Olympics: Vancouver in review for Baltics

VANCOUVER, Canada — As the Olympics came to a close on Sunday evening with all the pomp and reverie reserved for such an occasion, the majority of the Baltic athletes had already returned or returning home looking back on what were an eventful games for the Baltics.

From drugs to Olympic firsts to [private_supervisor]life-saving operations, oh and chuck in a couple of medals, the Baltics were involved in all of it.

ESTONIA

As expected, Estonia’s finest performances were reserved for the cross-country skiing track. To look for the names of Estonia’s other athletes in events away from the cross-country, one could safely scroll to the bottom of the results page to find the names of the Estonian athletes. The smallest Baltic states’ figure skaters and downhill skaters finishing in the bottom quarter of the field in all their events. At the cross-country track, Estonia’s athletes were making the headlines for the right and wrong reasons.

Coming out of retirement, new mother Kristina Šmigun-Vähi was back to defend her Torino gold in the women’s 10 km individual free. Unfortunately she could not top the table and claim another gold, but was still ecstatic with the silver, no small feat considering her lack of racing of late. Šmigun-Vähi was unable to double her medal tally later in the week, looking competitive but finishing out of the medals in the remainder of her events.

Perhaps Estonia’s most exciting moment at the cross-country track was saved for the men’s 50 km mass start classic, considered one of the champagne events of the Winter Olympics. Estonia’s best hopes sat with veteran Anrus Veerpalu, appearing in what will be more than likely his final Olympic campaign. In what was regarded as one of the tightest races in years, when the leading pack of 15 broke away to make their surge for glory, Veerpalu was right amongst the action, biding his time at the back of the pack. Coming to the last hill, Veerpalu made his move, attempting to break away from the field. However, the attempted break proved futile with the Estonian unable to draw the extra power needed from his legs. He was forced to pull back into the pack and could only finish sixth in the final sprint for the line. Regardless, it was a commendable effort by the Estonian.

The Estonian team did not go without controversy during its stay in Vancouver, with cross-country athlete Kasper Kokk suspended for two races after returning high hemoglobin levels, something that can occur naturally or be a signifier of performance-enhancing drugs. Regardless if drugs were used or not, the Olympics anti-drugs stance was used to its full effect and Kokk was forced to stand down for two of his races.

So all in all, a respectable campaign for Estonia returning home with one medal. It was not quite the medal haul they had been hoping for but a number of promising finishes, particularly from some off their younger athletes at the cross-country track shows that Estonia have plenty to give in Olympics and World Cup events to come.

LATVIA

Latvia have returned home from their most successful Winter Olympic campaign ever, with two medals their biggest ever haul. But it was not their medalists that were grabbing the attention of the media in Vancouver but rather the extraordinary stories surrounding some of their other athletes that were making the headlines.

Before the Olympics, few Latvians would have heard of Haralds Silovs but his achievements in short-track and speed skating caught the attention of media from around the world, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to compete in both disciplines at one games. Given the relative difference in the two events, they were not even being held in the same arena and often their schedules were all but overlapping. Regardless, Silovs performed admirably in both disciplines, making it through to the quarterfinals in a number of his events before falling to the more fancied Asians, Dutch and North Americans.

Another to be making the headlines without troubling the leading athletes was biathlete Midara Liduma. Perhaps if her shooting was more accurate she would have indeed been troubling the top athletes but instead Liduma achieved the forgettable feat of setting one of the quickest times in the women’s 10km individual, only to miss six targets to receive a six-minute time penalty, pushing her back to 67th over. It begs the question as to why she does not discard of the gun and take up cross-country skiing instead.

Having had a mixed build up to the games, Janis Minins was still one of the perennial favorites for medal, with the Latvia 1 pilot holding the four man bobsled track record going into the games. However his Olympic dreams came to a stall in a crushing heap, with his appendix rupturing on the eve of the opening ceremony. It had been hoped that with the bobsleds not taking the track until the second week it was hoped that he would be able to recover in time but these hopes proved fruitless with Minins resigned to the sidelines. Unfortunately this did not only bring an end to his own Olympic dream but those of his brakemen and pushers, with Latvia forced to enter just the one two-man and one four-man bobsled.

There were always questions hanging over the Latvian ice hockey team which was relying heavily on players from Dinamo Riga, a team hardly setting alight the KHL. The questions were justified with Latvia under-performing in all three of their round robin matches. When they met Slovakia for the second time in a quarterfinal qualifier, they finally showed what they were capable off, unlucky to go down in over-time. But as often the case it was too little too late.

The biggest surprise for Latvia came in the two-man sled with the Sics brothers, Andris and Juris upstaging much more favored opponents to claim the silver medal from relative obscurity. They proved a favorite amongst journalists at the media center, introducing themselves to invidual members of the media and proving only too happy to pose for photographs and sit through interviews, something of a revelation in media athlete relations.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Prior to the games Latvia’s big hopes were on the shoulders of skeleton pilot Martins Dukurs and to a lesser extent his younger brother Tomass. Leading after the first two runs, the biggest threat to Martin’s gold was always going to be Canadian Jon Montgomery, who like all the other Canadians had the advantage of extra training time on his home track. In the end this extra training proved priceless, pipping the Latvian to claim gold on his final run. Tomass improved over all four of his runs and in the end was unlucky to finish in fourth juts off the podium.

LITHUANIA

They went, they competed, they came home. With one of the smallest teams at the games, it was no surprise that Lithuania hardly set Vancouver alight. While Estonia prospers from its proximity to Scandinavia and has hooked onto the regions’ love of cross-country skiing and Latvia has a world-class luge track, Lithuania unfortunately seems to lack anything to assist the development of more winter athletes. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]life-saving operations, oh and chuck in a couple of medals, the Baltics were involved in all of it.

ESTONIA

As expected, Estonia’s finest performances were reserved for the cross-country skiing track. To look for the names of Estonia’s other athletes in events away from the cross-country, one could safely scroll to the bottom of the results page to find the names of the Estonian athletes. The smallest Baltic states’ figure skaters and downhill skaters finishing in the bottom quarter of the field in all their events. At the cross-country track, Estonia’s athletes were making the headlines for the right and wrong reasons.

Coming out of retirement, new mother Kristina Šmigun-Vähi was back to defend her Torino gold in the women’s 10 km individual free. Unfortunately she could not top the table and claim another gold, but was still ecstatic with the silver, no small feat considering her lack of racing of late. Šmigun-Vähi was unable to double her medal tally later in the week, looking competitive but finishing out of the medals in the remainder of her events.

Perhaps Estonia’s most exciting moment at the cross-country track was saved for the men’s 50 km mass start classic, considered one of the champagne events of the Winter Olympics. Estonia’s best hopes sat with veteran Anrus Veerpalu, appearing in what will be more than likely his final Olympic campaign. In what was regarded as one of the tightest races in years, when the leading pack of 15 broke away to make their surge for glory, Veerpalu was right amongst the action, biding his time at the back of the pack. Coming to the last hill, Veerpalu made his move, attempting to break away from the field. However, the attempted break proved futile with the Estonian unable to draw the extra power needed from his legs. He was forced to pull back into the pack and could only finish sixth in the final sprint for the line. Regardless, it was a commendable effort by the Estonian.

The Estonian team did not go without controversy during its stay in Vancouver, with cross-country athlete Kasper Kokk suspended for two races after returning high hemoglobin levels, something that can occur naturally or be a signifier of performance-enhancing drugs. Regardless if drugs were used or not, the Olympics anti-drugs stance was used to its full effect and Kokk was forced to stand down for two of his races.

So all in all, a respectable campaign for Estonia returning home with one medal. It was not quite the medal haul they had been hoping for but a number of promising finishes, particularly from some off their younger athletes at the cross-country track shows that Estonia have plenty to give in Olympics and World Cup events to come.

LATVIA

Latvia have returned home from their most successful Winter Olympic campaign ever, with two medals their biggest ever haul. But it was not their medalists that were grabbing the attention of the media in Vancouver but rather the extraordinary stories surrounding some of their other athletes that were making the headlines.

Before the Olympics, few Latvians would have heard of Haralds Silovs but his achievements in short-track and speed skating caught the attention of media from around the world, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to compete in both disciplines at one games. Given the relative difference in the two events, they were not even being held in the same arena and often their schedules were all but overlapping. Regardless, Silovs performed admirably in both disciplines, making it through to the quarterfinals in a number of his events before falling to the more fancied Asians, Dutch and North Americans.

Another to be making the headlines without troubling the leading athletes was biathlete Midara Liduma. Perhaps if her shooting was more accurate she would have indeed been troubling the top athletes but instead Liduma achieved the forgettable feat of setting one of the quickest times in the women’s 10km individual, only to miss six targets to receive a six-minute time penalty, pushing her back to 67th over. It begs the question as to why she does not discard of the gun and take up cross-country skiing instead.

Having had a mixed build up to the games, Janis Minins was still one of the perennial favorites for medal, with the Latvia 1 pilot holding the four man bobsled track record going into the games. However his Olympic dreams came to a stall in a crushing heap, with his appendix rupturing on the eve of the opening ceremony. It had been hoped that with the bobsleds not taking the track until the second week it was hoped that he would be able to recover in time but these hopes proved fruitless with Minins resigned to the sidelines. Unfortunately this did not only bring an end to his own Olympic dream but those of his brakemen and pushers, with Latvia forced to enter just the one two-man and one four-man bobsled.

There were always questions hanging over the Latvian ice hockey team which was relying heavily on players from Dinamo Riga, a team hardly setting alight the KHL. The questions were justified with Latvia under-performing in all three of their round robin matches. When they met Slovakia for the second time in a quarterfinal qualifier, they finally showed what they were capable off, unlucky to go down in over-time. But as often the case it was too little too late.

The biggest surprise for Latvia came in the two-man sled with the Sics brothers, Andris and Juris upstaging much more favored opponents to claim the silver medal from relative obscurity. They proved a favorite amongst journalists at the media center, introducing themselves to invidual members of the media and proving only too happy to pose for photographs and sit through interviews, something of a revelation in media athlete relations.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Prior to the games Latvia’s big hopes were on the shoulders of skeleton pilot Martins Dukurs and to a lesser extent his younger brother Tomass. Leading after the first two runs, the biggest threat to Martin’s gold was always going to be Canadian Jon Montgomery, who like all the other Canadians had the advantage of extra training time on his home track. In the end this extra training proved priceless, pipping the Latvian to claim gold on his final run. Tomass improved over all four of his runs and in the end was unlucky to finish in fourth juts off the podium.

LITHUANIA

They went, they competed, they came home. With one of the smallest teams at the games, it was no surprise that Lithuania hardly set Vancouver alight. While Estonia prospers from its proximity to Scandinavia and has hooked onto the regions’ love of cross-country skiing and Latvia has a world-class luge track, Lithuania unfortunately seems to lack anything to assist the development of more winter athletes. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]life-saving operations, oh and chuck in a couple of medals, the Baltics were involved in all of it.

ESTONIA

As expected, Estonia’s finest performances were reserved for the cross-country skiing track. To look for the names of Estonia’s other athletes in events away from the cross-country, one could safely scroll to the bottom of the results page to find the names of the Estonian athletes. The smallest Baltic states’ figure skaters and downhill skaters finishing in the bottom quarter of the field in all their events. At the cross-country track, Estonia’s athletes were making the headlines for the right and wrong reasons.

Coming out of retirement, new mother Kristina Šmigun-Vähi was back to defend her Torino gold in the women’s 10 km individual free. Unfortunately she could not top the table and claim another gold, but was still ecstatic with the silver, no small feat considering her lack of racing of late. Šmigun-Vähi was unable to double her medal tally later in the week, looking competitive but finishing out of the medals in the remainder of her events.

Perhaps Estonia’s most exciting moment at the cross-country track was saved for the men’s 50 km mass start classic, considered one of the champagne events of the Winter Olympics. Estonia’s best hopes sat with veteran Anrus Veerpalu, appearing in what will be more than likely his final Olympic campaign. In what was regarded as one of the tightest races in years, when the leading pack of 15 broke away to make their surge for glory, Veerpalu was right amongst the action, biding his time at the back of the pack. Coming to the last hill, Veerpalu made his move, attempting to break away from the field. However, the attempted break proved futile with the Estonian unable to draw the extra power needed from his legs. He was forced to pull back into the pack and could only finish sixth in the final sprint for the line. Regardless, it was a commendable effort by the Estonian.

The Estonian team did not go without controversy during its stay in Vancouver, with cross-country athlete Kasper Kokk suspended for two races after returning high hemoglobin levels, something that can occur naturally or be a signifier of performance-enhancing drugs. Regardless if drugs were used or not, the Olympics anti-drugs stance was used to its full effect and Kokk was forced to stand down for two of his races.

So all in all, a respectable campaign for Estonia returning home with one medal. It was not quite the medal haul they had been hoping for but a number of promising finishes, particularly from some off their younger athletes at the cross-country track shows that Estonia have plenty to give in Olympics and World Cup events to come.

LATVIA

Latvia have returned home from their most successful Winter Olympic campaign ever, with two medals their biggest ever haul. But it was not their medalists that were grabbing the attention of the media in Vancouver but rather the extraordinary stories surrounding some of their other athletes that were making the headlines.

Before the Olympics, few Latvians would have heard of Haralds Silovs but his achievements in short-track and speed skating caught the attention of media from around the world, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to compete in both disciplines at one games. Given the relative difference in the two events, they were not even being held in the same arena and often their schedules were all but overlapping. Regardless, Silovs performed admirably in both disciplines, making it through to the quarterfinals in a number of his events before falling to the more fancied Asians, Dutch and North Americans.

Another to be making the headlines without troubling the leading athletes was biathlete Midara Liduma. Perhaps if her shooting was more accurate she would have indeed been troubling the top athletes but instead Liduma achieved the forgettable feat of setting one of the quickest times in the women’s 10km individual, only to miss six targets to receive a six-minute time penalty, pushing her back to 67th over. It begs the question as to why she does not discard of the gun and take up cross-country skiing instead.

Having had a mixed build up to the games, Janis Minins was still one of the perennial favorites for medal, with the Latvia 1 pilot holding the four man bobsled track record going into the games. However his Olympic dreams came to a stall in a crushing heap, with his appendix rupturing on the eve of the opening ceremony. It had been hoped that with the bobsleds not taking the track until the second week it was hoped that he would be able to recover in time but these hopes proved fruitless with Minins resigned to the sidelines. Unfortunately this did not only bring an end to his own Olympic dream but those of his brakemen and pushers, with Latvia forced to enter just the one two-man and one four-man bobsled.

There were always questions hanging over the Latvian ice hockey team which was relying heavily on players from Dinamo Riga, a team hardly setting alight the KHL. The questions were justified with Latvia under-performing in all three of their round robin matches. When they met Slovakia for the second time in a quarterfinal qualifier, they finally showed what they were capable off, unlucky to go down in over-time. But as often the case it was too little too late.

The biggest surprise for Latvia came in the two-man sled with the Sics brothers, Andris and Juris upstaging much more favored opponents to claim the silver medal from relative obscurity. They proved a favorite amongst journalists at the media center, introducing themselves to invidual members of the media and proving only too happy to pose for photographs and sit through interviews, something of a revelation in media athlete relations.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Prior to the games Latvia’s big hopes were on the shoulders of skeleton pilot Martins Dukurs and to a lesser extent his younger brother Tomass. Leading after the first two runs, the biggest threat to Martin’s gold was always going to be Canadian Jon Montgomery, who like all the other Canadians had the advantage of extra training time on his home track. In the end this extra training proved priceless, pipping the Latvian to claim gold on his final run. Tomass improved over all four of his runs and in the end was unlucky to finish in fourth juts off the podium.

LITHUANIA

They went, they competed, they came home. With one of the smallest teams at the games, it was no surprise that Lithuania hardly set Vancouver alight. While Estonia prospers from its proximity to Scandinavia and has hooked onto the regions’ love of cross-country skiing and Latvia has a world-class luge track, Lithuania unfortunately seems to lack anything to assist the development of more winter athletes. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]life-saving operations, oh and chuck in a couple of medals, the Baltics were involved in all of it.

ESTONIA

As expected, Estonia’s finest performances were reserved for the cross-country skiing track. To look for the names of Estonia’s other athletes in events away from the cross-country, one could safely scroll to the bottom of the results page to find the names of the Estonian athletes. The smallest Baltic states’ figure skaters and downhill skaters finishing in the bottom quarter of the field in all their events. At the cross-country track, Estonia’s athletes were making the headlines for the right and wrong reasons.

Coming out of retirement, new mother Kristina Šmigun-Vähi was back to defend her Torino gold in the women’s 10 km individual free. Unfortunately she could not top the table and claim another gold, but was still ecstatic with the silver, no small feat considering her lack of racing of late. Šmigun-Vähi was unable to double her medal tally later in the week, looking competitive but finishing out of the medals in the remainder of her events.

Perhaps Estonia’s most exciting moment at the cross-country track was saved for the men’s 50 km mass start classic, considered one of the champagne events of the Winter Olympics. Estonia’s best hopes sat with veteran Anrus Veerpalu, appearing in what will be more than likely his final Olympic campaign. In what was regarded as one of the tightest races in years, when the leading pack of 15 broke away to make their surge for glory, Veerpalu was right amongst the action, biding his time at the back of the pack. Coming to the last hill, Veerpalu made his move, attempting to break away from the field. However, the attempted break proved futile with the Estonian unable to draw the extra power needed from his legs. He was forced to pull back into the pack and could only finish sixth in the final sprint for the line. Regardless, it was a commendable effort by the Estonian.

The Estonian team did not go without controversy during its stay in Vancouver, with cross-country athlete Kasper Kokk suspended for two races after returning high hemoglobin levels, something that can occur naturally or be a signifier of performance-enhancing drugs. Regardless if drugs were used or not, the Olympics anti-drugs stance was used to its full effect and Kokk was forced to stand down for two of his races.

So all in all, a respectable campaign for Estonia returning home with one medal. It was not quite the medal haul they had been hoping for but a number of promising finishes, particularly from some off their younger athletes at the cross-country track shows that Estonia have plenty to give in Olympics and World Cup events to come.

LATVIA

Latvia have returned home from their most successful Winter Olympic campaign ever, with two medals their biggest ever haul. But it was not their medalists that were grabbing the attention of the media in Vancouver but rather the extraordinary stories surrounding some of their other athletes that were making the headlines.

Before the Olympics, few Latvians would have heard of Haralds Silovs but his achievements in short-track and speed skating caught the attention of media from around the world, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to compete in both disciplines at one games. Given the relative difference in the two events, they were not even being held in the same arena and often their schedules were all but overlapping. Regardless, Silovs performed admirably in both disciplines, making it through to the quarterfinals in a number of his events before falling to the more fancied Asians, Dutch and North Americans.

Another to be making the headlines without troubling the leading athletes was biathlete Midara Liduma. Perhaps if her shooting was more accurate she would have indeed been troubling the top athletes but instead Liduma achieved the forgettable feat of setting one of the quickest times in the women’s 10km individual, only to miss six targets to receive a six-minute time penalty, pushing her back to 67th over. It begs the question as to why she does not discard of the gun and take up cross-country skiing instead.

Having had a mixed build up to the games, Janis Minins was still one of the perennial favorites for medal, with the Latvia 1 pilot holding the four man bobsled track record going into the games. However his Olympic dreams came to a stall in a crushing heap, with his appendix rupturing on the eve of the opening ceremony. It had been hoped that with the bobsleds not taking the track until the second week it was hoped that he would be able to recover in time but these hopes proved fruitless with Minins resigned to the sidelines. Unfortunately this did not only bring an end to his own Olympic dream but those of his brakemen and pushers, with Latvia forced to enter just the one two-man and one four-man bobsled.

There were always questions hanging over the Latvian ice hockey team which was relying heavily on players from Dinamo Riga, a team hardly setting alight the KHL. The questions were justified with Latvia under-performing in all three of their round robin matches. When they met Slovakia for the second time in a quarterfinal qualifier, they finally showed what they were capable off, unlucky to go down in over-time. But as often the case it was too little too late.

The biggest surprise for Latvia came in the two-man sled with the Sics brothers, Andris and Juris upstaging much more favored opponents to claim the silver medal from relative obscurity. They proved a favorite amongst journalists at the media center, introducing themselves to invidual members of the media and proving only too happy to pose for photographs and sit through interviews, something of a revelation in media athlete relations.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Martins Dukurs (left) won a silver for the men's skeleton.

Prior to the games Latvia’s big hopes were on the shoulders of skeleton pilot Martins Dukurs and to a lesser extent his younger brother Tomass. Leading after the first two runs, the biggest threat to Martin’s gold was always going to be Canadian Jon Montgomery, who like all the other Canadians had the advantage of extra training time on his home track. In the end this extra training proved priceless, pipping the Latvian to claim gold on his final run. Tomass improved over all four of his runs and in the end was unlucky to finish in fourth juts off the podium.

LITHUANIA

They went, they competed, they came home. With one of the smallest teams at the games, it was no surprise that Lithuania hardly set Vancouver alight. While Estonia prospers from its proximity to Scandinavia and has hooked onto the regions’ love of cross-country skiing and Latvia has a world-class luge track, Lithuania unfortunately seems to lack anything to assist the development of more winter athletes. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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