Olympics Live: Kamila Valieva's fall puts her in 4th
Anna Shcherbakova won the Beijing Games gold medal in women's figure skaters on Thursday night. Teammate Kamila Valieva fell all the way to the bottom three following a tumultuous Olympics.
Shcherbakova did a nearly flawless free skate to jump over Valieva (15 years old), who was the leader of the program. Valieva threw her arms in disgust and resignation after her program. Russian teammate Alexandra Trusova won silver for her quad-packed program, while Kaori Sakamoto of Japan retained the bronze medal.
They will each receive medals. If Valieva was among the top three, the IOC said that they would not hold a medal ceremony.
After her scores were revealed, Valieva was left sobbing in a kiss-and-cry zone. She finished fourth in the women's single figure skating event despite failing a preOlympics doping screening.
After Tuesday's short program, Valieva was at the top of the leaderboard. However, she fell and fell again Thursday night. Russian teammate Anna Shcherbakova won first place. Russian figure skater Alexandra Trusova was second, and Kaori Sakamoto, a Japanese figure skater, claimed third. They will each receive medals. If Valieva was among the top three, the IOC said that they would not hold a medal ceremony.
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The Russian figure skater in the middle of the scandal surrounding doping at the Olympics has taken to the ice for a free ride.
Valieva will be skating to "Bolero", Thursday night. After finishing the short program Tuesday, Valieva was in first place going into the free skate.
The IOC has decided not to host a medal ceremony in competitions that involve Valieva. After her team won the gold medal, she received a positive pre-Games test for banned substances. However, she was allowed to skate without further investigation.
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The U.S. Olympic Committee's leader calls the decision to not award American figure skaters silver medals in the team competition "frankly, unfair" to the athletes.
The Associated Press is told by Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the USOPC, that skaters want medals and that the USOPC will try to find a solution.
The IOC has decided not to host a medal ceremony in competitions that involve Kamila Valieva. After her team won the gold medal, she was found to have tested positive for a banned substance. Abby Roque, an indigenous woman, won silver with the U.S. women’s hockey team.
At the Beijing Games, silver was won by the United States. Canada defeated them 3-2 to win gold.
Roque, a forward at the team, is 24 years old.
She was born in Sault Ste. Marie is located on the border between the U.S.A. and Canada and is a member the Wahnapitae First Nations Tribe on her father’s side.
Even her Canadian-born dad, Jim Roque has been persuaded by Roque to root for the Americans. Roque was a Lake Superior State player and coach, and is currently a scout with the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs.
She stated that she wants to increase the number of opportunities for young indigenous women to play hockey.
She said, "Especially for women in sport, if it's possible to see it, you can do it." "You want to see women hockey players when you think about hockey. If you are an indigenous child, you want other indigenous players on the biggest stage."
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Miho Takagi, Japan's speedskating champion, has won her fourth Beijing Games medal and her first individual gold. She also holds the Olympic record for winning the women's 1,000m.
Jutta Leedam, from the Netherlands, won the silver medal. Brittany Bowe, from the United States, took home the bronze.
Takagi also won silver in the 1,500m, 500m and team pursuit at Beijing Games. Four years ago, Takagi won three medals at Pyeongchang. She took gold in team pursuit, silver and bronze in 1,500, and 1,000.
Takagi won with a time in 1 minute, 13.19 seconds. This easily beats the 2018 Olympic record of 1:13.56 by Jorien Ter Mors. Ter Mors was not able to defend her title as she was not selected for the Dutch team.
Leerdam managed to clock a time of 1:13.83 despite having to drag her left hand onto the ice in order for her to turn straight. Bowe won the bronze medal in 1:14.61, just 0.01 seconds behind Angelina Golikova, a Russian skater.
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Austrian ski jumpers scored 475.4 points during Thursday's Nordic combined team event. They have an eight second lead in the cross-country ski race later in day, as the Beijing Games wrap up.
The four-man Norwegian team will be second, closely followed by Germany and Japan.
Four skiers from each country will race 5K on a crosscountry course. The winner takes home gold.
The top six teams will have little chance of catching up with the other contenders, particularly China's young team. After the Austrians have started a race, the Chinese skiers will need to wait for 6 minutes and 28 second at the start line. It will take them approximately 50 minutes to finish the race.
Jarl Magnus Riiber, a Nordic combined star from Norway, was badly affected by COVID-19. He is not part of Norway's team. After competing in just one event, he returned home on Thursday. After winning the 10K cross-country race, the three-time champion made a wrong turn and lost the large lead he had gained in ski jumping on Tuesday night. This was just a day after he got out of COVID isolation.
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Beijing Olympics organizers reported that there were no new COVID-19 cases on the first day.
According to data published Thursday, there were no positive COVID test results among the 5,239 athletes and team officials, and 63.731 workers within the Beijing Olympic bubble during the 24-hour period ending Wednesday.
Everybody in the bubble must pass daily tests.
Only seven people arrived Wednesday at Beijing's airport for the Olympics, and none of them have returned a positive result.
From more than 1.6million tests, 435 positive tests have been confirmed since Jan. 23. There were 264 athletes, officials and 171 Games workers.
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Russian world pairs champions Anastasia Mishina & Aleksandr Galliamov won the most favorable position in the final group for their short program to begin Friday's event at Capital Indoor Stadium.
The Beijing Games' final discipline is the pairs competition. It ends with Saturday night's free skating.
Mishina, Galliamov and their teammates Evgenia Tarasova & Vladimir Morozov as well as world bronze medalists Aleksandra Borikova & Dmitrii Kozlovskii were drawn into the final team. In the final group are also Sui Wenjing of China and Han Cong from China, who are currently Olympic silver medalists.
Alexa Knierim (who helped the U.S. win silver as a team) will be performing second among the 19 pairs. The penultimate group will feature their teammates, Timothy LeDuc and Ashley CainGribble.
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Sandra Naeslund, a world champion skicrosser from Sweden, won the women's Olympic skicross race in which the third place finisher was disqualified.
Naeslund took a lead over Canada's Marielle Thomson on a snowy course with lots of jumps and bumps. Fanny Smith, from Switzerland, was third. However, Daniela Maier, of Germany was awarded the bronze after a delay. Smith moved her left ski into Maier's line and Maier briefly lost balance. Maier was two body lengths behind Smith and couldn't catch her up. Smith's position was ranked last after the review.
Naeslund's victory ends Canada's reign, which has won every Olympic gold in women's racing since the 2010 Vancouver Games.
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At the Beijing Games, Jarl Magnus Riiber from Norway, a Nordic combined star, was unbeaten.
Riiber returned home on Thursday, just two days after he made a wrong turn in a 10K cross country race. He also lost the large lead he had gained in ski jumping.
He is not participating in Thursday's team ski competition.
After being tested positive for COVID-19 at Beijing, the three-time world champion was isolated for over 10 days. Riiber was cleared to compete in ski jumping just 24 hours later. He then became disoriented on the cross country course, and struggled to ski due his lack of physical fitness.
Norway entered a four-man team in the team competition. This is the last Nordic combined event at the 2022 Olympics. Each jumper will compete in a 5K cross country race.
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Michelle Gisin, the Swiss defense champion, won a second consecutive Olympic gold medal in Alpine combined after Mikaela Schiffrin skied again in the slalom.
Gisin defeated Wendy Holdener, her teammate, by more than one second in the two-run race. This was to help Switzerland win a record five gold medals at Alpine skiing at an Olympics.
Shiffrin finished fifth in the downhill section of the two-run combination on Thursday morning, but she did not make it to the bottom of the slalom leg. In the combined, she took home silver four years ago.
Federica Brignone, an Italian woman, was third in Beijing, 1.85 seconds after Gisin. Shiffrin also failed to win the giant slalom. She took silver.
Gisin, a 28-year-old, beat Holdener by 1.05 seconds Thursday. He also won bronze last week in the super-G.
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Gus Kenworthy made it to the Olympic ski halfpipe final. He did a great run and waited almost an hour before finding out if he would be able to earn one of the 12 spots for the gold-medal round. He was 12th.
Kenworthy, the 2014 silver-medalist who adopted stray animals at the Sochi Games in 2014, will compete for Britain in what he claims will be his last Olympics. He is not a favorite for a medal, having struggled this season.
Aaron Blunck, USA, finished first in qualifying. Nico Porteous of New Zealand followed closely by Birk Irving and Birk Irwin of the U.S. David Wise, the two-time defending champion, qualified in fourth.
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China has maintained a clear stance for two weeks on questions regarding its politics and policies.
This changed on Thursday at the Beijing organizing board's daily news conference. It was three days before the Games ended. After a polite and persistent refusal to answer questions, the news conference with Chinese officials reflected the normal state of affairs -- clear answers to pressing issues.
Taiwan? A part indivisible of China. The Uyghur people of the Xinjiang area. Being not forced into labor. China's sovereignty? International norms make it impossible to challenge China's sovereignty.
Yan Jiarong, a spokeswoman for the organizing committee said that "what I want to convey is that there is only one China" and called it "a solemn place" for China.
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In the latest battle for the gold medal in women’s hockey, Canada defeated the United States by 3-2.
Marie-Philip Poulin was able to score twice and assist Sarah Nurse in her goal to become "Captain Clutch" of Canada. Ann-Renee Desbiens, goalie, made 38 saves. She was her best under siege.
Canada won Olympic gold for the 5th time in 7 chances, since the introduction of women's hockey at the 1998 Nagano Games. For the fourth time, silver was awarded to the defending champion USA.
American winger Hilary Knight scored a goal and Amanda Kessel added another 13.5 seconds. They could not overcome Desbiens to force overtime.
It was Canada's fourth gold-medalled medal at the Beijing Games.
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Mikaela shiffrin skied in the Alpine combined but was again unable to finish a race at Beijing Olympics.
After participating in five of the five women's events, she will not be awarded a medal at the 2022 Games.
She was not only 0 for 5 but she also failed to finish three of the races.
Shiffrin finished fifth in the downhill section of the two-run combination on Thursday morning, but he did not make it to the bottom of the slalom leg.
In the four combined years, she took home a Silver.
She arrived in China as one of the most prominent stars in winter sports. Already the owner of two Olympic golds medals, from the slalom and giant slaloms in 2014 and 2018, she was already a star in the sport.
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Olympic champions Martin Fourcade, Frida Hansdotter were elected by Beijing Games athletes to represent them in the International Olympic Committee.
Fourcade, a French biathlete, and Hansdotter (an Alpine skier from Sweden) received the most votes in a 16-candidate election.
Both of them retired from competition after winning the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics Olympic titles. They will now serve eight-year terms with the IOC.
There are about 100 members of the International Olympic Committee who meet each year. The executive board is composed mainly of members who rubber stamp proposals. This includes the new policy to confirm a candidate preselected for hosting future Olympics.
Hansdotter and Fourcade replace Hayley Wickenheiser (Canadian hockey player), whose eight-year tenure ends Sunday at the closing ceremonies. Ole Einar Bjorndalen was the Norwegian biathlon champion, who resigned in 2016.
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Canada and the United States are competing for the women's hockey gold medal at Beijing Olympics.
The second edition of one of the most enduring grudge matches in international sport is taking place.
After beating Canada 3-2 in a shootout at 2018 Pyeongchang Games, the U.S. is now the defending Olympic champion.
After a record of 6-0 and 54-8 wins over their opponents, the Canadians are now considered favorites. This includes a 4-2 win in group play against the U.S.
Canada had also an advantage over its cross-border competitors, as captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored a gold-medal winning goal in overtime against the U.S. in August to end their streak of five tournament title wins.
Canada has a 6-3 overall record at the Olympics. It added women's hockey to the Olympics in 1998. Canada has four gold medals to the Americans' 2.
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American John Shuster and the Olympic curling champions were victorious in a last-chance match. They qualified for the Beijing Olympics playoffs. They beat Denmark 7-5 to keep their hopes alive of winning another gold medal.
Later Thursday night, the Americans will face Britain in semifinals. Canada will face Sweden, who finished fourth last year as the reigning silver medalist.
Shuster's foursome found themselves in an even more desperate situation after they won five consecutive elimination games to win gold, the second Olympic curling medal in American history.
There was a twist this time: They could have made it to the playoffs even if they lost to Norway. The tiebreaker was won by the Americans when they beat Norway 7-6 in round-robin.
Italy lost in the end. The Americans had to win and they did.
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After the downhill race of the Alpine combined race at Beijing Olympics, Christine Scheyer from Austria leads. Fiveth place is Mikaela Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic champion from the United States.
Scheyer is 0.56 seconds ahead of Shiffrin, who has never won any medals at major championships.
They will compete in the second half of the event, the Slalom on Thursday afternoon Beijing Time.
Scheyer is 0.01 behind Czech skier Ester Lédecka, who is trying to win a second Olympic event after successfully defending her silver in the parallel giant slalom.
Ramona Siebenhofer, Austria, is 0.14 behind in the third.
The times for one downhill and one slalom race are added together.
Shiffrin's favorite event over the years was the slalom. At 18 years old, she won a gold medal for this discipline at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She also failed to make it through five gates of the slalom before she skied out. She did not complete the giant slalom.
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Because of strong winds and particularly cold temperatures forecast for Saturday at Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Center, the women's mass start race in biathlon at the Beijing Olympics will take place a day earlier than planned.
The 12.5-kilometer (7.76 mile) women's mass start has been changed to Friday at 3 p.m. instead of Saturday at 5 p.m. The mass start for the men is still scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m.
According to the forecast, Saturday's temperature will hover in the minus 8 degree Fahrenheit range (minus 22 Celsius), while Friday could see some snow and temperatures of around 7 degrees Fahrenheit. This is still below the allowed competition range which prevents racing at minus 20 degrees Celsius.
This means that biathlon at 2022 Olympics will now end on Friday.
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Eileen Gu won the ski halfpipe competition qualifier top score twice, as she chases her third Beijing Games medal.
American-born, freestyle skier representing China has already won a gold in big air and a Silver in slopestyle. She hopes to be the first action-sports athlete ever to win three medals at the Winter Games.
Gu was cautious in her first run, but still managed to score a 93.75. Gu was not content with her score and she scored a 95.50 in her final run. It was a cold morning at Genting Snow Park. Rachael Karker from Canada was second and Kelly Sildaru, Estonia, third. Brita Sigourney was eighth, making her one of only three Americans in the top 12 for Friday night's final.
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Mikaela Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic champion, made it through the Alpine combined downhill leg. She will be able to compete for a medal at the slalom.
Shiffrin was ninth among 26 skiers in the downhill section of the two-run event on Thursday.
American skier, Amy Johnson, was fifth in the rankings with a time of 1:32.98 seconds.
Shiffrin is 0.56 second behind Christine Scheyer, Austria's current leader.
The National Alpine Skiing Center will host the slalom leg in approximately 3 1/2 hours.
Shiffrin's favorite event over the years was the slalom. At 18 years old, she won a gold medal for this discipline at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She also failed to make it past five gates in Beijing's slalom last week.
Shiffrin did not complete the giant slalom. She finished ninth in super-G, and 18th in downhill. This is her fifth individual event at the 2022 Winter Games. She also stated that she plans to participate in the Saturday team event.
