The Latest: Bjoergen closes Olympic career with another gold
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local):
4:50 p.m.
Norway’s Marit Bjoergen has closed out a remarkable Olympic career in dominant fashion, winning the gold medal in the women’s 30-kilometer mass start at the Pyeongchang Games.
The 37-year-old Bjoergen finished Sunday in 1 hour, 22 minutes and 17.6 seconds – more than 1 minute, 49 seconds ahead of silver medalist Krista Parkakoski from Finland. Sweden’s Stina Nilsson won bronze.
Bjoergen had plenty of time to pick up the Norwegian flag on the stretch run and wave it as she crossed the finish line to become the only Olympian to win five medals at the Pyeongchang Games.
Bjoergen finishes her career with 15 medals, leaving her as the decorated athlete of the Winter Games of all time.
Austria’s Teresa Stadlober had been in second place but accidentally took a wrong turn and finished ninth.
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4:30 p.m.
Norwegian Marit Bjoergen’s lead of nearly two minutes in the 30-kilometer women’s mass start at the Pyeongchang Olympics proved so big that the Austrian skier in second place couldn’t see her.
In fact, Austrian Teresa Stadlober went the wrong direction on the course and got lost with about 7 kilometers remaining Sunday.
By the time Stadlober realized where she was going and got back on the course, she had lost valuable time and dropped to eighth place. That might take her out of contention for a medal.
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4:05 p.m.
A power-play goal by Kirill Kaprizov in overtime has lifted the Russians to the gold medal in men’s hockey with a 4-3 win over Germany at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
It’s the first gold in men’s hockey for a Russian team since 1992.
Kaprizov also had three assists Sunday. He scored on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Nikita Gusev.
Gusev also had two goals and two assists. He scored his second with 55.5 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Ilya Kovalchuk had a chance to win the game 6:30 in only to have his forehand stopped by a tremendous pad save by German goalie Danny Aus Den Birken.
The Germans still go home with the best medal they’ve ever won in hockey: silver.
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3:30 p.m.
The men’s gold medal game between the ”Olympic athletes from Russia” and Germany is going to overtime.
Germany, playing in the final for the first time in the country’s history, thought it had the game won when Jonas Muller scored with 3:16 left in regulation to put the Germans up 3-2.
They even got a power play when Sergei Kalinin went to the box for tripping with 2:11 left.
But the Russians pulled their goalie for the extra attacker to keep it even strength.
Nikita Gusev scored his second goal of the third period top shelf over the goalie Danny Aus Den Birken’s right shoulder to tie it up and send it into overtime.
The women’s gold medal game not only went to overtime but the first shootout in their history. The United States won that game 3-2 over Canada in the sixth round.
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3:10 p.m.
The last event of the Winter Games is about to get underway – the women’s cross-country 30-kilometer mass start.
Sunday’s race features Norway’s 37-year-old Marit Bjoergen in her final Olympic competition and Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla. Each is looking to become the only athlete to win five medals in the Pyeongchang Games.
Bjoergen won this event at the 2014 Sochi Games, and Norway has dominated it since 2011.
If Bjoergen reaches the podium, it would be her record 15th medal in the Winter Games overall and would give Norway its 14th overall in cross-country in Pyeongchang. That would break the Olympic record of 13 set by the then-Soviet Union in 1988.
Kalla has had a brilliant Winter Games, with one gold medal and three silver medals.
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2:50 p.m.
The South Korean minister of health and welfare has named hockey player Marissa Brandt an honorary ambassador for adoptees searching for their birth families.
Brandt played hockey for South Korea’s historic combined women’s team under her birth name, Park Yoonjung. She was named an honorary ambassador Sunday at a luncheon including her and two other adoptees taking part in the Olympics.
Hanna Poeschl, or Young-hye Hwang, is an intern with the Olympic Broadcasting Services, and Isaac Myers, also known as Seung-lee Choi, was an Olympic torchbearer.
Minister Neunghoo Park thanked the adoptees for taking part in the Olympics, saying they helped Korea to shine during the Winter Games. He also told them the government wants to help all adoptees following their adoptions and also with searches for their birth families.
Brandt says the entire experience has been so memorable and her goal at the Olympics was more than just winning games. Brandt says she wants to be a role model to other adoptees and also young girls wanting to play hockey. She says this gives her an opportunity to do just that.
Brandt’s sister, Hannah Brandt, plays on the gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team.
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2:35 p.m.
The Russian Olympic Committee says it expects to be reinstated ”in the next few days” even though the International Olympic Committee upheld its ban from the closing ceremony in Pyeongchang Games.
The ROC says, ”We hope and very much count on the ROC’s membership of the IOC being restored in the next few days.”
The IOC has said the suspension will be lifted as soon as all the samples of Russian athletes have been processed and as long as there are no more positive tests. Two Russians have failed drug tests and have accepted disqualification from the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The ROC says, ”In the light of the current situation we believe that the restoration of the rights of the ROC and all Russian athletes will be the most important result of the Olympic Games ending today.”
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2 p.m.
More than 50 years after it showed its postwar recovery off to the world at the 1964 Games, Tokyo is ready for another Summer Olympics.
The Japanese capital has something else to prove at the 2020 Games.
This time Japan wants to remind the rest of the world that China and South Korea haven’t left behind the first economic powerhouse in East Asia. They will use the games to showcase a clean, safe, and innovative city with cool nightlife and modern public transportation.
Organizers say the Olympics will show the nation’s ”soft power,” showcasing technology, products and service.
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1:15 p.m.
The U.S. president’s daughter and adviser says her visit to the Olympics has been ”so incredibly inspiring.” She’s expressing gratitude at the chance to watch competitions and ”be here with our allies in South Korea.”
Ivanka Trump plans to attend the closing ceremony of the 2018 Pyongchang Games after two days of visiting venues and meeting American and other athletes.
Her presence there could bring her in contact with a visiting delegation from North Korea, the country in a months-long escalation of aggressive words with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Ivanka Trump spent part of her second day in Pyeongchang watching the U.S. team compete in the bobsled competition. She says it’s been ”an amazing couple of days.”
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1 p.m.
A Canadian ski cross competitor, his wife and his coach accused of taking a car in front of a bar and driving it while inebriated at the Pyeongchang Olympics are apologizing for their behavior.
The Canadian Olympic Committee said Sunday that Dave Duncan, his wife, Maja, and Canadian technical coach William Raine had been detained by police Saturday and were now released.
Each has been fined.
A joint statement from the Duncans said their behavior ”was not up to the standards expected of us as members of the Canadian Olympic Team or as Canadians.” It did not elaborate.
Raine apologized to the vehicle owner and said, ”Words are not enough to express how sorry I am. I have let my teammates, friends and my family down.”
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12:25 p.m.
Germany is leaving the Pyeongchang Olympics with gold medals in all three bobsled events.
Francesco Friedrich finished off the sweep for the Germans on Sunday, driving his four-man sled to victory in the final day of the games. Won Yunjong of South Korea and Nico Walther of Germany tied for second and shared the silver.
In Pyeongchang, not only did Germany win gold in all three bobsled events – matching its feat from Turin 2006 – but also became the first country to win six sliding gold medals at a single Olympics.
The rest of the bobsled, skeleton and luge world won four golds in Pyeongchang combined; Canada, Austria, South Korea and Britain all got one.
The top U.S. driver was Codie Bascue, who placed ninth on a day where Ivanka Trump was among those in the crowd watching the last sliding event in Pyeongchang.
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12:20 p.m.
A Canadian ski cross competitor, his wife and a coach accused of taking a car in front of a bar and driving it while inebriated at the Pyeongchang Olympics have been released from jail.
A police officer at the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency says the coach was fined 5 million South Korean won, or about $4,600, for driving under the influence. The officer says the skier and his wife were each fined 1 million won, or about $930, for theft.
The officer wasn’t authorized to speak to the media and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Police say all three were intoxicated when they were stopped early Saturday. They were released from jail sometime after 9 p.m. Saturday. They must pay the fine before leaving the country.
Canadian Olympic Committee’s chief executive says they are taking the matter ”very, very seriously” but can’t comment until they know the results of the investigation.
Police and the committee declined to name the people involved, but the description given by police matches ski cross competitor Dave Duncan.
– Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed from Gangneung, South Korea.
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12:05 p.m.
A high-level delegation of North Korean officials has arrived in South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
The delegation is led by Kim Yong Chol, a senior North Korean party official suspected of being behind two deadly attacks on South Korea in 2010. They crossed the border in Paju around 10 a.m. Sunday local time.
Ivanka Trump, the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, will also attend the closing ceremony, but there’s been no indication that there are plans for the U.S. delegation to meet the North Korean delegation.
North Korea wasn’t expected to come to Pyeongchang until a last-minute announcement by Kim Jong Un on New Year’s Day that he wanted to send a team.
The North Korean delegation will be in South Korea until Tuesday.
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11:40 a.m.
U.S. women’s bobsledder Lauren Gibbs is going home from Pyeongchang Olympics with a silver medal and a selfie with Ivanka Trump.
Gibbs spent part of her Sunday morning watching the four-man bobsled competition with Trump, the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump. Ivanka Trump is part of the U.S. delegation in Pyeongchang for the end of the games, and has been in South Korea since Friday.
The president’s daughter says that while she prefers skiing as her top winter sport, her children are more fans of bobsledding.
Gibbs wore the silver medal that she and Elana Meyers Taylor won in the women’s bobsled event at Pyeongchang, and grabbed a selfie with Trump during the third heat of the men’s finale Sunday.
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11:30 a.m.
The Swedish women have won the gold medal in the final match of a marathon curling festival. They beat South Korea 8-3 in nine ends to leave the ”Garlic Girls” with a silver that is the hosts’ first Olympic medal in the sport.
Sweden took control of the match by stealing a point in back-to-back ends – the fourth and the fifth – even though South Korea had the last-rock advantage known as the hammer. After South Korea mustered just one point in the sixth, Swedish skip Anna Hasselborg delivered a takeout on her final rock of the seventh to score three points and open a 7-2 lead.
The South Koreans picked up one point in the eighth, but when they couldn’t keep the Swedes from scoring in the ninth, they conceded.
The Swedes hugged and jumped up and down on the ice. South Korean skip Kim Eun-jung, who became a folk hero with her unexpected rise to the Olympic podium, took off her iconic owlish glasses and wiped tears away from her eyes.
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11:15 a.m.
The International Olympic Committee has upheld its ban of Russia from the Pyeongchang Olympics, denying the country the chance to march into the closing ceremony under its own flag.
The vote came Sunday just hours before the closing ceremony.
Russia was banned from these Winter Games after a massive doping scandal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but the IOC had left open the possibility of reinstatement before the start of the closing ceremony.
However, two of the more than 160 athletes competing as Olympic Athletes from Russia tested positive for banned substances, including a curler who had to forfeit his bronze medal. That’s half of the four doping cases reported so far at this year’s Olympics.
The positive tests come after the IOC had said Russian athletes had been ”rigorously tested” months before the games – and during them.
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10:45 a.m.
The International Olympic Committee executive board has recommended upholding the ban of Russia from the Pyeongchang Winter Games because of a massive doping scandal.
The full membership will vote on the proposal Sunday ahead of the closing ceremony.
The IOC could readmit the Russian team, continue the ban or hedge with what it has described as a ”partial solution.”
IOC President Thomas Bach says a condition for Russia’s reinstatement is no further positive drug tests at these Olympics. Two of the four athletes who tested positive in Pyeongchang were competing as ”Olympic Athletes from Russia.”
Russia was banned from the Olympics because of widespread doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.
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More AP Olympic coverage: https://wintergames.ap.org