Sochi notebook: The golden dupe

SOCHI, Russia — When Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland tied for first place in the women’s downhill Wednesday, the largest jewelry producer in Russia suddenly got busy.

According to IOC protocol, Sochi’s medal supplier had 24 hours to come up with one more gold medal with the event’s name stamped on it. And even though gold-medal ties had only happened seven times in previous Winter Olympics, Adamas came prepared. In addition to the 768 medals it made for the top-three finishers in Sochi’s 98 events, Adamas brought 46 extra medals to Sochi (16 gold, 15 silver, and 15 bronze) and stored them along with the official discs in a secret location within the Olympic Park, in a structure marked by no windows and only one door.

Since the prize giving was scheduled for Wednesday night, however, one of the winning skiers was ceremoniously given a dupe while the 15-hour transformation of her real medal was taking place.

To do so, the medal must first be frozen at minus-40 degrees for several hours. The protective coating and polycarbonate crystals are removed, and a milling machine engraves the discipline’s name. The medal is then given an “ultrasonic bath,” covered with galvanic gold and a lacquer topcoat, and given to the IOC who, in turn, notifies the athlete that it’s time to swap.

After Sochi, all the extra hardware goes to Olympic museums around the world, including one at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

There were more Olympians in the stands than on the ice on Wednesday night to watch the first women’s hockey meeting between the United States and Canada in the Sochi Olympic tournament.

Both teams were undefeated in pool play, and the winner earned the right to be the top seed in Monday’s semifinals. After two periods, the U.S. led 1-0, and even though the U.S. men’s team was about to open its own Olympic tournament less than 24 hours later against Slovakia, several players in their navy-blue sea USA jackets were in the stands, and impressed.

T.J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues said, “I’ve never watched a full Olympic hockey game like this. Everything seems a lot quicker.”  

The experience may have been new for the Olympic rookie, the connections weren’t. Oshie went to high school with Team USA’s Gigi Marvin in hockey-obsessed Warroad, Minn. He also played in college at the University of North Dakota with a brother of twin sisters Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux. Blues forward David Backes was also in the stands and recalled hanging out with the entire women’s team at the White House after each had captured a silver medal in Vancouver in 2010.

“We just gravitated toward each other,” Backes said.

“The girls are looking good,” Oshie said, just before things changed on the ice.

In the third period, Canada went on a scoring tear and took a 3-1 lead with about five minutes remaining. Anne Schleper made it 3-2 for the U.S. with just over a minute to go, but Canada held on en route to a possible fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.  

The U.S. will be the No. 2 seed in the medal round and its semifinal opponent will be determined when other teams face off this weekend.

Meanwhile, Backes and Oshie, will have their own challenge playing Slovakia on Thursday, partly because an Olympic ice hockey rink is larger than NHL rink.

“Seven-and-a-half feet on either side might not seem like a lot, but it is,” Backes said, still not too worries. “Smart hockey players should be well adjusted for game one.”