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 With the weight of a nation on its shoulders, the home squad
takes on Slovenia at the gleaming new Bolshoy Ice Dome in the Black
Sea resort of Sochi, while Canada meets Norway and the United States
play Slovakia.
The final of the tournament is not until hours before the closing
ceremony on February 23, but the men's hockey is the one gold that
many Russians would dearly love to win above all.
Of the six medal events to be decided on Thursday, the first gold
went to Joss Christensen of the United States in the inaugural men's
freestyle skiing slopestyle. Gus Kenworthy took silver and Nick
Goepper the bronze in a U.S. podium sweep.
That may help relieve the pressure on American athletes, amid early
grumblings from U.S. media about the team's performance at the Games
so far.
Writing before Thursday's action got underway, Los Angeles Times
sports columnist Bill Plaschke wrote: "After six days of
competition, despite being allegedly ready for this, the U.S. team
is getting the hind parts of its snow pants kicked."
He listed a string of notable failures, among them speed skater
Shani Davis, whose bid to win the Olympic men's 1,000 metre crown
for the third Games in a row ended with an eighth place finish at
the Adler Arena on Wednesday.
At the same venue on Thursday, the absence of injured four-times
Olympic champion Wang Meng opens up the race for the women's 500m
short track title.
Also going for gold on the sixth day of full competition at the
sun-drenched Olympic park in Sochi are Americans Heather Richardson
and Brittany Bowe, favorites for the women's 1,000 meters speed
skating title.
SUNSHINE AND SNOW
In Sochi, balmy spring temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius (59
degrees Fahrenheit) and the sight of people bathing in the sea are
not a problem for indoor venues.
Up in the Caucasus mountains, where the skiing events are taking
place and the hills below them are bare, it is an issue.
On Thursday, several competitors in the women's cross country
started the race in sleeveless tops, an unusual sight.
Organizers played down concerns about snow conditions that several
athletes have described as slushy and difficult, and may explain
some of the crashes in disciplines ranging from freestyle skiing
slopestyle to cross country.
"It is a constant battle for winter sports," said Mark Adams,
International Olympic Committee spokesman. "We are always trying to
battle with a dynamic field of play. We are relaxed but we watch the
situation."
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The International Ski Federation said it had no concern about the
ski jumps at the Olympics, despite two night-time training crashes,
one of which sent an athlete to hospital.
In the mountain medals, Norwegian Ole Ainar Bjoerndalen aims for a
record 13th Winter Games medal in the 20km biathlon, and compatriot
and cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen goes for her second Sochi
gold in the 10km classic race.
In the last event of the day, luge powerhouse Germany look destined
to win the inaugural team relay.
Germany is already top of the medals table with six golds, ahead of
Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States who all have
four. Russia is seventh with two.
PUTIN'S TRIUMPH?
The thrill of the action has gone some way to eclipsing the threat
of Islamist militant attacks, international criticism of Russian
laws banning gay propaganda among minors and allegations of
corruption that marred the buildup to the Games.
Russia spent an estimated $51 billion on its first Winter Olympics,
making them the most expensive Games ever held.
Officials dispute the figure, and say that many of the huge
construction projects associated with Sochi will help turn the area
into an international winter sports center of the future.
President Vladimir Putin has staked his reputation on staging a
successful Games, and says criticism leveled against the event has
been reminiscent of the Cold War, when he said the West sought to
hold the Soviet Union back.
He has also dismissed charges of widespread corruption surrounding
the Olympics.
Sergei Kolesnikov, a Russian biophysicist who campaigns to expose
what he says is major corruption in the country, said during a visit
to Washington this week that Sochi may not be the triumph Putin
hopes it will be.
"I think underneath the Olympics drives many Russians crazy because
the standard of life is decreasing," he said.
"Everyone is going to look back from this and remember only that $52
billion were thrown away for nothing ... Everybody knows how much
money was stolen to make the Olympics happen, so what should we be
proud of?"
(Additional reporting by the Reuters Winter Olympics team in Sochi
and Rosa Khutor and John Shiffman in Washington)
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