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And the American star saw the unfortunate ending coming.

With a gold medal within reach after a strong downhill run, Shiffrin crashed early on in her slalom run in the women’s alpine combined.

The competition represented the last of five individual medal opportunities for Shiffrin, who now ends her third Olympic campaign still one gold medal short of the American alpine skiing record.

Shiffrin, the reigning silver medallist in the event, lasted just a few seconds, skidding around 12 gates into her run, a portion of the race called a flush.

She wasn’t alone, at least, as eight other skiers failed to finish their race amid Olympic-wide complaints about surfaces and skiing conditions.

She crashed and failed to finish her first two Olympic competitions, which are considered her best — the slalom and giant slalom. She was able to finish ninth in super-G and 18th in downhill, but clearly was not performing at her normal level.

“I think there was a lot of positive,” Shiffrin told NBC after her crash. “A lot of positive even just in my skiing. I had some really great runs — like some of the best skiing I’ve ever done, here in Beijing, in the training, in the downhill over the last week, in my slalom even today, and on the race in the moment when it counts, then I didn’t make it to the finish.

“And that’s never happened in my entire career, so I don’t understand it, but there was so much positive that has happened in the last couple of weeks despite how much it really stinks. I don’t know, sometimes you have to take it. I don’t know, you just have to take it, I guess.”

In another interview, she said: “I wanted to ski just a good run of slalom, and I don’t know. I feel like a joke. I don’t know if anybody’s failed that hard with so many opportunities maybe in the history of the Olympics. But I will take it, I mean, it is a joke.”

Accustomed to dominating the sport, Shiffrin couldn’t shake whatever struggles — whether physical or mental — haunted her throughout the Olympics.

In fact, before her slalom run in the alpine combined, it was all she could think about.

“I’m not totally confident with the slalom. I have a recurring, like, image of myself skiing out on the fifth gate again,” Shiffrin told NBC after the downhill, laughing almost matter-of-factly.

Shiffrin earlier put herself in good position to capture that elusive third career gold medal, finishing the downhill — the first part of the alpine combined in fifth place and just a half-second off of first place, but behind skiers who are far better in downhill than slalom.

Considered her worst discipline, Shiffrin’s promising downhill performance put her within striking distance in slalom, her signature event. In the alpine combined, she decided to use Italian skier Sofia Goggia’s, who wasn’t competing in alpine combined, skis, a decision she made in hopes to change her fortunes.

After a promising start in the downhill, Shiffrin’s fortunes, at least in this edition of the Olympics, stayed the same.

Swiss skier Michelle Gisin, who also finished the downhill in first, took home gold, 1.05 seconds better than her countrywoman Wendy Holdener, who captured silver. Italian skier Federica Brignone won bronze.

Shiffrin’s crash closed the book, individually, on a massively disappointing Olympics for the 26-year-old skiing phenom, who entered the tournament looking to cement her place atop the sport’s apex. Instead, Shiffrin will leave Beijing without an individual medal, and without even completing three of her five events.

Shiffrin still has a chance to get a medal as she chose to compete on Team USA in the mixed team parallel slalom competition, where she will become just the second woman to compete in six skiing events at a single Olympics.

As for Shiffrin’s individual events, she was one good slalom run away from salvaging a disastrous two weeks, she instead ended up on the snow.

This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.

Slovakia stunned the world on Wednesday with a dramatic penalty shoot-out win against the United States, sending the American giants crashing out of the tournament in the quarter-final stages.

American hockey commentators are calling for major changes with the Team USA men’s team now failing to make it to the semi-finals since the 2014 Olympics.

The men’s team has not won a gold medal since the iconic ‘Miracle on Ice’ victory over the USSR team in 1980.

It is looking more and more like a hoodoo or even a curse. By the time the 2026 Olympics roll around the United States’ men’s team will not have won gold for 46 years.

It was all too much for some.

NBC ice hockey commentator Ryan Quigley posted on Twitter the team made too many errors in its selections and tactics, describing one move as “unfathomable”.

“Oh my god, the U.S. really just lost to Slovakia in the shootout,” he posted on Twitter.

“That just happened. The U.S. men’s hockey team, after going undefeated in group play, lost to Slovakia in the quarterfinals. Their Olympic journey is over.”

The pain was made all the more agonising for American fans after watching their team go through the group stages undefeated, including a win against a powerhouse Canadian team.

There were layers and layers of pain for the Americans to confront after the team had also been 44 seconds away from progressing to the semi-finals without the game needing to go beyond regulation time.

The United States were on the verge of sending Slovakia home when captain Marek Hrivik scored to tie the game and send it into overtime at 3-3.

Slovakia scored the only goal in the final penalty shootout, winning the game 4-3.

When Team USA missed its final penalty there were scenes of pandemonium as Slovakian players went berserk on the ice.

USA captain Andy Miele had one last shot but his effort was smothered by Slovak netminder Patrik Rybar.

According to Associated Press reporter Stephen Whyno, Miele was wiping away tears when speaking at the end of the game.

“I’m just sad it’s over,” he said.

The emotion for some American commentators was anger.

Vermont TV sports director Jack Fitzsimmons wrote on Twitter it was a “horrific embarrassment”.

“USA Hockey is completely lost as an organisation right now, at least on the senior men’s side,” he said.

It was so close for the United States.

Slovakia’s big 17-year-old Juraj Slafkovsky, who has emerged as one of the stars of the tournament, opened the scoring midway through the first period, giving him five goals in Beijing to lead all players.

The US took back the lead early in the second and held it until Hrivik’s late goal.

The pandemic-driven decision by the National Hockey League, the world’s top pro league, to keep its superstars away from Beijing has deprived the Olympics of a best-on-best competition.

The NHL absence has particularly weakened the USA and Canada, forcing them to assemble collections of ageing veterans and NHL-bound youngsters who had little time to prepare together.

Still, the United States — the youngest squad in Beijing — went 3-0 in group play thanks largely to its speed on the ice, but had their hands full in a scrappy game against the opportunistic Slovaks.

Suddenly it’s all over and they’re going home.

— with AFP

Now, they’re making them for the right ones with a Valentine’s Day performance ending with a world record score of 226.98 and a gold medal in the ice dancing at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Papadakis’ dress had come undone at PyeongChang in 2018 and the pair just missed out on winning.

Cizeron famously accidentally unclipped the clasp at the back of Papadakis’ dress during a lift

four years ago and she was forced to complete the routine while trying to keep her chest covered.

“It was pretty distracting, kind of my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics,” she said at the time.

This time, wearing a sleek, shimmering red and gold costume, there were no such issues as they spun across the ice to “Elegie” by Gabriel Faure.

Speaking to Eurosport after the pair received a world record score of 90.83 in the rhythm dance section on Saturday, Cizeron said: “We are super happy with our performance, we are in a totally different place from where we were four years ago.”

“Mentally and in terms of preparation too. We did not have a good memory of the short program there. We are super happy with our performance so indeed, it is a little revenge.”

It was perfect revenge for the five-time European and four-time world champions — who can now call themselves Olympic champions for the first time.

“I think we don’t believe it yet,” 26-year-old Papadakis said.

“Honestly it feels completely unreal.

“For years this was the only medal that we wanted and the past four years were just about that moment.”

Russia’s Nikita Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsina, the reigning European and world champions after the French skipped those competitions because of Covid, had to settle for silver.

Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue took bronze in what they have said will be their last Olympics.

Cizeron, 27, is the first openly gay man to win gold in an individual Olympic figure skating event — Canada’s Eric Radford won a gold in 2018, but in the team event.

Cizeron said “Elegie” was “a melting pot of all the extreme emotions we can feel as humans and what we have been through ourselves, through our lives and through our careers”.

— with AFP

Before the Olympics, Gu, who was born and raised in the US, defected to China for the Beijing Games.

It has made almost every move she makes international news but she has somehow managed to win an Olympic gold already despite the pressure from being stuck between two super powers.

But her most recent move that managed to set her apart was simply the timing of her lunch.

While waiting for her score in the freeski slopestyle qualifying, Gu was seen on camera calmly tucking into what some have said was burger and others have said was a fried dumpling.

“Eileen Gu eating Jiucai Hezi (Garlic Chives Pasty) going viral in Chinese social media,” one Twitter user wrote. “A material for ‘Cultural Confidence’ – a Chinese-American lady eats Chinese recipe for takeout in Olympic Games rather than American Coke and burger.”

The reaction to her lunch choice was a reflection of just how much of a star Gu has become, and what she represents to people in the current politically charged climate.

Gu later told media she simply did not have time to sit in the lodge for lunch.

“I’m a very aggressive practiser. For me, practice is go-go-go. I brought lunch. I was eating on the T-bar. I was done by the time I got to the top, and ready to drop in immediately,” she said, according to the Associated Press.

The 18-year-old, whose name in China is Gu Ailing, is an Olympian, a model with deals with Victoria’s Secret and Vogue, and a student who will be going to America’s Stanford University in September.

She became the headline story of the Games after she left Team USA officials baffled by her decision to represent China while the country remains accused of abusing human rights and engaging in unfair trade policies.

“I have decided to compete for China in the 2022 Winter Olympics,” Gu announced in a 2019 tweet.

“The opportunity to help inspire millions of young people where my mum was born, during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help promote the sport I love.”

Gu has already won gold in the inaugural women’s freeski big air, and is also competing in the freestyle half-pipe and slopestyle.

It means she could become the first freestyle skier to win Winter Games medals in three different disciplines.

She has avoided answering questions surrounding her American citizenship when asked by the media. China does not allow its citizens to carry dual citizenship and the International Olympic Committee requires athletes to hold passports for the countries they compete for.

“I definitely feel as though I’m just as American as I am Chinese,” she said.

“I’m American when I’m in the US and Chinese when I’m in China. Both continue to be supportive of me because they understand my mission is to use sport as a force for unity.”

Will Farrell and Jon Heder star in the 2007 comedy as figure skating rivals Jimmy MacElroy and Chazz Michael Michaels.

Italian skater Daniel Grassl brought one of the film’s iconic scenes to live in Beijing when he skated to Aerosmith’s ‘I don’t wanna miss a thing’ during the men’s single skating on day six.

Grassl smashed his own personal best and found himself atop the leaderboard after his epic performance, but had to settle for seventh overall.

His performance won him a stack of new international fans though as Grassl channelled his inner-Jimmy MacElroy.

One Olympic fan tweeted: “Love that somebody finally had the guts to unironically skate to the Aerosmith song used in Blades of Glory at the Olympics, thank you for this gift Daniel Grassl.”

Another added: “Daniel Grassl skating to Blades of Glory should automatically get him gold”.

In the film, Michael Michaels and MacElroy compete as a pair and their first skate together is a romantic routine to the Aerosmith hit.

And the Blades of Glory references didn’t stop there, with many fans drawing comparisons between the ‘Rocket Man’ routine of gold medallist Nathan Chen.

‘PRETTY S***’ RESULT LEAVES AUSSIE SELECTORS WITH HEADACHE

Australia’s four boarder cross competitors, including reigning Olympic silver medallist Jarryd Hughes were bundled out of the Beijing Olympic competition in the early rounds, setting up a selection headache for what could be the chance of an Olympic gold medal.

Team officials have to work out overnight the strongest male rider to partner with fourth placed woman Belle Brockhoff in Saturday’s team event and Hughes’ less than stellar performance in the individual event, bundled out in the first heat, has put the selectors in a quandary.

Australia will go into the team’s event as one of the favourites for a medal.

Hughes and Brockhoff teamed to win the world championship last year, but if selected on form from Thursday’s Olympic competition, the men’s slot should go to Cameron Bolton.

Bolton was not only the fastest in the individual seeding runs, qualifying in eighth spot, he also won his first heat and was only narrowly knocked out in the quarterfinals. Adam Lambert, 17th in the seeding run, Hughes, who was 28th in the seeding run and Adam Dickson, 15th in the seeding were all eliminated in their heat.

Said Bolton of the decision facing the selectors: “I’ve done everything I can. The selectors will take into consideration a little bit of a mix of how people have been riding this season, how they have been riding here and how they ran here in November. So there are probably a few things taken into consideration as well as today’s result. How those pieces fit together I am not sure but I have faith in the panel and the coaches.”

Bolton thought that the Olympic course suited Lambert’s riding style, whom he said has been riding strongly.

Australian officials will know overnight if they can field a second team, depending on the withdrawal of another country. If that happens then Jindabyne youngster Josie Baff will get a ride, presumably with Hughes, Lambert or Dickson.

Hughes was shattered at his Olympic effort, saying that his ankle surgery late last year wasn’t a factor in the result.

“To put it bluntly, it is pretty s**t,’’ he said.

“That’s not the result I came here to do, and I’m really disappointed with that. That’s not what I can do. It’s tough when you’re riding with the best riders in the world – and that is what we’re doing – but I could have done better.

“I got light over the rollers, and you just can’t do that when you’re riding against the world No. 1 (German Martin Noerl) world champion (Lucas Eguibar of Spain). You just can’t do it.”

“I’m very fortunate that I’ve come from the Games with a medal in my hands before, but that’s four years ago. I came here to perform this year.”

Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria won the gold medal with Canadian Eliot Grondin, who edged out Lambert in the first heat picking up the silver. Bronze was won by Italian Omar Visintin.

SCALPING, SCAMS MAR BEIJING MASCOT PHENOMENON

The man behind the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot jokes that he wished he had kept a few more of his cuddly panda creations after they became highly sought after collectables in China.

Bing Dwen Dwen, the official mascot of the Games, has become the latest must-have item for keen fans with long queues at Olympic souvenir shops, and many willing to pay well over the official price to get their hands on one.

Cao Xue, who led the design team, said he was surprised by the craze. “I thought … that some people might begin to purchase some after the opening of Olympics, but I didn’t expect it to be so hot overnight,” he told AFP.

“Bing Dwen Dwen has become a phenomenon.”

“Each of us kept only one Bing Dwen Dwen as a souvenir, which we deeply regret now,” he added.

While the name officially means “ice child” in Mandarin, the popular rotund mascot is more colloquially translated as “ice chubster”.

However a supply shortage — attributed to production issues around Chinese Lunar New Year, which coincided with the start of the Olympics — has seen scalpers selling the toy for ten times its original price of 200 yuan ($30), according to reports.

Police have also warned of scams surrounding Bing Dwen Dwen with online fraudsters pocketing the money and disappearing.

But with spectators largely banned due to Covid-19 restrictions, owning an “ice chubster” may be the closest most people get to the Beijing Games.

In the months designing the Games mascot, there were at least 16 versions and floor-to-ceiling drawings pasted around his office, said Cao, a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

“We drew tens of thousands of sketches, spent seven months in the process of designing and modification, and once gave up the idea of panda as there had been so many panda images designed before.

“But in the end for both our design team and the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee — a panda is our best and only choice.” The final blueprint placed the animal inside a transparent icelike bubble, inspired by the outer shell of a “tanghulu”, a hawthorn snack glazed with syrup popular in Beijing.

It has also spurred creative interpretations including Bing Dwen Dwen themed dumplings, rice cakes and homemade versions, according to videos by enthusiastic users online.

One fan outside the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium even claimed to have recreated the mascot using human hair.

Organisers have insisted they are now ramping up supply, and state media has published videos showing workers putting in overtime at factories.

“When I saw Beijing citizens queuing in [shopping district] Wangfujing for hours in the severe cold, I was thinking: they don’t want to buy a lifeless toy,” said Cao.

“They waited for hours in the cold in the hope that they could hold something which give them a sense of warmth.

“Through Bing Dwen Dwen, I want to express warmth and love.”

AUSSIE STAR’S BRUTAL OLYMPIC SELF-ASSESSMENT

Snowboard star Belle Brockhoff has given a brutal self-assessment of her fourth place finish in the Women’s snowboard cross final.

She had scrapped her way into the big final of four from a difficult seeding position having had problems with her start in the qualifying run, but she bravely sneaked her way through the rounds, the semi-final and then into the final.

Speaking after the event, a visibly upset Brockhoff labelled her run “sh*t” after missing the start from the far gate – a position she admits she struggles with.

Competing in her third Olympics, it was Brockhoff’s best-placed finish at a Games.

But the 29-year-old gave another refreshingly honest take on her run on Twitter, doubling down on the fact that “4th is sh*t”: “It is always an honour representing Australia … I really tried … and to be honest, 4th is a shit one to take. I know what I’m capable of and I always back myself with what I know I can achieve but unfortunately my riding was only suited for that position. I’ll own that and use it to fuel the fire in me. It’s a cut throat sport and I love it. I haven’t had time to process all this as my focus has shifted to the mixed team event tomorrow. I will give it my absolute all. There’s so much fight left in me and I’m even more fired up by the frustration of 4th. Thank you for everyone’s support, it’s been unreal. Big thank you to my team for putting in 110% every single day to put me in the best position I can be, I can’t tell you how appreciative I am for your work and belief in me.”

Athlete haunted after horrific open fracture

Skier Nina O’Brien underwent surgery in China after breaking her left leg in Monday’s Giant Slalom.

The Californian, 24, tumbled spectacularly over the finish line as she clipped a gate and was taken off the course on a stretcher.

She suffered a compound fracture of her left tibia and fibula and will now fly home for further treatment. O’Brien, who was replaced by teammate AJ Hurt for Wednesday’s slalom race, said: “Well, I gave everything I had and maybe too much.

“I keep replaying it in my head, wishing I’d skied those last few gates differently. But here we are.

“I had surgery last night to stabilise my tibia, which unfortunately was an open fracture through my leg.

“I’ll get the rest fixed at home, but for now I’m in great hands.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who’s taken care of me, especially those who rushed to me in the finish and my doctors and nurses in Yanqing.

“I’m a little heartbroken but also feeling so much love. My phone is flooded with messages. Waking up to those words means more than you can know.”

However, O’Brien’s not the only participant at the Winter Olympics to suffer a horrific injury.

An Ice Hockey referee was left with blood pouring from her mouth after being struck in the face by a wayward stick.

Official Cianna Lieffers was the accidental recipient of a blow to the mouth by the wavering stick during Canada’s 4-2 win over America.

But despite her grotesque injury, Lieffers incredibly managed to carry on with her duties after getting patched up by Canada’s medical team.

Originally published by The Sun

‘PROTECTED PERSON’ DOPING FAILURE ROCKS GAMES

The darling of the 2022 Olympics is at the centre of a brewing drug controversy.

Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian skating sensation, failed a drug test taken before the team competition, according to reports from the website Inside the Games and a Russian newspaper.

The news came after Valieva led the Russian team to gold with her elite quad jump on Monday — a move she had never tried in competition for the first time.

The reports, labelled as a “legal issue,” caused the medal ceremony to be delayed.

The International Testing Agency (ITA), which is conducting drug testing at Beijing 2022, released a statement saying it is aware of the reports about the situation.

“Any announcement connected to these events would always be publicly issued on the ITA’s website and not commented on otherwise. No such announcement has been published to date,” the ITA said.

Because of her age, Valieva is considered by the World Anti-Doping Agency to be a “Protected Person.”

Prominent journalist Vasily Konov reported that the test was taken two months ago. Two Russian newspapers identified the drug as Trimetazidine, which is typically used to treat chest pain, according to Reuters.

Former Russian pairs skater Tatiana Volosozhar, who won two gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, offered words of support for Valieva on social media, calling for the use of the Russian hashtag #Iwillneverbelieve to send the teenager support.

Her post was “liked” on Instagram by Valieva herself.

According to the WADA code treats Protected Persons “differently than other Athletes in certain circumstances based on the understanding that, below a certain age or intellectual capacity [they] may not possess the mental capacity to understand and appreciate the prohibitions against conduct contained in the Code.”

Russian Figure Skating Federation spokesperson Olga Yermolina said the organisation is “waiting for information.”

Mark Adams, a spokesperson for International Olympic Committee (IOC) said “because there are legal implications involved I can’t talk very much about it at this stage,” in a daily press conference at the Winter Games.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the public to “wait for some clarification from our sports officials, or from the IOC for understanding.”

Valieva led the Russians to gold in Monday’s team event, in which the United States took silver and Japan won bronze. Canada was fourth.

Valieva has garnered international attention for her skating skills and popularity online. She has over 350 million followers on her Instagram page and has already appeared in the Russian edition of Vogue.

She was too young to compete at last year’s World Championships in Stockholm, but at the European Championships in Tallinn last month Valieva became the first woman to score more than 90 points in the short program, setting a world record of 90.45 on her way to the title.

Valieva was favoured to win gold in the individual events, beginning next week in Beijing. Now, her Olympic future is uncertain.

Story via New York Post

BANNED BELARUS SKIER FLEES TO POLAND

Belarusian cross-country skier and retired Olympian Sergei Dolidovich has said his family fled to Poland after his daughter was barred from competing amid a crackdown on dissent.

Ex-Soviet Belarus is in the throes of an ongoing crackdown following protests against strongman Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed a disputed victory in a 2020 election.

Dozens of professional athletes and coaches have been dismissed from national teams and several have been jailed.

Sergei Dolidovich, 48, has represented Belarus at seven Olympic Games and now coaches his 17-year-old daughter Darya.

“We left but we will be back,” Sergei Dolidovich said Tuesday in a post on Facebook, adding that he and his family are now in Warsaw.

In January, Darya Dolidovich was barred from competing internationally after Belarusian officials deactivated her International Ski Federation (FIS) code.

The same happened to another Belarusian skier and Olympic hopeful Sviatlana Andryiuk.

Dolidovich — who openly shares his pro-opposition stance — believes that his daughter was punished for his opposition views.

The Belarusian Olympic team was marred by scandal last year after athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya claimed her country was forcing her to leave the Tokyo Olympics after she criticised Belarus’s athletics federation on social media.

Tsimanouskaya sought protection with Olympics officials and then took refuge in EU member Poland, saying she feared for her life if forced to return home.

Originally published as Winter Olympics 2022 live schedule and results: Daniel Grassl ice skating to Aerosmith