Mans Hedberg, of Sweden, crashes during the men's slopestyle qualifying at Phoenix Snow Park at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Photo / AP
The torch has been lit and the Games are underway in PyeongChang. Freakishly cold temperatures greet the athletes with the weather tipped to break Winter Olympic records.
The first gold medals will be on the table today as the biathlon, short track speed skating and ski jumping events take place.
Sunday's schedule
Men's snowboard slopestyle finals, from 2pm (Carlos Garcia Knight)
Women's snowboard slopestyle qualification, from 5.30pm (Zoi Sadowski Synnott)
Men's 5000m speed skating final, from 8pm (Peter Michael)
First Kiwi medal hope emerges
Snowboarder Carlos Garcia Knight has emerged as New Zealand's first hope of a medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Garcia Knight has qualified for tomorrow's slopestyle final thanks to a clinical first run during his heat – qualifying as the second best performer from his heat and sixth best overall.
Garcia Knight posted an impressive score of 80.10 in his first run of the first heat, before recording a 40.20 in his second effort. Setting off in sixth out of 17 riders, the 21-year-old then had to wait to ensure he wouldn't be overhauled, qualifying behind only 18-year-old Norwegian phenom Marcus Kleveland from his heat.
Four riders surpassed Garcia Knight's score in the second heat at the Bokwang Snow Park course, making him the sixth-best overall qualifier going into this afternoon's final. The delightfully named Max Parrot was the top overall qualifier, with the Canadian producing a sublime score of 87.36.
Super Mario lookalike in curling
An Olympic curler has gone viral after even his US team-mates mocked his resemblance to video game icon Super Mario.
The American squad tweeted a side-by-side shot of the duo after TV viewers and social media users were riveted by moustachioed Matt Hamilton and his red hat.
Spot the difference. @MattJamilton pic.twitter.com/s1XxSYqnsw
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 8, 2018
Competing with his sister Rebecca in the mixed curling event at the Games in PyeongChang was unusual enough.
But also looking like the Nintendo legend was enough to send Twitter users into over-drive.
"My new favourite sport even has Mario," one joked.
"Just watching the Olympics during my night class and we have Mario on our curling team!!" another added.
US Olympic curler Matt Hamilton is nicknamed Super Mario. I prefer Ron Swanson.....or Pops Racer. pic.twitter.com/xAMfGZYAST
— bill gerich (@billyg1986) February 8, 2018
First gold medal of the games
The very first gold medal of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics has been awarded on the opening day of competition.
Sweden's Charlotte Kalla claimed the first gold up for grabs as she dominated the field in the women's skiathlon.
After claiming silver in the event during the 2014 Sochi games, Kalla got the better of defending champion, Norway's Marit Bjorgen who finished second this time around.
Australia's competitors weren't able to contend with the lead pack as Barbara Jezersek finished 39th while Jessica Yeaton crossed 50th.
#BREAKING Charlotte Kalla of Sweden wins first gold medal of #PyeongChang2018 Winter Olympics in women’s 7.5 km + 7.5 km skiathlon cross-country pic.twitter.com/mckxX5uRz0
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 10, 2018
Name catches presenter out
With around 92 nations taking part in the 2018 Winter Olympics and a little over 2900 athletes, learning the proper pronunciation for each and every one is a painstaking task.
Unfortunately when working on live television, trying to pronounce some of the names can catch even seasoned veterans out, as Edwina Bartholomew showed.
Doing a round up of the day's biggest news stories, Bartholomew tried to share with viewers a story relating to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov.
For those who don't know, Podladtchikov was the 2014 gold medallist and sadly had to withdraw from the games after a nasty fall during the latest X Games competition.
Bartholomew tried on two occasions to get through his name before throwing in the towel and opting instead for his nickname "iPod".
Course continues to claim athletes
The brutal slopestyle course has proved harder to crack than a playfair cipher for the men's snowboard athletes.
With wind playing a major factor and blowing into the riders faces as they come over the final three big air jumps, many were caught out and came up short of a clean landing as they hit the knuckle.
None of the crashers may have been harder than that of Swedish snowboarder Mans Hedberg who unfortunately had to be helped from the course by medics before eventually being loaded onto a sled and taken away.
Heartbreaking moment in snowboarding slopestyle heat 2, Mans Hedberg from Sweden goes down hard. Medics on scene. #PyeongChang2018 live pic.twitter.com/WvWc9YxHfH
— Will Ujek (@WillUjek) February 10, 2018
SWE rider Mans Hedberg with a gnarly crash, landing on the knuckle on the last jump. He walked off after staying on the course for a few minutes. Seems to be holding his jaw on the right side and in considerable pain. Medics stabilizing his neck as he sits on a snowmobile.
— Rachel Axon (@RachelAxon) February 10, 2018
19-year-old makes history
Young American skier Casey Larson became the 100,000th man to compete in an Olympic event on Saturday (AEDT) when he made his debut in the ski jump at PyeongChang.
"It's pretty cool," Larson, who qualified 46th, told CBS News. "I can add that to my Olympic checklist. I hope I can get some publicity about it. For my goals here, it is to make my best jump."
Smartphone fracas erupts
PyeongChang Olympic organisers said they had apologised to Iran on Friday after a diplomatic furore over its athletes being denied special Samsung phones issued for the Games.
The head of the PyeongChang organising committee, Lee Hee-boom, confirmed he had written to the Iranian team "to apologise for the misunderstanding".
The problem started on Wednesday, when Games organisers said Iranian and North Korean athletes would be refused the Galaxy Note 8 devices from sponsor Samsung, loaded with essential logistic and competition information.
Although the organisers later backtracked, it sparked anger in Iran, where Samsung has a major commercial presence, and its athletes refused to accept the phones until there was a full apology.
The source of the misunderstanding was not explained.
The committee had initially claimed the phones were denied "because of existing UN sanctions", even though all UN sanctions on Iran were lifted in 2015 apart from those linked to arms and nuclear technology.
Samsung billboards and flagship stores are seen all over Iran, and the South Korean company has sponsored many large-scale cultural events, including the current exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.
Samsung sought to distance itself from the spat, saying in a statement that it was "not responsible for the distribution of the phones" and referring questions to Olympics organisers.
Prior to the apology, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that Telecoms Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi was looking into the issue, and was considering whether to block imports of Samsung phones.
IRNA reported Thursday that "an informed source" had said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would stop using his Samsung mobile if there was no apology.
Although this was not confirmed, the report appeared to trigger a series of "No to Samsung" protests on Twitter.
"If I were a famous person, in response to Samsung's big insult, I would have thrown my Samsung mobile away on camera, and would have asked other famous people to join me," wrote one Twitter user.
Others had a more lighthearted response, with one saying he had slammed the door of his Samsung fridge particularly hard after hearing the news.
"The fact that our revolutionary friends haven't climbed the walls of the South Korean embassy is a big improvement in itself," joked another Twitter user.
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