A lot has happened in Sochi over the past few days! The weird weather in the area caused some problems, and the underdogs stood out. Here’s what you missed over the long weekend:
Team Belarus takes men’s freestyle aerials
Belarus’s Anton Kushnir won the gold for the men’s freestyle skiing aerials event on Sunday night. Kushnir, 29, finished with a score of 134.50 after his final jump. Australia took the silver medal while China walked away with the bronze. Earlier in the Games, Belarus won gold during the women’s event thanks to Alla Tsuper.
Skiers crash and blame warm weather, Austria takes gold
Austria took the gold in women’s super-G on Saturday. Team Austria’s Anna Fenninger ended the event in just 1 minute and 25.52 seconds, a time that beat German Olympic medalist Maria Hoefl-Riesch. Hoefl-Riesch took the silver, while Fenninger’s Austrian teammate, Nicole Hosp, earned the bronze. USA’s Julia Mancuso finished in eighth place, though she won bronze in the super-combined just last week. Though 49 skiers competed in the event, 18 failed to complete it. Some skiiers blamed the warm weather for unusually soft snow. Lara Gut from Team Switzerland told The Associated Press, “There is no snow at the bottom, it’s not funny anymore.”
Jamaican bobsled team has a theme song, ends in last place
“The Bobsled Song” was released on YouTube by Jamaica’s tourism agency. The video features animated characters dancing as Jamaican bobsledders Marvin Dixon and Winston Watts bobsled down a 1,500-meter track. The bobsledders’ run is synced with the music. Despite their upbeat theme song (which you should totally watch above) the Jamaican dream team didn’t place during the two-man bobsledding event on Sunday. The team debuted in the 1988 Calgary Games, their story inspiring the Disney movie Cool Runnings. Dixon and Watts finished in last place (but they still have a movie based on their story and a theme song, so who are the real winners?).
Fog keeps causing delays
Biathlon and snowboarding events were postponed on Monday due to the heavy fog in the mountain region. The men’s biathlon event had already been postponed once before. It was originally scheduled for Sunday, but now it has been pushed back to Tuesday. In biathlon, the fog is a problem because athletes’ visions are impaired, making it harder to see where their targets are. Men’s snowboardcross was postponed until Tuesday as well.
With a painted mustache, Czech Republic wins snowboard gold
Eva Samkova sported a patriotic mustache during the women’s snowboard cross event on Sunday. The Czech athlete painted a mustache in the colors of the Czech flag (blue, white and red) on her face before the race. Samkova, 20, told reporters that the mustache was for good luck. The Olympic gold medalist has been painting mustaches on her face for competitions for three years.
US Olympic favorites take the gold in ice dancing
The US has never won a gold medal in a figure skating event other than singles – that is, until Monday night. Meryl Davis and Charlie White took home the gold for Team USA in figure skating doubles. Davis and White have been ice skating partners for 17 years. Their final score was 116.63, beating Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who won gold in 2010. Russia took bronze thanks to Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov.
Darya Domracheva wins third gold medal
Darya Domracheva certainly has something to celebrate. Representing Belarus, she took her third gold medal on Monday during the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start biathlon event. Because of her win, Domracheva is now the most medaled athlete so far of Sochi 2014. During this year’s Games, she has also won the 10-kilometer pursuit and the 15-kilometer individual race.
Netherlands sweeps speed skating (again!)
The Dutch have done it again! Last week the Dutch won all the medals in both men’s 500-meter and 5,000-meter races. On Sunday it was the women’s turn as three Dutch speed skaters dominated the podium for the 1,500-meter event. Jorien ter Mors, Ireen Wust and Lotte Van Beek took gold, silver and bronze, respectively. Mors finished the race in just 53.51 seconds.
Japan takes men’s figure skating gold
Yuzuru Hanyu won Japan’s first-ever gold in men’s figure skating on Friday. However, Hanyu wasn’t a hopeful. In fact, after falling twice during his performance, many thought he had lost his chance at winning the gold. But overall, it was not the night for men’s figure skating. Patrick Chan, a figure skating world champion, received an even lower score than Hanyu. The Canadian lost to Hanyu by almost five points. The bronze medal went to Denis Ten of Kazakhstan.
Medal count as of Monday night: top five countries
- Russia: five gold, seven silver, six bronze = 18 total
- United States: five gold, four silver, nine bronze = 18 total
- Netherlands: five gold, five silver, seven bronze = 17 total
- Norway: five gold, three silver, seven bronze = 15 total
- Canada: four gold, seven silver, four bronze = 15 total
To see a full list of the medal count, click here.
What was your favorite moment of the weekend? Let us know in the comments and then come back tomorrow for another Sochi Scoop recap!