Kryon Berlin Tour & Seminar - Berlin, Germany, Sept 17-22 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Kryon Berlin Tour & Seminar - Berlin, Germany, Sept 17-22 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Council of Europe (CoE) - European Human Rights Court - founding fathers (1949)

Council of Europe (CoE) - European Human Rights Court - founding fathers (1949)
French National Assembly head Edouard Herriot and British Foreign minister Ernest Bevin surrounded by Italian, Luxembourg and other delegates at the first meeting of Council of Europe's Consultative Assembly in Strasbourg, August 1949 (AFP Photo)

EU founding fathers signed 'blank' Treaty of Rome (1957)

EU founding fathers signed 'blank' Treaty of Rome (1957)
The Treaty of Rome was signed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, one of the Renaissance palaces that line the Michelangelo-designed Capitoline Square in the Italian capital

Shuttered: EU ditches summit 'family photo'

Shuttered: EU ditches summit 'family photo'
EU leaders pose for a family photo during the European Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 28, 2016 (AFP Photo/JOHN THYS)

European Political Community

European Political Community
Given a rather unclear agenda, the family photo looked set to become a highlight of the meeting bringing together EU leaders alongside those of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Britain, Kosovo, Switzerland and Turkey © Ludovic MARIN

Merkel says fall of Wall proves 'dreams can come true'


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)




"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Showing posts with label Sochi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sochi. Show all posts

Monday, March 24, 2014

G7 snubs Russia summit over Ukraine crisis

Google – AFPJan Hennop in The Hague and Dmitry Zaks in Kiev (AFP), 24 March 2014

G7 leaders meet at the official residence of the Dutch prime minister in
The Hague on March 24, 2014 (AFP, Saul Loeb)

The Hague — The G7 group of top economic powers on Monday scrapped a planned meeting to be hosted by Russia as they sought to deepen Moscow's isolation over the Ukraine crisis.

After emergency talks on the Ukraine crisis called by US President Barack Obama, the G7 said they would hold a meeting in Brussels without Russia instead of the wider G8 summit that was to have taken place in Sochi.

The G7 also threatened tougher sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea that has plunged relations between the West and Moscow to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
 holds a press conference in The Hague
 on March 24, 2014 on the sidelines of
 the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) (Pool/
AFP, Evert-Jan Daniels)
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defiantly dismissed such a move as "no great tragedy" after separate talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya.

"If our Western partners think that this format has outlived itself, then so be it," Lavrov told reporters.

"We are not trying to hold on to this format, and we see no great tragedy if it (the G8) does not meet," Lavrov said, insisting that Crimea has "a right to self determination."

Russia's takeover of the region was not "malicious intent," said Lavrov but was to "protect the Russians who have been living there for hundreds of years."

Concern over missing troops

Kerry met with Lavrov for over an hour earlier in the day, his spokeswoman Marie Harf said, welcoming the Russia-Ukraine talks, the highest level contact between Russia and Ukraine since the start of the crisis.

He reiterated to Lavrov US concern about the massing of Russian troops on Ukraine's border and the treatment of Ukrainian troops, "including many Ukrainian service members who are missing," Harf said.

Kerry reminded Lavrov that Obama has signed an executive order "that provides the flexibility to sanction specific industries if Russia continues to take escalatory steps," Harf said, urging Russia to de-escalate the situation and pursue a dialogue with the Ukrainian government.

Ahead of the talks, Obama stressed that Europe and the United States were "united in our support of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people" and "united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a G7 meeting at the official residence
 of the Dutch premier in The Hague on March 24, 2014 on the sidelines of the
Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) (Pool/AFP, Jerry Lampen)

In Crimea, Russian forces stormed a Ukrainian navy ship, with an AFP correspondent reporting plumes of smoke as a Ukrainian defence spokesman said the crew had fired smoke grenades in self-defence.

Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Deshchytsya stressed that Kiev sought to resolve the crisis through diplomacy.

"The position of the Ukrainian government is to use all peaceful means, all diplomatic and economic means to resolve this conflict peacefully," Deshchytsya told reporters.

"However, we don't know what are the Russian plans. What the plans of President (Vladimir) Putin (are). That's why we ask for meetings with the Russians," he said, before holding talks with Lavrov.

'Enormous loss'

The diplomatic efforts came as Ukrainian authorities pulled out all servicemen and their families to the mainland.

In a televised address to the nation, Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said a decision had been taken "to conduct a redeployment of military units stationed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea".

Turchynov's announcement came less than a month after Putin won authorisation to use force in response to the February 22 ouster of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych's regime by more nationalist leaders who are seeking a closer alliance with Europe.

Russian military ships, including former
 the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky (2nd R),
 which was seized by pro-Russian forces
 last week, are moored in the bay of the
 Crimean city of Sevastopol on March 24,
 2014 (AFP, Viktor Drachev)
Ukraine's increasingly demoralised forces had been steadily losing ground on the Black Sea peninsula and saw their main airbase outside the regional capital Simferopol stormed on Saturday.

Earlier Monday, the White House said it was "very concerned" about the risk of escalation as Russia massed its troops on Ukraine's eastern border.

A top NATO commander had warned that the Western military alliance was carefully watching massive Russian troop formations that could theoretically make a push across the vast ex-Soviet country at any point.

Moscow has denied any such plans despite Putin's open ambition to resurrect vestiges of the Soviet empire and stamp his authority over eastern European nations that sought protection from the West following the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

But the Kremlin has made clear it intends to "protect" compatriots in the Russified southeastern swaths of Ukraine that it says have been victimised by violent nationalists since last month's rise to power of a pro-European team.

The Kremlin stamped its claim on Crimea on Monday with a symbolic visit by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu -- the first top Moscow official to visit the mostly Russian-speaking region of two million people since its March 16 independence referendum.

Related Articles:


Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers talk again, for the
first time since Crimean raid. (NSS, The Hague)


Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sochi Paralympics draw to close in Russia

Deutsche Welle, 16 March 2014

The Sochi Paralympics have ended in Russia, with the host nation's athletes topping the medals table. President Vladimir Putin thanked sporting officials for not making an issue of developments in nearby Ukraine.


Russia staged the closing ceremony of the Sochi Paralympics on Sunday, with the hosts taking top spot on the medal table with 30 golds.

They finished well ahead of Germany, who had nine first-place finishes, while Canada took third, with seven golds.

"The games have been absolutely mind-blowing in terms of their impact, far beyond what the Paralympic Movement expected when coming here," International Paralympic Committee President Sir Philip Craven said. "They have been a spectacular showcase of sport and the power of the human spirit," he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony at the Fisht Stadium, where a choreographed routine of dancers in wheelchairs formed part of the spectacle. The event took place on the same day as a controversial referendum on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea about whether the country should secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

Although concerns about alleged Russian intervention in Crimea have been voiced, the Ukrainian team remained in Sochi for the duration of the competition.

Earlier in the day, Putin thanked sporting officials for "keeping the Paralympics away from politics."

Ukrainian Paralympic Committee President Valeriy Sushkevych said that he feared the team could be returning to a country on the brink of greater conflict after the close of the games. He expressed a wish that Putin recognize "the danger of what we call war."

Fourth place on the table went to Ukraine, which finished with five gold medals.

The ceremony brought to an end the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which began on February 7.

rc/mkg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Sochi Winter Olympics end with glitzy, emotional closing ceremony

Deutsche Welle, 23 February 2014

The Sochi Winter Games have wrapped up with the closing ceremony held in the Fisht Olympic Stadium. The next Winter Games are to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018.



The Games ended on Sunday night as they do at every Games, be they summer or winter, with the Olympic Flame being extinguished. This time, it was a larger-than-life mechanical bear that "blew out" the flame towards the end of a glitzy, emotional closing ceremony.

At the start of the ceremony, which ran for well over two hours, the organizers of the Sochi Games proved that they were capable of a little self-depreciating humor.

As around 700 dancers formed the five Olympic rings on the floor of the Fisht Stadium, they delayed forming the fifth one, in a nod to a malfunction during the opening ceremony, in which the same top right ring failed to illuminate.

The packed house cheered as the spectators realized what was happening, as the dancers representing that ring remained in a smaller, filled circle. They then roared their approval a few second later when the dancers spread apart to form the fully-shaped ring.

Over the next couple of hours the spectators in the stadium as well as those watching on television around the world saw a closing ceremony filled with pageantry and protocol.

Russian culture

Among those who performed at the ceremony were dancers from the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky ballet companies, two of the world's oldest.

At another point the faces of famous Russian authors were projected onto huge screens, and a pile of books transformed into a swirling, loose pages.

Hundreds of athletes who had not yet left Sochi also entered the stadium, led by the winners of Russia's record 13 gold medals, who carried the country's white, blue and red flag, which was raised alongside the Olympic flag.

Lavish praise from the IOC president

Russian President Vladimir Putin was among those watching from the stands, as the president of the International Olympic Committee, Germany's Thomas Bach, delivered lavish praise of the Games.

"Russia delivered all what it had promised," Bach said. "What took decades in other parts of the world was achieved here in just seven years," he added.

"I would like to thank the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin, for his personal commitment to the extraordinary success of these Olympic Winter Games," Bach concluded.

Also during the ceremony, the Olympic flag was lowered and handed to the host of the next Winter Games, South Korea.

"I declare the 22nd Olympic Winter Games closed. In accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in PyeongChang to celebrate with us the 23rd Olympic Winter Games," Bach said.

pfd/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)


Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) toasts a glass of champagne with Prime
 Minister Dmitry Medvedev (L) and figure skating coach Tatiana Tarasova (R) in
 the presidential lounge at the Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014
(Pool/AFP, David Goldman)

Related Article:



Table of gold, silver and bronze medals
per country (AFP)

Friday, February 21, 2014

Tearful Ukrainians win Sochi gold for grieving nation

Google – AFP, Alexandre Fedorets (AFP), 21 February 2014

Ukraine's Valj Semerenko, Olena Pidhrushna, Juliya Dzhyma and Vita Semerenko
 celebrate after winning the Women's Biathlon 4x6 km Relay at the Laura Cross-
Country Ski and Biathlon Center on February 21, 2014 (AFP, Odd Andersen)

Rosa Khutor — Ukraine on Friday raced to a famous victory in the women's team biathlon relay at the Sochi Olympics, dedicating their inspirational performance to a nation grieving over the deadly violence that claimed dozens of lives.

The president of Ukraine's Olympic Committee, former pole vault great Sergey Bubka, said the victory could help unite his country and bring peace after days of clashes between security forces and protesters.

The team led from the start in the 4x6 km relay race, finishing in 1hr 10min 2.5sec, defeating second-place Russia by 26.4 seconds. Norway took the bronze.

Ukraine's Olena Pidhrushna crosses the
 finish line in the Women's Biathlon 4x6 km
 Relay at the Laura Cross-Country Ski
 and Biathlon Center on February 21, 2014
 (AFP, Odd Andersen)
Ukraine's anchorwoman Olena Pidhrushna was embraced in delight by her tearful teammates as she crossed the line, too exhausted to celebrate.

"We are proud of them. We supported from the stands with our ribbons of grief and our flags on which were written, 'For Peace! For Ukraine!'" said Bubka.

"We dedicate this victory to all the Ukrainian people. I believe that in this hard time for the country this medal can unite us and make peace, calm and prosperity reign in Ukraine," he added.

Vita Semerenko, a bronze medal winner earlier in the Games, started the race with fiery determination and her lead was bolstered by the little known Juliya Dzhyma on the second leg.

Valj Semerenko, twin sister of Vita, had a shaky final standing shooting, missing three targets, but Pidhrushna held her nerve to keep Russia's Olga Vilukhina from taking the gold for the hosts.

-'Tears for the whole country'-

Before their post-race press conference, the girls had held a minute of silence to remember the victims of the carnage that left nearly 100 dead.

"We gave our people some positive feelings," said Pidhrushna of the race.

Pidhrushna's husband is Olexiy Kaida, an MP for the strongly anti-regime nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) Party. But she said the victory was for all Ukrainians.

"This joy is for them all. For those who are standing on the Maidan and for the other side as well," she added, referring to Independence Square in Kiev which is the hub of the protest movement.

She said her husband had "protected me from everything that is happening at home."

"We only know the minimum of what is happening there and that is a good thing," she added.

Valj Semerenko admitted she could not hold back her emotions on the podium for the flower ceremony after the race.

"When I was on the podium I couldn't stop crying. I tried to calm down and was trying to hide it behind my skis."

"They were tears of happiness, not only mine, but of the whole country, our team."

Her sister Vita added: "We haven't realised it yet. It is the dream of a whole lifetime. Our dream and the dream of the whole of Ukraine has come true. We are champions."

Ukraine's Olena Pidhrushna competes at the range to win gold in the Women's
 Biathlon 4x6 km Relay at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center during
 the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 21, 2014, in Rosa Khutor, near Sochi 
(AFP, Kirill Kudryavtsev)

There had been speculation that Ukraine's team could even leave the Olympics because of the violence at home but Bubka had insisted they should stay to help unify the nation.

Pidhrushna said the troubles at home had not affected their preparations as they had tried simply to concentrate on the race.

"None of us wanted to return home from the Games early. I think that refusing to start would have been a bad idea, as with our win we can help our compatriots keep our country united," she added.

Tora Berger of Norway, who anchored her country to bronze, said that Ukraine fully deserved their victory.

"I'm very happy that Ukraine won today. I saw the news on TV, The situation there (Ukraine) is terrible," said Berger.

"They were the best of us today and won this race deservedly."

Until Friday, Ukraine had endured a relatively poor Games, with just the one bronze medal won by Vita Semerenko in the women's biathlon sprint.

The athletes themselves had not worn black armbands to remember the dead, in line with IOC stipulations that sports events should not be used for any kind of demonstrations.

First doping shocks hit Sochi Games

Google – AFP, Stuart Williams (AFP), 21 February 2014

Germany's Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle leaves the shooting range in the Women's
 Biathlon 12.5km Mass Start at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center
on February 17, 2014 (AFP/File, Alberto Pizzoli)

Sochi — The first doping cases to hit the 2014 Sochi Games emerged Friday after a double gold-medal winning German female biathlete and an Italian bobsledder tested positive for banned substances.

German biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, who has won two gold medals at previous Olympic Games, confirmed she had tasted positive, describing it as the "worst nightmare you can imagine".

Meanwhile, the Italian Olympic Committee said Italian bobsledder William Frullani had tested positive for a banned substance and had already been kicked out of the Sochi Games.

The news that a well known athlete as Sachenbacher-Stehle has failed a doping test has caused shock waves in Germany, which for years has prided itself on its tough anti-doping fight.

"I cannot explain how this positive doping test came about," Sachenbacher-Stehle said in a statement, adding that she had had all her dietary supplements tested in a laboratory.

Reports said that the positive test -- carried out on February 17 -- may have come about due to contamination from imported energy bars.

"I am living through the worst nightmare that you can imagine," she added.

"I can only assure everyone that I have never knowingly taken a banned substance and will do everything to clear this up so there are no questions," she added.

Frullani, 34, tested positive on February 18 for the banned substance dymetylpentylamine. He has been replaced in the Italian four-man bobsleigh team by Samuele Romanini.

- 'A great disappointment' -

The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) said in a statement that both Sachenbacher-Stehle's 'A' and 'B' samples had tested positive for the stimulant methylhexanamin.

It said she appeared before an IOC disciplinary commission, has now been excluded from the German team and was leaving Sochi immediately.

Germany's Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle leaves the shooting range in the Biathlon
 mixed 2x6 km + 2x7,5 km Relay at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon
Center on February 19, 2014 (AFP/File, Odd Andersen)

"Every doping case is a great disappointment. But it is also proof that the control system works," said Germany's chef-de-mission Michael Vesper.

Sachenbacher-Stehle, 33, spent most of her long career as a cross country skier before switching last season to biathlon, which mixes both cross country skiing and shooting.

It was as a cross country skier that she won gold in the 4x5 km relay in the Salt Lake City Games of 2002 and then gold in the team sprint in Vancouver 2010.

Sachenbacher-Stehle already hit controversy at the Turin Olympics of 2006 when she and several other athletes were given a five-day ban from competition due to excessive levels of haemogloblin.

She argued that the finding was due to a genetic condition and not due to doping.

At Sochi, her best results were fourth place in the women's mass start and also fourth place in the mixed relay.

She had announced Thursday that she had not been included in the women's biathlon relay Friday.

"It is sad for all of us and a shock," the head coach of Germany's national cross country team Frank Ullrich told AFP's German sports subsidiary SID.

Her brother Josef told the mass-circulation daily Bild: "She has nothing to reproach herself for. She despises this (doping) and would never dope."

The last Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010 produced only one positive doping test in the course of the Games.

Olympics chiefs believe they are winning in the fight against doping, after the Salt Lake City Games of 2002 and the Turin Games of 2006 produced seven positive tests apiece.

The IOC, which oversees drug testing at the Olympic Games, is carrying out almost 2,500 drug tests at Sochi 2014 with an extra emphasis on out-of-competition tests.

IOC medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist earlier in the Games warned athletes that a new 10-year period of storing samples and increasingly sophisticated methods meant there was nowhere for cheats to hide.

"The message to athletes is that if you cheat and if we don't find you now, we may find you later. But we will certainly find you sooner or later," he said.

Related Articles:

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Jean-Frédéric Chapuis takes Sochi gold as France sweeps ski-cross podium

• Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol complete sweep
• Brady Leman of Canada falls in final

theguardian.comAmanda HolpuchThursday 20 February 2014

Right to left: JF Chapuis, Arnaud Bovolenta, Jonathan Midol of France and
Brady Leman of Canada make a jump in the ski-cross final. Photo: Getty Images

France completed its first sweep of a Winter Olympics podium on Thursday, taking all three medals in the men’s ski cross.

The gold medal winner, Jean-Frédéric Chapuis, lead for most of the race and Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol stayed close behind at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

Canada’s Brady Leman managed short stints in third and second place before the Frenchmen edged him out. He fell shortly after. Each ski-cross race has four skiers racing side-by-side over jumps and turns through several qualification rounds.

“Two good friends. I can’t explain how it feels,” Midol told the Associated Press. “We had a dream to make the podium with friends. The Olympic Games, three French on the podium is incredible.”

The last time France swept an Olympic podium was at the 1924 Paris Summer Games. This is the sixth podium sweep at the Sochi Olympics.

Ardaud Bovolenta (blue), Jean Frederic Chapuis (green)
and Jonathan Midol (yellow). Photograph: Jussi Nukari/Rex

The favorite, Victor Oehling Norberg of Sweden, failed to make it past the quarterfinals, despite coming into the event with the top ranking this World Cup season. David Duncan of Canada and Andreas Matt of Austria, ranked second and third in this season’s standings, also failed to get past the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinal, a huge crash on the final jump caused a photo finish as threeskiers tumbled over the finish line, including Russia’s Egor Korotkov, who took the second qualifying spot. Norberg had been in the lead before the fall, but failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the three-man photo finish.

Related Articles:

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Canadian hailed for helping Russian skier finish

Googe – AFP, 12 February 2014

Russia's Anton Gafarov is helped by Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth after
 crashing in the men's cross-country skiing semi-finals during the Sochi Winter
Olympics on February 11, 2014 (AFP, Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Sochi — A Canadian coach was applauded on Wednesday for showing the true spirit of the Olympics when he helped a Russian cross country skier to finish after breaking a ski in a crash.

Russia's Anton Gafarov was competing in the semi-finals of the men's sprint on Tuesday when he fell on a high speed hairpin bend that caused problems throughout the competition.

His left ski badly damaged, Gafarov still tried to limp to the finish but then the ski disintegrated entirely.

With Gafarov facing the prospect of skiing on one leg to the end, a Canadian coach rushed to his aid and gave him a ski which Gafarov used to ski to the finish several minutes behind the leaders.

"It is entirely to be applauded, and that's one of the things why we all love the Olympics," said International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams.

"As well as being an amazing elite sport, there is something special as well, there are values underlying it as well," he added.

Sochi 2014 spokeswoman Alexandra Kosterina added: "It is just the essence of the Olympic Games, the Olympic spirit, in its core. So I think that is great."

The coach was named as Canadian cross country ski coach Justin Wadsworth.

"It was like watching an animal stuck in a trap. You can't just sit there and do nothing about it," Wadsworth was quoted as saying by the Toronto Star.

Quite why no Russian coach was on hand to help the unfortunate Gafarov -- and that it needed a foreigner to come to his rescue -- remains a mystery.

"I just had one aim -- to get to the end," Gafarov told Russian sports website sportsdaily.ru. "Some foreigner then gave me skis from a different firm."

Gafarov finished the race to huge cheers from Russian supporters but visibly upset after missing out on his chance for a place in the final.

He blasted the track as "unfit for the Olympics", saying he had fallen as his ski had ploughed into a clump of snow that had not been removed.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Dutch speedskater Irene Wust wins the women’s 3,000 - disappointment for Pechstein

Deutsche Welle, 9 February 2014

Germany's veteran speedskating star Claudia Pechstein has failed in her first shot at a medal at the Sochi Games. The Netherlands, meanwhile, captured another speedskating gold.


Irene Wust of Netherlands captured gold in the women's 3,000 meters on the speedskating oval at the Sochi Olympics on Sunday, with a winning time of 4 minutes, 0.34 seconds over the seven and a half laps.

Martina Sablikova of Czech Republic, who won gold in Vancouver four years ago, took the silver medal, while Olga Graf of Russia captured the bronze, giving the host nation their first silverware at these Winter Games.

Wust's victory comes a day after Sven Kramer's victory in the men's 5,000 meters, as speedskaters from the Netherlands swept the entire podium in that event.

Germany's Claudia Pechstein, who had missed the 2010 Vancouver Games due to a controversial doping ban, failed to reach the podium, finishing with a time of four minutes, 5.26 seconds to come in fourth.

This had been seen as the German team's first good chance at a medal in Sochi. Pechstein, the world's most successful speedskater at the Olympics, with a total of five career medals, will get a second chance to take home some silverware at Sochi on February 19, in the women's 5,000 meters.

Austrian gold

In alpine skiing earlier in the day, Matthias Mayer of Austria pulled off an upset,winning the men’s downhill with a time of two minutes and 6.23 seconds. This was Austria’s first Olympic gold medal in the downhill, since Fritz Strobel did so at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

pfd/msh (AP, dpa)

Irene Wust (c), Olga Graf (l) and Martina Sablikova (r) (NOS/AFP)

Vladimir Putin on Sunday paid a flying visit to the Holland House in
Sochi and embraced Wüst (NOS)

Saturday, February 8, 2014

New Olympic record in Netherlands sweep of men’s 5,000 in speedskating

Deutsche Welle, 8 February 2014

Sven Kramer has set a new Olympic record as he led a Dutch sweep of the podium for the men’s 5,000-meter speedskating race. In so doing, he also successfully defended his title from the Vancouver Games.


Kramer raced around the oval at Sochi with extremely consistent laps on Saturday, all falling within a range of eight tenths of a second, to win the gold medal with a time of 6 minutes, 10.76 seconds. This was almost four seconds faster than the previous Olympic record, which the 27-year-old Kramer (pictured above middle) had set on his way to winning gold at the Vancouver Winter Olympics four years ago.

Kramer's result was also nearly five seconds better than that of fellow countryman Jan Blokhuijsen (above left), who took the silver medal. Jorrit Bergsma (right) captured bronze to complete the Dutch sweep of the podium, with the country's king, queen and prime minister among the spectators in the stadlum.

"What can you say? We could never have hoped for such a great result," Dutch King Willem-Alexander said afterwards. "That Sven was able to deliver despite such pressure, it leaves me speechless. What can you say, such a great Olympic record."

Past disappointment

Kramer travelled to Sochi determined to take the two longest men's speedskating events after disappointments at past Olympics. In the 10,000 in Vancouver, he was disqualified after switching into the wrong lane on the instructions of his coach. Four years earlier in Turin, he clipped a lane marker in the team pursuit, knocking out the heavily favored Dutch squad.

Earlier in the day, the first medals were awarded, with US snowboarder Sage Kostemburg claiming gold in slopestyle snowboarding, and Norway's Marit Bjoergen taking her country's first gold medal in the 15-kilometer cross-country skiathlon.

pfd/tj (Reuters, AP)

(NOS)



Dutch King and Queen on their way to speedskating (NOS/ANP)