The Sochi flame has been snuffed out, the Games now history. Nice Games... when not looking thru the eyes of losers. Let’s list the ten major champions of Sochi; not in order of importance, though, as they all share first place.
Champions of Sochi: sports, Latvia, and couch potatoes
26th February 2014, 15:45
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Sports
In Sochi, sports won, not politics. Thank Goodness, as the athletes, having spent four years in preparations for the Games, were being pulled into all kinds of scandals and protests; still, the International Olympic Committee took great care of those under its wings.
For some reason, those in suits and ties, and all folks far from sports, find it hard to believe that for sportsmen, Olympics are the pinnacle. In the world of today, sports are paid labour; on Olympics it does depend how much you eat in years to come – if at all. So don’t come stirring a sportsman, at the most important instant in his life, to wave a banner or boycott the entire event.
Should the politicians find that attentions needs to be pointed to the corruption rampant in Russia, or violations of human rights, let them please do it. Let them, for instance, sever relations with Russia and close down the embassies.
Bjørndalen and Bjørgen
Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Marit Bjørgen. Biathlon king and cross-country queen. The best. The man and the woman, taking the most of Winter Olympic medals ever. In Sochi, the former added two, the latter three golds. Living legends.
Makes no sense to grumble that the Norwegian sports are standing on asthma medicine, both Bjørndalen and Bjørgen being werewinners. Asthma medicine, in sports, is totally legal, used by Estonians as well. Let us rather clap to both stars and hope to birth a super talent, of that calibre, some sunny day.
Extreme events
With the TV simultaneously showing snowboard slalom, parallel races man against man – drama non-stop, play on hundredths of seconds – and the ladies’ cross country, joint start, quietly unfolding for 30 kilometres, which will get more of your attention? A non-issue, probably: one being an «our» thing, tough Nordic ploughing... the other some foreign quickie.
Soon, extreme sports will be what keeps Winter Olympics going (financially), and where sportsmen of smaller and not-so-wintry countries also stand the chance to snatch medals. Too bad Estonia lags behind, with only a personal project – the Sildaru Kids – striving for the mastery.
TV watchers
Couch Potato – the undeniable king, czar and kaiser of the Olympics. Now that broadcasting rights are awarded to many, not a single event of desire will go unwatched. The TV viewer has come into options, what to watch, whose comments to listen.
The US broadcaster NBC, however, took the Olympic coverage to a new level, with The Gold Zone channel: a non-stop live streaming, at any moment showing the weightiest event(s), the screen at times split into two, or a whopping four. The public could enjoy every win, here and now.
Latvia
We might call the neighbours any funny name we fancy, but for the second Winter Olympics in a row they’re wiping the floor with us. And, anyway – for the past five Summer Olympic Games, they’ve been ahead of Estonia, in medal counts. From Sochi ice track, the Latvians took home two silvers and two bronzes, being the smallest nation by population to pocket prizes.
We may sneer about sleighing and skeleton pare no real sports, and that the Latvians are only celebrating thanks to the Sigulda ice track. In reality, they are at the Olympics with ice hockey i.e. team sports – something we’ve not had since regained independence. And Latvia’s biathlonist (9th place), speed skater (14th), even a short track sped skater (15th) were better than the entire Estonian Sochi team taken together.
Finnish male skiers
After the Lahti World Championship of the year 2000, Finnish skiing was beaten into the mire with the doping scandal, with six sportsmen caught. Vanished from the scene.
Ladies were able to get on their feet, quite quickly. Not the men. Even so, for the Finnish sports fan, other that a medal in ice hockey, the male ski gold is what really counts.
In 1998, in Nagano, Mika Myllylä – later a doping case and by now no longer among us – was crowned Olympic winner. After that, not a scent of a medal. Not in Sochi, either – tell the truth. Not in the double sprint day morn, even. Still, the ever-so-young Iivo Niskanen and the veteran Sami Jauhojärvi hit gold, in team sprint. Finland went wild: our male skiing is back!
Sochi
The success of Olympics is supposed to be shown by whether the sportsmen and the public would wish to have another sports feast, at the same spot, four years later. Following the Sydney Games, in 2000, many said the city should keep the Games for ever – so brilliantly run the event.
Sochi... Never, probably, have there been Winter Olympic Games so compact: events in arenas took place within a few kilometre’s radius; sportsmen went from village to competitions on bikes; ski tracks were an hour by bus or gondola, also in a cluster, with Olympic Villages at hand. The public got to the events quickly, problem-free. And, what’s most important, get a nice tan while watching. Winter Olympics for Sochi – forever!
Canadian sports system
For Canada, the 1988 Calgary Games were a flop – just five medals, and no golds; after that, a decision was taken to gradually yet forcefully to develop winter sports. The youth were brought unto the snow and the ice. The best conditions were provided for possible future Olympic greats. Clearly, things started to go uphill.
Look at the Canadian post-Calgary winter Olympic medal count: 7-15-13-17-24-26. These 26 prizes, at that 14 golds, were won at their domestic Vancouver, rising to top spot as a country. At that time, Canada calculated the cost of a medal. Each four million Canadian dollars spent on Olympic candidates (€2.7m) – a million per year – yielded one medal.
Looks like Canada has money to spare. After Vancouver, another 100 million were laid on the line. From Sochi, they carried home 25 medals.
Estonia’s like Canada in 988. What do we do?
Veterans
Once upon a time, ski jumpers nearing a quarter of a century were hinted to retire. Now cometh Noriaki Kasai (41), taketh a silver and taketh a bronze. Young guys let it loose on the hockey ice, but who is proclaimed the most valuable player? The 43-years-old Teemu Selänne. Ole Einar Bjørndalen, three years his junior, up and pockets two golds. Mario Matt (34) becomes the oldest Olympic gold in Alpine skiing; Bode Miller (36) the oldest medalist. Sledge rider Armin Zöggeler (40) wins a medal in sixth games running. The bobsleigh guy Aleksandr Zubkov (39) triumphs, in home track, with two golds. The oldies, letting it loose!
Dutch speed skaters
To be a successful winter sports state, no need to take on dozens of sports. A few will do, in the case of Holland – just one, speed skating. As, in addition to those fast on ice, only a couple of snowboarders and a bobsleigh, were present, from the Netherlands.
In speed skating individual events, the Dutch guys only granted three medals to the others; ladies – six. Amazing supremacy! Put together, the Dutch speed skaters garnered, in Sochi, eight golds, seven silvers, and nine bronze medals, while on the short track they only got one bronze. But we keep saying that all events need equal treatment, as all need their few little pennies. Hence, the lean soup.