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Tag: 2014 sochi olympics

Carrying Hopes Of A Nation, Russia Makes Unexpected Hockey Exit

By William Douglas, McClatchy Foreign Staff

SOCHI, Russia — A hockey team loses. A nation mourns, curses and cries.

Russia’s men’s hockey team suffered a 3-1 loss to Finland on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Winter Olympics tournament, eliminating the host country from medal contention.
For some Russians, these Winter Games were about nothing but hockey. Forward Alexander Ovechkin half-jokingly said last week that winning the Gold Medal was worth about $50 billion — the estimated cost of the entire Winter Games.

“It sucks. What can I say?” Ovechkin, who plays for the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals, said after the defeat. “No emotions right now.”

He added: “We fought until the end to score, but it just hasn’t worked for us. We lost our Olympic games. There is no one to blame.”

The all-star-packed Russian team was under severe pressure _ from the Kremlin to the cabbie in the street _ to win gold and nothing less. But the team struggled in almost all its games, managing nail-biting victories against less-talented Slovenia and Slovakia. They beat Norway in a cakewalk and lost to the United States last Sunday in a dramatic shootout.

Russia never appeared to get its high-scoring game together despite talented snipers like forwards Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings, and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Russian players insisted they felt no pressure playing before their hockey-crazed president and hockey-mad fans, many of whom were banking on Olympic Gold to exorcise the ghosts of the American “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games and the 1972 “Super Series” against a Canadian team of National Hockey League superstars.

Andrew Kuchins, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the hockey team’s defeat will disappoint many Russians but shouldn’t impact what many Russians feel have been a successful Winter Games for the country.

“It takes some of the luster off, for sure,” Kuchins said. “Despite (President Vladimir) Putin being a hockey fan himself, the larger goal was a successful Olympic games. And I think it’s come off pretty well.”

At a Russian bar in Krasnaya Polyana, the game was played on a huge screen. A hockey goal sat in the middle of the dance floor and patrons spent the time between periods shooting tennis balls into the net or playing table hockey. Most in the crowd were draped in Russian flags or had their faces painted red, blue and white.

“It’s very disappointing for us,” said a stunned Igor Maltinskii after he watched the game at the bar. “We thought our team would be in the final game. It was very important to all the people who came to Sochi and everybody in the country.”

A Bolshoy Ice Dome that was deafeningly loud before the puck dropped Wednesday afternoon was eerily quiet at game’s end. Russian players and silver-haired head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov had ashen faces and stared blankly as the Finnish players celebrated their upset victory.

“I just feel empty, disappointed and empty inside,” said Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who held Finland scoreless after he replaced Semyon Varlamov in goal after he surrendered all three Finnish goals on 15 shots in the game’s first 26 minutes. “It’s hard to say whether this is a maximal or minimal failure. Failure is failure. How can you measure it?”

The game’s outcome was maximum joy for Team Finland, which was banking on playing a tired and emotionally drained Russian team that had played four games in five nights.

“We had nothing to lose. We were not supposed to win,” said Finland forward Teemu Selanne, who scored his team’s second goal to break a 1-1 tie in the first period. “They had all the pressure. I think they were out of gas a little bit, and we tried to take advantage of that, and the game plan worked.”

Selanni’s tally and goals by Juhamatti Aaltonen and Mikael Granlund were all that Finnish goaltender Tuukka Rask needed to beat Russia. Former NHL forward Ilya Kovalchuk scored Russia’s lone goal.

Much to the chagrin and angst of Russian hockey fans. A post on the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant’s website said the Russian team can’t pull itself together. “Everything seem(s) to be falling apart,” the post read.

Some Russian media outlets quickly tagged the loss on the coach who had a collection of the best Russian players from the NHL and this nation’s Kontinental Hockey League.
When asked if he expected a new coach, Maltinskii replied “yes, yes, yes.” Two Russian sportswriters watching the game at the Winter Games Main Press Center predicted that Bilyaletdinov would soon be on his way to Siberia — by train.

Maltinskii, who traveled from St. Petersburg to attend the Winter Games, said Wednesday’s loss won’t dampen his Olympic spirit. He still plans to have a good time at the games.
“And the best of luck to the U.S.,” he said.

U.S. Prepares For Gold-Medal Game With Rout Of Swedes

U.S. Prepares For Gold-Medal Game With Rout Of Swedes

By Chip Scoggins, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

SOCHI, Russia – The U.S. women’s hockey team held a marathon video session and a couple of intense practices after losing to Canada in the preliminary round of the Olympic hockey tournament.

The Americans felt like they played hard and physical in a 3-2 loss to their rivals, but they didn’t display their usual aggressiveness with the puck. Too often they left the Canadians dictate the play. The U.S. vowed not to let that happen again.

“We said after our loss that I feel bad for the team that has to face us because we’re going to be a different team,” U.S. captain Meghan Duggan said.

Poor Sweden.

Team USA completely overwhelmed the Swedes 5-1 in the semifinals on Monday at Shayba Arena to earn a spot in the gold medal game on Thursday.

The U.S. plays the winner of the Canada-Switzerland semifinal being played Monday night. Barring a historic upset, the U.S. and Canada will meet in the gold medal game for the fourth time in the five Olympic Games that women’s hockey has been played.

Canada, the three-time defending Olympic champion, defeated the U.S. in the gold medal game in Vancouver in 2010.

“I guarantee you we’re going to bring our A game,” Duggan said.

That happened in the semifinals and Sweden didn’t stand a chance. Six players scored goals and the U.S. edged Sweden in shots of goal by a 70-9 margin. No, that’s not a misprint.

Team USA came within one shot of tying its own Olympic record of 71, set in a 12-1 victory against China at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

“We were just on our toes,” Duggan said. “We just got back to the way we play, not sitting back on our heels and waiting for the other team to make moves. We just jumped right on them.”

There has been considerable talk at these Games about the improved overall depth in women’s hockey internationally. The popular theory is that other countries have closed the gap separating the U.S. and Canada from everyone else.

But as Monday’s result demonstrated, that gap is still roughly the size of the Grand Canyon.

“There’s not really much to say (except) it’s too big of a challenge for us at the moment to beat the U.S.,” Sweden assistant coach Leif Boork said. “We know it was one of the best teams in the world and they played good.”

To his credit, Boork showed a sense of humor about the mismatch.

“Of course, it can be a problem for the rest of the world that (the U.S. and Canada) are so powerful,” he said. “It’s not the U.S. and Canada’s fault that they’re good.”

The U.S. scored three goals and outshot Sweden 29-1 in the first period. The Americans held a 5-0 lead and a 51-6 advantage in shots on goal after two periods.

Sweden’s coaches pulled starting goalie Valentina Wallner in the second period after she’d seen 47 shots.

“She had a busy day at work,” Boork cracked.

The outcome hardly came as a surprise. The U.S. is now 12-1 against Sweden in Olympic Games or world championships. Sweden’s lone victory came in the 2006 Olympic semifinals.

The U.S. has outscored Sweden 23-3 in the past three meetings and 93-18 overall.

“I thought we were the kind of team that we’re used to seeing: Aggressive, going forward, not backing up, moved the puck really well,” U.S. coach Katey Stone said. “We’re building here and hopefully the best is yet to come.”

The American women have not won gold since their Olympic debut in Nagano in 1988. Now they get another shot to change that.

“This moment isn’t too big for any of us,” defenseman Anne Schleper said.

AFP Photo/Loic Venance

Gay Rights Activist Hauled Away Twice In 2 Days

Gay Rights Activist Hauled Away Twice In 2 Days

William Douglas, McClatchy Foreign Staff

SOCHI, Russia — Adorned in rainbow colors from head to toe, Vladimir Luxuria was out and about — at least temporarily — in Olympic Park Monday night.

“It’s okay to be gay in Russia!” she said repeatedly in English and Russian in a voice as loud as her wardrobe as onlookers walked by. “It’s okay to be gay!”

Luxuria, a transgender former member of Italy’s parliament, looked no worse for wear the day after she said she was hauled into a Russian police station for having a rainbow-colored flag near Olympic Park that said “It Is OK to be Gay” in Russian.

Apparently it wasn’t okay with Russian officials who took Luxuria away again Monday night as she tried to enter Shayba Arena, where she tried to take in a women’s Olympic hockey match between Canada and Switzerland.

“I’m going to enjoy,” she said about an hour before being taken away in a car. “I’m going to say that I like very much the modernity of this place and I wish a modernity of mind of this country because there are a lot of homophobic episodes of violence and nobody seems to care about this because there is a terrible law saying you can’t talk about gay issues in public because there could be a minor listening to you.”

Luxuria touched off an international firestorm Sunday when she reported to an Italian gay rights group that her protest over Russia’s anti-propaganda law on traditional sexual relations — widely viewed as an anti-gay measure — triggered an aggressive response from the local cops, who hauled her into a precinct and questioned her for hours.
Monday night, after gliding across a bridge leading to Olympic Park to the picture flashes of cameras and phones, Luxuria recounted what happened Sunday to a gaggle of mostly Italian journalists. She didn’t use the words “arrest” or “detained,” descriptions the Italian gay rights group gave to Italian media and wire services.

That said, Luxuria didn’t particularly feel free to leave the station at will.

“I was kept in a room, not actually arrested,” she said in English. “I was deprived of my freedom for a couple of hours, actually. They decided when I could leave. They also wanted me to switch off the telephone. And they didn’t give me back my flag.”

She said the incident began around 7:30 p.m. Sunday when two people who asked her to give them the flag she had on her shoulder that had “It Is OK to Be Gay” written on it.

Earlier in the day, Luxuria tweeted a picture of herself outside the Olympics’ Medal Park holding a rainbow-colored fan. The message under the picture said “I’m in Sochi! Regards with the colors of the rainbow in the face of Putin!”
When Luxuria protested and tried to get her flag back, the men took her to the police station, where they asked for her passport and visa.

“They kept me waiting for a couple of hours, saying I had to wait all this time because they had to find someone who could talk in English,” she said. “Then, at last, a person talking English came. And he said that I’m very welcome here in Russia as long as I don’t show slogans or things written in Russian.”

Last June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that prohibits individuals from promoting “homosexual behavior” and spreading “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” among minors.

It levels fines up to 5,000 rubles — about $155. In addition, foreigners charged under the law could face administrative arrests for as long as 15 days.

Opponents of the law say it has heightened anti-gay sentiments in Russia. They predicted that it would affect athletes, fans, and tourists attending the 2014 Winter Olympics if they do anything that’s perceived as advocating lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender rights.

Russian Olympic organizers and International Olympic Committee officials said the law wouldn’t affect the games because Russia is bound by Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter. That principle prohibits discrimination in any form.

Still, several world leaders, including President Barack Obama, skipped attending the Winter Games’ opening ceremony to show their disapproval of the law.

Obama went a step further and sent one of the lowest-level official delegations to represent the United States in recent Olympic history. The U.S. party included two gay former Olympians.

At their Monday morning press briefing, Olympic organizers said Luxuria’s Sunday claims are news to them.

“The thing is we have talked to police and according to police there is no record whatsoever of any detention or arrest,” Alexandra Kosterina, a spokeswoman for the Russian Olympic organizing committee told reporters Monday. “If we get another update I will certainly tell you but so far the police have no info at all.”

But officials at Amnesty International’s Moscow office said the lack of paperwork or other evidence of a protester being taken into police custody isn’t unusual in Russia, particularly Sochi.

“This is not uncommon in Russia that we’ve seen people briefly detained without documentation,” said Damelya Aitkhozhina, an Amnesty International researcher. “This particular situation is part of a large crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression in Russia.”

Olympic officials hedged Monday morning on whether Luxuria would be welcomed back onsite.

“On the wider issue, as we have said very often, I am sure the Games will not be used as a platform for any demonstration, and we hope that continues,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

There have been few public protests over the law at the games. The only overt challenge to the law came from Austrian Daniela Irachko-Stolz, who won a silver medal in the women’s first-ever Olympic ski jump competition.

“I think I did my best at the ski jumping, and I’m married to a woman,” she said after her event. “It’s a good statement, especially in Russia, to show that people can live together.”

Then along came Luxuria, a 48-year-old former member of Italy’s Communist Refoundation Party. Now a television host and gay rights activist, Luxuria was born a male but lives as a woman. She served in Italy’s parliament from 2006 to 2008 and was Europe’s first openly transgender parliamentarian.

She said she came to Sochi to provoke thought about the anti-propaganda law — not to get arrested.

“I don’t want to be arrested, it’s not nice to be all alone in a room with neon lights, not knowing what’s going on,” she said. “I don’t want to be arrested, but it is important to stand up for rights of gay lesbian, and transgender people all over the world.”

Photo: Sigmaration via Flickr

Ex-Track Athletes Give U.S. Sleds A Push Toward The Podium

Ex-Track Athletes Give U.S. Sleds A Push Toward The Podium

By Stacy St. Clair, Chicago Tribune

SOCHI, Russia — In their first training run together here, U.S. bobsled pilot Elana Meyers and brakeman Lauryn Williams crashed into a wall at the end of the track and severely damaged their sled.

Williams — a former sprinting star who only joined the sport seven months ago — took responsibility for the mishap, saying she had applied the brakes too late.

Team mechanics worked through the night to fix the sled and the pair was back on track the next morning, when they posted the fastest time in their training heat.

When U.S. coaches promoted Williams to the No. 1 American sled last week, it was a move not without some risk with the event a few days away. Williams, an Olympic sprinter, has only competed in five international races since joining the team in July. She raced with Meyers just once.

“It’s not really taking a chance when you have one of the fastest women in the world behind you,” Meyers said.
“Unless she doesn’t pull the brakes,” Williams joked.

Meyers wouldn’t hear of it.

“She doesn’t give herself enough credit. This sport is not easy. It’s not easy to come in and push a sled,” she said. “For Lauryn to come in and be in the No. 1 sled this quickly — that’s a true testament to her ability as an athlete.”

The U.S. women’s bobsled team is replete with athletes who quickly adapted to the world of sliding sports. In addition to Williams, brakemen include world indoor hurdle champion Lolo Jones and Aja Evans, a former track and field star at Illinois.

All three could end up on the podium after competition begins Tuesday, though Evans and Williams are more likely to medal than Jones because of their drivers.

Before becoming a Winter Olympian, Williams won gold as part of the women’s 400 relay in London and silver medal in the 100 in Athens in 2004. Jones competed in Beijing and London, but she did not medal.

Williams and Jones are set to become the ninth and 10th American athletes to compete in the Summer and Winter Games.
And by being paired with the team’s top driver, Williams was afforded her best shot at becoming only the second athlete — and first woman — to win gold in both Games. The only person to accomplish this feat is Eddie Eagan, who won boxing gold in 1920 and four-man bobsled gold in 1932.

Jones, who will be paired with U.S. driver Jazmine Fenlator in the third U.S. sled, said pushing a sled is not a simple sport to pick up.

“I’m a very technical personal because I’m a hurdler, so that helped me to break it down,” she said this week. “I don’t think it’s as easy as people assume.”

Evans was paired last week U.S. driver Jamie Greubel, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the world.

“We just need to put together what we know we can do,” Evans said. “Jamie is an amazing driver and I’ve been getting better and better with my technique and stronger and faster. Put those together and we’ll be fine.”

Photo: Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/MCT