When the Soviet Union broke up,Russia's great Olympics tradition was in jeopardy.It seemed in disarray as the mighty state apparatus for selecting,training,and supporting athletes disapppeared,or at least shrank.With the Sochi Winter Olympics,however,there is definitely a sense of new life in Russian sport.
Figure skating is certainly righting itself in Russia,as evidenced by its return to dominance in the pairs competition.Volosozhar and Trankov vaulted into gold medal position with their long program performance Wednesday.They wept openly after their nearly flawless and very difficult program,perhaps moved by the realisation that they had just brought their sport back from the brink it faced when Russia was shut out of figure skating medals at Vancouver 2010.Fellow Russians Stolbova and Klimov took the silver,and Germans Savchenko and Szolkowy the bronze.*
For the US,it has so far been a mix of success and disappointment,with star athletes Bode Miller,Shaun White and Shani Davis failing to reach the podium as of yet,let alone win a medal.On the other hand,the unknown Kaitlyn Farrington,24,won the snowboard halfpipe gold seemingly out of nowhere,and Erin Hamlin's bronze was the first US medal in history in the sport of luge.The US and Russia are tied for third in total medals at nine each.
Defending gold medalist Torah Bright ensured Australia will take home at least one medal when she won the silver in the snowboard halfpipe event,while American Kelly Clark,30,the Methuselah of snowboarding,took her second career Olympics bronze an astonishing 12 years after she won the gold in the event at Salt Lake City 2002.
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