Fitting end to Sochi Games

The fireworks lighting the night sky above the Fisht Olympic Stadium saw Sochi bid farewell to the Winter Olympics and work start on fine-tuning the final preparations for the Paralympics, which starts next week.

Russians will be delighted that focus quickly shifted to the action after a turbulent build-up concentrating on alleged corruption, unfinished accommodation and Russian political views.

These were highlighted before the Games had begun when Johnny Quinn, the American bobsledder, was forced to bulldoze his way out of a jammed bathroom door before later being confronted by open doors leading to an empty lift shaft.

Warm weather, while making life difficult for the organisers moving snow that had been stored for months, only heated the enthusiasm of the vibrant crowds.

The loudest cheer of the Games came when Russia claimed all podium places in the 50km cross-country although the hottest atmosphere came in the early days with the US ice hockey team facing off against their Russian hosts who had targeted this gold medal as the most desirable of the Olympics.

While the US secured victory with a thrilling 3-2 sudden-death victory they were unable to replicate this against their closest rivals, Canada, a match that jokingly on social media carried the added pressure of the loser having to keep Justin Bieber!

Finland condemned Russia to a quarter-final exit while Canada’s semi-final victory over the US saw them compete against Sweden in the hope that they could secure their nation’s first gold away from North American soil in 62 years.

The hometown hero in Vancouver in scoring the gold medal winning ‘goalden goal’ was Sidney Crosby who scored his first goal of this tournament with an excellent dribbled goal as Canada went on to win with a shutout, 3-0.

The success of the ladies with a stunning last-gasp come-from-behind victory over the US in their final meant that Canada had swept the ice hockey medals in successive Olympics. While ultimately the Russian ice hockey stars failed their adoring public, other athletes stepped up leading the hosts to the top of the medal table, securing 13 golds out of a total of 33 medals.

Continents differ in their interpretation of the most successful with Europe counting the number of golds while America tallies the total medals won. President Vladimir Putin’s ‘New Russia’ finished top of both, becoming the first to accomplish this feat since the Norwegians in 1952.

Russia’s athletes showed a massive increase on the 15 achieved in Vancouver, justifying President Putin’s investment, not only in the excellent facilities but also performance.

Investment in New Russia took many forms. The top performer was the Korean-turned-Russian speedskater, Viktor An, who brought home three Olympic titles and an additional bronze.

The husband and wife snowboarding duo of Alena Zavarzina (bronze) and her American-born husband, Vic Wild, also impressed. Wild, who applied for Russian citizenship after their wedding in 2011, became the first snowboarder to win two gold medals, adding the parallel giant slalom title to the slalom title he won earlier in the event.

The most impressive family performance came from the Dufour-Lapointe sisters. While eldest sister, Maxine, failed to reach the final, Justine and Chloe won gold and silver in the women’s moguls, becoming just the third pair of sisters to achieve this feat at the Winter Olympics.

With Formula 1 teams currently enjoying the warm weather and hospitality of Bahrain it seems only right to mention the impact it has had on the fastest sports at the Games, bobsleigh. McLaren, Ferrari, BMW and Sauber have all been involved in designing components that have utilised technologies evolved in their cutting-edge race machines.

Heading into the event, Germany were the hot favourites having won a medal every Games since 1964. Furthermore, they had won four successive four-man golds until the US ended their streak in 2010, yet still boasted a current world champion amongst their ranks. No German team finished higher than fifth, leaving an ecstatic home crowd to cheer home Russia in the prestigious four-man event, no doubt now looking forward to hosting their first F1 race later this year!

It was left to the Norwegian cross-country skiers to set new levels of excellence. Marit Bjoergen became the most decorated female Winter Olympian when she won her sixth gold medal (third of the Games) in the 30km mass start, taking her overall medal total to 10.

Her male compatriot, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, took his overall tally to 13 medals with his second gold in Sochi in the mixed biathlon relay.

While their individual successes helped take Norway to second in the medals table (European version) no one nation could match the single-event domination of the Dutch at speed skating.

Swapping their frozen canals for the rink, the Netherlands secured 23 of a possible 36 medals, including four occasions on which they covered the entire podium in orange.

Austria dominated the slopes with Matthias Mayer, son of legend Herman, taking the blue riband downhill although Super Mario Matt stunningly secured the slalom. However, even they were upstaged by Anna Fenninger who claimed gold in the Super-G and silver in the Giant-slalom.

Yet for every winner there are a large number of losers. Pre-tournament favourite, Shaun White, missed out on his halfpipe medal and withdrew from the slopestyle event citing dangerous conditions.

Unfortunately, politics played a part as Ukrainian athletes were affected by events in Kiev, resulting in the withdrawal of alpine skier, Bogdana Matsotska, in protest, making gold for the women’s biathlon relay team even more poignant.

Individually, British short-track speed-skater, Elise Christie, had a Games to forget, being disqualified and falling in every one of her three events. In taking out South Korea’s Park Seung-hi in the 500m final she was then subjected to online abuse via her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

However, the much-vaunted Olympic Spirit was also evident throughout. Most notable was mogul skier, Alex Bilodeau, who dedicated his retained title to his brother. The Canadian celebrated his victory with Frederick, who suffers from cerebral palsy, and highlighted his efforts to simply walk as being his inspiration when training and competing over the bumps.

Another significant event came on the halfpipe run as the ashes of Canadian skier, Sarah Burke, were scattered. Burke was a driving force behind getting the event included at the Olympics but was tragically killed in a training accident in 2012. Athletes formed a heart with their hands or pointed to the sky as they waited for their results before Burke’s coach spread her remains over the Olympic rings, having carried them to every World Cup event this season.

The final word has to be saved for the self-deprecating Russian organisers. In recognition of their failure to light all five rings in the opening ceremony, a revamped closing ceremony saw dancers form only four rings before all were finally lit. A fitting end!