The United States, with six gold, four silver and 10 bronze medals, is tied for first with the Netherlands in the overall medal count after Tuesday’s Olympic action.
Two Americans picked up medals on Tuesday as David Wise, a three-time X Games gold medalist, won gold in men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe, while Alex Deibold took bronze in men’s snowboardcross.
Germany leads in the gold medal count with eight, while the U.S. and Netherlands each have six.
Russian men avoid disaster in hockey
Led by Pavel Datsyuk and Alexander Radulov, the Russian men’s hockey team beat Norway 4-0 in a win-or-go-home contest. Datsyuk tallied three assists while Radulov scored twice to fuel the Russian offense.
Considering Russia was one of the favorites to win gold prior to the tournament, failing to reach the quarterfinals on its home ice would have been a disappointment. Russia will face Finland in the quarterfinals.
Slovenia, Czech Republic and Latvia also advanced to the quarterfinal round.
Men’s curling: Great Britain beats Norway
Great Britain beat Norway 6-5 on Tuesday morning with a dramatic two-point 10th end and advanced to the semifinal round. It came down to the last stone, as skip David Murdoch secured two points and the win on the game’s final throw.
The British will face defending world champion Sweden in the semifinal.
Dutch men sweep 10,000m speed skating
The Netherlands had a strong showing on Tuesday as it swept the 10,000 meter speed skating final. Jorrit Bergsma took gold, Sven Kramer won silver and Bob de Jong rounded out the medals with a bronze.
The Dutch have dominated speed skating at these Olympics, winning a staggering 19 medals in the sport.
Wednesday preview
The men’s hockey quarterfinals highlight the action on Wednesday. In the morning, Sweden takes on Slovakia, while Russia matches up with Finland. In the afternoon, the United States takes on the Czech Republic and Canada will take on Latvia.
Curling moves on to the semifinal stage for both men and women. Canada, Sweden and Great Britain have both men and women competing.
Ross Gienieczko can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RossCollegian.
