What you probably missed from the Games

(Beijing) My colleagues Émilie Bilodeau, Yves Boisvert, Martin Chamberland, Simon Drouin and I have provided an Olympic effort to cover the greatest number of events here. But with around ten competitions per day, spread over several sites, there were inevitably a few blind spots. Unusual stories passed under the radar. Here’s a roundup of what you’ve probably missed over the past 15 days.

The best performance of the Games: Kamila Valieva* and the Italian curlers

With or without asterisk? With, the title goes to the Russian figure skater who failed an anti-doping test, Kamila Valieva. No, not for her free program, during which she fell four times. Rather for the team competition, where she obtained 20% more points than her closest rival. On a one-minute race, in another sport, that would be a 10-second lead!

Without an asterisk? Let’s go with the Italian mixed doubles curlers, who were perfect, with 11 consecutive victories. The best of the other nine teams in the tournament lost… four times!

Worst performance of the Games: Markus Vinogradovs and Samir Mastiev, Nordic combined

Several excellent candidates, as always. But we found our two winners in the Nordic combined, a strange competition in which athletes have to do cross-country skiing and ski jumping. Markus Vinogradovs and Samir Mastiev were so bad at springboard that they were the only ones to LOSE points for the distance of their jumps!

Disqualifications from the Games: ski jumpers

Five jumpers were disqualified. The reason ? Their jumpsuits were a little too baggy for the taste of the judges. However, among these skiers, some had already used the same combination during a previous event. “It’s a parody, but I’m not laughing,” denounced the sporting director of Germany. Note, it’s less embarrassing than what Antoine Gérard experienced in the Nordic combined. His suit fitted very well, except that it split just before his jump. “We don’t have the right to jump with a hole”, lamented the Frenchman, who nevertheless accepted the event with philosophy. ” You need to go forward. That’s how life goes. There is worse ! »

Object of the Games: Yun Sung-bin’s helmet

Much like hockey goalies, skeleton specialists like to decorate their helmets. The most beautiful ? That of Yun Sung-bin, identical to the mask worn by Iron Man. It served the South Korean well in 2018 when he won gold. However, as we have seen in Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man doesn’t always win. Well, neither did Yun Sung-bin. In Beijing, he had to settle for 12^and rank.

The male look of the Games: Matt Hamilton

The Longueuil cut, the mustache, the socks from the animated series Rick and Morty: American curler Matt Hamilton looks like a character straight out of a Coen Brothers movie. A well assumed look; Hamilton pulls himself together to give visibility to the StacheStrong organization, which raises funds for brain cancer research.

The feminine look of the Games: Lucile Lefèvre

The French snowboarder was injured during the acrobatic descent. Unable to perform tricks in the next event, the big jump, she simply decided to compete disguised as a tigress! Why ? “It’s for the Chinese New Year. Everyone wants to have their picture taken with me. It’s super fun,” she said at the bottom of the track. Really relaxed, Lefèvre even gave a big hand salute DURING her jump. Whose ? “To the judges. I just wanted to say hello to them! »

The Unexpected Athlete of the Games (finalist): Dave Ryding

In Beijing, there were skiers from everywhere. A Haitian. A Cypriot. An Eritrean. Two Malaysians. Often these are athletes who live in another country, where there are ski mountains. But Dave Ryding, he really grew up in an environment hostile to alpine skiing: Lancashire, in the north of England. He skied on snow for the first time at 12 years old, and on a regular basis at only 21 years old. Before ? He trained on dry tracks – or around his house. “There was no fence, and it was full of sheep,” he told the Games information service. Sometimes the sheep crossed the track, and if we practiced, well, we had to wait for them to pass. »

The unexpected athlete of the Games (winner): Andre Marcano

Last summer, English bobsledder Axel Brown moved to Trinidad and Tobago. Her goal: to represent her mother’s native country at the Beijing Games. To achieve this, of course, he needed a teammate. However, where to find a brakeman in this hot island of the Antilles? He sent a private message on Instagram to sprinter Andre Marcano. “I had to insist a bit, because Andre was a bit skeptical at first. But it worked, because we’re here today. Marcano’s reaction: “I only started in October, so all this is new for me. It’s even the first time, in Beijing, that I’m going down the track as such. […] I have to trust Axel. The bobsleigh is like a roller coaster. You feel the same things, but see nothing. I love that ! »

The funny moment of the Games: the Brazilian bobsleigh

Let’s stick to the bobsleigh, where the Brazilian duo had a few hiccups on their first training run. At the time of the push, the brakeman slipped and fell. Except that the sled had begun its descent. Oh, oh… The pilot was doing his best to hold back the bobsleigh. The brakeman got up. He left again – only to fall better, this time on his back. The third time was the good one. For the record, in competition, the Brazilians finished penultimate, a few hundredths of a second ahead of the Jamaicans.

The embarrassing moment of the Games: the extinguished flame!

The moment-of-which-we-will-never-really-know-the-truth: did the Olympic flame go out, on the night of February 12 to 13, when a snowstorm hit Beijing? ? A photo taken by the USA Today, in front of the Bird’s Nest Stadium, clearly shows that this is the case. The organizing committee, as you can imagine, refused to confirm this. Officially, ” [l’]Bird’s Nest team says the flame is doing well, the IOC wrote to the American daily. But maybe the snow interfered with his visibility.”

The misunderstanding of the Games: the middle finger of Daniil Aldoshkin

Finally, the Russian skater Daniil Aldoshkin, 20, celebrated his victory against the Americans, in the semi-final of the pursuit, in a very strange way: by raising his two middle fingers very high towards the sky. A gesture that did not escape the outraged Americans. Explanation of the principal concerned: “I raised my arms. This is my first medal, at my first Olympic Games. I didn’t mean to insinuate anything. I’m sorry if I offended anyone. Remarks reinforced by the President of the Russian Skating Federation. “There was no subtext in this gesture. On behalf of our federation, please accept our official apologies. ” Case closed. If only it could always be this simple, with Russian leaders…

With information first relayed by the Olympic Games information service, Francs-Jeux, RT, BBC News, The Guardian and USA Today