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 For many fans, the Winter Games do not properly begin until the
puck drops on the men's ice hockey rink, and that happens on
Wednesday at the gleaming new Bolshoy Ice Dome and Shayba Arena on
Russia's Black Sea Coast.
On day four of the February 7-23 Olympics, most of the action was up
in the nearby Caucasus Mountains, where mild temperatures were
causing increasing concern about poor snow conditions.
The final training session for Wednesday's women's downhill was
cancelled due to the conditions, and ahead of the Nordic Combined
competition on the same day American Bill Demong said of the snow:
"It's not even slushy, it's just mushy.
"No matter how many chemicals they use I anticipate the snow will
get beaten down during the course of the race and I think it will be
very tough," he told reporters.
Temperatures are expected to rise to at least 15C (59 Fahrenheit)
later this week.
U.S. skier Bode Miller has blamed the weather for wrecking his hopes
of glory in Sunday's downhill, and he fears the mild conditions may
scupper his bid to successfully defend his super combined title,
saying softer snow favors slalom technicians.
Despite the gripes, competition went ahead on Tuesday and American
snowboarder Shaun White, one of the best known faces in winter
sport, will be vying to retain his halfpipe title.
The women ski jumpers compete in the Olympics for the first time
after a long campaign to be included.
ICE HOCKEY MANIA
The first of eight medals to be decided on Tuesday went to teenager
Dara Howell of Canada in the inaugural women's freestyle skiing
slopestyle.
Several skiers crashed out spectacularly, including Howell's
compatriot and favorite Kaya Turski, who did not qualify, and fellow
Canadian Yuki Tsubota, who appeared to suffer a serious injury on
her second run of the final.
The result strengthened Canada's place at the top of the overall
medals' table with four golds, while Russia linger in sixth position
with one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.
The hosts are desperate to improve on their woeful performance at
the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver four years ago, when just
three gold medals left them 11th in the table.
When the figure skating team won gold in Sochi on Sunday there was a
surge of excitement across the country and internationally. That
would be nothing compared to the euphoria a men's ice hockey gold
would bring.
If there is one country where the sport matters as much as in
Canada, it is Russia, and more than 100 journalists and 40
television cameras were there for the men's media conference.
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"I participated in four Olympic Games and I don't remember such an
interest in ice hockey players," former goaltending great Vladislav
Tretyak, now president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, told
reporters.
In a show of unity, and underlining the sport's importance, the
entire ice hockey team showed up to face the media.
"It is a team sport and it's up to the entire team to get the gold,
so that is why we are here together," said Tretyak.
The heavyweight American and Canadian teams had their first practice
on Monday, but attention was already turning to Saturday's
mouth-watering clash between the United States and Russia.
That game will bring back memories of the "miracle on ice" at Lake
Placid in 1980 when a U.S. team made up of amateur and college
players, stunned the dominant Soviets, who had won five of the
previous six Olympic ice hockey gold medals.
PRAYING FOR AN EARTHQUAKE
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has staked his personal and
political prestige on staging a successful Games, would dearly love
a home victory in that game.
The Sochi Games have cost an estimated $51 billion, which would make
it the most expensive Olympics ever, although that figure has been
questioned and would include long-term infrastructure projects in
the region.
The buildup to the Games was overshadowed by threats of militant
violence, an international outcry over a contentious "anti-gay
propaganda" law and allegations of widespread corruption and
profligacy.
Once they got underway that hostility quickly evaporated, although a
militant Islamist group urged followers to pray for an earthquake in
Sochi during the Olympics to avenge Muslims who died there fighting
"Russian infidels".
The appeal was made by a local branch of the Caucasus Emirate, a
group which is waging an insurgency for an Islamist state in
Russia's North Caucasus and called on supporters last year to attack
the Games.
"All who are able to read this letter can supplicate that the
Almighty destroys the land in Sochi with an earthquake, and makes
the infidels 'drunk of water' before Hell and drown in a flood!,"
said the appeal posted online on Monday.
On a more positive note, the International Olympic Committee lifted
a ban on the Indian Olympic Association, which was suspended when a
corruption-tainted official was voted in as secretary general in
2012.
(Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann, Timothy Heritage and
Steve Keating in Sochi and Nick Mulvenney in Rosa Khutor)
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