Beijing Olympics Today: Canada’s medal count is on the rise

Good morning! Canada now has eight medals. Steven Dubois scored a silver medal in the men’s 1,500-metre short-track speed skating and Meryeta O’Dine captured bronze in the women’s snowboard cross.

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Here’s what happened overnight:

• Canadian Steven Dubois has won a silver medal in men’s 1,500-metre short-track speed skating at the Beijing Olympics. Meanwhile, Canadian speed skating star Charles Hamelin, one of Canada’s flag bearers, didn’t compete for a medal in his last individual Olympic event after failing to advance to the final.
• Canada’s Meryeta O’Dine raced to a bronze medal in the women’s snowboard cross Wednesday in her Olympic debut. The 24-year-old from Prince George, B.C., held off Australia’s Belle Brockhoff in the big final to take a place on the podium.
• Petra Vlhova won Slovakia’s first Olympic alpine skiing gold medal on Wednesday in a tight women’s slalom race on the “Ice River” course. Erin Mielzynski was the top Canadian in the women’s slalom, placing 16th. Meanwhile, two-time Olympic U.S. champion Mikaela Shiffrin’s second race ended even more quickly than her first after skidding out of control about five seconds into the opening run.
• Canadian freestyle skier Evan McEachran landed an impressive switch triple cork on his first run before falling to ninth spot in the men’s big air event at the Beijing Olympics. On his final jump, a triple cork, he crashed upon landing, putting him out of the medals.
• Canadian short-track speed skater Kim Boutin fell in the last bend of the women’s 1,000 metres, two days after winning the bronze medal in the 500 metres.

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• Germany won its third straight Olympic gold in luge doubles. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt scored the doubles title on Wednesday, their third consecutive gold medal in the event.
• After disappointment in the mixed doubles event, Canada has begun its next shot at curling glory. Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Brett Gallant and Geoff Walker opened round-robin play with a 10-5 victory over Denmark.
• The Canadian women’s hockey team was pushed out of its comfort zone in pre-Olympic preparation – the players were battle-tested for the Beijing Olympics by men’s Junior A clubs.
• Canada is set to open the men’s Olympic hockey tournament against Germany in Thursday’s opener.
• The Russian ice hockey team started its defence Wednesday of the Olympic men’s gold medal with a 1-0 win over Switzerland in Beijing.
• Belarusian cross-country skier Darya Dolidovich has fled the country with her family because of fears of reprisals by authorities after she was barred from competition over the family’s political views.
• A legal issue that could affect the medalists in the team figure skating competition at the Beijing Olympics has caused the award ceremony to be delayed, the International Olympic Committee said. Canada placed fourth and would be in line to be upgraded.
• Another Russian women’s hockey player has tested positive for coronavirus after playing against Canada. Russian Olympic Committee team coach Evgeny Bobariko tells state news agency RIA Novosti that Polina Bolgareva tested positive.

Globe on the ground

The Globe and Mail’s Cathal Kelly writes about the final scene of China’s campaign to persuade the world to forget about Peng Shuai.

Cathal Kelly also writes that U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s bad run in Beijing makes her even more compelling as an athlete.

James Griffiths reports on long queues outside stores in Beijing selling plush toy versions of Bing Dwen Dwen, the Olympic mascot for the 2022 Games.

Rachel Brady writes that Charles Hamelin did not win a medal in his final individual Olympic race, but one of his Canadian teammates did, and in a most unlikely way.

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Where Canada stands

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What’s on today and tomorrow

Wednesday, Feb. 9

8:30 p.m. ET, Figure skating, men’s singles, free program 🥇

8:30 p.m. ET, Skeleton, men’s individual, run 1

8:30 p.m. ET, Snowboard, women’s halfpipe, final 🥇

9:30 p.m. ET, Alpine skiing, men’s alpine combined downhill

10 p.m. ET, Skeleton, men’s individual run 2

10:15 p.m. ET, Snowboard, men’s snowboard cross, seeding

11:10 p.m. ET, Ice hockey, men Group C

Thursday, Feb. 10

1 a.m. ET Snowboard, men’s snowboard cross final

1:05 a.m. ET Curling, men round robin, Canada vs. Norway

1:15 a.m. ET Alpine skiing, men’s alpine combined, slalom 🥇

1:37 a.m. ET Snowboard, men’s snowboard cross, quarter-final and semi-final

2 a.m. ET Cross-country skiing, women’s 10 km classic style 🥇

2:15 a.m. ET Snowboard, men’s snowboard cross, final 🥇

6 a.m. ET Freestyle skiing, mixed aerials team, final 🥇

7 a.m. ET Speed skating, women’s 5000 m 🥇

7:05 a.m. ET Curling, women round robin, Canada vs. Korea

8:10 a.m. ET Ice hockey, men Group A, Canada vs. Germany

8:30 a.m. ET Luge, mixed team relay 🥇

8:30 p.m. ET Snowboard, men’s halfpipe, final 🥇

10 p.m. ET Alpine skiing, women’s Super G 🥇

COVID-19 and the Games

• The Beijing Olympics organizing committee said that a total of five new COVID-19 cases were detected among Games-related personnel. Three of the cases were found among new airport arrivals, according to a notice on the official website. Two others were among those already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates all events personnel from the public, both of whom were classified as either an athlete or team official.

Looking for more up-to-the-moment COVID-19 news? Check out our coronavirus newsletter, sent weekdays and Sundays.

As seen at the Games:

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Ice dancer Marjorie Lajoie shows off her thematically painted nails in front of the Olympic village’s flags on Feb. 8, 2022.

Which event are you waiting for at the Winter Games? Email us at audience@globeandmail.com and let us know.