New Zealand free skier Jossi Wells finished fourth this week in the freeski half pipe, with Janina Kuzma freestyle skier finished 5th in the halfpipe. This marks five New Zealand athletes who have finished in the top 10 of their event.
Despite the past week being the most successful for the New Zealand team, a New Zealand Herald article accusing the team of looking like “a bunch of Kiwis on an expensive skiing holiday", has drawn sharp responses from team New Zealand fans.
“Not only has the team bombed spectacularly, they seem to be having a good time doing so…their twitter feeds are full of selfies and really rad instagram pics”. In response to the article, sports journalist Rachael Oakes Ash defended the efforts of the team, saying that “there is no easy pathway to Olympic status” and suggested that looking at social media wasn’t the best indicator of evaluating the team’s success. “Have you ever seen someone post a bad photo of themselves on Facebook or Instagram? Social media is about press releasing your life and having fun with your fans.”
Outside the New Zealand team, protest group Pussy Riot have released a music video after two members of the group were released from jail. The song ‘Putin will teach you to love the motherland’ criticises President Vladimir Putin, the Olympics and references a number of political trials going on in Russia.
The International Olympic Committee responded that "it's a shame the Olympics are used as a political platform. We ask that the Olympics are not used as a platform to express political views, and we continue to say that."
The Olympic closing ceremony is being held this Sunday (Monday 5am NZT).
