Olympic News

Olympic.ad-astro.com

Olympic News

17.02.2006 - Olympic Politics Stoke Winter Games Rivalries

russian version

Olympic Politics Stoke Winter Games Rivalries

Russians blame the Chinese for stealing their training techniques.

Europeans complain the Americans win the "new sports" with money and judges and the Americans are gunning for the Austrians in the Alps.

The Olympic political map is by no means simple.

New enmities are born out of old friendships, and with the United States winning more medals at Winter Olympics, rivalry between two continents has become fierce.

"They train much like we did, they train people to be champions," Vyacheslav Fetisov, former captain of the Soviet ice hockey team, told reporters, explaining why China had come so close to the Russian pairs at the figure skating.

Tatiana Totmyanina and Maxim Marininstruck gold to capture Russia's 12th successive pairs title on Monday but just pipped their main rivals, China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, -- who crashed heavily after an attempted quadruple twist throw went wrong.

"I'm very glad we are part of history right now, but I don't think we are the last ones," Totmyanina said when asked whether Russia would lose its dominance in the sport.

"There are so many pairs in Russia right now. They should just work a bit harder."

Fetisov said Russia was ploughing money into sports -- building rinks, swimming pools and training facilities for youngsters to try to recapture the success of the Soviet Union.

Looking westward, the Europeans are scared of losing out to U.S. athletes in the sports that they have traditionally thought themselves to be dominant in.

The downhill has become a perilous stage for a U.S. campaign to unseat the Austrians.

"In these Games, they still do have a chance. It's not shaping up as great right out of the gate as we expected it to, but you never know, that could spin the other direction. The [U.S.] team is going to be the best in the world," said Picabo Street, a U.S. downhill champion who won an Olympic Super G gold in 1998.

"And to be honest, if they perform at their best, they are by far the best in the world." The Austrian downhill team gets government money, while the U.S. team relies on sponsorship deals to survive, she said.

But the Austrians won their first medal on Wednesday and reveled in that success.

"Today, I won the first medal for Austria," Michaela Dorfmeister said after winning the downhill and beating off a highly publicized challenge from the U.S. team's Lindsey Kildow. "This time we are favorites."

In the so-called new sports, like snowboarding, European riders complain that U.S. sponsorship means it is almost impossible to nudge them off the medals' podiums.

Norwegian Kjersti Buaas, bronze medalist in the women's snowboarding halfpipe on Monday, said: "They have really good conditions in the U.S.

"Good pipes and good weather. We have to go there to practice. They are ahead of us [Europeans]," she said.

By Elizabeth Piper

Olympic news

All news >>

26.02.2006

Ice hockey-Lidstrom blast gives Sweden gold
TURIN, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Niklas Lidstrom's blistering slapshot early in the third period gave Sweden a 3-2 win over Finland and the gold medal at the men's ice hockey tournament on Sunday in the final event of the Turin Games. In a tournament that saw the world's biggest hockey nations eliminated in the early going, the Swedes and Finns let their Nordic rivalry take centre stage in a fast-paced game.
more >>

26.02.2006

Ice hockey: Czechs shutout Russia to win bronze
TURIN, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves and Martin Erat had a goal and an assist as the Czech Republic shutout Russia 3-0 in the Olympic men's ice hockey bronze medal game on Saturday. Sweden will face off against Finland in an all-Nordic gold medal final on Sunday that will bring down the curtain on the 2006 Winter Games. "Playing for the bronze medal is very hard," said Vokoun, who was benched in favour of Milan Hnilicka in the Czechs' 7-3 semifinal loss to Sweden. "We were still disappointed for what happened yesterday against Sweden.
more >>

26.02.2006

Plucky Slutskaya Settles for an Olympic Bronze
As she stood stone-faced on the medals podium, Irina Slutskaya couldn't even manage a smile or a wave. The bronze medal that was hanging around her neck felt like a lead weight. For the second Olympics, the Russian star failed as the final skater of the women's free program. Both times, the gold medal was within reach. Neither time could Slutskaya grab it.
more >>

23.02.2006

Ice Dancers Make It 3 Out of 3 for Russia
Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov made it three out of three for Russian figure skaters at the Winter Olympics. Navka and Kostomarov gave Russia a gold medal hat trick -- pairs, men's and dance. No nation has swept the four skating events in one games. The Russians could be the first, with Irina Slutskaya highly favored in the women's competition when it was about to begin late Tuesday. Tanith Belbin and partner Ben Agosto snapped the U.S. medal drought in figure skating with a silver. Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of Ukraine won the bronze.
more >>

21.02.2006

Ice Dancing: A Good Night for the Russians
Feb 21 2006 Yesterday was the end of ice dancing, in a close contest which elected the new Olympic champions. The gold went to the Russians Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov already unreachable with a record original dance. Their “Carmen”, even though marred with various imperfections, proved otherwise sufficiently seductive to award the performers a score of 101.37 bringing them to a total of 200.64 points, more than enough to ensure the Russian duo reach their objective their sights had been set on for the last few years.
more >>