Thursday 8 February 2018

Korea opportunities


GREAT BRITAIN has sent its biggest ever Winter Olympics squad to South Korea - and it also stands a good chance of being its best ever too.

Four years ago in Sochi, Team GB equalled its best Winter Games performance with one gold, one silver and two bronze.

And, despite being a non-Alpine nation with little winter sports pedigree, there are realistic hopes of the team going at least one better at Pyeongchang 2018.

The official target, set by governing body UK Sport, is indeed for five medals to be won - and skeleton and curling would be two of the more obvious places to find British success.

In fact, since the tea-tray sport skeleton was re-introduced into the Olympics in 2002, Team GB has always won a medal in the women's competition.

Alex Coomber won bronze in Salt Lake City in 2002, four years before Shelley Rudman took silver in Turin, and eight years before Amy Williams became the first British individual gold medallist at a Winter Olympics for 30 years.

Lizzy Yarnold ensured we would not have to wait as long for the next individual Winter Olympic title with a dominant victory in the same event in Sochi.

Flagbearer Yarnold will defend her title in Pyeongchang alongside Laura Deas, while Dominic Parsons and Jerry Rice will partake in the men's competition.

Curling - with its instantly recognisable combination of brushes and polished granite stones - has also supplied its fair share of success in recent Games.

In Sochi, both the men's team and the women's team finished on the podium with the men taking silver and the women winning bronze.

Further back - in 2002 - housewife Rhona Martin famously caused a national sensation in the wee hours by leading Team GB to its first Winter Olympics gold since Torvill and Dean in 1984.

Of course, this time, it might just be that Britain cannot claim a medal in either skeleton or curling.

Winter sports, by their very nature, are highly unpredictable - and that certainly is something which short-track speed skater Elise Christie does not need to be told twice.

Christie, frankly, suffered a nightmare Games four years ago in Sochi. First, she was penalised in the 500m final, in which she had finished second, as she was deemed to have caused an early crash.

Then, two days later, she was eliminated in the qualifiers of the 1500m when she was adjudged to have failed to cross the official line marked in the ice. She was wide by 1cm.

An understandably emotional television interview followed in which a devastated Christie mentioned that she had also been the target of abuse from internet trolls.

Many of her abusers were Korean followers of Park Seung-hi who had been one of the skaters caught up in the early chaos in the 500m final.

But, with all of that now consigned to the past, Christie is back for a third Olympics at the age of just 27.

The Nottingham-based Scot is part of a five-strong short-track speed-skating squad - and happily, in the intervening period in South Korea, she has gone from receiving death threats to giving out autographs.

Hopefully, in the days to come, her remarkable redemption story will be completed in style - and in Korea itself.

In all, Team GB sent a total of 59 athletes to the Games in Pyeongchang so there is the exciting possibility that Britain may even break new ground.

Notably, Britain has never won a ski medal but freestyle skiers James Woods and Izzy Atkin could make history in slopestyle.

Slalom specialist Dave Ryding finished second in the Kitzbuhel World Cup last year and has recorded top 10 results this season - while, in cross-country skiing, Andrew Musgrave just missed out on a medal at the World Championships.

Snowboarding makes its debut as an Olympic sport at these Games - but already Britain's best hope has been dashed with Katie Ormerod unable to compete after fracturing her heel in practice.

It is a heart-breaking injury for the 20-year-old especially with it coming merely hours before the official opening of the 23rd edition of the Winter Olympiad.

Yes, it really is that close now - a fact which will no doubt gladden the hearts of the the organisers of the Games for whom the build-up has been unsurprisingly difficult.

Even the weather gods have not been particularly kind. Pyeongchang is set to be the coldest Olympics on record with wind chill temperatures in the mountains making it feel as chilly as -25C.

Indeed, there are genuine fears that it might even be too cold to snow - although organisers are prepared with snow guns which can produce the white stuff artificially albeit at a total cost of £4.4m.

Perhaps inevitably, sports and politics have also mixed - and the prelude to the Games has been dominated by the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban the Russia team.

The ban followed an investigation into state-sponsored doping at their home Games in Sochi in 2014. However, the IOC subsequently invited 169 "clean" Russians to compete as independent athletes.

A further 47 athletes and coaches are also still hoping to compete if they win the appeals which they have made to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

But the decision is not expected until 2am British-time - only nine hours before the opening ceremony tomorrow - and the whole thing has become a bit of a farce which surely should have been sorted by now.

Separately, there is the rather awkward fact that, technically at least, South Korea is still at war with its neighbours North Korea.

Only a truce stopped the fighting in the Korean War in 1953, rather than a peace agreement, and the tension between them became further heightened during the course of 2017.

In early September, North Korea really ramped up its aggression by conducting its sixth nuclear weapons test to the dismay of the international community at large.

United States president Donald Trump responded by threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea in his first address to the United Nations.

But, thankfully, the rhetoric since the New Year seems to have cooled somewhat.

In a surprise move, North Korea has agreed to send a team to compete, something which it pointedly refused to do for the 1988 Summer Olympics which were held in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Indeed, the two nations will march together at the opening ceremony under a unified flag and will even field a unified women's ice hockey team at the Games.

President of the IOC Thomas Bach described the agreement as "a milestone in a long journey".

He added: "The Olympic spirit is about respect, dialogue and understanding. The Winter Games [in] Pyeongchang are hopefully opening the door to a brighter future on the Korean peninsula, and inviting the world to join in a celebration of hope."

Raise a glass to diplomacy then - it appears, in this regard, as if it has achieved the necessary.

Now, though, it really is time for the talking to stop - and for the Games to begin!

Coverage can be found across the BBC (and Eurosport) with a nightly hour-long highlights show showing the best bits on BBC Two every evening at 7pm

TEAM GB  
2018 WINTER OLYMPICS
PYEONGCHANG
CURLING
Team Smith Kyle Smith, Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell, Cameron Smith, Glen Muirhead



Score
14-Feb00:05SWITZERLANDW6-5 OT
14-Feb11:05CANADAL4-6
15-Feb05:05JAPANW6-5
16-Feb11:05SWEDENL6-8
17-Feb05:05SOUTH KOREAL5-11
18-Feb11:05ITALYW7-6 OT
19-Feb05:05DENMARKW7-6
20-Feb00:05NORWAYW10-3
21-Feb05:05UNITED STATESL4-10
22-Feb00:05PLAY-OFF: SWITZERLANDL5-9

Team Muirhead Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams, Lauren Gray, Kelly Schafer



Score
14-Feb05:05OLYMPIC ATHLETES RUSSIAW10-3
15-Feb00:05UNITED STATESL4-7
15-Feb11:05CHINAW8-7 OT
17-Feb00:05DENMARKW7-6
17-Feb11:05SOUTH KOREAL4-7
18-Feb05:05SWEDENL6-8 OT
19-Feb11:05SWITZERLANDW8-7
20-Feb05:05JAPANW8-6
21-Feb00:05CANADAW6-5
23-Feb11:05SEMI FINAL: SWEDENL5-10
24-Feb11:05BRONZE MATCH: JAPANL3-5
  
ALPINE SKIING

Dave RydingMen's slalom1:40.16 (9th)
Laurie TaylorMen's slalom1:43.41 (26th)
Charlie GuestWomen's slalom1:48.26 (33rd)
Alex TilleyWomen's slalom
Women's giant slalom
DNF
DNF
Dave Ryding
Laurie Taylor
Charlie Guest
Alex Tilley
Mixed team eventbeat United States in R16
lost to Norway in QF
(5th)
BIATHLON

Amanda LightfootWomen's sprint
Women's individual
24:15.3 (67th)
49:14.7 (73rd)
BOBSLEIGH

Brad Hall
Joel Fearon
Two-man3:18.34 (12th)
Brad Hall
Greg Cackett
Joel Fearon
Nick Gleeson
Four-man3:18.26 (17th)
Lamin Deen
Andrew Matthews
Toby Olubi
Ben Simons
Four-man3:18.29 (18th)
Mica McNeill
Mica Moore
Two-woman3:24.07 (8th)
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Andrew MusgraveMen's 15km freestyle
Men's 30km skiathlon
Men's 50km mass start
35:51.0 (28th)
1:16:45.7 (7th)
2:20:57.9 (37th)
Callum SmithMen's 15km freestyle
Men's 30km skiathlon
38:20.9 (75th)
1:23:49.9 (57th)
Andrew YoungMen's 15km freestyle
Men's sprint
37:13.1 (57th)
3:21.50 (45th)
Andrew Musgrave
Andrew Young
Men's team sprint16:30.62 (15th)
Annika TaylorWomen's 10km freestyle
Women's 15km skiathlon
30:52.9 (75th)
48:09.1 (60th)
FIGURE SKATING

Nick Buckland
Penny Coomes
Ice dancing170.32 (11th)
FREESTYLE SKIING

Lloyd WallaceMen's aerials100.03 (14th)
Murray BuchanMen's halfpipe66.00 (14th)
Alexander Glavatsky-YeadonMen's halfpipe15.00 (26th)
Peter SpeightMen's halfpipe64.60 (15th)
Rowan CheshireWomen's halfpipe75.40 (7th)
Molly SummerhayesWomen's halfpipe66.00 (17th)
Emily SarsfieldWomen's ski crosslost in QF
Tyler HardingMen's slopestyle21.00 (29th)
James WoodsMen's slopestyle91.00 (4th)
Isabel AtkinWomen's slopestyle84.60 (3rd)
Katie SummerhayesWomen's slopestyle71.40 (7th)
LUGE
Adam Rosen
Rupert Staudinger
Men's singles
Men's singles
2:25.167 (22nd)
2:27.842 (33rd)
SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING

Joshua CheethamMen's 1000m1:26.223 (Heats)
Farrell TreacyMen's 1000m
Men's 1500m
1:25.080 (QF)
DNF (Heats)
Elise ChristieWomen's 500m
Women's 1000m
Women's 1500m
1:23.063 (4th)
PEN (Heats)
PEN (SF)
Charlotte GilmartinWomen's 500m
Women's 1000m
Women's 1500m
PEN (Heats)
1:32.899 (Heats)
3:00.691 (SF)
Kathryn ThomsonWomen's 500m
Women's 1000m
Women's 1500m
1:08.896 (Heats)
1:32.150 (Heats)
2:32.891 (Heats)
SKELETON

Dominic ParsonsMen's event3:22.20 (3rd)
Jerry RiceMen's event3:24.24 (10th)
Laura DeasWomen's event3:27.90 (3rd)
Lizzy YarnoldWomen's event3:27.28 (1st)
SNOWBOARDING

Rowan CoultasMen's big air
Men's slopestyle
84.50 (8th)
23.58 (18th)
Billy MorganMen's big air
Men's slopestyle
168.00 (3rd)
56.40 (10th)
Jamie NichollsMen's big air
Men's slopestyle
81.25 (11th)
71.56 (8th)
Aimee FullerWomen's big air
Women's slopestyle
25.00 (25th)
41.43 (17th)
Zoe Gillings-BrierWomen's snowboard-xlost in QF

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