Curtain falls on Sochi Olympics
SOCHI—After 17 days of hard-fought competition, the curtain fell on the Sochi Olympic Games on Sunday night. About 2,900 athletes from 88 nations and regions competed in 98 events across seven sp...
March 5, 2014
SOCHI—After 17 days of hard-fought competition, the curtain fell on the Sochi Olympic Games on Sunday night. About 2,900 athletes from 88 nations and regions competed in 98 events across seven sp...
Long after the athletes of the Sochi Olympics return to their home countries to resume their careers, the images of their exploits—the thrills and spills, the cheers and tears—will remain in our ...
SOCHI—Seiko Hashimoto, Japan’s chef de mission to the Sochi Olympics, said Sunday she was happy with Japan’s eight medals at the latest Games, its highest number ever at a Winter Olympics held ...
SOCHI (AP)—IOC President Thomas Bach hailed the Sochi Olympics on Sunday for showcasing the “amazing” transformation of a fading resort town where he once feared being hit in the head by a fall...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—At the midpoint of the Sochi Games, not yet marred by a single case of doping, the IOC’s top medical official said its efforts to catch drug cheats were so successful they h...
SOCHI (AP)—Sidney Crosby skated in alone on Henrik Lundqvist, faking Sweden’s goalie to the ice with a textbook-quality deke and sliding a perfect backhand into the net. Canada did everything by...
SOCHI (AP)—Sweden center Nicklas Backstrom watched from the athletes village as his teammates lost to Canada in the Olympic hockey gold-medal game because he failed a doping test for a substance fo...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Alexander Zubkov was given a daunting assignment for his home Olympics. His task: Take to Russian ice and make history, against drivers who have been beating him for years. ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Alexander Legkov made sure the Russian flag finally flew highest at the Sochi cross-country skiing venue—and for these entire Olympic Games. On the last day of the games, ...
SOCHI (AP)—Russia’s post-Soviet athletic decline hit bottom at the Vancouver Olympics, where the once dominant winter sporting nation left with only three gold medals and the daunting task of reb...
SOCHI (AP)—With a nod to Russia’s Olympic past and 900 children carrying small flames, a giant bear has extinguished the flame of the Sochi Games. The 8-meter bear shed a single tear down from ...
SOCHI—The closing ceremony of the Sochi Olympics was held at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night, capping the 17 days of hard-fought competitions. About 2,900 athletes from 88 nations and regions...
SOCHI (AP)—Jonathan Toews scored in the first period, captain Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the tournament and Canada defended its Olympic men’s hockey title Sunday with a 3-0 victory ov...
SOCHI (Jiji-Japan News)—Gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu has given his exhibition program at the Sochi Olympics a theme: resurgence. The 19-year-old, who made history by becoming the first Japanese mal...
Mao Asada performs during a figure skating gala exhibition at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday. Asada, who rebounded to finish sixth with an impressive free skate program after an error-filled short pro...
SOCHI (Jiji-Japan News)—Japan’s speed skaters had hoped to medal at the Sochi Olympics but will return home empty-handed after Japan lost to Russia on Saturday in the third-place playoff of the w...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Snowboarder Tomoka Takeuchi improved her performance in the parallel slalom, an event she likes less than the parallel giant slalom, in which she won a silver medal at the Sochi Ol...
SAPPORO—Ski jumper Noriaki Kasai landed more than a silver and bronze medal with his jumps at the Sochi Olympics—he also landed a promotion at his company back home. Kasai and Yuki Ito, who fin...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—One racer called the course “borderline unsportsmanlike.” Another said it was “brutal.” Five of the top eight skiers in the opening leg failed to even finish the second...
Naoki Yuasa and Akira Sasaki failed to finish the second run in the men’s slalom at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday. Yuasa finished 20th on the first run earlier the day, while Sasaki placed 28th....
SOCHI (AP)—Teemu Selanne led his team around the ice, with a bronze medal draped around his neck, after he finished off his sixth Olympics with a sweet victory. If the Finnish Flash is retiring an...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Alexander Zubkov has company in his pursuit of Olympic history. More than the Russian probably expected. Definitely more than he wanted. Trying to become the sixth drive...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Facing a nearly impossible deficit against a four-time world champion he’d never outraced, all the unorthodox choices snowboarder Vic Wild made to keep his career alive conv...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Julia Dujmovits of Austria inched past Germany’s Anke Karstens at the finish to win gold in women’s snowboarding parallel slalom on Saturday. Dujmovits trailed Karstens ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—If this was Marit Bjoergen’s last Olympic race, she couldn’t have scripted a better finish. A sixth gold, two teammates on either side of the podium, and no one above he...
SOCHI (AP)—A Latvian hockey player and a Ukrainian cross-country skier failed drug tests at the Sochi Olympics, bringing to four the number of doping cases at the games. The International Olympic...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— Russia made its fans wait for a biathlon gold medal until the last race of the Sochi Games. Despite missing eight targets, the Russian team won the men’s 4x7.5-kilometer ...
SOCHI (AP)—The Jamaican bobsled team was the life of the party once again at the Winter Olympics, laughing and joking its way through a trip to Sochi that was fraught with enough financial hardship...
SOCHI (AP)—Even before the Sochi Games come to a close, organizers of the next Winter Olympics are promising to do them Gangwon style. After two failed bids to host the Winter Games, the South Ko...
Japan missed out on a medal in the women’s speed skating team pursuit, losing to Russia in the race for third place at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday. The Japanese trio of Maki Tabata, Nana Takag...
Snowboarder Tomoka Takeuchi missed out on becoming a multi-medalist at the Sochi Olympics when she was eliminated in the first knockout round of the women’s parallel slalom on Saturday. The 30-y...
SOCHI (AP)—Viktor Ahn clapped as he crossed the finish line after leading Russia to Olympic gold in the 5,000-meter relay. His adopted country applauded right back, loudly cheering the short track s...
SOCHI—It has been some time since Maki Tabata was first called a veteran. However, the 39-year-old is still leading the Japan women’s speed skating team in her fifth Olympics, aiming to win a med...
SOCHI—Ayana Onozuka felt the weight of the Olympic bronze medal she earned in the women’s ski halfpipe. Waving her arms with a smile Friday, the 25-year-old freestyle skier stood on the podium...
SOCHI—Satoshi Sakashita and Yui Sakai failed to advance to the finals of their short track events on Friday. All the short track events are now completed, meaning no Japanese athletes made it to ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Four teammates stood proudly behind the Ukraine flag, smiles beaming, celebrating their country’s first gold medal at the Sochi Olympics. Parliament paused in the deeply d...
SOCHI (AP)—Muscles bulging out of their tight tops, Canada’s curlers threw down their brooms and unleashed giant roars after the game-winning rock settled in the house. The ‘Buff Boys’ sure...
SOCHI (AP)—A top German biathlete and an Italian bobsledder were kicked out of the Sochi Olympics on Friday in the first doping cases of the Winter Games. Former two-time Olympic gold medalist Ev...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Marielle Thompson and Kelsey Serwa got great air even with their ski boots on, kicking back their heels and flailing their arms so wide, they almost dropped the flowers. Tha...
SOCHI—Japan’s female speed skaters are trying to stage a comeback in the team pursuit event after their disappointing results in individual races at the Sochi Games. Japan qualified for the sem...
SOCHI (AP)—The Netherlands will be making at least one more trip to the speed skating medal podium. The dominant Dutch sealed their 22nd speed skating medal of the Sochi Olympics with two routs i...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Normally so composed, so in control, so not-very-teenlike on and off the slopes, Mikaela Shiffrin suddenly found herself in an awkward position halfway through the second leg ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—After crossing the finish line on her first slalom run, Lebanon’s Jacky Chamoun waved her ski poles as if she had just won a medal. Turns out, a race was just the distract...
SOCHI (AP)—Sweden beat up and defeated its biggest rival, and the reward is a shot at a second gold medal in the last three Olympics. Erik Karlsson scored the go-ahead goal late in the second per...
SOCHI (AP)—For the rematch, Canada skipped the overtime and shelved the theatrics. One slick goal and 60 minutes of stifling defensive hockey kept the Canadians firmly on top of the U.S. and move...
Japan qualified for the semifinals in the women’s speed skating team pursuit event at the Sochi Olympics on Friday. Maki Tabata, Nana Takagi and Misaki Oshigiri teamed up to defeat South Korea by...
SOCHI—In her final Olympic performance, Mao Asada finally, finally nailed her trademark triple axel. It just wasn’t enough to pull her out of the hole she had dug for herself the day before. Ear...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Ayana Onozuka sailed high into the Russian night sky and onto the podium of the inaugural Olympic women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe competition. “I am absolutely filled with ...
SOCHI (AP)—Russia’s cupboard was so bare of world-class female figure skaters that the sport’s most dominant nation had to turn to the kids a few years ago. Among those youngsters was Adelina...
SOCHI—Ayana Onozuka, who had begun to practice the ski halfpipe in real earnest less than three years ago, won the bronze medal at the Sochi Olympics on Thursday. This was the eighth medal for Japa...
SOCHI—Four years since shedding bitter tears after her second-place finish at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Mao Asada shed tears of joy at Sochi after delivering a near-perfect performance in the wo...
SOCHI (AP)—The puck skittered the length of the ice on its way toward the empty Canadian net before clanging off the post and stopping in front of the crease. It was—for a few more seconds, at ...
SOCHI (AP)—Jessica Lutz broke a third-period tie with 6:17 to play and Switzerland rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Sweden 4-3 and claim the bronze medal in Olympic women’s hockey on Thurs...
SOCHI (AP)—Britain won the bronze medal in women’s Olympic curling by beating Switzerland 6-5 on Thursday, ensuring the country will at least match its record haul of four medals at a single Wint...
SOCHI (AP)—Her gold medal-clinching rock wasn’t even halfway to the house when Canada skip Jennifer Jones put her hands to her face, soaked in the moment, then jumped up with her broom hoisted in...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Japan could not make up for a poor showing in the ski jumping portion and had to settle for fifth place in the Nordic combined team event on Thursday at the Sochi Olympics. Japan...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—A Ukrainian skier has withdrawn from the Sochi Olympics in response to the deaths of anti-government protesters in her country. “I don’t want to participate when in my c...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—When Nik Zoricic began his skicross career, he didn’t have the right pants, so he wore blue jeans to the mountain. That explains why members of the Canadian team, who woul...
SOCHI (AP)—Everyone wants to get their picture taken in front of the Olympic rings in Sochi. The U.S. men’s hockey team is no different. One day before they take on Canada in a highly anticipat...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— Cross-country ski specialist Magnus Moan made up a 25-second deficit on the first leg and Norway outdueled Germany and defending champion Austria to win Olympic gold in the N...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Just shy of an elegant and historic finish in a sport where both are in short supply, France’s Jonathan Midol provided a comic reminder Thursday that in ski cross, order com...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— This one was for Sarah. Her braid whipping in the chilly mountain air, Maddie Bowman of the United States soared to the first-ever gold medal in women’s Olympic halfpipe ...
SOCHI—Tomoka Takeuchi, a veteran snowboarder who decided to go to Switzerland to better prepare herself for world-class competitions, saw her dreams come true when she won the silver medal in the w...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Vic loves Alena. Alena loves Vic. Russia loves them both. The edgy world of snowboarding took on a softer side Wednesday, weaving a Hollywood-ready story about love and ma...
SOCHI—After learning of her score in the short program, Mao Asada looked spiritless, apparently unable to accept what had happened during her skate. The score was shocking. Asada, who was regarde...
SOCHI—Speed skater Shoko Fujimura finished 10th in the women’s 5,000 meters at the Sochi Olympics on Wednesday. The 26-year-old, who made her Olympic debut at Sochi, aimed for a better finish i...
SOCHI (AP)—Martina Sablikova really wanted this gold medal. Not even the Dutch were going to keep her off the top step of the podium. Sablikova defended her Olympic title in the women’s 5,000 m...
The U.S. hockey team is getting exactly what it wanted. Another shot at Canada. Dustin Brown banged in a go-ahead goal late in the first period, and the Americans went on to dominate the Czech Repu...
SOCHI (AP)—The home team is out of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament. Russia lost 3-1 to Finland in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, putting an abrupt end to the gold-medal designs of Alex Ove...
Canada’s curlers gathered in a circle, hoisted their brooms into the air and jumped for joy. Sweden’s players linked arms in a huddle and squeezed tight as their tears flowed. After surviving t...
SOCHI (AP)—If there’s to be a changing of the guard in men’s curling, it will have to wait a little while longer. Canada maintained its grip on the Olympic title by reaching the gold-medal ga...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— Bode Miller’s Sochi Olympics are over, one race earlier than he had hoped. Given that he’ll be 40 by the time the 2018 Games roll around, the American’s Olympic caree...
SOCHI—Mao Asada scored just 55.51 points on Wednesday at the Sochi Olympics, her fourth-lowest short-program score since her figure skating debut in November 2005. The performance left her at a lo...
SOCHI (AP)—Anxiety and energy. Conviction and courage. They all combined Wednesday—along with one stunning fall—to set up an unpredictable race for the Olympic gold medal in women’s figure ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Ted Ligety has created his own, unique way of skiing. And now, he’s in pretty elite company. Carving turns like nobody else, Ligety established a huge first-run lead and t...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Ole Einar Bjoerndalen couldn’t avoid being in the spotlight, certainly not after becoming the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time and receiving personal congratulatio...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—They called it the Battle Royale. Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers spent part of the summer training alongside one another, getting ready to spend this winter battling each ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Marit Bjoergen put an end to Norway’s brief cross-country crisis by securing a dominant victory in the women’s team sprint Wednesday. Finland then surprisingly ended its 1...
SOCHI—When Mao Asada won her first All-Japan Championship figure skating title in 2006 at 16, the only thing she thought about during her program was “nothing but making the jumps.” Seven yea...
SOCHI—Noriaki Kasai and his three teammates expressed their joy on the podium for winning a bronze medal at an award ceremony on Tuesday, the day after they finished third in the ski jumping team e...
SOCHI—Japan faced off against Germany in the women’s ice hockey fight for seventh place, and the result was a 3-2 loss on Tuesday for the squad nicknamed “Smile Japan.” The result left the...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Throughout the cross-country race, Akito Watabe bided his time at the back of the large lead group, preparing to make his move as he stayed within striking distance. Then disaster s...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—It had been a long time coming for Norway, the birthplace of Nordic combined. Joergen Graabak took gold and Magnus Moan the silver in the large hill event Tuesday at the Soc...
SOCHI (AP)—Noora Raty stopped 18 shots in her Olympic finale and Michelle Karvinen scored twice to lead Finland to a 4-0 victory over Russia on Tuesday in the women’s ice hockey fifth-place game....
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— This, Tina Maze can say now, was what she had in mind all along: An Olympic performance that hadn’t been seen in 42 years. So what if she struggled for race after race on ...
SOCHI—Yui Sakai ended a run of futility by qualifying for the quarterfinals in the women’s 1,000 meters in short track speed skating on Tuesday at the Sochi Olympics. Satoshi Sakashita also liv...
SOCHI (AP)—Jorrit Bergsma wouldn’t go along with the storyline. This was supposed to be about Sven Kramer’s redemption, the place where the world’s greatest distance skater finally made up ...
SOCHI (AP)—When Alexander Radulov pumped both fists and let loose a jubilant scream, an entire hockey nation also exhaled for a day. Although the Russians are undeniably laboring through their ho...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— After doing everything right for nearly 15 kilometers, Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen almost threw away his first biathlon gold medal at the Sochi Olympics in the final centi...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— David Wise considers himself a dad and husband first, a freestyle skier second. That might be why he also became an Olympic champion. Soaring through sloppy snow and slee...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Adam Crook’s first hints at becoming a Winter Olympian for the British Virgin Islands took the top brass there by surprise. “They thought I was talking about water skiin...
SOCHI (AP)—Britain advanced to the semifinals of the men’s Olympic curling tournament by beating Norway 6-5 in a tiebreaker Tuesday that went to the final shot. British skip David Murdoch made ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— Pierre Vaultier stood atop the podium, feeling no pain from a knee held together by little more than a brace and cheek-biting grit. Nikolay Olyunin, the 22-year-old underdo...
SOCHI—Led by Noriaki Kasai, the silver medalist in the individual large hill event on Saturday, Japan won bronze in men’s team ski jumping. Monday’s bronze is the first medal Japan has receiv...
SOCHI—It was an emotional moment, but not a surprising one. Japan earned the bronze medal in the ski jumping team event at the Sochi Olympics on Monday, delivering the best it could at its current...
SOCHI—In the end, it was one mountain too many to get over. Japan came up short in its late surge to make the semifinals in women’s curling at the Sochi Olympics, falling Monday to powerhouse S...
SOCHI (AP)—The United States and Canada will play for the women’s hockey gold medal for the fourth time in the five Olympics since the sport was added to the Winter Games. “We feel like we’...
SOCHI (AP)—Through 17 years of grueling practices, of defeats and victories, Meryl Davis and Charlie White insist they’ve never considered parting ways. A perfect pairing, they were nearly flaw...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Darya Domracheva is so light-footed on her skis, her rivals have started comparing her with a dancer. Without losing rhythm, the Belarussian eased to her third victory at th...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—This was a high five Anton Kushnir will never forget. Five spins into the frosty night air followed by a near-perfect landing gave Kushnir the gold medal Monday and wrapped ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Aksel Lund Svindal is skipping his last race at the Olympics because of allergies he thinks are “from the concrete that’s in the air.” After training Monday, the Norwe...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—With the gold medal on the line, Severin Freund made his final jump, then hoped it would be enough to give Germany victory in the team large hill ski jumping competition Monda...
SOCHI (AP)—Switzerland and Britain advanced to the semifinals in women’s Olympic curling Monday, and Canada became the first women’s team to complete the round-robin matches without a loss. T...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— Winless in the last three years in two-man bobsledding, Alexander Zubkov picked the perfect time and place to put that streak to an emphatic end. At the Olympics. On home i...
SOCHI—Though Noriaki Kasai became the oldest medalist in Olympic ski jumping history, the 41-year-old said he is not satisfied with the silver he won. What he really wants is to become the oldest g...
SOCHI—Medal hopeful Mao Asada appears as ready as she will ever be for her date with destiny in the women’s figure skating competition at the Sochi Olympics. Asada, returning to Sochi from the ...
A rejuvenated Japan chalked up its second surprising victory in less than 24 hours, defeating Asian rival China 8-5 in women’s curling at the Sochi Olympics on Monday and keeping alive its hopes of...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Snowboarder Yuka Fujimori couldn’t erase the disappointment she suffered four years ago, as she failed to advance to the women’s snowboard cross final at the Sochi Olympics on ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Kjetil Jansrud won his audition for Norwegian idol at the Sochi Olympics. In an Alpine event that Norway absolutely owns, Jansrud won a thrilling men’s super-G race Sunday o...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—This medal mattered to Bode Miller. Not so much because, at 36, his bronze in Sunday’s super-G—behind winner Kjetil Jansrud and surprise runner-up Andrew Weibrecht—mak...
SOCHI (AP)—The Dutch are just racing themselves at the Olympic speed skating oval. Jorien ter Mors led another Netherlands sweep at Adler Arena, beating favorite Ireen Wust in the women’s 1,500 me...
SOCHI (AP)—Phil Kessel is the first American in more than a decade to score a hat trick in an Olympic hockey tournament. He’s more interested in something no American has accomplished on Olympi...
SOCHI (AP)—Drew Doughty scored with 2:28 left in overtime to lift Canada to a 2-1 win over Finland on Sunday in the final preliminary round game of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament. The defe...
SOCHI (AP)—Galina Skiba scored twice, including the tie-breaking goal in the second period, to help Russia beat Japan 6-3 on Sunday and earn a spot in the Olympic women’s hockey fifth-place game....
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Eva Samkova slapped a camera atop her helmet before the women’s Olympic snowboard cross finals on Sunday, hoping to give TV viewers a better grasp of her sport’s unique mi...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Marcus Hellner was so far ahead of his rivals heading in to the cross-country stadium that he had time to pick up a Swedish flag and wave it to the crowd as he cruised toward ...
SOCHI—Japan siblings Cathy and Chris Reed failed to qualify for the free dance in the ice dancing competition, finishing 21st out of 24 pairs in the short dance with 52.29 points at Sochi on Sunday...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Felix Neureuther could skip Wednesday’s Olympic giant slalom after getting whiplash from a car crash in Germany. Neureuther says he plans his first training runs on Monday...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Alexander Zubkov has a commanding lead at the halfway point of men’s Olympic two-man bobsled. Along with brakeman Alexey Voevoda, Zubkov drove through a light fog and set ...
Japan women’s curling team kept its narrow semifinal hopes alive, beating Switzerland 9-7 in an extra end at Sochi on Sunday. Japan (3-4) is now sixth in the standings with two games left. Howeve...
Japan siblings Cathy Reed and Chris Reed failed to qualify for the free dance in the ice dancing competition, finishing 21st in the short dance with 52.29 points at Sochi on Sunday. Meryl Davis and...
Yuka Fujimori’s third Olympic Games ended in the quarterfinal round of the women’s snowboard cross at Sochi on Sunday, as she fell and finished last in her group. Eva Samkova of the Czech Repub...
SOCHI—Just as a stalagmite is developed over a long time, 41-year-old Noriaki Kasai has spent many years establishing his own ski jumping style—spreading his legs wider than his shoulders to make...
SOCHI (Jiji-Japan News)—Noriaki Kasai became the oldest Olympic medal winner in the ski jumping history by winning the silver medal in the men’s large hill event at Sochi on Saturday. Among Japa...
Ski jumper and Japan Olympic team captain Noriaki Kasai has vowed to win his first gold medal at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games for his sister, who is battling a serious illness. At 41 years old, K...
SOCHI—A wide variety of public and private support helped Japan win its first Nordic combined Olympic medal in 20 years. On Wednesday, Akito Watabe won the silver medal in the individual normal h...
SOCHI (AP)—Canada virtually sealed its place in the semifinals of the women’s Olympic curling tournament by beating Japan 8-6 on Saturday for a sixth straight win. No team—men’s or women’...
SOCHI (AP)—T.J. Oshie scored four times in the shootout and got the winner in the eighth round, leading the United States past Russia 3-2 Saturday in the thrilling revival of a classic Olympic hocke...
SOCHI (AP)—Slovenia is not satisfied with just showing up to play hockey at the Olympics for the first time. Its players want to win. They made that very clear Saturday. Anze Kopitar scored the...
SOCHI (AP)—The closest 1,500-meter race in Olympic speedskating history came down to a final lunge of the skate—then a few more agonizing seconds to figure out who won. Zbigniew Brodka knocked...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—One year after a giant meteor streaked across Russia’s sky, Alexander Tretiakov flashed by. Accelerating down his home track lined from top to bottom with flag-waving, cha...
SOCHI (AP)—Stefanie Marty scored midway through the first period and Florence Schelling stopped 41 shots on Saturday to give Switzerland a 2-0 victory over Russia and a spot in the Olympic women’...
SOCHI (AP)—Brad Jacobs scratched his neck and rubbed his face with his hands in a gesture of sheer relief as he slid across the ice to celebrate with his Canada teammates. The gold-medal favorite...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—The super-G was running so extreme that seven of the opening eight racers slid, tumbled, careened and glided off the course, unable to finish. In all, 18 of 49 racers failed ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Charlotte Kalla erased a 25-second deficit on the final leg and won a three-way sprint at the end to give Sweden the Olympic gold in the women’s 4x5-kilometer cross-country ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Kamil Stoch considers himself fortunate to have won his second gold medal of the Sochi Olympics, overcoming what he called a “tragic” final jump Saturday to claim a narrow...
SOCHI (AP)—Viktor Ahn threw his arms up in celebration as he crossed the finish line first, giving Russia its first Olympic short track gold medal. Just behind him Vladimir Grigorev was celebrating...
Evergreen Noriaki Kasai won the silver medal in the men’s large hill in ski jumping at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday, capturing the individual medal he has long sought after in his seven attempts ...
Ayuko Ito failed to advance to the final in the women’s 1,500-meter short track speeding skating event at Sochi on Saturday. Ito, 27, became the first Japanese skater to reach the semifinal in sh...
Sendai residents were overjoyed Saturday as native son Yuzuru Hanyu triumphed at the Sochi Olympics, making history as the first Japanese man to win a gold medal in figure skating. Called “Hates-...
SOCHI—Teen star Yuzuru Hanyu became the first Japanese man to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating, capturing the title Friday at the Sochi Winter Games. Hanyu, in giving Japan its first g...
SOCHI—Yuzuru Hanyu shone brightly at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games on Friday, winning Japan’s first gold medal in men’s figure skating, but he wasn’t smiling at the press conference after th...
Yuzuru Hanyu made history at the Sochi Games by becoming the first Japanese man to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating on Friday. The 19-year-old edged three-time world champion Patrick Cha...
OKAYAMA—“I want to give him a gold medal,” said Kiyoto Takahashi, 64, Daisuke Takahashi’s mother, after watching her son’s performance at the Sochi Olympics on TV. Takahashi finished sixth ...
SOCHI—Daisuke Takahashi showed a bright smile toward the end of his free program performance during the men’s figure skating event at the Sochi Olympics on Friday. The 27-year-old settled for s...
SOCHI—Yayoi Machida was there for her son Tatuski on Friday, having traveled all the way from Hiroshima to watch his free skate at the Sochi Games. The 23-year-old Machida finished fifth overall,...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Alla Tsuper of Belarus pulled off a stunning upset to win gold in women’s aerials on Friday, beating a field that included two decorated Olympians. Tsuper drilled a 98.01 ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—For Sandro Viletta, it was a stunning Olympic gold. For Ivica Kostelic, it was the same old Olympic silver. Viletta took advantage of a blistering slalom run to beat the fa...
SOCHI—Japan got an up-close look at the difference in skill level between itself and Britain, thanks to the display skip Eve Muirhead had for them on Friday. Britain, filled with players from its ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Dario Cologna, skiing in short sleeves on another warm and sunny day, won his second gold medal at the Sochi Olympics on Friday with a dominant performance in the 15-kilometer...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Darya Domracheva’s unmatched pace at skiing Friday earned her a second gold medal of the Sochi Olympics, and this time she wasn’t the only Belarusian on the podium. With...
SOCHI (AP)—After the final horn, Jeff Carter tried to give the game puck to Roberto Luongo in honor of the goalie’s latest Olympic shutout. Luongo handed it right back, claiming Carter’s hat tr...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov has a surprisingly large lead over Latvia’s Martins Dukurs after the first two runs of men’s Olympic skeleton. The bronze medalist four ye...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Britain’s Lizzy Yarnold won the season’s first race on a technicality. The season’s last race, there was no argument. Yarnold won the Olympic women’s skeleton gold m...
SOCHI (AP)—Norway had two losses Friday on a day of close results, dramatic finishes and fluctuating fortunes, raising the noise and tension levels inside the Ice Cube Curling Center to previously ...
Teen star Yuzuru Hanyu became the first Japanese male to win an Olympic figure skating gold medal on Friday, capturing the title despite two glaring errors in the free skate at the Sochi Winter Games...
Japan lost to Britain 3-12 on Friday for its second straight loss in the women’s curling competition at the Sochi Olympics. World champion Britain went 2-0 in the first end. Japan bounced back to...
Yuzuru Hanyu’s performance at the Sochi Olympics on Thursday gave hope and courage to people in the Tohoku region who are making efforts toward reconstruction from the March 11, 2011, disaster, bea...
SOCHI—Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu wasn’t worried about the pressure of being in his first Olympics at age 19. And he was ready to take aim at winning Japan’s first Olympic gold in men’s figure ska...
SOCHI—After finishing his short program Thursday, Daisuke Takahashi looked to be in a daze, his mouth agape and his tongue momentarily sticking out. It would not be until he met reporters in the...
SOCHI (AP)—Evgeni Plushenko’s Olympics are over. His competitive career, too. The Russian star retired Thursday just after he withdrew from the men’s event at the Sochi Olympics for medical r...
SOCHI—Germany blanked “Smile Japan” 4-0 as Japan ended Group B women’s ice hockey action at the Sochi Olympics winless in three games and at the bottom of the group. Germany finished third i...
SOCHI—It was hardly the Olympic debut that Kaho Onodera had hoped for. Onodera, playing for the first time after missing three matches due to the flu, made some key mistakes as Japan was dealt a ...
SOCHI (AP)—Zhang Hong put up an early time no one could beat. Not the Dutch, though they are still flying high at the Sochi Olympics. Certainly not the Americans, who can’t get up to speed at A...
SOCHI (AP)—In the slippery world of short track, China kept its grip solidly on the Olympic gold medal. Li Jianrou extended her country’s dominance in the women’s 500 meters Thursday, winning...
SOCHI—Japan’s Masako Ishida was left to rue her 15th-place finish in the women’s 10-kilometer classic cross-country skiing event at Sochi on Thursday. She finished in 29:55.7 and didn’t hide ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Don’t worry, Team USA. The shredder kids have your back. Americans Joss Christensen, Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper swept the podium in men’s slopestyle skiing Thursday...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—If a foot fracture couldn’t stop Justyna Kowalczyk, a bit of sunshine certainly wasn’t about to. Kowalczyk ignored the pain in her injured foot and the warm weather beat...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Martin Fourcade has a long way to go to match Ole Einar Bjoerndalen’s record of seven Olympic gold medals in biathlon. He’s off to a good start, though. Fourcade earned ...
SOCHI (AP)—Shea Weber and Jamie Benn scored in the second period Thursday to help defending Olympic champion Canada shake off a sluggish start and defeat Norway 3-1. Patrick Thoresen redirected a...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Men’s gold. Women’s gold. Doubles gold. And now, team relay gold. Dominant again—more dominant than ever, really—Germany won the inaugural Olympic luge team relay ...
SOCHI (AP)—There wasn’t enough gold to go around in the women’s downhill event. When Slovenia’s Tina Maze and Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin tied for first place on Wednesday with identica...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Normal hill gold medal winner Kamil Stoch of Poland shook off the effects of a crash landing 24 hours earlier to place first, second and third in three training rounds Thursda...
Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu jumped into figure skating history on Thursday night at the Sochi Games by becoming the first skater to break the 100-point mark in the men’s short program. The 19-year-old ...
The allure of figure skating is not limited to jumps and steps—the gorgeous costumes of figure skaters are something you also do not want to miss. The Yomiuri Shimbun has asked fashion critic Koji ...
SOCHI—Akito Watabe won the silver medal in the Nordic combined individual normal hill event on Wednesday, marking the first medal in the sport by a Japanese athlete in 20 years. The 25-year-old ex...
Japan saw its two-match winning streak in women’s curling snapped in an 8-6 loss to the United States in round-robin action on Thursday at the Sochi Games. Japan followed a win over Denmark with an...
SOCHI—In a match that came down to the final stone, Japan defeated host Russia 8-4 on Wednesday for its second win in the women’s curling competition at the Sochi Olympics. Stealing points on ...
SOCHI (AP)—The puck trickled under Jesse Vetter’s pads and over the goal line, and then the whistle blew. Or was it the other way around? The Canadian women’s hockey team beat the United Stat...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— After dominating Nordic combined for the past two years, Eric Frenzel wasn’t about to have a letdown on his sport’s biggest stage. The 25-year-old German led after ski...
SOCHI (AP)—Exhausted, Stefan Groothuis sat on an infield bench and started choking up as he saw one challenger after another falter. The freak injuries, illnesses, depression, the thoughts of sui...
SOCHI (AP)—Speed skater Sven Kramer has decided that chasing four gold medals at the Sochi games would simply be too much. The 5,000-meter champion said Wednesday he’s withdrawing from next Sat...
SOCHI (AP)—Switzerland has had some success in Olympic hockey, thriving as underdogs. As a heavy favorite, the Swiss needed a lucky break Wednesday to avoid being pushed to overtime by lightly rega...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Inspired by a pair of daredevil, medal-winning, teenaged compatriots, Rana Okada decided she would also pull out all the stops. Okada saved her best for last and it paid off with...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—It was one of those Olympic-style pauses. Two minutes. Three minutes. To the four women sitting on the bench at the bottom of the halfpipe, it felt even longer. In the end, ...
SOCHI (AP)—Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov won the Olympic gold medal in pairs figure skating Wednesday as Russia took the top two spots and reclaimed its dominance of the sport. Ksenia Stol...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—It was diplomacy, playing out on the snow: An American who helped a Russian finish his Olympic race has drawn praise from the IOC. Justin Wadsworth, a three-time U.S. Olympi...
SOCHI—Teenage snowboarders Ayumu Hirano and Taku Hiraoka received their medals Wednesday for the men’s halfpipe event, the first medals for Japan at the Sochi Games. Hirano, 15, received his s...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Gold medalist Kamil Stoch of Poland and Russian ski jumper Mikhail Maksimochkin were injured after crashing during landings Wednesday night while training for the individual l...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—The Austrian Olympic Committee has filed a complaint with the IOC after Alpine skier Elisabeth Goergl was drug-tested the night before the women’s downhill at the Sochi Game...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—On Russian ice, Germany is making itself at home. The world’s sliding superpower won its third straight gold medal in luge at the Sochi Games on Wednesday night as Tobias ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP)—It was one of those Olympic-style pauses. Two minutes. Three minutes. To the four women sitting on the bench at the bottom of the halfpipe, it felt even longer. In t...
It will be the last Olympic skate for Daisuke Takahashi, who will perform in the figure skating event in the Sochi Games from Thursday. The 27-year-old, a bronze medalist in Vancouver in 2010, will m...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Sara Takanashi’s voice was so weak it was as if she was fading away. “I wasn’t able to show anything good today. I’m totally disappointed,” the 17-year-old said after f...
SOCHI—The unpredictability of sports was on full display in Sochi on Tuesday, as two teenagers brought the first medals for Japan in snowboarding, while another teen deemed as a gold medal favorite...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—At the same instant that first-round leader Carina Vogt was permanently put in the top spot in the standings after her second jump, the name “TAKANASHI” dropped to fourth place...
SOCHI—Japan stole points in three consecutive ends early in the match and went on to defeat Denmark 8-3 to even its record at 1-1 in the women’s curling competition at the Sochi Olympics on Tuesd...
SOCHI (AP)—Lee Sang Hwa burst off the line with a flawless start. She built up speed with each stride on the front straight—her arms swinging powerfully, her body low to the ice. By the time Lee...
SOCHI—Nao Kodaira finished in fifth place in the women’s 500 meters in speed skating at the Sochi Olympics on Tuesday, clocking a combined 1 minute 15.61 seconds to miss out on a medal by .13 sec...
SOCHI (AP)—When Yuka Sato and husband Jason Dungjen go to their closets, they need to be very careful. Imagine donning the wrong national jacket when accompanying your skaters to the rink. The c...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—On a day of slips, falls and crashes, Ola Vigen Hattestad took the safest route to an Olympic gold—staying in front from beginning to end. The Norwegian won the men’s cr...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—The lasting image of freestyle skiing pioneer Sarah Burke is her ever-present smile, the one that helped inspire kids across Canada to slap on their skis and open their minds....
SOCHI (AP)—Alexandra Vafina scored on a breakaway with 8:24 left in the third period on Tuesday to help Russia beat Japan 2-1 and earn a berth in the Olympic women’s hockey quarterfinals. Anna ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)— Based on training sessions in the Caucasus Mountains above Sochi, the battle for the Winter Olympics’ first-ever gold medal in women’s ski jumping was between Sara Takana...
KRASNAYA POLY- ANA (AP)—Shaun White lost to a kid they call the “I-Pod,” and now, he may never hear the end of it. How big of an Olympic shocker was this? White, the best snowboarder of his er...
SOCHI (AP)—Britain scored an Olympic-record seven points in one end on the way to a 12-3 win over the United States on Tuesday, earning the world champions a first victory in the women’s curling ...
SOCHI—Keiichiro Nagashima and Joji Kato, silver and bronze medalists in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, finished sixth and fifth, respectively, in the men’s 500-meter speed skating. Yuya Oikawa pl...
SOCHI (AP)—Charles Hamelin of Canada skated clear of the chaos that makes short track so unpredictable, winning the 1,500 meters on Monday for his third different Olympic title. At 29, Hamelin wa...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Alex Bilodeau carried the Canadian flag along with the prodigy who pushed him to history. Moments later, the greatest moguls skier of his time bearhugged his inspiration, pull...
SOCHI (AP)—The Dutch have taken their domination at the Olympic speed skating oval to a new level. They aren’t just hoarding most of the medals. Now, they’re keeping it in the family. Mich...
Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara, left, and Yumie Funayama look on as South Korea plays a shot in Tuesday’s round-robin opener for both teams in Sochi. Japan fell 12-7, missing a chance to send the match i...
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP)—Martin Fourcade won gold and Jean Guillaume Beatrix earned bronze in Monday’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit, putting France onto the medals table at the Sochi Olympics. B...
SOCHI (AP)—Canada made a stuttering start to the defense of its Olympic curling title on Monday, following up a scrappy win over unheralded Germany with a surprise loss to Switzerland on a sobering...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—In Alpine skiing, there are speed specialists and there are technical specialists, and then there’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch. As versatile as they come, the German is establishi...
SOCHI (AP)—Canada needed 50 minutes to finally get a puck past Finland goalie Noora Raty. So when Megan Agosta scored to break a scoreless tie in the third period, it was a big relief. “I’v...
SOCHI (AP)—A few hours after Alex Ovechkin awoke on the NHL’s chartered luxury jet Monday, he was among the first Russians on the Olympic ice for practice. Ovechkin has been waiting several yea...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Sara Takanashi of Japan finished first in two of three training rounds Monday in women’s ski jumping at the Sochi Olympics to regain some of the initiative she had lost to r...
SOCHI—Even top skaters struggled with the different atmosphere of the first Olympic team figure skating competition. Japan missed out on a medal in the new event, settling for fifth among the fi...
SOCHI—Japan’s women’s ice hockey team came off the ice with a loss, but with a boost of confidence as well. Jenni Asserholt scored off a deflection on a power play 12:38 into the first period...
Sho Endo finished 15th in the men’s moguls at the Sochi Olympics on Monday. The 23-year-old, who was seventh at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, scored 21.73 points in the first round of the final. ...
SOCHI—Shiho Ishizawa was the top Japanese finisher in the women’s 3,000-meter speed skating event, placing ninth in 4 minute, 9.39 seconds at the Adler Arena Skating Center on Sunday at the Sochi...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Matthias Mayer grew up in Austria admiring plenty of Alpine skiers, from his medal-winning dad, to all-time great Hermann Maier, to a couple of guys he races against these days...
SOCHI (AP)—Ireen Wust held up three fingers. One nail was painted red. The others were white and blue. Gold would’ve worked, too. Wust claimed a speed skating gold medal at her third straig...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—There was a lot of ugliness out on that supersized Olympic slopestyle course Sunday—crashes, splashes, face plants, even a cracked helmet. As she so often does, Jamie Ande...
SOCHI—Tatsuki Machida beat the pressure of his first Olympic appearance on Sunday, performing an expressive free skate in the team figure skating event. Machida, 23, finished third in the free pr...
SOCHI (AP)—A moment of triumph nearly turned embarrassing for Russian speedskater Olga Graf. The 30-year-old gave the home country a reason to cheer Sunday, winning Russia’s first medal when sh...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Polish ski jumper Kamil Stoch wasn’t feeling too good early Sunday. By the end of the day, with a little help from doctors and an Olympic gold medal in the men’s normal ...
SOCHI—As Japan captain in the team figure skating competition, Akiko Suzuki acknowledges she didn’t pull her weight when called into action. Suzuki put on a disappointing performance in the wom...
SOCHI (AP)—A master showman and four-time Olympic medalist, Evgeni Plushenko knows brilliance on the ice. He saw it Sunday night inside the Iceberg at Sochi’s Olympic Park from a countrywoman h...
SOCHI (AP)—The Russian women’s hockey team awakened in time to preserve its chances of reaching the medal round. In front of a boisterous crowd that was the biggest yet at the Shayba Arena, the...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Noriaki Kasai was in striking distance of a medal after the first round. Instead he struck out. Kasai, aiming to become Japan’s first medalist at the Sochi Games as he begins h...
When Daisuke Takahashi arrived in Sochi on Sunday, determined to deliver his best performance at the Olympic Games, his parents were back in his hometown of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, planning to...
SOCHI (AP)—Jenni Asserholt deflected a shot into the net for a first-period goal and Sweden held on to beat Japan 1-0 on Sunday in their opening game of the Sochi Olympics women’s hockey tourname...
SOCHI—Akito Watabe, a medal hopeful in the Nordic combined, did not hesitate to express his confidence in winning a gold medal at the Sochi Olympics at a press conference Saturday. “I’m prepa...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Justine Dufour-Lapointe was stunned. She had just knocked off the best moguls skier in the world to win the Olympic gold medal. On a crystal clear Saturday night in the crag...
SOCHI, Russia (AP)—Sven Kramer got started on his road to Olympic redemption with a rousing performance that drew a royal rave review. The 27-year-old Dutchman blew away the field and defended hi...
SOCHI (AP)—Like old times, Russia is dominating Olympic figure skating. The host nation’s disappointment over not winning a gold medal in Vancouver will fade quickly if its skaters’ performan...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Sage Kotsenburg loves snowboarding for all its unexpected surprises. Winning the first Olympic gold medal in slopestyle, for one. And winning it with one trick he’d never ...
Aiko Uemura finished fourth in the women’s moguls at the Sochi Games on Saturday, failing to earn the Olympic medal she has sought for so long. Uemura had 20.66 points in the final, trailing 0.83...
Aiko Uemura was not as disappointed this time, despite failing to finish higher than her fourth-place performance at the Vancouver Olympics. After narrowly missing out on a medal by finishing fourth ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP)—Ole Einar Bjoerndalen had just become the oldest Winter Olympic individual gold medalist—at age 40—when he was hugged by a fellow Norwegian whose records he might ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Two of the first three starters in the last training run for the men’s Olympic downhill, Rok Perko of Slovenia and Brice Roger of France, were injured in crashes Saturday an...
KRASNAYA POLYANA—Yuki Kadono made it to the slopestyle final on Saturday and finished the event in eighth place with 75.75 points. The first medal of the Sochi Games went to American Sage Kotsenbu...
SOCHI—There are seemingly few reasons to bet on the Japan women’s hockey team, dubbed “Smile Japan.” The team is ranked No. 10 in the world, the lowest among all the teams competing at Sochi,...
Aiko Uemura failed to earn the medal she has long sought after at the Olympics, finishing fourth in the women’s moguls at the Sochi Games on Saturday. Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada won gold, ...
Japan finished fifth on the second day of the figure skating team event at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday, with Mao Asada placing third in the women’s short program. Japan’s Cathy Reed and her ...
KYOTO—Many people have written their hopes that figure skater Daisuke Takahashi will recover completely from his leg injury on ema wooden tablets at Go Shrine, as the shrine is said to heal legs an...
SOCHI—Curler Ayumi Ogasawara led the Japanese delegation as its flag bearer as it marched in the entrance procession in the colorful opening ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Olympics Friday, held at the O...
Japanese teenager Yuki Kadono revived his medal hopes in the inaugural Olympic snowboard slopestyle event Saturday, grabbing a place in the final to be held later in the day at the Sochi Games. Kad...
SOCHI—At the fabulous opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday, the Japanese delegation was led by flag bearer Ayumi Ogasawara, the mother of a 4-year-old son. The 35-year-old curler...
SOCHI—The Sochi Olympics is the second Winter Games for ice hockey player Yoko Kondo, who also played in the 1998 Nagano Games, but the 34-year-old says she still feels like a rookie. No wonder, ...
SOCHI—Two years ago, Reruhi Shimizu switched from the Nordic combined to ski jumping. As the youngest member of Japan's jump squad in Sochi, he will seek to prove his skills on the biggest stage. ...
SOCHI (AP)—One of the greatest goaltenders of all time and an innovative figure skater who won three straight Olympic pairs titles lit the cauldron together Friday night at the opening ceremony of ...
KRASNAYA POLYANA (AP)—Just give him the gold. The betting parlors around Europe pretty much already have. Shaun White is listed as a 1-2 favorite at Ladbrokes to win the Olympic halfpipe contest ...
SOCHI—Yuzuru Hanyu provided a lot of motivation for Japanese athletes ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympic Games, achieving the highest score in the men’s short program for t...
SOCHI (AP)—Fun photo alert: The Japanese women’s hockey team had already practiced a couple of times after arriving in Sochi, and they even played an exhibition game against the hosting Russians ...
SOCHI—Aiko Uemura made it through the first round of preliminary action in women’s moguls at the Sochi Games on Thursday night, advancing directly into the final with a seventh-place finish. Japa...
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP)—The flashback hit Hannah Kearney out of nowhere. That’s when the defending gold medalist in women’s moguls decided she needed to turn her brain off and just do h...
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP)—Slopestyle made its Olympic debut on Thursday without Shaun White and without any of the drama the sport’s biggest star feared when he decided to pull out of the eve...