Diary Vancouver
Sochi 2014
Saturday 27 February – Day 16. With only one day of Olympic glory left for Vancouver, Sochi is preparing to claim its time under the Winter Games limelight. The Sochi Games will play host to the Olympic Winter sports currently on the Olympic program, and will run from 7 to 23 February 2014. Sochi, with a population around 400,000 is situated in southern Russia and is one of the largest cities in the Krasnodar region.
The Russian House, appearing as a giant sparkling globe visible in downtown Vancouver, has put a miniature version of its Games on display in the hope of building excitement – and it does. Everyday many visitors join the long queues to enter the house. Sochi will mark the second time the Olympic Games have come to Russia, after the Summer Games in Moscow in 1980.
The best day yet for Canada
Thursday 25 February – Day 14. Facing the pressure of a nation’s hope and bitter rivalry, the Canadian ice hockey team beat Russia last night in a stunning 7-3 win. After the upset against Team USA, this brought a sigh of relief and moves Team Canada closer to Gold. With gold and silver in women’s bobsledding, silver for the women short track relay team and bronze for Clara Hughes in the 5 km speed skating event, it has been Canada’s greatest day at the Games so far. After the hockey win, thousands of people were crowding and celebrating in the streets of Vancouver.
Short track team finds right pace
Wednesday 24 February – Day 13. The ladies short track skating team of the Netherlands, wearing the skinsuits with Dyneema®, pat of DSM’s innovation program, finishes in fourth place today at the 3000m relay, after winning the B-finals well ahead of Hungary and Italy. A great result for the team. In the individual disciplines, Annita van Doorn qualifies for the 1000 meters final rounds on Friday 26th, as does Niels Kerstholt in the men’s 500 meters series.
With a good performance at the Whistler Sliding Center, the Dutch women bobsled team finishes 8th in the overall ranking after the final runs on Wednesday. Gold and silver go to Canada 1 and Canada 2.
Bobsled news from Whistler
Tuesday 23 February – in the evening of day 12 the Dutch women bobsled team, with pilot Esmé Kamphuis and pusher Tine Veenstra, rank 9th after the first two, solid runs in their competition. On the 24th they take to the track at the Whistler Sliding Center for the final runs. During a press conference after the races in Whistler, Henk Gemser, Team Chef of the Dutch Olympic Team, announced the decision to withdraw the four-man bob from competition. Pilot Edwin van Calker has indicated to lack the confidence of bringing his team down safely in the 4-man bobsled on this track. Over the last few days changes were made to the track after several sleds crashed during the training sessions. Mr. Gemser and the other team members regret but respect the pilot’s decision, as does DSM.
Kramer misses second gold after disqualification
Tuesday 23 February – Day 12. The 10 km speed skating event ended in bitter disappointment for all ‘orange’ supporters in the Olympic Oval today. Despite putting up a winning performance in what would have been a new Olympic record time, Sven Kramer of the Netherland was disqualified because of a wrong interchange. The bronze medal of Bob de Jong brought some consolation, however. Bob de Jong was the reigning Olympic champion on the 10 km, after winning this discipline in Torino 2006.
Gold went to Lee Seung-Hoon of Korea, who now holds the new Olympic record in 12’58”55. Ivan Skobrev of the Russian Federation finished second.
It ain’t over yet…
Monday 22 February – Day 11. In Canada 10.6 million viewers watch the Canada-U.S. hockey game, making it the most-watched sports program in Canadian history. More than 100,000 people filled the streets of Vancouver after watching Team USA beating Canada in the much anticipated face down between these ice hockey crazed nations. Although Canada’s defeat in their own national game on their home soil will echo for some time, the citizens and visitors of Vancouver took to the streets in a celebration of sport.
Highs and lows
Sunday 21 – Day 10. Ireen Wüst seizes the Netherlands’ third gold Olympic medal by winning the women’s 1500m speed skating event ahead of Kristina Groves (Can) and Martina Sablikova (Cze). Like Mark Tuitert, yesterday’s winner of the gold medal for the 1500m speed skating, Ireen had to wait a couple of pairs after completing her own race, before she could finally raise her hands in victory. This brings the total number of medals for the Dutch Olympic Team to five, sharing the 11th position with China in the overall medal ranking with 3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze medal. The USA is still leading the tally, winning another gold medal today in the men’s Super Combined Slalom. For veteran skier Bode Miller, this was his third medal of these Games, after silver in the Super-G and bronze in the downhill competition.
In the second session of the two-man bobsled event, pilot Edwin van Calker of the Netherlands struggled with curve 13 on the Whistler track. This particular curve is also known as the ‘50/50 curve’, emphasizing the high probability of tipping the sled over in this challenging part of the track. After the final two runs, Edwin and his pusher Sybren Jansma finished in 14th place, a good distance away from Germany’s Andre Langer, who completed his Olympic hat-trick after previously winning at the Salt Lake City (2002) and Torino (2006) Winter Olympics.
Bob developed by DSM hitting the track
Saturday 20 February – Day 9. After weeks of anticipation and expectations, the two-man bobsled event finally got underway in perfect conditions at the Whistler Sliding Center today. Four runs will be held over two days. Medals are awarded to the team with the lowest combined time, measured to 0.01 of a second. After the two runs of the first day the Dutch Team consisting of Edwin van Calker and Sybren Jansma rank 13th in the overall standing. This first day of the event was marked by six ‘crashes’, confirming the reputation of this track as being the most challenging run in the world.
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