The Olympics are over in Russia and the home country took charge the last few days to win with 33 medals. The United States finished 2nd with 28 medals and Norway was 3rd with 26 medals. The U.S. won 9 gold, 7 silver and 12 bronze medals. Russia led everyone with 13 gold and 11 silver medals. Mikaela Shiffrin made Alpine skiing history Friday as the youngest ever winner of an Olympic slalom gold medal. The 18-year old American protected her lead from an impressive first run to win. She finished 0.53 seconds faster than veteran Marlies Schild of Austria, one of Shiffrins childhood favorites. Kathrin Zettel of Austria took bronze, trailing 0.81 behind Shiffrin. Shiffrin took the record for youngest Olympic slalom champion, male or female, from Paoletta Magoni of Italy, who won gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Games when she was 19. Schriffin completed a full set of slalom honors — Olympic and world championship gold medals and a season-long World Cup discipline title — before her 19th birthday next month. Shiffrin also finished fifth in the giant slalom in Sochi. She says wants to branch out from those two disciplines as her career progresses. Viktor Ahn led Russia to Olympic gold in the 5,000-meter relay Friday, giving the short track star a record-tying eighth career medal. He joined 3 others in winning Russias fifth short track medal in Sochi. With eight laps to go, Ahn took over the lead for good from American J.R. Celski. Born in South Korea, Ahn became a Russian citizen in 2011. The U.S. team of Eddy Alvarez, Celski, Chris Creveling and Jordan Malone took silver, ending a medal drought for American speedskaters in Sochi. The long track team failed to get on the podium in 12 events, and the U.S. had been shut out in the first seven events at short track. China took bronze despite crashing on the first lap. Alexander Zubkov drove Russia to victory in the four-man bobsled race Sunday, adding that gold to his two-man from earlier in the Sochi Games and making him the sixth pilot to sweep those events at an Olympics. Until now, no one had ever achieved that feat on home ice, but this track was built for Zubkov and he proved to be its master. Latvias Oskars Melbardis drove to the silver medal, matching his nations best showing in a Winter Olympic event. And Steven Holcomb, the 2010 four-man champion from Park City, Utah, piloted USA-1 to bronze, ceding his Olympic title but winning his third career medal — tying the most by any U.S. bobsledder — and giving his nation seven sliding medals at the Sochi Games, tops among all countries. Holcomb also won two-man bronze in Sochi, ending a 62-year medal drought for the Americans in that discipline. So now, he became the first American pilot to win medals in both Olympic races in 62 years. In men’s hockey, Canada skipped the overtime and shelved the theatrics. One slick goal and 60 minutes of stifling defensive hockey kept the Canadians firmly on top of the U.S. and moved them to the brink of gold again. Jamie Benn scored in the second period, Carey Price made 31 saves, and Canada beat the United States 1 to nothing Friday night in the semifinals of the Olympic mens hockey tournament. It got worse for the Americans the next day. First back to Friday’s game, from faceoff to final buzzer, Canada was in control thanks to Price, Benn and Saint Louis Blues’ defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, whose pass created Benns goal. Jonathan Quick stopped 36 shots in a strong performance for the Americans, who had trailed for just 7:19 in Sochi before Benns goal put them in a hole they never escaped. Canada scored early in the second period during a shift by Benn and Anaheim Ducks teammates Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Benn got the puck outside to Bouwmeester, who threaded a pass into the slot for Benns deflection past Quick, whose aggression sometimes makes him vulnerable to such shots. On Saturday, Teemu Selanne scored two goals and Tuukka Rask had a 26-save shutout, helping Finland rout the U.S. 5 to nothing to win hockey bronze at the Sochi Games. The Finns scored three goals in the third period against a team that looked like it would rather be at home. Finland has won four medals in the last five Olympics, more than any other nation in the NHL era. Before the third-place match became a rout in the final period, it was a game of missed opportunities for the Americans. Patrick Kane couldnt convert on a penalty shot in each of the first two periods for the U.S. Canada again proved their dominance in the sport with a 3 to nothing win over Sweden yesterday for the gold. That meant a couple of Blues defensemen came home with gold medals, Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo, while a couple of Swedes, forwards Alex Steen and Patrik Berglund came home with silver medals.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 14:59:02 +0000
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