Sochi-2014: the Korean-born member of team Russia Victor Ahn added a bronze medal to our team’s collection

It was the last event that team Russia managed to win a bronze medal – our only gain of the day. It is the fifth medal won by the Russian team during Sochi-2014 (the total score consists of 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals). The funny thing is that during the last winter Olympics in Vancouver team Russia only managed to score a single bronze medal during the first three days of competitions.

The favorite’s disqualification and the legend’s medal

The day’s dawn was not a lucky one for the Russian short-track team. Tatiana Borodulina, one of the team’s favorites, was disqualified for two false starts during the 500m race.

The Korean-born member of team Russia Victor Ahn came to the rescue. The 28 years old three times Olympic champion (being a member of team South Korea at that time) did his best during the 1500m short track speed skating event. His desperate struggle against the Canadian athlete Charles Hamelin and the Chinese skater Han Tianyu resulted in a bronze medal for the Russian team. The noteworthy fact is that the bronze medal won by Mr. Ahn is the first Olympic medal gained by team Russia in the individual short track speed skiing competition.  

According to the medal winner’s confession, it is a lot easier for him to run the 500m event than the 1500m one at the moment. As to the 500m race, it will take place on February 21^st , and there will be several other short track events at the “Iceberg” palace prior to that one - on February 13^th, 15^th and 18^th respectively.

Curling: three games played, one victory scored

The third medal-awarding day started with the defeat of the Russian curling team. Still, it was the men’s team that suffered defeat in two games: they lost to the British 4:7 and to the Dutch 10:11. On the other hand, the women’s team played only one game and won it – it was against the Dutch and ended with 7:4 score. 

A noteworthy fact is that there are 20 curling teams taking part in the Olympics – 10 men’s and 10 women’s. According to the Games’ regulations the round-robin tournament goes first to be followed by the play-off games. One can name teams Canada, UK, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland among the Games’ favorites. Russian team achieved the tenth place in the World Rankings. As to the women’s favorites one can name teams Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, UL and China among the leaders. The Russian women’s team holds the eight place in World Rankings.  

The Russian men’s curling team plays against the Norwegians on Tuesday, February 11^th. The women’s team will face teams USA and China that day.

The French athletes did not let the world-famous Bjoerndalen get on the podium.

The Russian fans waited patiently for the conclusion of the men’s 12,5 km pursuit race. Anton Shipulin, the most unlucky participant of the sprint race that took place two days ago, stood a good chance to win a medal. He came one shot short of winning that previous race. Unfortunately, inaccurate shooting has also prevented the Russian biathletes from winning this time. Mr. Shipulin missed three times which resulted in him being the 14^th. The best Russian result was the 5^th place got by Evgeny Ustyugov.

The ones to spark real furor were the French biathletes. Their results are really brilliant – both the gold and bronze medals. Martin Fourcade was the one to become the Olympic Champion while his fellow countryman Jean Guillaume Beatrix who came third did not let the legendary biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen get to the podium.

The next biathlete event which is the men’s 20km individual race will take place on Wednesday, February 13^th.

The overall medal standings as of February 10^th (this does not include the men’s freestyle skiing that ended late in the night yesterday)

1. Netherlands (3 - «gold», 2 - «silver» - 2 «bronze», (overall - 7),
2. Canada (2 - 2 - 1, (5),
3. Norway (2 - 1 - 4, (7),
4. USA (2 - 0 - 3, (5),
5. Germany (2 - 0 - 0, (2),
6. Russia (1 - 2 - 2, (5)

Athletes from 19 different countries have won Olympic medals so far.

On Tuesday, February 11^th, there will be competition over 8 sets of medals at the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi