Reztsova's revenge, the warm embrace of Burov and Abramenko, and Bolshunov's achievement: what did the 12th day of the Games remember

On other people's mistakes

After the 12th competitive day of the Games, the national team has 24 medals: four gold, eight silver and 12 bronze.

In terms of the total number of awards, Russia ranks second after Norway, but in terms of the number of victories it is barely in the top ten.

The silver success of the biathletes in the relay was a pleasant surprise after the most offensive race for men the day before.

Even if the Russians did not get on with shooting, and Svetlana Mironova even went to the penalty loop, but this did not prevent them from winning an important award.

Team leader Kristina Reztsova said after the finish that she was taking revenge in this race for her teammates.

“There was no such thing that I want to win everyone.

I went quietly to my stage.

The hardest thing is to do what you can.

Do not invent anything and so on.

And today I did it, I think.

Today I took revenge for the guys, ”the athlete emphasized.

Team finisher Uliana Nigmatullina admitted that she drew certain conclusions from the mistakes of Eduard Latypov at the last firing line, which deprived the Russians of gold in the men's relay.

“I felt a working calmness, there was an elated mood from the fact that we were going in the leading group.

Did you think about yesterday's men's race and Latypov's misses?

I thought about it, so I worked out the question in advance.

We discussed everything with the shooting coach, after which we no longer returned to this topic, ”Nigmatullina said on the air of the Rossiya 1 TV channel.

A curious situation unfolded after the race around the coach of the women's team, Mikhail Shashilov.

At the request of journalists to comment on the results of the relay, the specialist replied that the question should be addressed to the athletes, since he "does not work anymore."

The phrase was perceived by the media as a statement about the resignation of a specialist, but the Russian Biathlon Union was quick to refute this.

“He has a contract until May 31st.

He continues to work ... When the time comes, we will make a decision on it, ”RIA Novosti quotes RBU President Viktor Maygurov.

Perhaps Shashilov's casual remark was a reaction to the criticism he received in the previous days of the Olympic Games, since none of his charges could win an individual medal in Beijing.

And to the coaches of the cross-country skiing team, on the contrary, there are no questions.

Two bronze medals, won in the team sprints on Wednesday, set a historic achievement - the team has not yet won so many medals at a single Olympics.

Now the Russians have nine of them - three golds, three silvers and three bronzes, and there are two more races ahead in which you can replenish the treasury of awards.

Before that, the best skiers in terms of the number of medals were the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano (5 - 2 - 1) and the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (0 - 3 - 5).

As for Alexander Bolshunov, he won the Olympics for the eighth time (2 - 4 - 2).

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Burov's Bronze Caution

Another bronze of the Russian national team was brought by freestyler Ilya Burov in acrobatics, although it was in this form that the fans had the right to count on gold.

But the best domestic ski acrobat of recent years, three-time world champion Maxim Burov, sensationally failed in qualifying and did not get into the final part of the competition.

His elder brother Ilya had to defend the honor of his surname.

Also, another Russian, Stanislav Nikitin, reached the final.

Hope for victory once again flashed brightly in the first final, which Burov won, having received 129.50 points in the second attempt.

In this jump, he went to the maximum difficulty, because after the first attempt he took only 11th place and did not pass to the decisive stage.

But in the grand final, where the athletes are given only one test attempt, the Russian preferred the titmouse in his hands and did not take risks, while all the rivals complicated the program.

A purely executed jump, which the judges estimated at 114.93 points, was enough for the native of Yaroslavl for bronze.

Gold went to China's Guangpu Qi with 129 points, and silver went to Ukrainian Oleksandr Abramenko with 116.50.

For Burov Sr., this OI bronze is the second in his career: four years ago, at the Olympics in Pyeongchang, he also became the third.

After the flower ceremony, Burov and Abramenko, despite the tense relations between Russia and Ukraine, warmly congratulated each other and even hugged.

At the end of the competition, Burov commented on his result and explained why he simplified the final jump.

“I am very happy to win a bronze medal for the second time in my career in such a fight.

Very happy with the result.

The coach and I acted tactically, it was lucky that I had the final starting number, and we had the opportunity to see how other athletes jumped.

They were wrong, but everything worked out fine for us in the end, ”said the Russian on Match TV.

However, the president of the Russian Freestyle Federation, Alexei Kurashov, felt that the judges did not praise Burov's performance enough.

“We rejoice at the Olympic medal.

It's great that, like in South Korea, Russia and Ukraine are on the same podium, but from a sports point of view, we believe that Ilya Burov's performance was better and he should be one step higher.

Yes, he was not in the first place, but a confident second.

Ilya was going to jump a very difficult jump in the final, but then it was decided that this was the final of the Olympics, and it was necessary to approach it more pragmatically, ”the TASS functionary explained.

Another Russian Stanislav Nikitin failed to break into the top six.

He, like another freestyler Anastasia Tatalina, who the day before took fourth place in slopestyle, spoke negatively about the work of the referees.

“I didn’t understand my grades, I did everything, I did the jumps well.

Disagree with your points.

Yesterday I jumped weaker, but got more.

I don't understand how this is possible.

The guys and I are watching, one gives one mark for the jump - and the other athlete for the same - others, ”complained Nikitin.

Price 0.009 seconds

A big disappointment befell the fans in the short track: the men's team in the 5000 meters relay stopped not just a step away, but a few millimeters from the podium, losing 0.009 seconds to the Italian team in the fight for third place.

The Russian quartet consisting of Semyon Elistratov, Pavel Sitnikov, Denis Airapetyan and Konstantin Ivliev had the right to even count on victory.

Domestic short track skaters qualified for the final with the second time after the South Korean team, thus sending athletes from the Netherlands to the final B.

Teams from Canada, Italy and China advanced from the other semi-final to the decisive stage.

The final race seemed to be under control: the Korean athletes were leading for a long time, and the Russians were firmly in the top three.

At some point, the Chinese made an attempt to get ahead, but for them it ended in a fall and elimination from the fight.

In the meantime, the group split in two: the Canadians and Koreans broke away from the Russians and Italians, and a fierce struggle ensued in each pair for gold and bronze, respectively.

The Canadian was the first to cross the finish line.

The Korean quartet became the second, and the fate of the bronze was decided by the photo finish.

After the announcement of the result, there was no face on the Russian athletes.

According to the finisher of the national team Elistratov, this is the worst result that could be imagined.

“The worst thing that can happen at the Olympics is to become fourth and lose nine thousandths.

There was a chance for a medal.

After passing the baton, I stepped forward, moved a little to the right and began to narrow strongly.

Apparently, the Italian narrowed even more.

If I had moved to the end, most likely it would have been a foul.

I decided that I would try to move on.

I knew there was a chance at the finish line.

But I didn’t have enough,” Yelistratov admitted to reporters.

His teammate Sitnikov complained that the Russians could not "cling" to the Canadians and Koreans who had gone into the lead.

“The Canadians have left a little bit.

The Koreans and I began to catch up.

At some shift, we could not cling, but the Koreans were able to.

Therefore, a gap has formed, and in the relay the ice is very cut, so it’s impossible to catch up so quickly, ”explained the winner of the European Championships.

The Russians did not qualify for the finals of the 1500 meters among women.

Sofia Prosvirnova and Anna Vostrikova stopped at the semi-final stage.

The victory in this discipline went to the Korean Choi Min Chon, the silver was won by the Italian Arianna Fontana, and the bronze by Susanna Schulting from the Netherlands.

Thus, the Russian short track team completed their performance at the Olympics with two medals: Elistratov's bronze at a distance of 1500 meters and Konstantin Ivliev's silver at a 500-meter race.

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Hockey semi-finals without Canada

The cult confrontation between Russia and Canada, which is rightfully considered the highlight of any hockey tournament, will not take place at the Beijing Olympics.

In the quarterfinals, the nine-time Olympic champions lost to Sweden, never having managed to hit the opponent's goal - 0:2.

The domestic team won its match with the Danes with a score of 3:1 and will now compete for reaching the final just with the Swedes.

Tre Krunur head coach Johan Garpenlev expects a tough fight in the upcoming match.

“We will be playing against a very good team, against one of the favorites of the tournament.

Let's see how the game will turn out, I think it will be stubborn, because both teams play well in defense, ”said the specialist.

In turn, the ex-mentor of the "red car" Vyacheslav Bykov noted that the Swedes have a good and balanced team in all lines.

“From what I saw in the match with Canada, they left a good impression.

The Swedes are as always disciplined, trained, they have a good vision of the court and technique, a good goalkeeper.

A very strong opponent, but there are no weak opponents in the playoffs.

An interesting meeting awaits us.

I think our coaches will analyze the game of the Swedes and find where they can be hooked, weak points.

As for the character, any team that goes to the semi-finals has a strong spirit and character in order not to be deceived by what they have already done, but to move on to the podium, ”the specialist shared his opinion.

In the past, the paths of Russia and Sweden at the Olympics crossed twice, and at both Olympic Games the Scandinavians eventually climbed to the top step of the podium.

In 1994, in Lillehammer, they prevailed in the semi-finals, and in the decisive match they were stronger than Canada.

After 12 years in Turin, a major victory in the group stage was won by the domestic team.

But in the end she was left without medals, and "tre krunur" was again at the top.

The third meeting of principal rivals at the Olympic Games will take place on Friday.

In the other semi-final, Finland and Slovakia will face each other.