On Thursday, Team USA made its way back into the top three of the medals race while Germany won yet another gold in luge. Plus, a new Olympic meme centered around HBO’s Girls has popped up. Oh, and can we please talk about how adorable USA’s Gus Kenworthy is? Keep reading for all of this and more!
Justyna Kowalczyk wins women’s 10-kilometer cross-country despite injury
Even though she had a fractured foot, Justyna Kowalczyk still managed to win the gold in the women’s 10-kilometer cross-country race. The Polish athlete completed the classical-style race in 28 minutes and 17.8 seconds. Kowalczyk told reporters she had an ache in her foot during the race even though she took a painkiller before the event. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla won silver, while Norway’s Therese Johaug took the bronze.
The Shoshi Games goes for the gold
It’s our two favorite things combined: Shoshanna Shapiro and the Winter Games. The Shoshi Games is a new Tumblr that photoshops Girls character Shoshanna into Olympic photos. Thanks to the blog, we can now watch our favorite character fly through the air in ski jumping, twirl around in ice skating and celebrate during the Opening Ceremony. Lena Dunham, who created Girls, called the blog “magic” on Twitter.
Team USA sweeps in men’s slopestyle skiing
Team USA swept in the inaugural final of the men’s slopestyle ski event: gold, silver and bronze all went to US skiers. With 95.80 points, Joss Christensen won gold. Gus Kenworthy took silver and Nick Goepper took bronze. This is the first time the USA has swept an event at the Winter Olympics since 2002; Team USA won all three medals during the men’s snowboarding halfpipe competition at the Salt Lake City Games.
US Olympian wants to adopt Sochi’s stray dogs
puppy love is real to puppies. pic.twitter.com/krauCUPjOg
— Gus Kenworthy (@guskenworthy) February 11, 2014
As you can see in the heart-melting photo above, the stray puppies of Sochi are so cute. Gus Kenworthy, an American freestyle skier, wants to adopt four stray puppies. The Olympian also wants to take home the pups’ mother. The five dogs live in the mountain village outside of the Gorki Media Center. There are an abundant amount of stray dogs wandering around Sochi, a problem that Russia plans to fix by hiring dog exterminators. If you are seriously considering adopting a dog from Sochi, you can do so via phone or online through The Humane Society. Click here for more details.
Germany wins luge team relay
It’s no surprise that Germany won the luge team relay. With the win, Germany sweeps all of the gold medals from the luge events. This means that Germany took gold in team relay, doubles, women’s and men’s luge. Team relay is a new event for the Winter Olympics, debuting just this year. The winning German team was made up of luge superstars Felix Loch, Natalie Geisenberger, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt. Russia took silver in the team relay while bronze went to Latvia.
Ladies’ 500-meter short track goes to China’s Li Jianrou; Britain disqualified
Li Jianrou took the gold for China in the women’s 500-meter short track speed skating event. The speed skater was in last place when Britain’s Elise Christie caused a crash. Christie, South Korea’s Park Seung-Hi and Italy’s Arianna Fontana all fell down, allowing Li to skate into first place. Li took the gold with a time of 45.263 seconds. Fontana took silver and Park walked away with the bronze. Christie was disqualified for causing the crash, though she would have won bronze.
Skier falls during freestyle skiing, almost loses pants
Talk about embarrassing! We’ve seen our fair share of crashes and falls at Sochi 2014, but this one just might be the most memorable one yet. Henrik Harlaut nearly lost his pants after he fell during a qualifying round of the men’s skiing slopestyle competition. The Swedish skier finished in seventh place despite his tumble. Maybe he should invest in some tighter suspenders?
Martin Fourcade wins another gold in biathlon
After winning gold in the men’s biathlon 12.5-kilometer pursuit, Martin Fourcade took it again in the 20-kilometer individual race. Fourcade, from Team France, completed the competition in 49 minutes and 31.7 seconds. Regardless of a one-minute penalty, he took his second gold of Sochi 2014. Germany won the silver and Russia earned the bronze.
Medal count as of Thursday night: top five countries
- Norway: four gold, three silver, six bronze = 13 total
- Netherlands: four gold, three silver, five bronze = 12 total
- United States: four gold, two silver, six bronze = 12 total
- Russia: two gold, five silver, four bronze = 11 total
- Germany: seven gold, two silver, one bronze = 10 total
To see a full list of the medal count, click here.
Would you adopt a Sochi stray dog? Let us know in the comments and then come back Tuesday for another Sochi Scoop recap!