Index – Sports – Shock and Mourning: She died

History of the Winter Olympics:

1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014

Canada already had experience hosting the Summer Olympics (Montreal, 1976) and the Winter Olympics (Calgary, 1988) when it competed in the 2010 Games. Vancouver proved first in the race at home, ahead of Calgary and Quebec City, which also applied to start , And the last by one vote. In the IOC elections, Vancouver was in a big competition with Pyongyang in South Korea, knocking out in the first round, but actually winning the second round smoothly. We’re not far from the truth when we say that Canada also received the 2010 Olympics as compensation when Quebec City was already late in 2002, most likely because Salt Lake City’s bid was also backed by corruption.

Vancouver’s location does not look perfect in all respects. On the one hand, such a large city (600,000 people) has never hosted the Winter Olympics before, and on the other hand skiing, bobsleigh and skating races have been held in Whistler, 150 miles away. Fragmentation, travel, the two Olympic villages undoubtedly did not help this event.

The Olympics didn’t really start when a tragic event seemed to set the mood for the entire event. During pre-opening training, Georgian bobsleigh Nodar Kumaritasvili flew off the track at 145 km / h and succumbed to his wounds. Due to the death, Georgia also thought of holding back, but they stayed at the end, and they walked black ribbons of mourning at the opening ceremony, causing horrific moments. Not only was the ceremony unique, but it was the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics that the opening and closing ceremonies were held indoors at the 55,000-seat BC venue.

The training sessions also proved the Whistler bobsleigh race and tobogganing was extremely fast and dangerous, with the first two days ending with 11 slips, and the Swiss couple were unable to start the live race, despite a course modification or an attempt to slow the bob by sandblasting. It remained very dangerous, many riders talked about it in fear. This German Andre Lange was not very interested, the legend of the coach added one gold and one silver to his three previous Olympic golds.

A new track was also revealed at the Vancouver Olympics, where he is competing in cross-country for the first time. In the spectacular races of the sport, which many consider closer to alpine numbers, four runners instantly crash on a slope full of natural and artificial obstacles. The first women’s gold went to Michael Schmidh from Switzerland and Asli McIvor from Canada.

In cross country skiing, the traditional northern supremacy cannot be broken yet, the Norwegians and Swedes dominated the field, but some gold was also captured by other nationalists. Co-stars of Norwegian Marit Björgen, winning three tracks and also taking home silver and bronze. The most distinguished race, however, was the men’s 30-kilometer race. The Swedes surprised the stadium in a very amazing way with the tactics used in road cycling. At the start of the second 15 kilometers, Johan Olson intervened and his comrades stood at the top of the field to slow their opponents, as they took cover to travel in the wind. Olson’s escape failed, he got stuck in his hair and only came in third, but his compatriot Marcus Hellner made a good reserve and won the gold medal.

Surprisingly, the king of biathlon, Olli Inar Bjorndalen, did not win the gold in 2006, and everyone in Vancouver was expecting another resurrection. Still unable to win on the individual level, he only took first place with the Norwegian relay, but he still made history, in the 20-kilometer singles start race in a draw, he finished second for the tenth time with Belarusian Sergey Novikov. A bronze medal is not awarded in this way. In the Magdalena Neunner women’s championship, who has since retired, knocked off the field, the German also won the group start and chase competitions, taking second place in the race.

Medal table
1.	United States of America	9	15	13
2.	Germany	10	13	7
3.	Canada	14	7	5
4.	Norway	9	8	6
5.	Austria	4	6	6

The ski jump brought glorification of Simon Oman, the Swiss did the same as they did eight years ago, and won medium and large fences as well. Interestingly, his successor was the same podium arrangement both times, with Adam Malles closing in with two silvers and Gregor Schlierenzauer closing in with two bronze.

Speed ​​skating has always been a Dutch character, but in Vancouver it has already been shown by South Koreans, not just in the short track field.

There was only one double winner in alpine skiing, German Maria Risch also won the downhill and supercharged combination, while the men had two podiums climbing up the podium. The American Bode Miller became the supercomputer, winning a bronze in the cliffs and a silver in the gigantic cliffs. In the latter, the Norwegian was defeated by Axel Lund Svindal, who also finished second in the cliffs and third in supernatural giants.

Canada made him to the Olympics with an ominous promise, the previous two times when he was a manager, none of the athletes had managed to win a gold medal. In 2010, the bad streak broke out, and Canada even saved 14 top places, including the most important for it, men’s hockey. On the closing day of the Olympiad, Canada defeated the United States in an extraordinary extra-match.

There was also a small Hungarian success in Vancouver, after the Turin Olympics we were the scorers again, this time in short track speed skating which was slowly becoming a national sport. Relays with Rosa Daras, Bernadette Haydum, Erika Huzar and Andrea Kiszler took fifth place.

(Cover Photo: Albilo / Getty Images Hungary)