The level of expertise in these Olympics is incredible. The competiton is gruelling.

The medals are being won. If anyone missed the Figure Skating Pairs, they didn't appreciate some of the most beautiful forms of figure skating. The competition was incredible. The level of difficulty was unbelievable. It was intense. I didn't envy any of the pairs for the level of expertise they all faced in their performance on the ice. There are many new skating pairs, too. That was nice to see.

There has been a return to classical performance, but, there is nothing old about it. It was all fantastic to watch and much of the music was modern.

The Woman's Downhill was brutal. There were seasoned competitors that found themselves without nothing else to do but open themselves up to pure speed and the hill won. 

There weren't injuries, but, the more former champions opened themselves up to speed to win the medals the more the hill demanded expertise over speed. The fastest skiers were those with balance, mastery of their skis and the edges. The former champions were too desperate for speed as a method to win. The course demanded a perfected skier to allow the fastest speeds, not just the ability to stand up on skies and survive the speed the hill could deliver. 

These competitions are won by mastery of the sport and not by complete extremism. Some of the skiers reminded me of something one would do on the X-Games and not Olympic ski courses. 

There were high emotions and tears no matter what the sport.

February 13, 2014 9:07am
SOCHI - There were roars and tears (click here) as Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov produced a stirring show to become the first figure skaters to capture two gold medals at the same Olympics by winning the pairs title on Wednesday.

Three days after capturing the team event, Volosozhar and Trankov kept up Russia's gold rush at the Iceberg Skating Palace with a 'Jesus Christ Superstar' free program that left the couple in tears and the home crowd in raptures.

The world and European champions obliterated the opposition with a total score of 236.86 to give Russia their 13th Olympic pairs title.

Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov made it a 1-2 finish for the hosts, albeit 18.18 points behind the champions, while Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy finished third despite two falls.

"I was crying because I felt so many emotions, nerves, concentration. I'm still nervous and shaking but I'm also so happy," said Volosozhar whose make-up was streaked by her tears....

I watched some expert competition in curling and it was more than interesting.