Olympic report
Maze, Gisin each earn gold medal
The gold market enjoyed big gains at the Sochi (Russia) Olympics on Wednesday, getting an unexpected boost from the women’s downhill.
Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland were declared co-gold medalists, the first time in Olympic Alpine history a race was won in a tie.
On a day when temperatures hit 63 degrees – the two friends covered the 1.69-mile Rosa Khutor course in 1 minute, 41.57 seconds. Lara Gut of Switzerland was third.
“I’m sure glad I’m going to share this gold with Tina,” Gisin said.
The favorites, Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Julia Mancuso of the U.S., were afterthoughts. Hoefl-Riesch, eyeing a record-equaling fourth Olympic Alpine gold, finished 13th while Mancuso was eighth.
Victorious ties suit Gisin just fine
Gisin is becoming an old hand at these kinds of outcomes – two of her three downhill victories have been ties. This was Gisin’s first major medal. Maze won two silvers in Vancouver, and was hardly troubled about splitting the pot of gold. “It’s even more interesting because it’s not a usual thing,” said Maze, who started 30 minutes after Gisin. “It’s something special.”
Russia reclaims spot at top of pairs
Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov maintained Russia’s long tradition in pairs figure skating, winning gold in their home Olympics. Teammates Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov took silver. Russia or the Soviet Union had won gold in 12 straight Olympics in the event before the streak ended four years ago.
Swedes roll, Swiss lucky in hockey
Sweden showed off its deep offensive talent in its Olympic opener, getting two goals from Erik Karlsson and one from Henrik Zetterberg in a 4-2 win over the Czech Republic. Switzerland also won, but needed a late deflection to beat Latvia 1-0. The Swiss scored with 7.9 seconds left, and Simon Moser was credited with the goal that appeared to carom off a Latvian player in front of the net.
German veteran wins Nordic gold
Eric Frenzel, who served two years in the German army, won the individual normal hill. He led after ski jumping and powered home on the cross-country course. Frenzel, the runaway World Cup leader, was followed by Akito Watabe of Japan and Magnus Krog of Norway.
Chinese men take surprising lead
China’s curlers kept up their surprise run by beating Switzerland and Germany, leaving the men at the top of the standings with four straight wins. Norway (3-0) is the only other unbeaten team. On the women’s side, undefeated Canada (3-0) downed Britain 9-6 in a game that went down to the final stone and sent the U.S. to the edge of elimination. The Swiss are also 3-0.