It wasn’t what reigning world skeleton champion Martins Dukurs was hoping for but it was a silver medal for Latvia nevertheless. This is Dukurs second Olympic silver medal. He had one four years ago at the Games in Whistler.

Dukurs was less than a second off the mark but in the skeleton that’s enough. In turn the bronze medalist from the United States finished more than two seconds behind Dukurs. That is a huge margin. Older brother Tomass Dukurs, who finished second on this year’s world cup circuit, missed the medals by a fraction of a second.

This time gold went to Russian Alexander Tretiatov who had finished behind both Dukurs brothers in the world cup circuit. But the Olympics is a whole new game. The entire winter world is watching, the media coverage is intense and the expectations back home are huge. It was Tretiatov who owned the Sochi track on his home ground.

Earlier in the week, the Latvian lugers came through. On February 12 brothers Andris and Juris Sičs picked up a bronze in the luge men’s doubles. A day later the lugers pulled in another bronze in the mixed team relay where the men’s singles is followed by the women’s singles and then the men’s doubles. Veteran Mārtiņš Rubenis led off, he was followed by Eliza Tīruma and then by the Sičs brothers. They shut out 4th place Canada by 1/10th of a second.
Tīruma is the first woman from independent Latvia to win a Winter Games medal. Four years ago the Sičs brothers picked up a silver at Whistler while Rubenis had a bronze in Turin.

The two Sičs have had an uphill battle since Whistler. In May 2011, Juris Sičs was in a terrible car accident in Latvia two weeks before the birth of his son. The entire luge team donated blood. Doctors were skeptical he would be able compete. Andris too had injuries to overcome after Whistler. Both persevered and are back on the podium.

The tradition of sliding sports in Latvia goes back to 1967 when a group of enthusiasts built the rickety “Cīrulīšu” track near the city of Cēsis. The Soviet Union decided to enter the sport in 1972. Latvians were front and centre and at the 1980 Lake Placid Games, Vera Zozuļa won the gold and Ingrīda Amantova came home with the bronze.

In 1980 the Soviet Union turned its attention to the bobsleigh and Latvian luger Ronalds Upatnieks was tapped as its first bobsleigh coach. Latvian bobsleighers picked up medals for the Soviet Union at the 1984 Games in Sarejevo and in 1988 at Calgary. The sliding track at Sigulda was built in 1986.

Since Latvia gained independence, its bobsleighers have been shut out from Olympic medals but over the past few seasons have had medal finishes on the world cup circuit. While not favourites, they are contenders. Latvia has two crews in the two man bobsleigh which takes place on February 16-17 and two in the four man on February 22-23. The two pilots are Oskars Melbārdis and Oskars Ķibermanis.

Other Latvian athletes have also been competing in the short-track, biathlon, women’s skeleton, cross-country and downhill skiing but they have finished far from the podium.

While winless, Latvia’s men’s hockey team coached by Canadian Ted Nolan has attracted attention for their play. They lost 0:1 to Switzerland with the Swiss scoring a heart-breaking goal with only 8 seconds to play. They followed with a 2:4 loss against the Czechs in a tight game. Perhaps their best outing was the 3:5 loss against the highly ranked Swedes. Rather than sitting back, they took the game to the Swedes, played physical with some bone-rattling body-checks and never gave up. Unlike previous years the power play looked good. Lauris Darziņš goal off a blind back-hand pass from Jānis Sprukts was one of the prettiest goals seen at the tournament. Were it not for some undisciplined penalties resulting in power play goals for the Swedes, the result could have been different.

The team is led by grizzled veteran and hockey legend Sandis Ozoliņš who despite being 41 years old logged lots of ice team and even though a defenceman, he was often in deep reminiscent of his thrilling play years ago while in his prime. Goaltending has been great with Edgars Masalskis coming up big against the Swiss and Czechs while youngster Kristers Gudļevskis played a solid game against the Swedes making several spectacular saves late in the game.

The seeding for the qualifying round in hockey will be decided by the results on February 16. Even though winless, Latvia will end up either 11th or more likely 10th in the 12 team tournament. They will play a winner takes all game against the Czechs or possibly the Swiss on February 18 to see who advances to the quarter-finals where the top four teams had a bye. Although a stretch, the Latvian team has been playing good hockey and they could advance.

Latvian sports fans can follow their athletes by checking the calendar at – http://sportacentrs.com/soci_2014/musejo_kalendars/03022014-latvijas_sportistu_kalendars_socos

Latvia has a respectable contingent of 51 athletes at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi although 25 are from the men’s hockey team. Medal hopes are resting with Latvia’s daredevils, the sliders, the athletes who compete in the skeleton, luge and bobsleigh.

In particular, the pressure is on the Dukurs brothers, Martins and Tomass. Martins is the reigning World Champion four years straight but missed gold in Vancouver by a whisker and had to settle for silver. Tomass had a breakthrough season and has seen a number of podium finishes on this year’s World Cup circuit. Their father Dainis is their coach. They will be competing on February 14 and 15. Here’s hoping they come through.

Latvia’s lugers have picked up medals at the last two Winter Games. At the 2006 in Turin, Mārtiņš Rubenis picked up a bronze while brothers Andris and Juris Sičs picked up a silver in the doubles at Whistler in 2010. The men have already gone and Rubenis finished 10th at Sochi this past weekend and promptly announced his retirement. Other lugers include Oskars Gudramovičs, Pēteris Kalniņš, Imants Kivlenieks, Kristaps Mauriņš, Elza Tīruma and Ulla Zirne. Gudramovičs and Kalniņš have had top 10 World Cup finishes in 2012 and 2013. The women compete on February 10 and 11, the doubles follow on February 12 with the team relay on February 13.

There is a cute story about how the Sičs brothers got started. They lived near Sigulda, home of Latvia’s only sliding course, and would sneak in to try it out. They were caught by a security guard. Rather than being reprimanded, the guard connected them with a qualified coach and the rest is history. 

Latvia has 8 bobsleighers at Sochi. The two four man pilots Oskars Melbārdis and newcomer Oskars Kibermanis have been on the cusp at the World Cup circuit this year with top 10 and even medal finishes. The rest of the team consists of Raivis Broks, Daumants Dreiskēns, Vairis Leiboms, Helvijs Lūsis, Jānis Strenga and Arvis Vilkaste. They are coached by Sandis Prūsis who competed between 1983 and 2003. Back when Latvia was breaking away from the Soviet Union, he was one of many who risked all to man the barricades in the Riga to protect the nascent government from Soviet attack.

The Latvian bobsleighers are big guys all easily topping 6 feet and 200 plus pounds. One American sports announcer recently commented on television that in the United States guys this size become football linebackers while in Latvia they become bobsleighers. The bobsleigh two man event is on February 16 and 17 while the four man crews race February 22 and 23, the last two days of the Games.

Latvia’s hockey team consists primarily of players from Dinamo Rīga and other KHL teams along with two young budding stars, Zemgus Girgensons from the NHL Buffalo Sabres and goaltender Kristaps Gudļevskis vying for a position with the Tampa Bay Lightning, along with players from a number of other top European leagues. They take to the ice on February 12 when they play the Swiss. They follow with games on February 14 against the Czech Republic and the next day against Sweden in the preliminary round. Further games will depend on how they fare. It will be tough for Latvia to advance.

Latvia’s coach Ted Nolan is also the coach of the Buffalo Sabres. He is a seasoned professional and junior coach and a Native Canadian from the Ojibway nation in Northern Ontario. Nolan has garnered a lot of attention and recently was featured in the Wall Street Journal and how as a Native Canadian he can relate to a small nation like Latvia and the importance of its language – http://online.wsj.com/article/AP6879990d85e74564834f0c58bdd14492.html

The captain of the hockey team is Latvian legend Sandis Ozoliņš, the only Latvian to win the NHL’s Stanley Cup back in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche. He is currently captain of the Dinamo Rīga team in the KHL. A seven time NHL all-star, he was chosen to be Latvia’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies in Sochi.

While much has been made of Latvia’s orange-brown official uniforms with some commentators calling them downright ugly, this author liked them and pointed instead to the fluorescent green Lithuanian uniforms, the American sweaters that reminded him of tacky Christmas sweaters or the tourist billboard on the Tongan uniforms as being more likely contenders for uniforms off the mark.

Rounding off Latvia’s team at Sochi are downhill skiers Inese Āboltiņa who at 18 is the youngest member, Lelde Gasuma, Martiņš Onskulis, Roberts Rode and Kristaps Zvejnieks, cross-country skiers Inga Dauškane, Jānis Paipals and Aivars Liepiņš, women’s skeleton competitor Lelde Priedulaine, biathlon competitors Zane Juskāne and Andrejs Rastorgujevs, as well as short track skaters Roberto Puķītis and Haralds Silovs. They are not expected to come close to medals.

Latvian sports fans have a number of sites they can use to follow the games including http://sportacentrs.com/soci_2014/ ,  http://www.diena.lv/sochi2014 and http://www.sochi2014.com/en/team-latvia.