SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fast five, Friday edition: five things to know about the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
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MEN’S HOCKEY SHOWDOWN: One day after the Canadians beat the Americans in a thrilling gold medal game in women’s hockey, the men from both hockey powers square off in a semifinal. It’s a rematch of the gold medal game in Vancouver in which the hometown Canadians beat the Americans on an overtime goal from Sidney Crosby. Team USA captain Zach Parise says they aren’t looking for revenge, just a victory that would give them another crack at the gold.
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GERMAN DOPING: An unidentified German athlete has failed a drug test in the first announced doping case of the Sochi Olympics. The German Olympic Committee said Friday it was notified by the IOC late Thursday that one of its athletes had tested positive on an “A” sample. The backup “B” sample will be analyzed Friday, the German committee said. The Germans did not name the athlete, the sport or the substance involved. Any athlete found guilty of a doping violation faces disqualification and removal of results and medals.
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KIM FANS REACT: South Koreans still love Yuna Kim, known as the “Queen” in her home country. The judges, however? Not so much. Most South Korean newspaper front pages Friday focused on Kim’s silver medal performance over other news items, like tearful reunions of war-divided families from the Koreas. The result left many South Koreans furious over what they saw as questionable judging
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IOC LAUGHS WOLF: Olympic organizers laughed off the prank by a U.S. luger involving a wolf supposedly prowling the athletes’ village, and they said Friday that no disciplinary action is being taken. American talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel said Thursday he cooperated with luger Kate Hansen to post a fake video of a wolf wandering the hall outside the athlete’s room in Sochi.
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MEDAL MOVERS: A French sweep in men’s freestyle ski cross plus a silver in the women’s halfpipe in the same sport made France the biggest medal mover of the day for Thursday, moving to ninth in the medal standings after 81 events. Norway kept its position atop the medal standings with 10 golds and 21 total medals as Friday’s competition began.