Isabel Clark Ribeiro, a snowboarder, carried the flag at the opening ceremonies. Clark is also the Brazilian athlete who achieved the best result in the Brazilian delegation, making it to the quarterfinals in women's snowboard cross, finishing ninth overall.
The substitute on the Bobsleigh team, Claudinei Quirino, was a silver medalist in the Summer Olympic Games, where he finished second in Sydney with the Brazilian 4 × 100 m relay team. By participating in the Winter Games, Quirino became the second Brazilian man to have participated in both the Summer and Winter Games (the first was Matheus Inocêncio, who participated in Salt Lake 2002 and Athens 2004). On the women's side, Jaqueline Mourão became the first woman to have achieved this feat: she had participated in the mountain bike competition of Athens 2004 and in Turin 2006, she took part in the 10 km classical.
On 22 February, the Brazilian Olympic Committee announced, in Rio de Janeiro, that alpine skier Nikolai Hentsch was to be the flag bearer for Brazil at the closing ceremonies of the Winter Games. For the closing ceremony, all the nine athletes participating in the Games remained in Turin. The Brazilians were seated by the organization in a privileged spot: in the first row immediately behind the podium where IOC president Jacques Rogge and the president of the Turin 2006 Organizing Committee, Valentino Castellani, delivered their speeches.
Nikolai Hentsch competed in four of the five alpine skiing events, and had the Brazilian alpine team's best finish, placing 30th in the giant slalom.[3]
Note: In the men's combined, run 1 is the downhill, and runs 2 and 3 are the slalom. In the women's combined, run 1 and 2 are the slalom, and run 3 the downhill.
On 13 February, the Brazilian Olympic Committee announced that Armando dos Santos' preventive antidoping test, which had been done in Brazil on 4 January, was positive for the forbidden substance nandrolone. Santos was ejected from the team, being replaced by former sprinter Claudinei Quirino, the team's substitute athlete.
On 18 February, the Australian Olympic Committee filed a request with the International Olympic Committee, claiming that the qualification of the Brazilian team to the Olympics was invalid, and thus the Brazilian team should not be allowed to compete. The claim of the Australian Committee revolved around the circumstances of the qualification: the Brazilians earned their spot in the Games by winning the 2006 Challenge Cup, in late January, which awarded two spots in the Olympics.[4]
That event took place two weeks after Armando dos Santos' anti-doping test, which turned out to be positive, had been performed, although the result was only divulged on 13 February. In that event, New Zealand came in second, which earned them a spot in the Olympics as well, and the Australian team was third. Thus, the Australians claimed that the Brazilian result should have been canceled, given the previous – although then unknown — positive doping result of an athlete of the Brazilian team. This would have removed the Brazilian team from the Olympics and awarded Australia the spot, as the second valid result from the qualification event (New Zealand would have moved to first place). On 19 February, the IOC ruled in favor of the Brazilians, rejecting the motion from the Australian Olympic Committee.[5]
Run 1 – In their first run, the Brazilians' sleigh turned over coming out of Curve 14, after an error by pilot Ricardo Raschini, causing the team to finish with an exceedingly slow time. After an initial scare, the Brazilians got out of the sleigh and decided to continue in competition. No one was hurt and their sleigh was not damaged, but they had to borrow a helmet from the German team, since one of the Brazilians' was badly damaged during the accident.[6]
Run 3 – In what looked like a replay of Heat 1, the Brazilians once again turned over in Curve 14. Once again, pilot Ricardo Raschini miscalculated his exit of this curve, causing the sleigh to turn over.[6] This time, the accident was slightly more violent than the original one: the sleigh was completely upside down for a few seconds, and pusher Claudinei Quirino got out of the sleigh complaining of pain in one of his arms, being taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for detailed exams. He was released soon after, having been only medicated for the pain.[citation needed]
The event finished any faint possibility that the Brazilians could qualify for Heat 4, of which only the top 20 sleighs would participate. In an interview soon afterwards, Raschini took full responsibility for both the accidents, asking for "the forgiveness of his team and the Brazilian people", although reporting that insufficient training at the Olympic track was the main cause of his inability to master Curve 14. His teammates and Brazilian officials, however, were quick to show Raschini their full support, saying that no one is to blame for a competition mishappening and that they are already looking forward to Vancouver 2010. Edson Bindilatti, the brakeman, closed his statement vowing that "the Frozen Bananas" shall return "in style".[citation needed]
On another aspect of the last participation of the Brazilian team, they were able to secure a replacement helmet for second man Márcio Silva (he had had to borrow a German helmet the day before, for lack of a spare unit), having had it flown in from the United States, where the manufacturer is located.[citation needed][7]
Isabel Clark Ribeiro qualified for the knockout rounds in the women's snowboard cross with the 5th fastest time, but a third-place finish in her quarterfinal left her battling for 9th place. In that classification race, she was forced to race from behind after a poor start, but benefited from an accident involving all the other three participants in her race, to end up in 9th overall.[9]
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter Olympics, the first being in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo; Italy had also hosted the Summer Olympics in 1960 in Rome.
The United States sent 204 athletes to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Chris Witty, a four-time Olympian, who competed in both Summer and Winter games, and won a gold medal in speed skating at the 2002 Games, served as the flag bearer at the opening ceremonies. Speed skater Joey Cheek, who won gold in the 500 m and silver in the 1000 m, was the flag bearer at the closing ceremonies. One athlete, Sarah Konrad, became the first American woman to compete in two different disciplines at the same Winter Olympics – biathlon and cross-country skiing.
Australia competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The team of 40 athletes was the largest ever for Australia, surpassing the team of 31 that participated at the 1960 Winter Olympics.
The 2006 Winter Olympic Games Snowboarding competition consisted of men's and women's halfpipe, parallel giant slalom and snowboard cross events.
New Zealand competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Sweden sent 112 athletes to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin trying to win their first gold medal since the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer. A total of 99 athletes were selected, and they competed in nine of the fifteen Winter Olympic sports. When the medals were summed up, Sweden had managed seven gold medals, two silver and five bronze, making it Sweden's best result ever in the Winter Olympics in terms of both medals and gold medals earned, and gave Sweden a 6th place in the medal table.
Switzerland competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. This was the confederation's largest Winter Olympics team ever, because two ice hockey teams qualified.
Argentina competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Chile competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Uzbekistan competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Slovakia competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Serbia and Montenegro competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. This was the last appearance of a team representing a joint Montenegrin and Serbian state at the Olympic venue.
Spain competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
San Marino sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics, in Turin, Italy from 10 to 26 February 2006. This was the nation's seventh appearance at a Winter Olympic Games since its debut in 1976. The delegation consisted of a single athlete, alpine skier Marino Cardelli. In his race, the giant slalom, he failed to finish the competition.
Turkey competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Ukraine competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Three men from South Africa competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. One of them, Alexander Heath, became the first African to compete in all 5 alpine events. The three-man South African team was the largest from the continent in Turin.
Tajikistan sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2010. This was the second time Tajikistan had participated in a Winter Olympic Games. The Tajikistani delegation consisted of one alpine skier, Andrei Drygin. He finished 51st in both the super-G and the downhill.
Slovenia competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Fiji sent a delegation to compete at the 2002 Winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States from February 8–24, 2002. This was the nation's third appearance at a Winter Olympic Games. The delegation consisted of a single athlete, alpine skier Laurence Thoms. He competed in both the slalom, where he failed to complete his first run, and in the giant slalom, in which he finished 55th out of the 57 skiers who successfully completed both of their runs. Thoms gained media attention for representing a tropical nation at the Winter Olympics.
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