Perhaps there won’t be so much controversy this time.
The last Olympic pairs competition ended with a scoring scandal and gold medals awarded to two couples as officials scurried to make things right. This year, with a new scoring system, the short programme went off without a hitch ahead of Monday’s final.
Two-time world champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia were in first place in a competition long dominated by their homeland. They could become the 12th consecutive team from the Soviet Union or Russia to capture the event.
At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, a duplicate gold medal was awarded to Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in the aftermath of the judging scandal. Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were the Russian gold medalists.
The pairs final is one of the main events in a programme on Monday that includes medals in the men’s 500m speed skating, women’s snowboarding halfpipe, the women’s singles luge and the women’s 15km biathlon.
The 500m is the race in which speed-skater Dan Jansen took his memorable Olympic slips and spills, and where Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon wiped out four years ago after just four strides. His tumble cleared the way for American Casey FitzRandolph to capture the gold medal in an Olympic record time: one minute and 9,23 seconds.
FitzRandolph is back to defend his title — and keep his balance — against a field that includes fellow American (and fellow 2002 medallist) Joey Cheek. FitzRandolph’s hopes nearly were ruined in Salt Lake City when a small pylon kicked by another skater clipped his right skate, but he managed to remain upright long enough to reach the finish line — and stand on the medals podium.
FitzRandolph, now 31 and in his third Olympics, faces tough competition — beginning with teammate Cheek. Along with Wotherspoon, Russia’s Dmitry Dorofeyev is expected to challenge for a medal.
The 26-year-old Cheek is one of the ex-inline skaters on the United States speed-skating squad. He took bronze in the 1 000m in 2002 in Salt Lake City, and comes to Turin as one of the favourites in the shorter race.
In the halfpipe, the US women take off one day after the men captured gold and silver in the same event. Three Americans — including defending gold medallist Kelly Clark — are in the medal hunt in the high-flying competition, in which athletes soar to the sounds of rock and rap.
Clark nearly broke both arms during a December training run, leaving most of the gold-medal buzz to focus on teammates Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler. Doriane Vidal of France, a three-time world champion and silver medallist in the 2002 Games, is the Americans’ biggest challenger.
Curling competition begins on Monday with eight men’s and four women’s matches. — Sapa-AP