Day 14 Winter Olympics: Today at the Games

speed skating. Join us in a moment. The Winter Olympics: Day 14.

CLARE BADLING: Hello and welcome. I hope you took your broom to work

with you today and you rocked the house. The good news is that it is a

transferable skill so it will last children a lifetime with the

courses, dogs, cats and the other people with brooms, I'm not so sure.

Today was going to to be good for Great Britain because the male

curlers were in a gold medal match against Canada. We have got that

coming up shortly as well as everything that happened in the

short track speed skating wet Elise Christie went in Britain -- where

Elise Christie. We have got a lot but we stuck with the action in the

Ice Cube and Matthew Pinsent got the call-up. There is a perception about

curling that it is a gentle, genteel sport but somehow it stand out from

the rest of the other big events but make no mistake, on the ice, this is

going to be a battle. In David Murdoch, we have a leader

who has been defeated before, both in Turin and Vancouver ending badly.

But he believes that this is his time. He also knows that these

chances do not come along very often. To finally be here after

putting in so much work with these guys, it is the ultimate dream come

true. We will do everything we can, fight to the absolute last and I

will play that shots to win. Do you go through the same torture that

everybody else does watching this board? The macro I have been

watching this for 20 years with the family and I tend to be the quieter

one. Maybe get anxious towards the end. He is an amazing skip and

leader. Yes, he leads the others on and drives them to play the shots

that they do. But ultimately, that is curling, it comes down to him.

Yes, that's right. That is when I get a flatter! The first end was

dramatic, Murdoch needed to limit the damage in the fourth.

COMMENTATOR: This needs to ball right for him, he need some luck.

The sweepers are just watching it and they will guide it in. A nice

draw from the Canadian skip. They have the early lead. At the end of

the macro one, they are two behind and then Murdoch went straight into

the Hubble -- at the end of end one. Britain got one back in the second.

It will be close, it is one but not the two that he wanted. The mistakes

were creeping in. Got to catch the guard... Oh, dear. They need to work

that hard to get past the stone. We have been hanging on and asking

David Murdoch to make the big shots and he said he couldn't keep doing

that and even up to three ends, he has been trying to rescue his team.

They could not be getting any worse. This has got to be right. He

has got to get the two here. He is just looking to get an edge on this.

It needs to move... Has got anything now it is starting to turn?

Has he even got one? Move your head, we can't see!

That was close but yet another little notch ratcheted up. Canada's

grip on this match. With one end to go before the break, getting back on

the board was crucial. They have done well and this should

be good enough for one, I hope and I think it is. Pretty close to a

terrible start? It is not the start we wanted against a team of this

calibre. We wanted to keep the score close. Is it all over? , no, not

until it is over, not until the final stone. If we can get the two

back and then put the pressure on to get the scoreline tighter and put

pressure on Canada, we need to step up a gear and play some more shots.

Great Britain were really up against it.

A big gap now. This is a huge mountain to climb. Not a lot of

chance if anything. Eight - two after six ends. Murdoch's men needed

the hammer and needed to score two to get any chance of getting into

the game -- the men have got the hammer. , no. That is sad. It has

been the story of this Olympic final.

So eight - three down and Murdoch had very few options. It has been a

great campaign during these Olympic Games and while they have fought

hard in this final two resurrect something to get something going, it

has been an uphill struggle. So Brad Jacobs sending down what could be

the last stone here. Interesting to see what David Murdoch does if this

happens. He just needs to sit here and he does. Canada lead 9-3 and

there is a discussion going on with the British team. And that his aid.

This is a game over. Enough is enough, Brad Jacobs and his team are

the gold medallists with Dave Murdoch and his team, they will

reflect surely in the coming hours on a silver medal which was

thoroughly deserved. CLARE BADLING: Some, concession in

the end, it was too much, the Canadians to strong but please

welcome our silver medal winning meant's curling team!

We have the skip, David Murdoch, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews,

Michael Goodfellow and the alternate Tom Brewster. Many congratulations

and David, I said to you did you want to listen to that and you said

"no, not really!". Not in any stage did it look like it would fall right

for you. No, we wanted to get to a good start and we did not get the

confidence. How proud are you the youngster sitting alongside you?

Real proud. It has been an incredible few years with the team.

Really proud the effort. There has been... They have been great days,

tough days and today was one of the slightly tougher days and yesterday

and the day before was one of the good days and that is curling, it is

a roller-coaster. I am really proud of every one of the guys. It has

been an incredible achievement and an incredible fortnight. Greg, for

you, the first Olympics for the three of you. David has been around

a while, how much did you want to try to win a medal not just for

yourself but for him as well? We came in believing we could win a

medal and David having been at a few Olympics, we try to take as much

experience from him as we could in order to help us achieve that dream

of winning an Olympic medal. When we won the semifinal, the aftermath was

phenomenal. Today was an opportunity of a lifetime to win a gold medal

and unfortunately it did not quite happen but we are still proud of our

efforts. Scott, maybe that is the effort to concentrate on, the wins

against Sweden and Norway, they were massive. On Friday, we were 5-1

against Denmark and we fought back and got the victory. Unfortunately

we knew against Norway if we won, it was then us through and that did not

quite go to plan and then the Canada game did not go to plan, neither did

the China game but we've got to a tie-break in that and we came

through that and got to the semifinal and got to the final today

and that was unbelievable. Michael, can I ask you a question about how

tough the Canadians are? They are confident to eight degree -- to a

degree. They are known for getting themselves pumped up. That is the

way they are and we tried not to get distracted by that. It works for

them and nothing wrong with it. Tom, for you, watching from a unique

perspective, what have you learned from this Olympic experience? It is

much easier being on the eyes than it is being of it, -- being off it.

A fantastic experience though and I will take a lot, the Games and

hopefully for me, though the drive on and try to get to the next Games

and we are really proud of the guys, they have played great. I do not

want to linger on what went wrong in the final but it happened and I will

only show you one piece to comment on, David. It happened early on and

the writing was on the wall from end three. Do could go to the start of

the first end, and we were not quite clinical enough. They forced a lot

of pressure on us and we did not respond and we were not quite

clinical enough. Unfortunately not our best game, not the best game we

were capable of and that is what is hard to take just now, that we did

not play as well as we could have. In some of the shots you see, it is

quite heartbreaking at times, just throwing them well but not getting

the shots. And at times, you have to take that. And so hard when you are

then trailing by a long way as you were at the end of end four. Your

expression was, "what will I do here? " The decision to concede when

you did, that seems to be a group decision. Yes, you have to face

reality of the scoreline. You will not get back in the game no matter

how much you think you might. The game has gone and you are too far

behind and these Games will not miss anything so in some ways you are

making it more painful so it was just a decision, that was it. Our

dream was gone. The dream was made because you won a silver medal and

let's reflect you and show you best bits at this year's Winter Olympics.

COMMENTATOR: The stone is a way, is it right? He has done it! He has

done it! The fist bump in the air, a brilliant shot from David Murdoch!

Again, with a chance for glory... Dave Murdoch may well have done

it... He has, Great Britain are in the Olympic final and the British

crowd jumping up and down in the stands!

Everybody here laughing as you saw your friends and girlfriends,

supporters, parents, everybody up there. Ollie is here, I don't know

if you are aware, Jackie Lockhart's idea, a bring your broom to work day

in honour of you being in the final. People have been bringing them to

work. A wide cross-section of society got involved with this.

Let's start with the army. Sweeping their way in front of a

tank as their demonstration of curling which is a reasonably

difficult thing to steer! That is pretty tricky, I would say! Let's go

to the florists. We can now go into the office. So many photographs from

offices. We have had hundreds of images from up and down the country.

Now we have a car park. You can see these people all have their brooms

out. Finally we have the staff of the Duke of York. Maybe? Around the

use of paper there to set up their ring but everybody is getting

involved up and down the country, you have inspired people to, in

their own way, try your sport. So many of them are also saying how

proud they are of you all and that is lovely to take away as well. You

can see many more of those on our website as well. I have one last

question for David. Is this it for you? I am going to have a long, hard

thing. It has been great to be part of such a good team and it would be

ashamed to split it up and I do not know. I need to have a think and a

holiday and I have not my body move. I will be seeing my wife soon.

-- I have not had my honeymoon. When did you get married? A couple of

years ago. A couple of years and you have not had your honeymoon! Thank

you so much. Congratulations again. Later in the programme we will find

out if the short track speed skaters could add to the medal haul because

Short track speed skating is always the Blade runners were in action.

Short track speed skating is always dramatic, do

Short track speed skating is always head to the mountains for a

Short track speed skating is always turn through the slalom in

Short track speed skating is always former Olympic skier, Anna

Short track speed skating is always 18-year-old girl bracing in the

slalom, Olympic Games. Three years ago when

the Moroccan federation called my dad and said they were interested in

starting a ski team and there was a possibility I could get the Olympic

Games and here I am now. I am here with my coach and my team-mate.

Nobody else? No physios or anything? No, just my coach. Does he do

everything? Yes,. What does it mean to you to be her? It means a lot. It

is a big responsibility to represent Morocco and Africa and I want to

represent the important values of hard work and perseverance through

my sport and also the Olympic ideals. What was your best event to

date? It was a slalom in Austria where I got my best points yet. Have

you got a goal for today? Just to ski my best. That is a great goal.

Good luck. Into Ramone Maria her fourth Riche

was the first to set down a marker. She is a good position to finish our

Olympics with another medal. Tina Maze is full of confidence after her

two goals. She goes into the second leg with every chance of adding to

the tally. Performance of the afternoon was undoubtedly that of

Mikaela Shiffrin who showed a lot of skill to finish in front, clearly

undaunted by the spotlight. If she wins she will be the youngest

Olympic female slalom champion in history. At the other end of the

scale the Austrian marry Shields is hoping to become the oldest slalom

win in history. She and her sister are standing strong. -- Marlies

Schild. The snow was really hard so that was good but I did not ski too

well. What were the problems? I was stressed out at the start and I

needed to put more energy into it and be more confident. Going into

the second run we can see if Michaela Schiffer in can hold her

nerve and Skeeter glory. She has an advantage of just 500 of

the second. She has high arm carriage and everything is going

well so far. It is a better start from this young lady. She made no

mistakes at the top. She is a textbook technical slalom skier. She

has a calm upper body and her skis are moving quickly underneath her

like a pendulum. Bernadette and Marlies Schild are still to come but

this is the lead for the Austrians here. It has been a beautiful

demonstration of the slalom skiing. She has cruised through this course

and she leads by more than half a second. It was brilliant. Next up,

Marlies Schild. She is attacking right from the get go. She is on her

way. She is probably coming to the end of her career so it would be

great to see her on the Pope -- podium. Skiing is not quite flawless

but in between the mistakes she lets them run. She was the bronze

medallist in 2006 and silver medallist in 2010 and can she

finally get a gold in 2014? It is a good ski so far. She likes to build

it up and then start to really attack on these final steep turns.

Beautiful skiing from Marlies Schild. She is really having a go

and letting them run and she's skis into gold for Austria. It is the

turn of Tina Maze. She is looking for the double, the technical double

to add to her downhill gold. She shared that and she was the outright

winner of the giant slalom. She is a little way behind and it has not

gone to plan so far. The target is missed. No medals tonight for Tina

Maze. Marlies Schild is guaranteed an Olympic medal. Maria Hoefl-Riesch

has already claimed the gold in the super combined and the super-G and

can she add to her tally tonight? No, it is third. At least a silver

for Marlies Schild and with one to come Kathrin Zettel is guaranteed a

medal. Mikaela Shiffrin has a huge advantage. It is a solid start but

not mistake free. It is pretty solid. Let us see if her nerves can

hold out here. Yes, very smooth so far. So relaxed as if she was skiing

a normal race. It is sensational skiing, this woman is absolutely on

fire. No pressure so far. She is in trouble. What a recovery!

Unbelievable reflexes there. But how much damage has done to her time? It

is still good. She is in front. Mikaela Shiffrin comes onto the

final third of the Olympic slalom course and will she be the youngest

ever winner of the Olympic slalom or we'll Marlies Schild be the oldest?

It is the youngest! Mikaela Shiffrin wins the title at 18 years old. She

is the Olympic slalom champion. She takes the gold medal. Marlies Schild

take the silver for the second games in a row and Kathrin Zettel takes

the bronze. You are already world champion and now Olympic champion,

ie prepared for the adulation you will get that time? To be honest,

probably not. I guess now I will go to New York for a day or two and

then I have some more races in the World Cup season so hopefully that

little break in between actually really going home and it will not be

quite so much. Kenza Tazi now. She is born in Boston and she is from

Morocco. Two races and one will go back to her normal life and for the

other one super stardom beckons. Mikaela Shiffrin makes amends a bit

therefore the USA missing Lindsey Vonn. It means that the USA have won

their second Alpine Gold and it puts them just bit behind Austria in the

Alpine skiing medals. The Austrians have the highest total number of

medals, including a bronze and a silver today. The final Alpine medal

will be decided tomorrow in the slalom for the men. Tomorrow starts

with snowboarding and then the parallel slalom finals. Before then

though, tonight we have the joy of the six Nations.

Wales against France tonight. Once we finished you can turn over and

watch that. Tomorrow it is Italy versus Scotland. We are heading back

up the mountain because you may have watched the men's ski cross

yesterday because it was extraordinary and it was three

places for the French and now it is a chance for the women.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified, kept wondering how I

could ever live without you by my side. I spent so many nights

thinking about how you did me wrong that I got strong and Island how to

get along. Great words there from Olivia -- Gloria Gaynor's I Will

survive, that is what the women have to do today, they have two survive.

It all starts here. 28 ladies each take it in turns to put down their

fastest time run. A good charge out of the start. Too

low! This is the dignity stripper. Going really nicely. She is down.

Oh, no! Despite all the thrills and spills, the entire field or made it

through to the finals in one piece. The Australian is under threat from

the big German. She has been pushed off the course and she has crashed

out. She has made her move into first.

Beautiful skiing. They come through! Brilliant racing

here. I am having a good time!

Masterclass there. That was a big crash. A challenging

course in difficult conditions lead to further big crashes and this one

resulted in an blue acrylic injury for the German athlete who had to be

taken off the course in a stretcher. Oh, no, a massive crush! Dived for

the inside and they make a move. Neck and neck. Having led all the

way, she goes down on the run into the last jump.

Lots of big crashes in the semifinals, and the finals shaping

up very nicely. I great stuff from Smith. She is

pushing Holmlund across. Smith knows that Holmlund is behind her. Into

the technical roller section. Smith has gone. No, she is still in this.

They are neck and neck into battle for second as they come down. They

are screaming. Sandra has got it. You can hear Smith screaming in

frustration. She blew it. Smith blew that race. Look at that, absolutely

distraught. A good start from David. Working the

first role and she is in the lead. Thompson is right there. Katya Crema

is also experienced. The younger ones are at the back. And look at

Naslund. She has taken herself out. The 37-year-old Frenchwoman of David

showing her experience there. The 17-year-old Swede snapping at their

heels into that third berm. A little patch of fog. She stayed on her

feet. Two Canadians in the final along

with a Swedish and a French woman. All eyes to the final. And now it is

time. All of this comes down to one race. If Ophelie David can get away,

the Canadians will have to hunt her down. Another good line on the

inside lane. Superb over the rollers, David. The two Canadians

are looking good and our out in front.

At the moment it is Marielle Thompson in the lead. Kelsey Serwa

just behind as they tuck in. At the moment, there is not any time...

Here comes Serwa. And Ophelie David looking good but she has caught a

knuckle which will slow her down. Does not look like she has slowed

down much though. David will make a move. You can be sure of that.

Ophelie David will not let this final go past and ski down into

bronze medal position but she has gone. Ophelie David, the Queen of

ski cross is out and now the Canadians have a clear run into the

finish. Will they sabotage their own homes by battling for silver and

gold? They will, you can guarantee it. The three macro will not let her

team mate walk away with a gold medal. -- Serwa will not let her

walk away. Silver goes to Serwa and Holmlund of

Sweden glides in for the bronze. Not quite the one, two and three for the

French team we saw yesterday but one and two, that's not bad.

Marielle Thompson might have taken goal here but I will tell you the

real winner is here - ski cross. Just amazing.

CLARE BADLING: 70 people watching will have been in thrall and also

properly wanted to take it up. We are waiting to hear every action

from Chemmy Alcott, but let's switch focus to short track speed skating

and never in her wildest nightmares would Elise Christie imagine that

her micro-games would unfold as it has done. It is on a vacation in the

final of the 500 metres denied her a silver medal and then she was given

a did not finish when she won her heat of the 1500 metres, both she

and Jon Eley were in action today. And they safely made it through to

the quarterfinals, safely being the operative word in this sport.

, De two we are in for a great night of skating in the Iceberg Skating

Palace. Jon Eley, the flag bearer for Team GB in the opening ceremony.

He holds his own , does Jon Eley, tucked in on the pace of May 15 off.

We are into the final lap. Up to the line, oh, yes! Victor An takes it

and tremendous skating by Jon Eley, the 29 at skipper of the team seeing

him through. That was tremendously impressive. We are now moving to the

ladies' semifinals. Christy racing from position number one. And Elise

Christie... She nearly got knocked over there, she collided immediately

then with the Canadian and I am really pleased that she stayed

upright. But that was dangerous and now she is in the fourth position.

At the moment, she does not seem to have the acceleration but having

said that, with one lap to go, it is tight. She is on the outside and

still with a lots of work to do, Elise Christie riding into second

place and sweeping into the boards and into the finning straight, Elise

Christie takes it for Great Britain. So two from two as they both

progressed to the semifinals, could Jon Eley make the medal race?

COMMENTATOR: Such an experienced competitor, he is focused. Jon Eley,

the oldest man in the competition here. You can see how important it

is to get the initial spread out of the way. And Liang Wenhao for China

in the lead. Come on, Jon Eley, you need a recipe to get past, but Liang

Wenhao still pushing at the front but he goes down the inside, what a

skater he is and Jon Eley at the moment is back in fourth spot.

Victor An who has already got one gold medal and bronze from Sochi

will get his way into the final and yes he does, second spot Liang

Wenhao, and Jon Eley having to settle for fourth.

CLARE BADLING: Disappointment for Jon Eley so now all British eyes

were on Elise Christie after two crushing disappointments, would

fortune smile on her now? COMMENTATOR: And there is Elise

Christie, no legacy but she has dismissed that in her mind, Fan

Kexin and the Chinese providing the bookends and the filling is provided

by Elise Christie and since at any -- and Shim Suk Hee. The macro Elise

comfortable and at the back. Can she said in that position when

you are amongst this kind of crowd? There are still six laps to go. She

could be waiting for the acceleration, the explosion coming

around the outside. She is leaving it very, very late indeed with five

laps to go. Come on, Braveheart, is Shim Suk Hee leading the charge of

the Chinese. And when will Elise Christie make her move? The

Livingston Express. You need to make a move now. Come on, Elise. The laps

are going by, only two to go. She is slightly distant, or issue gathering

herself for a run, here comes Elise Christie with the long run down the

outside, she has ignited the burners and she is up to third. She has gone

down the inside, brilliant piece of skating but the Chinese skater has

challenged her again on the inside. And she falls and takes Elise

Christie out on the line. First place goes to Shim Suk Hee and in

second place, Fan Kexin but I think Elise Christie will be advanced, I

would like to see that again. She was certainly in a qualifying

position and again, turmoil for Elise Christie. To me, I think that

is a clear-cut case of being advanced and I will very surprised

if Elise does not get advanced will stop she has been the victim of

calls that have cost her here. Oh, no! I cannot believe it, Li Jianrou

has been penalised and so has Elise Christie and she will not advanced.

It is becoming a habit now, I am talking to you with yet more

disappointed and heartbreak. What was your view? It looked like you

were taken out. It felt like I was pushed from behind and I was knocked

off my feet. I don't understand how you can penalised two people but it

is done and I have to accept that and that is the problem we have with

short track, every referee will track the macro judge ace immersion

-- every referee will judge it differently. I don't want to be

known as crying on camera. You are doing a very good job, trust me. I

really wanted to bounce back and today I was feeling so pumped. This

last chance, the Olympics, I wanted to do it for everybody including

myself. I was hammering the overtaking procedures, I have never

done like that in my life and you have it taken off, the chance taken

away... Whether I got a medal or not, it is devastating for the

everybody in that final, I have beaten them. I will come back in

four years and I will definitely work hard.

CLARE BADLING: Elise Christie can do terms with another heartbreak and in

the arena, the medals were also being decided.

COMMENTATOR: We are away and the Russian got left, Victor An got left

behind, he will be really stretched now but he connects with the tale of

the line in front and they have a lot of work to do. China in

second... Sorry, leading. Wu Dajing of China. And then it is Charle

Cournoyer of Canada. Running at a distance but one of the Chinese

skaters has gone. Surely Victor An cannot do it, he has gone down the

inside, he is astonishing. He attacks the final bend and here he

comes, Victor An takes it from Russia. Look at the face! What a

skater! This is the ladies' 1000 metres final. And we are away. And

already at the front, it is Park Seung-Hi. Jessica Smith moves

through again, Dr Bull leading position -- comfortable leading

position. Coming around the outside, Shim Suk

Hee of Korea. They will be a view for a 1-2. Smith trying to get in

the mix. But still at the front and looking very good indeed are the

Koreans. And it is Shim Suk Hee, the 17-year-old now being challenged by

Park Seung-Hi and now that changes and it is Park Seung-Hi on the

front. What is happening here, the Koreans are keeping the pace so

high, it is electric. The rest cannot get involved. Jessica Smith

in third and Fan Kexin at the act literally clinging to the pace. It

is still a Korean 1-2. Fan Kexin is trying to come down the outside and

pick up the file -- firepower. Park Seung-Hi takes it. A victory salute

for the winner. CLARE BADLING: All along, people

said he would love short track speed skating, it is so unpredictable and

you have to take the rough with the smooth but that is fine if you get

no smooth at all which is what has happened to Elise Christie,

absolutely desperate in all three races, she does not register a

finish and has no chance of showing her capability. Let's discuss this

and also say congratulations to Jon Eley and his third Olympic Games

finishing seventh, well done to you and many congratulations in terms of

being the team captain and carrying the flag at the opening ceremony.

Let's talk about your race this hall and how satisfied are you with the

Winter Olympics 2014? Thanks. I am pretty pleased it has been a tough

year, didn't go that well in the Olympic qualifiers so I had a lot of

work to do but my performance today, I am really pleased, I worked really

hard and it has come out today like I wanted it to. The result was not

what I wanted but at the end of the day I am happy. And you are not far

behind Victor An as he is one of the greatest skaters of all times.

Kilogram not too bad. What is your take on what has happened to Elise

at these Games? And how do the people around you in your spot pick

up again? As a team, we must see how well she has skated and how we have

got into such a good position. The frustrating thing was the calls and

the last little bits make a big difference, she skated so well and

she has to take it and think that in four years time, she will be a real

force. If you do not marry handing on the bat and two will appear, if

we look at this what do you think happened to? She had so much speed,

she was coming around the outside and here it was three laps to go and

she had not made any moves at all. She was conserving energy and trying

to stay out of trouble and coming around the outside. She comes up the

inside their really well and then Li Jianrou of China really challenges

the position and there is where I think the incident occurred. That is

where they had contact and the second time they had contact you

cannot see it from this angle unfortunately. Does she get

disqualified because the initial incident leads to a fall? Woodchip

got away with it if there had not been a fall? Quite possibly. You can

see that she changes lanes almost and that was a very unfortunate

call, she comes out of the bend, this is just going into the bend and

that is where Li Jianrou goes down from China and takes Elise Christie

with her which was ultimately the reason why. You see it again here.

Initially the first initial contact when she was going down the

straight, they elbow or knock shoulders. Had they held their

balance they would have been fine but it is because it runs on. It is

like a domino effect. In your considered experience and you have

competed and had bad luck and good luck and you have watched an awful

lot of short track speed skating, has Elise Christie been desperately

unlucky at these games? I have been watching speed skating for 25 years

and I have to say that she has been the most unlucky athlete speed

skater that I have ever met in those 25 years. It is an incredibly crazy

sport if you look at it in the last few days. We hope that at the age of

just 23 there was time for her to come back and prove herself in

Olympic cycles and World Championships as well. Ollie has

been analysing the huge outpouring of opinion on the Internet. A lot of

love for Elise Christie and a lot of confusion. At home it must've been

very hard for to understand. This person tweeted that of everyone was

penalised for the amount of contact she supposedly made them no one

would finish. Another person complain that nobody was explaining

what decisions the officials were making. Another person said it was

standard behaviour in many of the sports and last night in the figure

skating somebody won last night and nobody knew why. Apparently rugby

league is great at it because you get to see the video referee the

decisions being made and you can ask the referee on twitter as well.

Another one said that maybe because it happened to us and maybe it

happens more often, if the rule is to hold your line on the straight

then the decision makes sense. Another tweet here is an agreement

on the need for immediate explanations and it is a brutal

sport but maybe the negative years because it has gone against us.

Wilf, can I ask you that? You had a chance after the finals finished to

find out what other nations thought. A lot of consensus from team leaders

and media is that the lack of knowledge and understanding for the

sport and we talked about that earlier, we needed to have what the

referees are seeing and making the calls on. The general public and the

TV need to see the same footage and then we can maybe all understand it

rather than everybody being totally confused about what it is about.

John, I am going to issue you this challenge because I assume you will

keep racing for a while. Yes, could you try and fix it so we can find

out why they are disqualifying people. I will try my best. As

athletes we always say that you do not want to rely on the decision of

the referee but you want to keep it as clean as possible and when the

calls come we know from the last couple of competitions and how it

has gone that you do not want to be in that situation. It is unfortunate

and I really feel for her but we have to accept the decision of the

referee at the end of the day and as a team we are frustrated. When you

watch a skater of the quality of Victor An who can go outside and

inside and he holds his balance and he never looks like falling over and

that is amazing. He has incredible strength and maybe that will come in

time. Thank you so much. We will now switch to biathlon. Russia have won

the gold medal in this event for the last two Olympics cycles and Ukraine

were trying to win their first gold of these games and athletes had

decided to stay here in Sochi despite some of the other athletes

going home because of the political unrest. There was a huge amount of

support for them. The women's relay is under way to a huge roar from the

Russians in the crowd. Ukraine clear five and Russia clear five and a big

cheer coming up from the crowd. Eight rounds to clear the targets.

What a tussle for gold this is turning out to be at this stage. The

French have gone and the Germans have gone for now. One by one the

big nations are falling by the wayside but not the Russians and not

the Ukrainians. Look at the ground that has been made up. We have got

Russia and Norway coming into the stadium side-by-side in third and

fourth. What drama lies in store in the second part of this race? The

Russians are coming. Look at how quickly they are closing down.

Superb shooting and Ukraine could be on their way to the gold. This has

been a quartet unbeaten by the opposition, unbeaten by politics and

united by passion, it is gold for Ukraine, silver for Russia and

bronze for the Norwegians in the women's relay. What an amazing

evening for Ukraine! So richly deserved. A wonderful result there.

A German athlete has been thrown out of the Olympics for taking a banned

stimulant. That is Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle. Bobsleigh

athlete has also been sent home, William Frullani. His is for a

substance that he could've taken inadvertently through a nasal

decongestant. There are more drugs test at this Winter Olympics than

ever before. These two cases means that the Winter Olympics has had

more positive tests than Vancouver which was incredibly low, only one

athlete was caught there. We are going to head behind me into the

Bolshoi arena. Four years ago the final was between the USA and Canada

and it went into overtime and Canada emerged with a gold medal. This time

around they are up against each other in the semifinal and this is

what happened. He scores on the redirect. Canada

take the lead. They are the stars of this second period. Good interplay

on the zone -- in the zone. It is food for thought for the Americans

stop tremendous work from the Canadians in the offensive zone. It

is an easy goal from there. It goes back to Big Ben there. It is

perfection, right there in front and they get their opening goal.

He just needs to hold this on the board. The Americans sent everybody

in there but Canada are going through to the final. The defending

champions will get a chance to defend that title in the gold-medal

game against Sweden. Fantastic stuff there, and in the

other semifinal Sweden emerged successful. They beat Finland 2-1.

They are chasing their third Olympic gold. They have won all of their

games so far despite losing some key players to injury so the final will

be between Canada and Sweden. Canada are renowned for having strong

finishes at the Winter Olympics. In Vancouver they got 14 gold medals so

let us look at the table as it stands.

The USA are doing all right. They have a lot of bronzes. Germany have

slipped a bit and here is our British medals podium. It is getting

full up. We have at least one of every colour. Tomorrow Hazel will be

back bright and early and we start at 9am with snowboarding and men's

slalom which is the last Alpine event to come. There will be

coverage all afternoon and we will be back in the evening. It is time

now, in what has become a tradition in this programme for the Winter

Wonders. Last week we highlighted the Swiss hockey team's taste for

slapstick. They have been at it again and they won a bronze medal,

congratulations. After the moustache extravaganza last night, this maple

leaf chest hair. Should have died it read! Why have we got here then?

It is official, Great Britain now have their best ever haul at the

Winter Olympics which is largely thanks to these guys for winning a

silver in the curling and we offer them the congratulations and they

add to the bronze medals and the gold for Lizzy Yarnold. For Elise

Christie we will make sure she gets a great big hug because things have

not gone her way at all but that is the nature of sport which gives and

gives and snatches away and we all know that. You have all trained hard

to get where you are today. Good luck to them and I'm sure if you

took a broom to work you did good work with it. Goodbye!