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Bobsleigh driver from Ukraine latest doping case
10:46 PM: Bobsledder Lidiia Hunko from Ukraine has been caught doping. The international testing agency ITA found a substance on the list of prohibited substances during a doping control on February 14. Hunko has been provisionally suspended. She finished 20th in the monobob at the Games.
She is the third doping case during these Games. Earlier, Ukrainian cross-country skier Valentina Kaminska was tested positive for three banned substances, including a form of anabolic steroids. Iranian skier Hossein Saveh Shemshaki was the first to be found to have doping.
The doping case involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva received the most attention. 15-year-old Valieva had already tested positive for the drug trimetazidine at the Russian championships in December, but that was only announced during the Games. Because her provisional suspension was lifted, she was still allowed to participate in the Games.
ISU wants to raise minimum age of figure skaters from 15 to 17
2.16 pm: The International Skating Federation ISU plans to raise the minimum age for figure skaters participating in international competitions. Currently the drivers must be 15 years old, but if it is up to the ISU they must be at least 17 years old in the future.
The proposal has been sent to member countries and will be discussed at the next ISU congress in Thailand in June.
If the change is implemented, there will no longer be so-called ‘protected persons’, a term used by the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA for athletes under the age of 16. Sports tribunal CAS called this an important point in the decision to admit 15-year-old Russian Kamila Valieva to the individual Olympic competition despite her positive doping test.
The increase in the minimum age should take place in two steps. The minimum age must be 16 years in the 2023-2024 season and 17 years in 2024-2025.
Michelle Gisin shows her gold medal.
Ⓒ REUTERS
Michelle Gisin wins after new drama Mikaela Shiffrin
07:45 am: Swiss skier Michelle Gisin has extended her Olympic title on the combination at the Games. The 28-year-old Gisin, who previously took bronze in the super-G in China, was the best in the combination of the downhill and slalom, just like four years ago in Pyeongchang. For American favorite Mikaela Shiffrin, the race again ended in a major disappointment.
The 26-year-old Shiffrin was in fifth place after the descent and was therefore on course to win her first medal at the Beijing Games. In the second part, her favorite slalom, things quickly went wrong for the two-time Olympic champion, who also fell out in the giant slalom and slalom in the first week of the Games. Shiffrin lost control and crashed. The combination also ended in tears for the American, who remained far from the medals in the super-G (ninth) and downhill (eighteenth).
Gisin gave the Swiss team its fifth gold in alpine skiing. Her compatriots Corinne Suter, Beat Feuz (both downhill), Lara Gut-Behrami (super-G) and Marco Odermatt (giant slalom) had previously had success on the Zhangjiakou track.
Joy among Canada’s ice hockey players.
Ⓒ REUTERS
Canadian ice hockey players regain Olympic title
07:31 am: The Canadian ice hockey players have the Olympic title back. Canada defeated the United States in the final in Beijing 3-2 (2-0 1-1 0-1). The American women put an end to Canada’s dominance at the Games four years ago in Pyeongchang.
‘Team USA’ took the gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano, where the women had their first Olympic ice hockey tournament. In 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 Canada was the best, but in 2018 the American women managed to break the Canadian dominance. They defeated their great rival in the final via shoot-outs.
The two North American countries met again on Thursday in Beijing in the final. Canada took a 2-0 lead in the first period via Sarah Nurse and captain Marie-Philip Poulin. The 30-year-old Poulin, who also scored in the previous three Olympic finals, also scored 3-0 in the second period. Hilary Knight did something back on behalf of the American ice hockey players and with 12.5 seconds left in the last period, Amanda Kessel made the connecting goal, but Canada held on to take the fifth Olympic title.
Canada had already beaten the US (4-2) in the group stage. The Canadian women reached double digits in all other games at the Games. They defeated Switzerland in the semifinals 10-3. Team USA reached the final with a win over Finland (4-1). The Finnish women took the bronze by beating Switzerland 4-0.
Thomas Bach (left) in the short track stadium.
Ⓒ AFP
IOC president Bach meets angry American figure skaters
07.10 am: The American figure skaters met in Beijing with President Thomas Bach of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). ‘Team USA’ finished second behind Russia in the Nations Cup at the start of the Olympics, but the medals have still not been awarded due to the doping case involving the Russian Kamila Valieva. The Americans are angry about the state of affairs and demand that there be a medal ceremony.
“Chairman Bach wanted to speak to the Americans to hear how they feel, we are not giving any further details about this meeting,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. Japan, which finished third, did not feel the need to talk to Bach about the matter, according to Adams.
A day after the Nations Cup, 15-year-old Valieva was told that a doping test at the end of last year had given her a positive result. The Russian anti-doping agency initially imposed a provisional suspension on the figure skater, but that was soon lifted. The IOC, the international skating federation ISU and the global anti-doping agency WADA then went to the sports tribunal CAS. The judges ruled that Valieva can ‘just’ participate in the individual competitions in Beijing.
The IOC decided to accept that ruling, but emphasized that Valieva remains a suspect in a doping case. The result of the Nations Cup is therefore subject to change. If Valieva finishes in the top three in the individual tournament on Thursday, the medals will not be awarded for the time being.
First day without a positive corona test at Games
06:53 AM: The Beijing Olympics have had a day without positive corona tests for the first time. The nearly 69,000 tests conducted on Wednesday yielded only negative results. In the days before, a few still tested positive.
Seven participants of the Games arrived at Beijing airport on Wednesday. They all tested negative. In the closed ‘super bubble’ that the Chinese have created, this also applied to all participants, who undergo a daily corona test.
In total, since January 23, the Chinese have conducted nearly 1.6 million corona tests on athletes, officials, journalists, volunteers and other stakeholders, who are in their own ‘bubble’ and cannot have contact with the local population. So far, it has yielded 435 positive results. In the days before the opening of the Games, when most participants arrived in Beijing, there were several dozen positive cases per day. During the Games, that number continued to decline.
“This shows that the precautions we have taken are effective,” said Huang Chun, who is responsible for the fight against corona on behalf of the Chinese organizing committee. “We have found a successful model for Winter Games during a pandemic.”
De Bruin 20th and 24th on second training day in four-man bob
6.46 am: The Dutch bobsleighers have recorded the 20th and 24th time during the second training day of the four-man bob at the Olympic Games. In the Yanqing National Sliding Center pilot Ivo de Bruin and his inhibitors came in the third run to a time of 59.90 seconds, in the fourth run they clocked 1.00.50.
With his time in the third run, De Bruin improved from Wednesday’s two training runs. The time in the fourth descent was the same as in the second run. A boost for the pilot are the start times, which are faster with each run. In the fourth run the foursome started in 5.20 seconds, the first time it was 5.34. That was the first acquaintance with the job in Yanqing in the four-man bob for De Bruin and his team.
Canadian Justin Kripps set the best time in both training runs on Thursday (58.81 and 59.22). Two more training sessions will follow on Friday. Saturday and Sunday are the competitions in the four-man bob.
Women’s Olympic biathlon competition a day earlier due to extreme cold
6.40 am: The 12.5 kilometer mass start for women in the biathlon at the Olympics has been brought forward by one day. The medals will now be distributed on Friday instead of Saturday.
The organization of the Games has decided to do this because of the expected extreme cold in the mountains of Zhangjiakou. That means the last two biathlon races are both Friday. The men have the 15 kilometer mass start on the program that day.
The start of the Olympic relay for the men in the biathlon was already 2.5 hours early on Tuesday due to the expected extreme cold. The rules of the international biathlon association IBU prescribe that a race must be canceled at minus 20 degrees. In such bitter cold, the association no longer considers it physically responsible.