Hockey heartache for hosts Ukraine violence shocks Games
The American knows the best cards lie with Russia's Alexander Zubkov who will start favorite to secure an Olympic double after his two-man victory on Monday.
"Traditionally the home team always does well," Holcomb said before the start of the four-man competition on Saturday.
"We're still putting down decent times considering they're pushing an extra 105kg out there today, we still work pretty fast, so that's good. We've got a great plan in place, we've got a great medical team behind us.
"We're working on it kind of round the clock. I'm happy about that. I was up until 2am last night getting some treatment and back up again today at 07:00.
The president attributed the criticism - of a law banning the promotion of homosexuality among minors and of the high cost of staging the event - to a Cold War mentality in the West.
Threatened demonstrations have been few and far between, but the all-women protest group Pussy Riot attracted international media attention on Tuesday when they were detained for several hours at a Sochi police station.
For us, what happened in Ukraine is a big shock."
"STOP THE BLOODSHED"
IOC President Thomas Bach added: "I would like to offer my condolences to those who have lost loved ones in these tragic events. Try to find the peace...keep us together and live in peace, because this is most important. "Again I appeal to both parties to stop the violence," Bubka told international news agencies. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the Ukrainian team at what must be a very difficult time.
"We're still putting down decent times considering they're pushing an extra 105kg out there today, we still work pretty fast, so that's good. I'm happy about that. He has been receiving intensive treatment and gave his crew members an extra workout in official training on Wednesday by sitting in the sled from the start.
"We're working on it kind of round the clock. We've got a great plan in place, we've got a great medical team behind us. I was up until 2am last night getting some treatment and back up again today at 07:00.
Video footage showed a man aiming what appeared to be pepper spray at one of them, a Cossack beating people with a whip and masks being ripped from protesters' heads. On Wednesday, group members were beaten with whips by Cossacks who are helping patrol Sochi during the Olympics, as they tried to perform an anti-Putin protest song in front of a wall decorated with the Sochi Games design.
Alpine skiing gold of the Games. That contest concludes on Thursday, while on Wednesday there were eight gold medals up for grabs.
They included the men's giant slalom, which Ted Ligety won convincingly to claim the first U.S.
Ukraine's Olympic team were struggling to come to terms with deadly clashes at home in which at least 26 people have been killed. Thick fog, rain and snow that made skiing so difficult over the last two days had lifted, and conditions were clear.
Russia's Vic Wild won the Olympic men's snowboard parallel giant slalom gold medal minutes after his wife, Alena Zavarzina, had won bronze behind Swiss champion Patrizia Kummer in the women's event.
Norway, anchored by the indomitable Marit Bjoergen, won the women's team sprint classic gold medal, while in the men's, Finland prevailed after an appeal lodged by Germany following a crash in the final stages was rejected.
"Most likely, this is some sort of a cheap provocation," said Konstantin Perenizhko, a deputy to the regional Cossack military leader.
MOUNTAIN GOLD RUSH
In a rush of gold in the mountains, Ligety claimed the United States' first Alpine skiing title of the Games by beating two Frenchmen to the top of the podium in the giant slalom.
Cossacks, once the patrolmen of Russia's borderlands, are meant to maintain order and work with police to make arrests.
Demonstrations erupted in November after Yanukovich bowed to pressure from Russia and pulled out of a planned trade pact with the European Union, deciding instead to accept a Kremlin bailout for the heavily indebted economy.
Putin will hope events in Ukraine do not overshadow Russia's first Winter Games, where state-of-the-art venues and thrilling action have pushed criticism during the buildup to the Olympics firmly into the background.
At the adjacent Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi there will be similarly partisan support for 15-year-old figure skater Julia Lipnitskaya, one of the favorites in the singles competition having mesmerized the Games with her performance in the team event. Ice hockey superpowers Canada and the United States both play their quarter finals later in the evening and are expected to advance. Finland won 3-1 in a result that took some of the wind out of home sails at Russia's first Winter Games.
Ukrainian athletes asked for permission to wear black arm bands to honor those killed, but the International Olympic Committee, which bans any sort of political or commemorative symbols during the Games, refused.
"Yes it's a distraction, everyone's talking about it - even just now at the start, at the finish, people are saying 'what's happened in your country, what's happened?'" said Dmytro Mytsak, a Ukrainian giant slalom skier from Kiev.
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