The Capital Letter - by BerlinBear: Winter Olympics update

Well, well, well! Today has been far and away the best day so far for Germany at the Winter Olympics in Turin. In addition to the gold medal in the men's biathlon I mentioned earlier, Germany has now picked up three further medals - in the same event, no less. A trifecta in other words.

Trifecta! Left to right: Kraushaar (silver), Otto (Gold), Hüfner (Bronze)
[Source: ZDF]

Women's luge has long been Germany's domain: of 36 medals awarded in women's Olympic luge history no fewer than 27 have been won by Germans. True to form, and in a continuation of their domination of yesterday's first and second runs, the German trio of Sylke Otto, Silke Kraushaar and Tajtana Hüfner walked away from this year's event with gold, silver and bronze respectively. What is perhaps even more astounding than the 27 out of 36 figure is the fact that this is the sixth time, after 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988 and 2002, that there have been only Germans on the podium. Remarkable.

The three medals each represented a particular milestone for the winners. Otto became only the second woman ever to win back-to-back gold medals - and also the best performing woman luger of all time, while Kraushaar became the first woman ever to win three individual luge medals. Hüfner, on the other hand, who is just 22, picked up her first medal at her very first Olympics. Nice job.

Golden Girl. Sylke Otto just after crossing the finish line in the Olympic luge
[Source: ARD]

To say that the German media are excited about today's results would not be to do their frenzy justice. More like beside themselves. And, frankly, who can blame them?

So, after four days of the Winter Olympics Torino 2006, the medals table looks like this:

Rank	Country				Total

1	United States	5	2	0	7
2	Russian Fed.	4	3	2	9
3	Germany	4	1	2	7
4	Sweden	2	0	0	2
5	Norway	1	5	5	11
6	Netherlands	1	2	0	3
7	Canada	1	1	1	3
7	Korea	1	1	1	3
9	Italy	1	0	2	3
10	France	1	0	1	2
11	Estonia	1	0	0	1
12	China	0	2	3	5
13	Austria	0	2	1	3
14	Finland	0	1	2	3
15	Croatia	0	1	0	1
15	Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
17	Latvia	0	0	1	1
17	Switzerland	0	0	1	1