THE Winter Olympics has come to and end with Australia claiming three medals across the 16-day event.
AUSTRALIA couldn’t scrape another medal on the final day of the Olympics as our bobsleigh team fell flat and finished in 27th place.
The famous Olympic Closing Ceremony finalised proceedings on Sunday night with world leaders congregating in PyeongChang for the blockbuster event.
10:50pm
Skier’s jab at Ivanka Trump
All eyes were on the sky boxes as some of the biggest names in world politics gathered to rub shoulders for the Closing Ceremony.
Daughter of US President Donald Trump, Ivanka, was there representing her country, but not everyone from the US team was keen on her being at the event.
Skier Gus Kenworthy, who missed out on a medal in the slopestyle event in PyeongChang, tweeted a particularly brutal swipe to the 36-year-old.
“So proud of all these people!” he wrote, captioning a photo of the US team. “Everybody here has worked so hard to make it to the Olympics and have the opportunity to walk in the closing ceremony! Well… Everyone except Ivanka. Honestly, tf is she doing here??”
9pm
Russian flag snubbed from Closing Ceremony
The Russian flag will not fly at the Closing Ceremony tonight after the International Olympic Committee ruled the controversial sporting nation’s fate on Sunday.
The Russians upset Germany to take gold in the men’s ice hockey final hours before but will be prohibited from flying their national colours.
6pm
Russians take gold from Germany
The Russians triumphed in the no-NHL tournament where they were favored, winning the men’s hockey gold medal at a Winter Olympics where they couldn’t even be called Team Russia, use their colors or celebrate while listening to their anthem.
Kirill Kaprizov scored the game-winner as “Team Olympic Athlete From Russia” came back to beat underdog Germany 4-3 in overtime Sunday in an instant classic that saved a men’s tournament lacking buzz not only in South Korea but back in North America, where the NHL season went on during the games for the first time since 1994.
It’s the first Russian gold medal in hockey since 1992 in Albertville when the team also played under a neutral flag as the Community of Independent States. Russian flags – the team barred from using them by IOC sanctions for state- sponsored doping – hung behind the bench as the team awaited their gold medals. Constantly saying it doesn’t matter that they had to wear nondescript red and white uniforms that lacked the Russian Coat of Arms, players gave the Russians their second gold and 17th total medal of the Olympics.
This one was expected all along.
Stocked with former NHL players – Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Voynov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Nikita Nesterov – the Russians were by far the most talented team in the tournament. U.S. coach Tony Granato said they may be as good as 20 of the 31 NHL teams. The skill primarily from the Kontinental Hockey League was apparent all tournament and especially in the final against Germany, which had all of its players from leagues in its homeland.
Nikita Gusev had the go-ahead and tying goals in the third period. Goaltender Vasily Koshechkin let in a fluke goal to Felix Schultz and was hung out to dry on Dominik Kahun’s goal that answered Gusev’s first goal 10 seconds later. Koshechkin came out to challenge when Jonas Muller slid the puck along the ice for what looked like the game-winner with 3:16 left. A penalty to Russian forward Sergei Kalinin with 2:11 remaining threatened to end the Russians’ gold-medal bid in similar disappointment to their quarterfinal loss on home ice in Sochi four years ago.
Instead, with Koshechkin pulled for the extra attacker to make it 5-on-5, Gusev scored again to help send the game to overtime.
There, Germany goaltender Danny aus den Birken needed to make an edge-of-his-pad save on Kovalchuk all alone driving to the net to keep the game going. An ill- timed high-sticking penalty on Germany’s Patrick Reimer 9:11 into overtime put the Russians on the power play, where Kaprizov scored the winner and one of the biggest goals in Russian hockey history.
The victory on the ice came hours after the International Olympic Committee voted not to reinstate Team Russia for Sunday night’s closing ceremony. That means the Russians will again march under the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” name and the Olympic flag. The IOC formally banned Team Russia in December over a doping scheme at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, but invited 168 athletes to compete under the OAR name, making the Russians the third-biggest delegation at the games.
Russia had to wait two weeks for its first gold in Pyeongchang before the 15-year-old figure skater Alina Zagitova won with two flawless programs. Voynov, at the Olympics because he was banned from the NHL in 2015 for his domestic abuse conviction, cashed in on a brutal turnover by Germany’s Yasin Ehliz in the final moments of the first period. Voynov’s shot from just inside the blue line got past aus den Birken and in with just 0.5 seconds on the clock, the kind of killer goal that changes the tide of the game.
Russian goal song “Those Were The Days” blared over the Gangneung Hockey Centre speakers as fans clad in red, white and blue and holding flags celebrated. They later sang the national anthem as the medal ceremony got under way. — AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth contributed.
— with AP
1.25pm
Doping ban maintained
The International Olympic Committee voted unanimously on Sunday to maintain Russia’s suspension from the Olympic movement over mass doping.
The IOC said a condition of Russia’s ban being lifted is that no further positive drug tests come out of the Pyeongchang Winter Games after their conclusion later Sunday, after two Russians tested positive for doping.
Russia was banned in December from taking part in the 2018 Winter Olympics following revelations of widespread doping, but 168 athletes deemed doping-free were allowed to compete as neutrals at the Games.
– AP
12.38pm
No luck for Aussie bobsledders
After two runs yesterday that both finished under the 50 second mark, the Aussies couldn’t break the barrier today.
As the 24th team to take to the track, the 4-man bobsleigh team knew what was required of them but sadly they couldn’t cash in.
Crossing the line in a time of 50.07, the effort saw them finish the third heat in 27th position in the 29 team field.
Unfortunately the finish means the team won’t compete in the fourth and final run of the event in the hope of claiming a medal.
10.30am
Boozy night out ends in car theft
A Canadian ski cross racer, his wife and coach were busted for allegedly getting drunk and stealing a car to get back to the Olympic Village on Saturday, Korean authorities said.
The Canadian Olympic Committee, ski cross racer Dave Duncan, his wife Maja and technical coach William Raine all apologised for the boozy joy ride that landed the three briefly in jail.
Dave and Maja Duncan issued a joint statement, apologising for “behaviour that demonstrated poor judgment.”
The Duncans said they did not live up “to the standards expected of us as members of the Canadian Olympic Team or as Canadians.”
Technical coach William Raine called his actions “inexcusable.”
“I would like to apologise profusely for my inexcusable actions,” Raine said.
“Words are not enough to express how sorry I am. I have let my teammates, friends and my family down.”
Duncan, 35, finished eighth in the men’s ski cross small final on Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the wheel.
The driver had a blood-alcohol level of .162 per cent, well over the local limit of .05, police told The Canadian Press.
One of the trio was found passed out in the stolen Hummer when they were pulled over by police, authorities said.
Entering the games, Canadian Olympians prided themselves on winning with class.
The team’s official slogan for PyeongChang was: “Be Virtuous, Be Victorious, be Olympic.”
“We expect our athletes and team members to conduct themselves responsibly and in keeping with our Canadian and Olympic values,” Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Overholt said in a statement Saturday.
“We are deeply disappointed in the behaviours of these individuals. All team members are expected to respect the laws of South Korea and all places we compete in around the world.”
– NY Post
