Thursday, February 6, 2014

Let the Games begin!

Today the XXII Olympic Games start in Sochi, Russia, with a few preliminary events occurring before the opening ceremonies on Friday. There is plenty of controversy surrounding these Olympics, the first winter Olympics to take place in Russia. In addition to the reported environmental impact, political and ethical questions combined with corruption scandals have marred the Games before they’ve even begun. We can only hope the Games will pass without incident, and therefore we’ll be concentrating on cheering on our favorites and teaching the boys about the winter Olympic sports.

"you have to bite the medal to make sure it is real"
 
As US citizens we are proud supporters of Team USA, but after our time in France we also have a soft spot for some of the French athletes. However, it is the Latvian team that will have us on our feet cheering. This will be the third winter Games in a row that Latvia will send exactly 58 athletes who will be competing in nine events – a relatively high number when compared with the 230 athletes representing the US – but Latvia has only won three medals in the winter Olympics. Mārtiņš Rubenis won a bronze in Turin’s luge men's singles in 2006 (this will be his 5th Olympics), Andris Šics & Juris Šics placed second in luge doubles in Vancouver 2010, and Mārtiņš Dukurs earned a silver in those same Olympics in men’s skeleton.

our train "ski jump"
 
All four will be competing in Sochi next week, along with some other familiar faces; you NHL fans might recognize the names of Kaspars Daugaviņš, Zemgus Girgensons, and Sandis Ozoliņš, who will carry the flag in the opening ceremony. Ozoliņš (or Ozolinsh as it has been spelled) was a seven-time NHL All-Star, Stanley Cup champion and Norris Trophy finalist during his career in North America. He played for the San Jose Sharks, the Colorado Avalanche, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the New York Rangers, and currently is on the Dinamo Riga team of the Kontinental Hockey League. Kaspars Daugaviņš was drafted in 2006 by the Ottawa Senators, and later played for the Boston Bruins. He’s currently with the Genève-Servette HC of the National League A. Zemgus Girgensons, the highest drafted Latvian in NHL history has played with the Buffalo Sabres since 2012. Other former NHL players include Oskars Bartulis and Mārtiņš Karsums. The Latvian hockey team has been placed in bracket C, along with the Czech Republic, Sweden and Switzerland. Their first game is on Wednesday with the Swiss, and on Friday they play the Czech Republic before facing off against Sweden on Saturday.

Source: here
 
We wish all the athletes who have qualified to participate in these Games a safe Olympic experience. You can bet the TV will be on a lot more than usual in this house (hopefully they won’t cut to commercial when Latvia walks in during the opening ceremonies) as we share in the stories, the hope and the triumph of the athletes that have traveled all the way to Sochi to compete with the best in the world. And of course - Sarauj Latvija!!!

Team Latvia (skeleton) source here
 
The Latvian Olympic team's official page can be found here.
For a detailed roster, you can find an article on the Latvian participants on diena.lv in the article here (in Latvian).
The Sochi website also has the roster, although it appears not to be complete (but is available in English).
I'm not the biggest fan of Wikipedia, but the "Latvia at Sochi" entry has a ton of info condensed and well-organized (in English).
This google document has a breakdown of days and times the Latvian athletes will be competing (in Latvian, according to their time zone).
A quick recap of Latvia's medals in the London summer Olympics here.


15 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to watching the winter Olympics on TV. There is usually a lot of coverage here in the UK and I especially like the ski jumping. What a cute picture with the medals and flames!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks miss b! We're looking forward to the ski jumping as well - I think it is interesting that there is a women's competition for the first time in the Olympics this year. The boys have been launching trains off of their "ski jump" for a few days now - they'll love to see the real thing!

      Delete
  2. Hi there, just to correct you-we are no longer Czechoslovakia for 20 years now:)))it's Slovakia and the other one: Czech Republic.
    Anyway I like your blog, we're currently living in France with my family (husband and son) but we all are Slovaks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course! And I did know that - so sorry for my mistake! This happened not long after Latvia regained its independence from the USSR - merci beaucoup for correcting my mistake, and enjoy the Olympics!

      Delete
    2. thanks for correcting :)
      it actually happened in 1993. So , Czech rep.is in your group, I've got to check out ours. Hopefully we will be able to watch some good games. Good luck to your team!
      I'm sorry , forgot to write my name last time,

      Margita

      Delete
    3. You have a tough bracket - the US, Russia and Slovenia - but I think you have medal potential: Slovakia has a good team this year. Good luck to you as well! (And lucky Latvia beat France in the prelims, otherwise we wouldn't know who to root for!)

      Delete
    4. ok,thanks. so that's gonna be hard one! US and Russia-no way. Yeah, a good team but some of our NHL players were not allowed to go (Gaborik) or are blessed,I think. unfortunately;(
      Anyway , fingers crossed,that's all we can do:)
      Too your team as well cause French players are better now than they used to be. But Latvia shoud beat them without any problems.

      Delete
  3. I love the medals that the boys are wearing. so cute!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Barbara! If I remember correctly, your boys got into the Olympics too - are you doing anything special for these winter Games?

      Delete
  4. Glad you found that Google docs. The same person write a blog; in his most recent post he's predicting that Latvia will bring home 3 medals:
    http://orlach.wordpress.com/. I hope that's the case!!

    We never watched much TV when I was a kid, but the Olympics were a big exception. Looking forward to them, although not the time difference. And lack of TV at my home makes it difficult to watch anything anyhow. ;-)

    Enjoy! Un sarauj Latvija!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the link! I was looking for a best-hope-for-a-medal round-up, but this is the first I've seen other than lists of former medalists. Good to know about the biathlon and four-man bobsled, those will go on our to-watch list.

      Delete
  5. I love you boy's train set.
    Un turam īšķus par latviešiem!:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paldies Inese - puišiem itsevišķi patika likt "sniegu bumbas" uz trasēm un tad tās gāzt nost ar vilcieniem. Beigās arī ceļamkrāni abi pie darba, lokomotīvas atkal uzceļot uz sliedēm!

      Delete
  6. I am cheering for Canada and Poland too. Here is to the best athletes and sportsmanship!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And congrats to Poland's Kamil Stoch who just won gold in ski jumping - an amazing performance and a well-deserved medal.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...