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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The Nordic Combined is comprised of two different disciplines: ski jumping and cross-country skiing.
There are three heats in the Nordic Combined, two individual and one team event.
Each athlete performs two jumps which are evaluated and scored. At the end of the ski jumping event, the judges assign an overall score that takes into account the length, technical performance and style exhibited in both jumps. Since the methods of evaluation used for the two disciplines comprising the Nordic Combined are completely different (points for the jumping event and time for the cross-country skiing race), it was essential to devise an entirely original scoring system.
The starting order for the cross-country skiing race is therefore determined by the results of the ski jump. A fifteen point gap accumulated in the jump event is equivalent to a minute’s advantage in the cross-country skiing race. The winner of the ski jump starts first, followed by the other athletes.
The winner of the overall event is the first athlete to reach the finishing line in the cross-country skiing race. Unlike cross-country skiing, which is set out in two specialties, classic and freestyle (skating), in the Nordic Combined, the jump from the ramp is followed by freestyle (skating) cross-country skiing and not classic.
