Every afternoon, Olympic enthusiast Drew Berner tracks the talking points from the the day’s competitions. Here’s our recap of day five at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Surprise Substitution Snags Speed Skating Silver
Denny Morrison wasn’t even supposed to be skating—he fell during Canadian trials and failed to qualify—but fellow skater Gilmore Junio gave up his spot in the 1,000m contest so Morrison could compete. How did Morrison thank him? Oh, he just won a silver medal, no big deal. Morrison was only four one-thousands of a second behind the gold medal winner, Dutch skater Stefan Groothuis, keeping Canada in second in the medal count and preserving its streak of winning at least one medal every day in Sochi.
Women’s Hockey Team Thwarts Rival Americans
Canada’s women’s hockey team must be trying to think of a way to give Meghan Agosta-Marciano a few more birthday parties before these Games end. Agosta-Marciano netting a pair of goals on her 27th birthday—a feat she actually topped back on her 19th birthday, when she scored a hat trick against Russia in the 2006 Torino Olympics—to help Canada break a four-game losing streak against the powerful American squad with a 3-2 win. The two teams will move into the semifinals, putting them on course to meet again in the gold medal game—just like they’re supposed to.
Two Gold Medals, One Downhill Race
The top step of the podium in women’s downhill skiing got a little crowded Wednesday as the sport saw its first-ever tie for the gold medal. Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland finished with the exact same time, while Lara Gut of Switzerland was 0.1 second behind for the bronze. Winning an Olympic gold medal isn’t the only awesome thing Tina Maze has done lately, either—check out the video for her song, “My Way is My Decision,” and get pumped up like a world class skier.
Are the Drug Testers High or Something?
We’re all for fair competition and a level playing field, but the drug testers at the Sochi Games have been just a little overzealous. First came the revelation that seven of Canada’s 17 figure skaters in Sochi had been tested—this despite there having been only two positive drug tests on record in Olympic figure skating (both Russians, incidentally)—and now we’ve heard Canadian slopestyle skier Kaya Turski was tested twice—both before and after her run. She finished 19th and didn’t qualify for the finals. Did they think she was going to take steroids before partying in the Olympic Village?
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