Hundreds of thousands of international tourists are expected to descend on Brazil over the next few days for carnival. But you didn’t need to go further than the Dolomites on Saturday to see somebody performing samba on a raised platform.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen entered Brazilian sporting folklore by snaring his country’s, and continent’s, first medal at a Winter Olympics – and a gold at that. The reigning champion, Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, who leaves these Games without a title after being fancied for multiple successes, was no match for Pinheiro Braathen in the men’s giant slalom in Bormio.
Brazilian TV heralded this moment by overlaying on to its coverage the same music that ran alongside Ayrton Senna’s grand prix victories in Formula One. “This unprecedented result shows that Brazilian sport has no limits,” wrote the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “It broadens the horizon of sport in our nation.” It has been pointed out that anyone aged 23 or under in Brazil has now seen their country win a Winter Olympic gold medal but not a football World Cup.
From the age of three to 11, living in Brazil with his mother after his parents’ divorce and playing football, Pinheiro Braathen harboured dreams of wearing the famous yellow shirt on the world stage. “My first role models were Ronaldinho, it was Ronaldo,” he said on Saturday. When he went back to Norway, the country of his birth, his father tried to take him skiing. “I told him: ‘I’m Brazilian, it’s not in our blood,’” his son said. “‘My feet are made for beaches.’” He told his dad he wanted to be the best footballer in the world.
Team sports proved too limiting for a maverick, a misfit. Eventually he made his name in elite skiing under Norway’s flag, drawing comparisons – as with any promising Norwegian athlete of a similar age – to Erling Haaland. That the 25-year-old might now be just as famous a face in Brazil as one of the best footballers on the planet is as ironic as it is impressive.
The glare, the pressure on young Norwegian skiers to fit the mould, appeared too much. The story of his retirement at 23 – “I lost the reason why I began skiing” – and his comeback under Brazil’s flag is well-documented. Pinheiro Braathen says he is freer, more able to express himself. He models, he has his own skincare brand.
A little samba shuffle came out on top of the podium in Bormio after a poignant moment when the national anthem was played. “I’ve experienced it so many times as a fan of the Brazilian football team,” the gold medallist said. “Being the reason that I get to hear and share that song in a stadium in the middle of mountains, because of a Winter Olympic gold medal for these colours, I’m beyond proud.”
Heated rivalries: Norway pounce on Sweden’s falls from grace
Not once, not twice but thrice did Swedes take a tumble during the women’s 4×7.5km cross-country skiing relay. Ebba Andersson was the culprit for the first two and the most costly. In thick snow on the second leg she went head over heels, losing the ski on her right foot and jogging for the next bit. A Swedish coach rushed over to hand her a new ski but he himself hit the deck in his haste.
Amid the carnage, Norway sped away and clinched gold by a margin of 50.7sec, much larger than the 0.7 that separated the two squads at the world championships last year. Sweden recovered for an admirable silver but it wasn’t much consolation for Andersson. “My body is OK but my heart is not,” she said.
As it stands
Norway break double figures for golds. Canada are playing catch-up.
1 🇳🇴 Norway 🥇 10 🥈 3 🥉 7 – Total: 20
2 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 6 🥈 3 🥉 9 – Total: 18
3 🇺🇸 United States 🥇 5 🥈 8 🥉 4 – Total: 17
4 🇦🇹 Austria 🥇 4 🥈 6 🥉 3 – Total: 13
5 🇫🇷 France 🥇 4 🥈 6 🥉 2 – Total: 12
6 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 4 🥈 5 🥉 4 – Total: 13
– – –
11 🇦🇺 Australia 🥇 3 🥈 1 🥉 0 – Total: 4
15 🇬🇧 Great Britain 🥇 1 🥈 0 🥉 0 – Total: 1
18 🇨🇦 Canada 🥇 0 🥈 3 🥉 5 – Total: 8
Picture of the day
Further reading from the Guardian
What to look out for today
Times are all in local time in Milan and Cortina. For Sydney it is +10 hours, for London it is -1 hour, for New York it is -6 hours and San Francisco it is -9 hours.
Curling – 9.05am, 2.05pm, 7.05pm: the men’s and women’s round robin stage continues with British teams in action in all three sessions.
Alpine skiing – 10am, 1.30pm🥇: the women’s giant slalom medals are handed out after the second run at lunchtime.
Freestyle skiing – 10.30am🥇: Canada’s Mikaël Kingsbury is the firm favourite for the men’s dual moguls.
Biathlon – 11.15am, 2.25pm🥇: the men go first in the 12.5km pursuit before the women in the 10km pursuit.
Ice hockey – 12.10pm, 4.40pm, 7.10pm, 9.10pm: star-studded teams such as Canada and the USA continue their group-stage campaigns.
Snowboard – 1.45pm🥇: pairs of one woman and one man go through the rounds in the mixed team snowboard cross.
Speed skating – 5.03pm🥇: can the Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam follow up her win in the women’s 1,000m with another gold in the 500m?
Skeleton – 6pm🥇: in an Olympic first, pairs made up of one woman and one man vie for gold, with GB’s Matt Weston in action again.
Ski jumping – 7.57pm🥇: the Slovenian star Nika Prevc looks to emulate her brother, Domen, after his large hill individual gold on Saturday.
Figure skating – 7.45pm: the short programme of the pair skating.
The last word
They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line. It was planned right from the word go yesterday – The war of words in the men’s curling escalates as Canada’s Marc Kennedy accuses Sweden of trying to catch teams out. Kennedy was involved in a sweary spat with Magnus Eriksson, who accused him of cheating by “double-touching” the stone during a round robin match on Friday night.
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