germans have always been great as they hold some of the best sliders in the world. This year though it was different as they would grab all four gold medals in luge from the women’s, men’s, doubles, and team. They would not even make it close in many of their competitions as they would almost win the gold after their second of four runs in every event. Although that has been a great example of how dominant a country can be in one sport there is one more sport that seems to be just given to the Dutch. In the speed skating oval the Netherlands have been absolutely lights out taking almost every medal on the track. Out of 27 medals handed out at the oval this year the Dutch have taken home 19 of them and many times have sat three on the podium. The dominance just seems to be continuing as some events have seen Netherlands placed 1-4 leaving no room or hope for any other countries. In fact the Dutch have a total of 20 medals at these Olympics and 19 of those medals have come at the Speed Skating oval while the other would come from the short track speed skating track. The Dutch have always been the best at the oval but there was always space for a number of other countries to challenge them. They would rarely see three Dutch athletes on the podium although at least one medal was guaranteed. This year though some countries have underperformed, like the USA, and the Dutch have seemingly gotten better. It is one of the most dominant performances of any country in one sport for the Olympics as it is possible that the Dutch sit all three athletes on the podium at every speed skating event. As one of the top medal earning teams in the Olympics they have made a lot from the one sport that they are competitive in and will continue to do so as the Speed Skating events have yet to finish and the Dutch will continue to be strong in their sport to show what can be done with domination in a sport.
Canadian Story:
Good and Bad at the Track
The Canadian Women’s relay team would earn a silver medal thanks to a Chinese DQ pushing them into second but it was not all great as the great hope for Canada, Charles Hamelin, would finish his Olympics in the wall after falling in the 500m and failing to make the finals again
Another Freestyle Medal
It has been the best events for Canada at the Olympics as Freestyle Skiing has produced a number of medals for the Canadians and it would once again produce a medal as Matthew Riddle earned a silver in Ski Halfpipe for the second medal of the day
Humphries on Track
Kaillie Humphries went into the Olympics as one of the best hopes for gold for Canada and she is currently on track to make a run at gold after her first two runs in the bobsled put her in second place with two more runs to go in Day 12
Latvia Pulls Through
The Canadian Men’s Hockey Team would have the day off after securing a spot in the quarterfinals but they would watch closely as Latvia and Switzerland would face off and Latvia would come out on top to earn a date with Canada in the quarters
Day 11 Medal Results:
Alpine Skiing
Women’s Giant Slalom
1. Tina Maze (Slovenia)
2. Anna Fenninger (Austria)
3. Viktoria Rebensburg (Germany)
Biathlon
Men’s 15km Mass Start
1. Emil Hegle Svendsen (Norway)
2. Martin Fourcade (France)
3. Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic)
Freestyle Skiing
Men’s Halfpipe
1. David Wise (USA)
2. Matthew Riddle (Canada)
3. Kevin Rolland (France)
Nordic Combined
Individual Large Hill
1. Joergen Graabak (Norway)
2. Magnus Hovdal Moan (Norway)
3. Fabian Riessle (Germany)
Short Track
Women’s 3,000m Relay
1. Republic of Korea
2. Canada
3. Italy
Snowboard
Men’s Snowboard Cross
1. Pierre Vaultier (France)
2. Nikolay Olyunin (Russia)
3. Alex Deibold (USA)
Speed Skating
Men’s 1,000m
1. Jorrit Bergsma (Netherlands)
2. Sven Kramer (Netherlands)
3. Bob de Jong (Netherlands)
Day 12 Medal Events:
Alpine Skiing
Men’s Giant Slalom
Biathlon
Mixed Relay
Bobsleigh
Women’s Bobsleigh
Cross-Country
Women’s Team Sprint Classic
Snowboard
Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom
Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom
Speed Skating
Women’s 5,000m
The Sport Addiction 