Curling is the only event that is on every day of the games, and what a delight it is to watch. Who knew you could get so excited by people brushing the ice and sliding stones along a chute? For a few weeks every four years, I am glued to the ice like a kid licking a frozen railing.
The mixed doubles (featuring Mouat and Dodds for GBR) are gripping stuff. The Brits get through to the semi finals where they lose to Sweden, and then they lose the bronze medal match to Italy and wind up fourth, which is exactly where they came last time round. Jen Dodds is also in the Women's Team (they come sixth overall) and Bruce Mouat is a part of the silver-winning Men's Team (who lose their final match to Canada).
Incidentally, the mixed doubles teams of Canada, Norway and Switzerland are all represented by married copules. There is controversy when the Swedes accuse the Canadians of cheating (by double touching the stone after it has been released) in the Men's Team event, and the Canadian in question, Marc Kennedy, responds 'with an expletive-laden outburst'. The Women's team are accused of the same thing (this time by the umpire) and play is stopped immediately as the offending stone is removed.
The Norwegians 'delight supporters' by bringing back their famous red white and blue checkered 'party pants' for one match against Sweden to honour their late skip Thomas Ulsrud. As the shouts echo round the rink, "Curl!", "Don't Curl", and everybody's favourite, "Hard!"
There are so many disciplines and medal available in the Team Iceskating, I don't know how it all works, but I like the Lilah Frear and Lewis Gibson (Team GB, obviously) Spice Girls number. For various reasons I end up wtching the Ice Dancing on the TV at work with the sound off and the subtitles on. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition between the commentators, the lyrics to the song selection, and the transcription services. Guess the tune is a fun game to play. "Everybody rock your body - midline step - am I sexual? - great extension - that's the way I like it - so, so good today."
There is some top scandal in the Figure Skating Ice Dance (won by France); the skating rink is a hot bed of controversy! Despite being favourites, the American married couple, Madison Chock and Evan Bates come second in the free dance with a flawless routine. There are nine judges for the event who allocate points in two categories: technical elements and program components. They don't have to explain or justify these marks. Unsurprisingly, then, the French judge, Jezabel Dabouis, gives their highest score to France (and lowest to USA) and the U.S. judge, Janis Engel, awards the American top marks (with France third-lowest).
Of course it's all as political as the Eurovision Song Contest (I'm looking forward to that in a few months!) and the Americans claim later in a press conference that their silver was "bittersweet", as they had twice won gold in the team event and this is their fourth and (probably) last Olympics. They go on, "We put out our very best skates every time we took the Olympic Ice. All four performances we had here at the Olympics, we're very proud of. They were flawless for us. We couldn't have skated any better, and we're super proud of how we took the ice, how we handled ourselves every time. The rest is out of our hands." God bless their cute little humble hearts.
The French team are Laurence Fournier Beaudry (born in Montreal) and Guillaume Cizeron. Cizeron also won the ice dancing competiton at the 2022 Winter Olympics with former skating partner, Gabriella Papadakis, and he now becomes the first ice dancer to claim gold in the discipline twice at the Winter Games with two different partners. Papadakis has since accused Cizeron of being "unbalanced", "controlling" and "demanding". He has accused her of a smear campaign and has got his lawyers on the case.
Meanwhile, Beaudry's boyfriend and former ice dancer, Nikolaj Sørensen was banned by the Canadian skating body for at least six years in 2024 for 'sexual maltreatment' related to allegations that he sexually assaulted an American coach and former skater in 2012. He denied the accusations and the suspension was overturned in 2025 on a technicality. Beaudry has consistently supported Sørensen, leading to much opprobrium from the skating community (particularly the female element). She claims that when he was suspended, her career was also over because, "it was not only about skating, it was about my integrity, it was about his integrity."
If this sounds like TV drama fodder, rest assured there already is a Netflix documentary series, Glitter & Gold about the stooshie, and I shouldn't be surprised if there were to be a film to rival the Harding/ Kerrigan fandango. I'd watch that.
The luge is conducted at a venue imaginatively named the Cortina Sliding Centre. The sport is utterly insane; I can barely watch those forces on the neck, but of course I do. The team relay is fun, involving four events: women's singles, men's singles, women's doubles and men's doubles. The women's luger goes first, with the athlete hitting a hanging touchpad at the bottom of the track. Once the touchpad is hit, the gate for the next sledge (men's single) opens. We are told this is crucial, obviously one can't miss the pad, one has to be central and not sit up too early. After all four crews have crossed the line, the team with the fastest cumulative time wins, or, as the commentator expresses it, "Be faster - it's a simple solution."
The Romanian men's double team slam into the sides; Poland's men's single goes sideways up to the top; Latvia are 0.3 seconds down on the USA until the last run (women's doubles), when they claw back time to finish 0.03 seconds ahead of them; Austria's men's single slides down the track at 125kph! Times are tight, but the podium is filled with Germany (gold), Austria (silver) and Italy (bronze). It doesn't actually look all that glamorous, as the role of the person at the bottom of the double team must be about as sought after as the arse end of the patomime horse.
Britain hasn't got any competitors in the luge, but we make up for it in the skeleton, which, if possible, is even more bonkers as the competitors do a similar sort of thing, but head-first. There are three Brits in the women's event, two in the men's and two in the mixed team. The athletes slide their sleds along the top of the runway then leap aboard and lie on their stomach, guiding the tea-tray with their shoulders, knees and toes (but hopefully not head) only occasionally looking up to see where they are going, otherwise they navigate by feel.
Matt Weston wins the Men's event for GBR, becoming the first Brtish man to be an Olympic Champion in the sport, with Germans Axel Jungk and Christopher Grotheer taking second and third for Germany. (Marcus Wyatt, our other Brit, comes ninth). Weston's victory is the first by a British man in an individual event since Robin Cousins won gold in 1980, and the first gold by a British man in any event since Christopher Dean's victory in the ice dance in 1984. In the Women's event, the Austrian Janine Flock is first with silver and bronze going to Germany again with Susan Kreher and Jacqueline Pfeifer repsectively. Germany also come fourth and all the Brits finish inside the top ten: fifth (Tabitha Stoecker), seventh (Freya Tarbit) and ninth (Amelia Coltman).
The Mixed Team event is therefore hotly contested (if you can be hot on ice), and consists of a combined time for the male and female athlete with the woman going first. The reaction start is based on a random delay (0.3 to 1 second) after five flashing red lights, with plenty of scope for time penalties should an athlete start before their due (as happened to Flock from the Austrian team). When the woman finishes a green light signals for the man to begin his run, and the teams start in reverse ranking order. It's (white) knuckle biting viewing, and the results are GB fourth (Tarbit/ Wyatt), Germany third (Pfeifer/ Grotheer) and second (Kreher/ Junck) and GB take gold with Stoecker and Weston. Weston thus becomes the first Briton to win two gold medals at a single Games and the second Briton to have won two career gold medals at Winter Olympics, after Lizzy Yarnold who won gold in 2014 and 2018, also in skeleton. What is it with the Brits and their reckless attidue to sliding down ice chutes?
In the Speed Skating the athletes switch from the inner to outer lane, and can get drafting on the back strait. The commentators tell us that the first four laps are to 'set yourself', although it looks hectic from the start and the drone shots (available for the first time) bring us frighteningly close to the action. The Women's 3,000m results in the first women's speedskating medals for Italy (Gold) and Norway (silver). Francesca Lollobrigida wins gold again in the 5,000m. With her green fingernails, home support and small child, she is extremely popular. Incidentally, yes Gina Lollobrigida is her great aunt. The commentators seem surprised that she can even dress herself at the grand old age of 35. She sets a new world record, 0.1 seconds ahead of the second place getter, Merel Conijin from the Netherlands. Conijin seems very happy with her silver medal, less so the Belgian Sandrine Tas in fourth.
Short Track Speed Skating Mixed Team Relay is utterly bonkers and total chaos, like a Madison on ice with amazing changeovers involving shoving the bottom of your relay partner as they take off. The commentators keep saying sentences starting with, "don't count out..." or "Don't underestimate..." Believe me, I'm not! It finishes with a win for Italy, followed by Canada and Belgium - the Belgian speed skating outfits are much better than their parade atire.
The judge bloke walks into the middle of the rink to announce results and give his verdict on challenges and disqualifications -there are a lot of these as the crashes pile up and decisions must be made as to who is at fault. He looks like a Hungarian Rory Kinnear with a matter-of-fact delivery and a wry smile, and he seems to be enjoying his part in proceedings.
In the mens' short-track speed skating 500m there are wipeouts aplenty in every heat. It's like the Wacky Skaters - they're all going to get splattered! - an analogy that is only strengthened by the fact one of the skaters is called Pigeon and they are all trying to catch him in Heat 4. Everyone falls behind the Canadian, William Dandjinou, in Heat 1, but there are advancements to the final (if the athlete is brought down by another competitor and it is deemed that they might have progressed otherwise). In Heat 2, the Italian Pietro Sighel crosses the line backwards after a tangle of skates, but he still secures an automatic qualifying spot.
The British athlete, Niall Treacy, wipes out another contestant in Heat 8 before they even reach the first bend, so the race is restarted. He ends up in another slip and slide, so finishes last in the heat and doesn't go any further in the event anyway. By the time we get to the final, we are left with Canadians (two) and Dutchmen (three). There are two van 'T Wouts, which makes the child in me snigger. Steven Dubois (apparently called the hairy Canadian due to his spectacular beard and mo combo) is clearly leading from the front, skating at 50kph. When Dandjinou attempts to pass the Dutchie on the left hand side it is considered an illegal move and he is given a penalty. The race finishes with Dubois taking gold for Canada and the van 'T Wout brothers (snort) in silver and bronze position.
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