Well, that almost concludes the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, with just the closing ceremony to come. We’ll have a separate liveblog of the closing ceremony, as well as final official results, so please do stick around for that, but here’s a summary of the key events of the last day.
- Sweden defeated South Korea (the garlic girls) 8-3 to win curling gold
- Francesco Friedrich’s four-man German team won bobsleigh gold
- OAR won a classic ice hockey gold medal match, 4-3 against Germany in extra time
- Marit Bjoergen of Norway won gold in the women’s 30km mass start
Bjoergen also became the most successful Winter Olympian ever with eight gold, four silver, and three bronze.
Norway finish on 14 gold!
Thankyou for joining me, but please do hang around for our closing ceremony live blog and official wrap-up later.
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Marit Bjoergen is now the most successful Winter Olympian ever. She now has eight gold, four silver, and three bronze (total of 15 medals) from five Olympic Games.
Those stats! Her 15th medal is also Norway’s 14th gold at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games, a stellar effort for the comparatively small nation!
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On a different note, in case you missed Javier Fernandez’s gala figure skating perfomrance, here’s a video. It was certainly an audience favourite!
😂 😂 😂
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
We still can't get over 🇪🇸 @javierfernandez's skate at the #figureskating gala.
This may be the best performance of all time...#FigureSkating #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/vm8fmKsDrQ
Marit Bjoergen of Norway wins gold in the women's 30km mass start
She won by a fair margin too, a minute and 49.5 seconds. Her winning time was 1:22:17.6, and she finished ahead of Krista Parmakoski from Finland, and Stina Nilsson of Sweden (with 1:24:16.5) who just pipped Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg of Norway.
🇳🇴 Marit Bjoergen wins Norway's 14th #gold of #Pyeongchang2018
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
She takes out the ladies' 30km mass start. What a champion. #CrossCountrySkiing pic.twitter.com/ZxdHw3j7uC
Unbelievably, that was her 15th Olympic medal, and the final of the Pyeongchang Games!
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News is filtering through that the Russian gold-medallist ice hockey athletes sang their national anthem during the medal ceremony. The Olympic anthem plays if an Olympic athlete wins gold, after OAR were banned from having their flag raised or anthem played at any medal ceremonies.
It doesn’t look like anyone is going to catch Marit Bjoergen in the women’s 30km mass start classic. She’s in at 1:18:20.8 at the 28.52km mark, with Krista Parmakoski behind her with... well, we’re still waiting for her.
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We’ve already got a report up on that crazy ice hockey final. Have a read of all the action in much more measured terms than I delivered it here. It was the first gold in men’s hockey for a Russian team since 1992.
Read more: OAR outlast Germany for Olympic ice hockey gold in overtime classic
Let’s not forget the final gold medal event is happening now. In first place is Norway’s Marit Bjoergen (1:01:14.1), followed by Finland’s Krista Parmakoski (1:02:44.7) and Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (1:03:06.8).
This will have a significant impact on the medal table, with Germany currently one gold medal ahead of Norway.
Germany has 14 gold, 10 silver, seven bronze, while Norway has 13 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze.
Wow, still catching my breath from that ice hockey final. Have to feel for the Germans, looked like they couldn’t lose with 55 seconds to go, but the might of the OAR team won out. Not the underdog fairytale many neutral viewers were hoping for, but incredible effort by them to make silver.
OAR win gold in men's ice hockey final 4-3 against Germany (in extra time)
It’s all over, two big saves by Aus den Birken, but he can’t keep them all out, and OAR find the back of the net through Kirill Kaprizov during their powerplay. Germans are devastated – no-one deserved to lose that game! Unbelievable effort by OAR to win 4-3 after they forced extra time with a goal in the last 55 seconds. Huge effort by the Germans who are ranked 10th in the world and were never expected to make it this far.
I’ll agree that that’s one of the best ice hockey finals you’ll ever see!
🥇 GOLDEN GOAL 🥇
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
In one of the best #IceHockey finals you'll ever see, #OAR are crowned the Olympic champions. #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/acbfP9vGbF
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Wow! Huge save by the German goalkeeper, Danny Aus den Birken. Ilya Kovalchuk had the gold medal game and puck on their platter, but he saved it by a leg (literally).
Just over 10 minutes remaining.
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Over-time is sudden death, by the way. So if someone scores, that’s it. Obviously I’ll update as soon as that happens!
Btw, Germany might be huge underdogs, but they have at least one thing going for them.
FYI #GER have won 3 overtime games in #PyeongChang2018
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
Can they do it again? #IceHockey
Did you know? Germany’s men had not won an Olympic hockey game since 2002, and lost their first two games here, 2-5 and 1-2. But since that they’ve gone on to make the final, and also knocked out Sochi’s gold and silver medallists in Canada in the semi-final (who had a 27-1 win-loss record against them) and Sweden in the quarter-final.
They looked set to win their first ever ice hockey gold before that miraculous Gusev goal with 55 seconds left. We’re back on now!
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OK while we all try and calm down a bit, let’s dwell on the fact that EXO are performing at the closing ceremony. For those who don’t know, EXO are a K-Pop supergroup of 12 South Korean and Chinese members who sometimes break down into two sub groups, the Korean-speaking EXO-K and Mandarin-speaking EXO-M. They’ve sold more than 8m albums and won more than 100 music awards.
I should confess, I’m more of a J-Rock than a K-Pop fan, but i’m pretty excited about this.
Also performing will be K-Pop artist CL (former member of 2NE1).
Ice hockey gold medal match goes into over-time at 3-3
Wow. This is absolutely insane. There’ll be an intermission and then 20 mins of over-time. OAR took a 2-1 lead and looked set to win the gold with less than seven minutes remaining. However, Germany responded with a goal just 10 seconds after. They then looked winners after taking a 3-2 lead with three minutes remaining, only for OAR to find an equaliser with 55 seconds remaining. How can you not love sport?
I can’t believe it, there’s only 55 seconds remaining and now OAR have scored! It’s 3-3. This is madness! Guess who? Nikita Gusev!
#OAR SCORE WITH A MINUTE REMAINING.#IceHockey #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/TwxAfvXoHm
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
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Germany score again! Jonas Muller! It’s 3-2. I think it’s gold to Germany now. Wow.
You're kidding me!!#GER take the lead in the gold medal game with 3min remaining. This #icehockey final has been incredible. #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/8AZ6Ord0tG
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
Eurosport DE are keeping me entertained. (Their last tweet, after the Russian goal, was simply ‘Nein.’)
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
— Eurosport DE (@Eurosport_DE) February 25, 2018
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Let’s test my German. “What a competition. What a game. What an important answer” ?
Altaaaaaaa...was ein Turnier! Was ein Spiel! Was eine wichtige Antwort #OARGER
— Rick Goldmann (@RickGoldmann) February 25, 2018
Here’s the incredible response.
#GER answer!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
What a finale to #PyeongChang2018 this is. #IceHockey pic.twitter.com/WTKNKBrl14
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OAR have scored! It’s 2-1 and that might just be the gold medal! Incredible goal from Nikita Gusev - much more well-known for his assists than goals.
WAIT! Germany have scored immediately – 10 seconds between goals! It’s level again! Wow. That one goes to Dominik Kahun, unbelievable stuff from the Germans to get the immediate response.
Here’s a video of the Gusev goal, which I admit I thought would be the winner.
Goal of the tournament!!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
That is ridiculous from 🇷🇺Nikita Gusev. 😮🔥 #IceHockey pic.twitter.com/Dqbi9ZKmgO
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This is a VERY tense ice hockey final, and there’s only seven minutes left now. I will update as soon as anything significant happens. Both teams look exhausted.
It's official folks. We've got a nail-biter.#IceHockey #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/lyIIhLYe7N
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 25, 2018
For those wondering, this is the second-last gold medal to be awarded at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. After this we have the Ladies’ 30km mass start classic, before the closing ceremony at 20:00 local time (10pm AEDT).
There’s just 13 minutes left in the gold medal ice hockey game between Germany and the OAR and things are still all tied up at 1-1. This would be huge if the Germans can pull off victory, given they’re only 10th in the world rankings!
We also have some figure skating action happening today, with the gala exhibition event. The gala is traditionally the final event of a major figure skating competition and allows skaters to perform unconventional moves and routines (this one has so far included various rap routines, and Alina Zagitova in a tiger costume). Other highlights included Spain’s bronze medalist Javier Fernandez running an aerobics class and performing pushups to “let’s get physical” and stripping down to a Superman cape. There was also a rendition of “Barbie Girl” from Valentina Marchei and Ondrej Hotarek.
Francesco Friedrich's four-man German team win bobsleigh gold
Meanwhile, in the bobsleigh, Franceso Friedrich’s four-man team won gold to complete Germany’s sweep of all bobsleigh gold medals (women, four man and two man, where they drew with Canada).
Their combined time of three minutes, 15.85 seconds was enough to finish 0.53 seconds ahead of Won-Yun’s South Korean team, who tied for silver with Nico Walther’s German team. Walther’s team included 39-year-old and four-time gold medal winner Kevin Kuske, who had decided to compete in one last Olympics after the German team failed to make the podium in Sochi and now becomes the most successful bobsledder.
South Korea’s medal was their first in bobsleigh.
Sweden win gold in women's curling, defeating South Korea 8-3
We had the women’s curling gold medal match today, and, despite the parochial support of their home crowd, the Garlic Girls were unable to triumph.
Sweden beat South Korea 8-3 to claim their third women’s curling gold medal in four Winter Games on Sunday, ending the ‘Garlic Girls’ fairytale Olympic run that captivated the home nation. While Sweden confirmed their status as the dominant force in women’s curling, Korea’s silver marked a major Asian breakthrough in the sport with two teams on the podium after Japan defeated Britain on Saturday to take the bronze. The only previous Asian team to win an Olympic medal were China’s women, who won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
“Just thinking about the journey it makes me almost want to cry,” said Sweden skip Anna Hasselborg. “In 2015 we had this team together every single day since then we have worked so hard to reach this game. Team Kim has really worked well and worked hard for the last couple of years and we have a lot of respect in that team. People ask if I’m surprised of them being in the final game, I was not surprised at all they played better and better. The Asian teams had strong performances here. It’s good for the curling sport.”
With a Swedish rink in the final for the fourth consecutive Olympics, Hasselborg’s team played with cool confidence while the charismatic Korean four from a small garlic-growing county who had been thrust into the global spotlight, seemed to finally wilt under the immense pressure.
“It’s an honour for us to win South Korea’s first silver medal and we have faced many struggles to come this far,” said Korean skip Kim Eun-jung. “Today Sweden showed a really perfect game and great shots enough to go to the top place. I even thought whether I should change my name to Kim Geum-jung from Kim Eun-jung because we’ve lost several times in the finals.” Eun means silver in Korean and Geum means gold.
One of four golds to be decided on the final day, Korean fans packed the Gangneung Curling Centre and began with a roar when the ‘Garlic Girls’ scored the first point but the mood slowly soured as Sweden took control. The Swedes hit back in the third scoring twice on a last stone draw from Hasselborg that triggered groans from the crowd. In the fourth end with Sweden lying shot rock, Korea skip Kim Eun-jung attempted a raised take out that backfired and allowed the Swedes to steal a point. There was more trouble in the fifth for Korea when Kim Eun-jung failed to take out two Sweden stones leaving one for another steal.
Korea scored one in the sixth but handed the hammer back to Sweden, who put the match out of reach the next end with a three to surge ahead 7-2. Korea got one back in the eighth but when Sweden answered with a single in the ninth the Koreans huddled and after a brief discussion walked over and shook hands. They then lined up turned and bowed before leaving the ice to a standing ovation in tears. - Reuters
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There’s plenty of Russian flags in the crowd at this game, but the Olympics’ Russian athletes won’t be marching under the Russian flag in the closing ceremony later today. As Sean Ingle reports, the IOC has ruled as such because of the Russians’ two failed drug tests at the Games. However, they have also announced that the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), which was suspended in December because of massive state-sponsored doping in Sochi four years’ ago, could return to the Olympic fold as soon as this week.
This from IOC executive president Thomas Bach: “Subject to continued compliance of December 5, the suspension of the ROC is considered to be lifted once it is confirmed there are no additional doping cases by members of the OAR delegation.”
Read more: IOC bans athletes from marching under Russian flag in closing ceremony
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Germany hit back to tie the grand final match at 1-1!
Felix Schutz scores after an excellent pass from Brooks Macek. But there’s a query on it - review for possible kicking action - perhaps a question on Patrick Hager. Can’t see that on the replay... good goal is the call! So it should have been.
Eurosport Deutschland are excited.
JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
— Eurosport DE (@Eurosport_DE) February 25, 2018
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The first score went to Vyacheslav Voinov, ordinarily a defender, with the assist from Kirill Kaprizov. The first period was played at a frenetic pace, with plenty of big hits, adrenalin and nerves. Both teams seem to be hitting their groove in this second period.
We’ve got a live gold medal match happening, with the men’s ice hockey final being played between Germany and the OAR. So far, it’s good news for the Olympic athletes from Russia, who are 1-0 up in the second period.
Marcus Kink looks to have sustained a shoulder injury for Germany, which is a blow.
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Welcome to day 16
Hello everyone and welcome to the final day of Winter Olympics action. I’ll be here shortly to update you on what has happened today, with several final gold medals decided, and one still in play.
We’ll also have a final live blog launch later to cover all the festivities from the closing ceremony, with some controversy already with the IOC banning athletes from marching under the Russian flag in the closing ceremony.
Read more: IOC bans athletes from marching under Russian flag in closing ceremony
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