Page 19 - aruba-today-20180217

A19
SPORTS Saturday 17 February 2018
'Burned rock' foul causes

rare stir at Olympic curling

By KRISTEN GELINEAU such a move was within her decision to remove the
GANGNEUNG, South Korea rights, it is considered the rock.
(AP) — A rare moment of most aggressive option. "I wouldn't have done it, but
controversy in the typically Canada, which was behind we're different that way,"
ultra-polite sport of curling before the foul, then went she said. "I'm not going to
erupted Friday over a foul on to score four points, tak- be mad about it. She can
known as a "burned rock" ing the lead at 6-4.In most choose to do whatever she
in the Canada vs. Denmark sports, this wouldn't even wants." Denmark's Julie Hoegh, right, and Mathilde Halse sweep the ice
women's match. be considered a controver- Asked if it felt even better during a women's curling match against Canada at the 2018
The drama unfolded in the sy. But curling has a deeply to win the game after the Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 16,
fifth end, or period, of the ingrained ethos of good controversy, Dupont re- 2018.
already tense game, when sportsmanship, and play- plied: "It does." Associated Press
a Danish player touched ers are usually exceedingly "I felt like we had a good
a stone that was in mo- polite to their rivals. Tweets game," she said. "I think we
tion. That is a foul called a from curling fans immedi- were just happy to be there
"burned rock." ately began to flow, with and they were just afraid to
When burned rocks occur, some criticizing the move lose."
the opposing team has as unsportsmanlike. Homan said she was simply
three choices: They can Denmark tied the score following the rules.
ignore the foul, rearrange in the final end, forcing "There are options, and
the stones to whatever po- the game into overtime. we've burned rocks in the
sition they think they would Homan then flubbed her past and they've come
have ended up if the stone final shot of the match, giv- off," she said. "Burning a
hadn't been touched, or ing Denmark a steal of one rock is not something that
remove the stone from point and a 9-8 victory over you can do. So obviously,
play. the Canadians. we've done it in the past
Canada's captain, or "skip," Afterward, Danish skip and they just happened to
Rachel Homan chose to Madeleine Dupont said she do that then. So it's just the
remove the stone. While disagreed with Canada's rules, I guess."q

'Super Dario' pulls off 3-peat

in cross-country 15K free

medal of the Pyeongchang
Games.
It may have been his fourth
career gold medal overall,
but this one was special for
him.
His family was there to
cheer him on, and he broke
down in tears after the race
knowing the win pulled him
even with ski jumper Simon
Ammann and artistic gym-
nast Georges Miez for the
most gold medals in his
country's history.
Dario Cologna, of Switzerland, finishes the men's 15km freestyle "That's not too bad," Colo-
cross-country skiing competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics in gna said.
Pyeongchang, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018.
Associated Press Cologna said he felt good
from the beginning.
By STEVE REED in the same event, captur- He dominated on the in-
AP Sports Writer ing the 15-kilometer free- clines, stomping up the hill
PYEONGCHANG, South Ko- style in dominating fashion like a machine to win the
rea (AP) — Switzerland's Friday. He also won this race in 33 minutes, 43.9
Dario Cologna has solidi- race in Vancouver in 2010 seconds, more than 18
fied his legacy as one of and Sochi in 2014. seconds ahead of Simen
the best distance cross- "It takes a lot of effort to just Hegstad Krueger of Nor-
country skiers of all time. to win one gold medal," way. Krueger took silver to
Cologna, known through- Cologna said. "To write a lit- give the Norwegian men
out his sport as "Super tle bit of history feels pretty their first medal in this event
Dario," became the first good." since 2002.
cross-country skier to win Cologna's three-peat gave Russian Denis Spitsov
three Olympic gold medals Switzerland its first gold earned bronze.q