Speed skater struggles, curlers lose as S. Korea fails to add to medal tally

It was another unproductive day at the Sochi Winter Olympics for South Korea as a speed skating medal hopeful struggled on ice and the women's curling team fell to the top-ranked opponent.Mo Tae-bum finished the men's 1,000 meters in 12th place in 1:09.37, nearly a full second worse than the champion, Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands. Mo won the silver in the same event four years ago in Vancouver, but walked away without a medal this time.On Monday, he ended the 500ｍ in fourth place, failing

Feb. 13, 2014

Teenage short tracker seeks first Olympic medal

Shim Suk-hee, a 17-year-old short track phenom, will try to win her first Olympic medal in the women's 500 meters on Thursday.Shim, Park Seung-hi and Kim A-lang have reached the quarterfinals in the 500ｍ. The quarters, the semis and the finals will all take place Thursday.Shim has mostly dominated the 1,000ｍ and the 1,500ｍ events this season, while struggling with her starts in the 500ｍ. However, she may have a shot at a medal in the short distance event, too, with Wang Meng of China, the reigni

Feb. 13, 2014

PM likely to attend closing ceremony

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won is likely to attend the closing ceremony of the Sochi Winter Games, officials said Wednesday, following public calls for a top government official to make an appearance at the event.Seoul was reportedly planning to send a vice culture minister to the Feb. 23 closing ceremony but changed its decision amid concerns that it could lose a chance to conduct sports diplomacy, especially as South Korea will be hosting the next Winter Games in its eastern alpine

Feb. 12, 2014

Women's curling team falls to Sweden

The South Korean women's curling team lost to Sweden 7-4 in their round robin match at the Sochi Winter Games on Wednesday.South Korea's record dropped to 1-2 in the round robin play in its first Olympic tournament. Led by skip Kim Ji-sun, the team of Shin Mi-sung, Gim Un-chi, Lee Seul-bee and Um Min-ji beat Japan 12-7 in their first Olympic match on Tuesday, but lost to Switzerland later Tuesday and then to the world No. 1 Sweden.South Korea, at No. 10 in the world, is the lowest-ranked partici

Feb. 12, 2014

Outdoor Olympic athletes adjusting to warm weather

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) ― Cross-country skiers are looking for precisely the right wax to cut through the mush. Jumpers are trying to land in snow that’s way too soft. Freestyle skiers and snowboarders are bailing out of their best tricks on courses that, even way up on the mountain, are melting under the Sochi sun.Temperatures climbed well above 10 degrees Celsius even on the Sochi Games’ highest hills, exposing huge patches of green around the mountain venues. If it wasn’t clear with the

Feb. 12, 2014

Geisenberger wins luge gold medal

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) ― Finally, Olympic gold for Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger.Finally, Olympic anything for Erin Hamlin and the United States.Leaving no doubt she absolutely rules her sport, Geisenberger won the women’s luge gold medal Tuesday at the Sochi Games ― posting the second-largest victory margin in Olympic history. Her final time was 3 minutes, 19.768 seconds, or 1.139 seconds better than silver medalist German teammate Tatjana Huefner, the 2010 champion.“Runs one, two and t

Feb. 12, 2014

Speed skater Mo Tae-bum seeks redemption

Speed skater Mo Tae-bum, who finished fourth in the men's 500 meters on Monday, will seek to redeem himself in the 1,000ｍ on Wednesday.He won the silver in the 1,000ｍ in Vancouver four years ago, behind the American star Shani Davis.Mo came up short in his Olympic title defense in the 500ｍ on Monday, as a trio of Dutch skaters swept the podium, led by the champ Michel Mulder.The women's curling team, making the Olympic debut, will play its third round robin match against Sweden. Cho Jung-myung a

Feb. 12, 2014

(Medal standing) Korea ranks 10th

As of Wednesday morning (Korean time),  South Korea ranked 10th in the medal standing for the Sochi Winter Olympics.Below are the medal standings at the Sochi Winter Olympics Rank    Country          Gold    Silver   Bronze     Total   1     Norway            4        3        4        11   2     Canada            4        3        2         9   3     Germany           4        1        0         5   4     Netherlands       3        2        3         8   5     United States     2        1      

Feb. 12, 2014

Sochi faces issue of empty seats

SOCHI, Russia (AP) ― It’s an issue that comes up in the early days of almost every Olympics: What to do about those empty seats and lack of buzz?It’s the case again in Sochi, with some senior Olympic officials voicing concern about less-than-capacity crowds and a dearth of spectator enthusiasm.One International Olympic Committee member suggested Monday that school children and unarmed soldiers be let in to help fill venues.Gerhard Heiberg, a Norwegian member who heads the IOC marketing commissio

Feb. 11, 2014

Olympic halfpipe problems mounting

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) ― Rider after rider took a crash course Monday night on an Olympic halfpipe that looked only half ready with less than 24 hours until men’s competition is set to start.There were dozens of falls, very few big tricks and a lot of complaining during a practice session that was pushed from morning to night while workers tried to make fixes. The men’s event is Tuesday.“When you see every other person fall, you know something’s wrong,” said American Hannah Teter, who too

Feb. 11, 2014

Hoefl-Riesch wins 2nd gold in super-combined

SOCHI, Russia (AP) ― Different American, same result for Maria Hoefl-Riesch ― another Olympic gold in the super-combined.Just as she did four years ago at the Vancouver Games, Hoefl-Riesch found herself trailing an American after the downhill leg before using her slalom skills to vault into first place and successfully defend her Olympic title in the dual-run event.The German finished less than a second ahead of both silver medalist Nicole Hosp of Austria and Julia Mancuso of the United States,

Feb. 11, 2014