Sochi Winter Olympics:Gold in the Winter Sun

The final medal count is as follows:
1.Russia 33
2.USA 28
3.Norway 26
4.Canada 25
5.Netherlands 24
6.Germany 19
7.Austria 17
8.France 15
8.Sweden 15
9.People's Republic of China 9
Italy won 8 medals,including 6 silver and 2 bronze.Russia won the most gold medals(13).Ukraine,which had been in severe political unrest during the Games,won 2 medals,1 gold and 1 bronze.*
It was a final triumph for Team Russia on Sunday,a full restoration of national pride,when they swept the medals at the last skiing event of the Games,the 50km cross country race.Alexander Legkov won the gold;Maxim Vylegzhanin the silver;and Ilia Chernousov the bronze.This is priceless,Legkov said.It is more valuable than my life.I can't express how I feel.I've been trying for this result for 15 years.*
Likewise,Team Canada went out of the games with a flourish by sweeping the ice hockey gold as the Canadian men blanked Sweden 3-0.Team USA was also pleased to win a bobsled medal on Sunday,taking the four-man bobsled bronze behind Russia and Latvia.
On the whole,Team USA had a very good Games,winning five alpine skiing medals,but was disappointed by taking only one speedskating medal,and having to go home with a men's ice hockey goose egg.*
Overall,the Games were a positive event on the global calendar.This blog congratulates Russia for its excellent athletic and security effort.The Games were definitely a high point in their history.*
As for Sochi itself,it was clearly transformed by the sprirt and success of the Olympic Games.It is looking ahead to the Winter Paralympics March 7-16 and a Formula One Grand Prix motor race in October.
__________________________________________
Gold in the Winter Sun
Where it shines on Sochi town.
For two weeks,the world with its eyes
Absorbed every win,and the sighs
Were gathered in as well.We heard "Kalinka,"
The Russian birch still well,
The swell of the sea and the people
Magnificent Slavic emotion
With soft snow on the mountain.
(C)2014 Andrew K Taylor

The Spirit of Sarah:Sochi Olympics Halfpipe Ski Finals

The spirit of Sarah Burke,the late and legendary Canadian freestyle skier,loomed large in the finals of the women's halfpipe ski event Thursday at the Sochi Winter Olympics.It was Burke who initially pushed ESPN to include the event in its Winter X Games and,later,convinced the International Olympic Committee to include it in the Sochi 2014 Games.She died at age 29 on January 19,2012 of injuries received January 10 in a training accident at Park City,Utah,suffering irreversible damage to the brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest,and a torn vertebral artery.
In the course of her career,she won four gold medals and a silver at the Winter X Games,plus the World Championship in halfpipe in 2005.In 2007,she received the ESPY award for Best Female Action Sports Athlete.She married fellow skier Rory Bushfield in 2010.*
Emotions over Sarah flowed in the hearts of the skiers who had personally known her Thursday.Her parents were among the spectators at Sochi,and consider the skiers to be family.*
Sarah's the reason we're all here,said Team USA's Maddie Bowman,20,of South Lake Tahoe,California.Without Sarah,none of us would be Olympians.Sarah inspired us on snow or off snow.I think she would have been proud of how all the girls rode tonight.*
Bowman won the first gold medal in the new Olympic discipline with her clean and seamless run,followed by Marie Martinod of France,29,silver,and Japan's Ayuna Onozuka,bronze.With Bowman's victory and that of David Wise the day before,the US swept the gold medals for the event.
American Brita Sigourney also performed some remarkable tricks at up to 34' off the ground,but a slight mistake on one landing kept her off the medal stand.*
The US led the medals count as of Thursday night with 25.Russia was second with 23,and the Netherlands held third with 22.Norway had the most gold medals(10).

Market Trends:Facebook,GM and Tesla;Sochi Winter Olympics Update

Facebook is a terrific company that I think can go higher,said CNBC co-host Jim Cramer on "Squawk On The Street."I still think this is early on.Facebook deserves to be higher,will go higher.CEO Mark Zuckerberg is giving right now,the most charitable man in America.*
At CVS,the numbers were very strong.They could take a six-cent hit from dropping cigarette sales and still do well.They take the hit and do well.There's a very big anti-cigarette kick in this country.*
The California drought is wreaking havoc on the food business.It's the snack side that worries me,not the mac and cheese.*
The fulcrum here is GM.I've been wrong about GM.It's an inexpensive stock,but nobody cares because of the weather keeping people out of the showrooms.Auto sales are the key to this market,so I'm deeply focused on that.*
China has agreed to subsidise electric vehicles,and Tesla is there.Tesla is a charm stock.They are not bound by anything other than by the enthusiasim of young people who test drive a Tesla and go buy one in five years,according to author and master investor Jim Cramer.*
At the Sochi Winter Olympics on Monday,after 17 years of partnership,American skaters Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the first ever ice dancing gold medal for the USA,and Steve Holcomb and Steve Langton secured the first medal in two-man bobsled in 62 years with their bronze,finishing behind Russia and Switzerland.
Fog postponed the men's snowboard snowcross finals,as well as a biathlon event.Snowcross was rescheduled for Tuesday,although more fog is expected to roll in and blanket the course.
The US women's ice hockey team clobbered Sweden 6-1,getting Team USA to the finals against archrival Canada,as had been expected.
Belarus swept the freestyle skiing aerials when Anton Kushnir won the men's gold medal.Australian David Morris' silver was the first medal for his country in men's aerials,and China's Qi Guang got the bronze when he botched his landing.*
CVS Caremark(CVS),Tesla Motors(TSLA),Facebook(FB)

Sochi Winter Olympics Medals;Eva Samkova;Weibrecht and Miller

Total medals as of Sunday night:
1.Netherlands 17
2.USA 16
2.Russia 16
3.Canada 14
3.Norway 14
4.Germany 12
5.Switzerland 7
6.People's Republic of China 5
7.Poland 4
7.Belarus 4
Germany had the most gold medals(7).*
In women's snowboard cross racing,the Czech Republic's Eva Samkova powered to the gold medal.Quebec,Canada firefighter Dominique Maltais took the silver,and Chloe Trespeuch of France won the bronze.America's Lindsay Jacobellis,the world's top-rated snowboard cross racer,failed to complete her race at the Olympics for the third time,seemingly unable to concentrate adequately under the extreme stress.She was poised and well-spoken in the face of the disappointment.*
Fortunately for Team USA,Andrew Weibrecht and Bode Miller were not disappointing in the Super G ski race,winning the silver and the bronze,respectively.Weibrecht had failed to medal on the World Cup circuit since his Vancouver 2010 bronze in the same event.Miller's bronze is his sixth Olympic medal in alpine ski racing,solidifying his position as the best alpine ski racer in US history.
The normally stoical Miller,36,got very emotional after the race,thinking of his late brother Shilly,who died last year from a seizure related to a dirt bike accident.Me and my brother talked about coming here,Miller explained.It was a tough race.I was overwhelmed a bit about getting some help from my brother.
I feel good.If my body holds up,you never know.I feel pretty happy with the bronze.I've had a long career,but you never know until you're there,the veteran of five Olympics said.Miller has two more races left at Sochi,the Giant Slalom and the Slalom.

Sochi Winter Olympics Medals;Noelle Pikus-Pace

Total medals count as of Thursday night:
1.Norway 13
2.Netherlands 12
2.USA 12
3.Russia 11
4.Canada 10
4.Germany 10
5.Sweden 5
5.Austria 5
6.Switzerland 4
6.Slovenia 4
Germany had the most gold medals(7).*
The USA continued its success in freestyle skiing and snowboarding as the US men swept the slopestyle skiing medals,led by Joss Christensen.Most of the American medals so far were from these freestyle disciplines.This fact may put extra pressure on alpine skiers and gold medalists Ted Ligety and Bode Miller as they compete for the USA in Friday's men's Super Combined event,which couples a downhill race with a slalom.*
Another chance for a USA traditional discipline medal is in the final heats of the women's skeleton Friday,where Noelle Pikus-Pace,31,was in second place behind Great Britain's Lizzy Yarnold,one of the few medal contenders for her country,after the first two heats.Russia's Yelena Nikitina was in third and American Katie Uhlaender
close behind her in fourth.
Pikus-Pace,a mother with a cheerful demeanor,has had a frustrtating Olympics career.In 2006,she had to withdraw when she was sruck by a bobsled during a training run,which broke her leg.At Vancouver 2010,she missed a bronze medal by 0.10 of a second.She says she intends to retire regardless of the results this time.*
Also of note on Thursday,Italy's Arianna Fontana won the silver medal in the women's 500 meter short track speedskating event when Great Britain's Elise Christie was disqualified for an illegal pass that caused a crash.

Sochi Winter Olympics Medal Count

Total Medals as of Wednesday Night:
1.Norway 12
2.Canada 10
2.Netherlands 10
3.USA 9
3.Russia 9
4.Germany 8
5.Austria 5
6.Sweden 4
6.Switzerland 4
6.Slovenia 4
Germany has the most gold medals(6).

Sochi Winter Olympics Medals;Hannah Kearney;Women's Slopestyle Final

Total medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics as of Sunday night:
1.Norway 7
2.Netherlands 4
2.USA 4
2.Canada 4
2.Russia 4
3.Austria 2
4.Germany 1
4.Poland 1
4.Switzerland 1
4.Slovakia 1
Norway also has the most gold medals(2).This does not include the women's slopestyle snowboarding medals for some reason,perhaps becuase they weren't official yet or just hadn't been tallied by presstime.*
This blog does not pick favourites.This is an unhelpful practice,as there is no reliable way to forecast an athlete's performance on just one day or even over an entire Games.Sometimes the favourites win at the Olympics;sometimes they do not.It is a pointless media exercise to speculate like that.
American freestyle skier Hannah Kearney,who won a bronze in Saturday's women's moguls final,felt a lot better about her bronze after the warmth of the medals ceremony,where Canadian sisters Justeine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe were awarded the gold and silver,respectively.Kearney,who won gold in the event at Vancouver in 2010,had declared she was retiring after her defeat,but on Sunday said she now feels proud of the bronze and seemed open to reconsidering the decision to retire.*
Russia is back:the old Russian dominance of figure skating,in which they had won 51 medals,and which ended at Vancouver when they were shut out of the medals,got a new lease on life as Russia took the first gold in the new team figure skating event.Seasoned veteran Yevgeny Plushenko,31,and newcomer Yulia Lipnitskaya,15,skated without obvious flaws to secure the top spot as President Vladimir Putin looked on,basking in their success.Canada won silver and the US took the bronze.*
Team USA completed its sweep of the first gold medals in the new snowboard slopestyle event as Sage Kotsenburg was joined by Jamie Anderson,23,of South Lake Tahoe,California.Anderson earned her gold as she impressed with big air,soaring above the huge manufactured slopes of the course.
Finland's Enni Rukajarvi garnered silver,and Great Britain's Jenny Jones,33,reached a milestone for her country with her bronze,the first ever medal for GB in a snow sport.

Sochi:Snowboarders Begin Quest For New Gold

Even before the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics,snowboarders began their quest for the first gold medal in the new Olympics event of slopestyle snowboarding,which resembles moguls freestyle skiing.Snowboarders must ride down some metal rails and up some huge slopes in the extreme sports event.No American men scored high enough in the qualifying runs to make it directly to the finals.Canada's Maxence Parrot and Great Britain's Jamie Nicholls did make it.
American Women fared better.Jamie Anderson of Lake Tahoe,California and Karly Shorr go directly to the finals.Also making it straight through were Australia's Torah Bright and Canada's Spencer O'Brien.Northern Europe was the only other region to have qualified for the finals in Thursday's round,being represented by snowboarders from Austria,Switzerland,Norway,Sweden and Finland.*
The semifinals will be on Saturday for those who didn't score high enough for the finals,such as American men Ryan Stassel,Sage Kotsenburg and Charlie Guldemond,along with women Jessika Jenson and Ty Walker;British man Billy Morgan,as well as women Aimee Fuller and Jenny Jones,age 34;New Zealand's Rebecca Torr,Christy Prior,Stefi Luxton and Shelly Gotlieb;and Canadian Jenna Blasman.*
The beautiful Caucasus Mountains peaks of the Mountain Cluster alpine venues seem to have abundant natural snow this winter,but the Russians have stockpiled a vast amount of snow just in case.*
No incidents of any kind marred the opening of competition in the seaside resort of Sochi,Russia.