The Winter Olympics have finally taken on the appearance of being the ‘Winter’ Olympics.
For the first time since the Olympics began, actual snow fell in Beijing on Sunday, giving the city the appearance and feel of a true Winter Games. There was also new snow in the mountains, where all of the competitions were held on artificial snow.
While the snow was mainly welcome, it reduced visibility in the mountains and made it more difficult for ski racers to make it down the slope, particularly in the first run of the two-leg giant slalom.
Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, who won his first Olympic gold medal, handled the snow and poor visibility better than anyone else.
“In the second run, I put everything on the line because I wanted not just a medal, but a gold medal,” Odermatt stated. “It’s challenging because you could lose everything, but it paid off today.”
While there was some light snow on Saturday, it snowed heavily on Sunday, making it the first time it snowed during an Alpine race at the Beijing Olympics. The second run had to be postponed by 1 hour and 15 minutes due to the severe snow. Using snow blowers and shovels, employees cleaned snow off the course during the delay.
“With the weather and such a long delay between the two runs, it was a difficult day,” Odermatt remarked. “It took me more than five hours to re-think everything, and it was difficult for me to stay concentrated.” In between, I tried to sleep for a few minutes.
“I never dreamed of it before, but it still feels like a dream today.”
On the track known as The Ice River at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center, many other skiers had a bad day.
“It’s a pity the weather is so bad.” Like every other day, I was hoping for sunshine. Luca de Aliprandini of Italy, who placed sixth after the first run but skied off course and didn’t finish the second, stated, “I couldn’t see anything.” “The flakes were huge when I was heading down.”
Tommy Ford, an American skier, finished 12th.
“The course is in terrific shape, but you can’t see it,” Ford added.
Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, who finished ninth overall, commented, “It was challenging for everyone.”
A second women’s downhill training run that was supposed to take place on Sunday has been cancelled.
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