Slovakia at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Židek's silver medal was the first Winter Olympic medal won by Slovakia as an independent nation.[3]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Silver	Radoslav Židek	Snowboarding	Men's snowboard cross	16 February

The top finish for the six-person Slovak alpine team came from Veronika Zuzulová, who finished 15th in the women's combined.[4]

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.

Marek Matiaško had the best result out of the Slovak biathlon team, with a surprising 5th place finish in the men's individual. He missed only one shot, and the resultant time penalty meant that he fell short of the medals.[5][6]

Men

Women

Milan Jagnešák piloted the Slovak sled in both the two-man and four-man events, but did not manage a top-20 finish in either.[7]

Martin Bajčičák finished 8th in the men's pursuit, the best showing from any Slovak cross-country skier, and carried the nation's flag in the closing ceremonies.[8]

Distance

Sprint

The Slovak team finished atop its round-robin group, going undefeated through the opening round, including a 3–0 win over eventual gold medal winners Sweden. In the quarterfinals, however, the team fell to rivals Czech Republic 3–1, failing to advance to a medal game.[9]

Men's tournament

Main article: Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's tournament

Players

Further information: Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's team rosters

Position	Name	Height	Weight	Birthdate	Birthplace	2005–06 team
G	Peter Budaj	183	91	09/18/82	Banská Bystrica	Colorado Avalanche
G	Karol Križan	178	84	06/05/80	Žilina	Modo Hockey
G	Ján Lašák	183	93	04/10/79	Zvolen	Pardubice HC
D	Zdeno Chára	205	118	03/18/77	Trenčín	Boston Bruins
D	Milan Jurčina	195	101	06/07/83	Liptovský Mikuláš	Boston Bruins
D	Ivan Majeský	194	104	09/02/76	Banská Bystrica	Washington Capitals
D	Andrej Meszároš	182	82	10/13/85	Považská Bystrica	Ottawa Senators
D	Martin Štrbák	191	96	01/15/75	Prešov	CSKA Moscow
D	Ľubomír Višňovský	177	85	08/11/76	Topoľčany	Los Angeles Kings
F	Ľuboš Bartečko	180	92	07/14/76	Kežmarok	Luleå HF
F	Peter Bondra - A	183	92	02/07/68	Lutsk, Ukraine	Atlanta Thrashers
F	Pavol Demitra - C	182	93	11/29/74	Dubnica nad Váhom	Los Angeles Kings
F	Marián Gáborík	186	87	02/14/82	Trenčín	Minnesota Wild
F	Marcel Hossa	187	100	10/12/81	Ilava	New York Rangers
F	Marián Hossa	186	94	01/12/79	Stará Ľubovňa	Atlanta Thrashers
F	Richard Kapuš	182	92	02/09/73	Bratislava	Metallurg Novokuznetsk
F	Ronald Petrovický	182	88	02/15/77	Žilina	Atlanta Thrashers
F	Tomáš Surový	183	87	09/24/81	Banská Bystrica	Pittsburgh Penguins
F	Miroslav Šatan - A	188	89	10/22/74	Topoľčany	New York Islanders
F	Jozef Stümpel	190	100	07/20/72	Nitra	Florida Panthers
F	Marek Svatoš	180	82	06/17/82	Košice	Colorado Avalanche
F	Richard Zedník	186	87	01/06/76	Banská Bystrica	Montreal Canadiens

Results

Round-robin

15 February 2006 20:05

Russia

3–5 (2–1, 1–2, 0–2)

Slovakia

Torino Esposizioni, Turin Attendance: 3,800

Game reference
	Ilya Bryzgalov	Goalies	Peter Budaj	Referee: Paul Devorski Linesmen: Derek Doucette Antti Hämäläinen
	0–1 9:07 – P. Demitra (Mari. Hossa, R. Suchý) P. Datsyuk (D. Markov) – 10:00 1–1 A. Kovalev (P. Datsyuk, I. Kovalchuk) – 12:38 2–1 2–2 25:51 – L. Višňovský (P. Demitra) (PP) A. Ovechkin (S. Gonchar, F. Tyutin) (PP) – 30:03 3–2 3–3 33:05 – P. Bondra (A. Meszároš, Z. Chára) (PP) 3–4 56:32 – M. Gáborík 3–5 59:31 – M. Gáborík
	16 min	Penalties	10 min
	23	Shots	36

16 February 2006 17:05

Slovakia

6–3 (4–1, 1–2, 1–0)

Latvia

Torino Esposizioni, Turin Attendance: 2,960

Game reference
	Ján Lašák	Goalies	Artūrs Irbe	Referee: Danny Kurmann Linesmen: Stefan Fonselius Pierre Racicot
	R. Zedník (L. Višňovský) – 5:23 1–0 R. Petrovický (T. Surový, A. Meszároš) – 5:43 2–0 2–1 6:27 – S. Ozoliņš (M. Cipulis, G. Panteļejevs) P. Demitra (Mari. Hossa) (SH) – 7:54 3–1 Mari. Hossa – 13:17 4–1 4–2 20:54 – M. Cipulis (A. Cipruss, G. Panteļejevs) 4–3 26:51 – A. Ņiživijs (K. Skrastiņš) Z. Chára (Mari. Hossa) – 33:49 5–3 Mari. Hossa (M. Gáborík) – 49:04 6–3
	12 min	Penalties	8 min
	25	Shots	28

18 February 2006 20:05

Slovakia

2–1 (0–0, 1–1, 1–0)

United States

Torino Esposizioni, Turin Attendance: 4,697

Game reference
	Peter Budaj	Goalies	Rick DiPietro	Referee: Dan Marouelli Linesmen: Petr Blümel Pierre Racicot
	Mari. Hossa (P. Demitra, M. Gáborík) (PP) – 34:20 1–0 1–1 38:24 – B. Rolston (B. Rafalski, S. Gomez) (PP) P. Bondra (M. Šatan, R. Kapuš) – 41:48 2–1
	8 min	Penalties	16 min
	21	Shots	30

19 February 2006 16:05

Slovakia

2–1 (0–1, 1–0, 1–0)

Kazakhstan

Palasport Olimpico, Turin Attendance: 9,160

Game reference
	Karol Križan	Goalies	Vitali Kolesnik	Referee: Danny Kurmann Linesmen: Derek Doucette Antti Hämäläinen
	0–1 16:16 – E. Koreshkov (A. Koreshkov, A. Savenkov) (PP) P. Bondra (R. Kapuš, M. Jurčina) (PP) – 39:50 1–1 Mari. Hossa (P. Demitra, M. Gáborík) – 48:09 2–1
	12 min	Penalties	20 min
	27	Shots	19

21 February 2006 20:05

Sweden

0–3 (0–1, 0–0, 0–2)

Slovakia

Torino Esposizioni, Turin Attendance: 4,250

Game reference
	Mikael Tellqvist	Goalies	Karol Križan	Referee: Timo Favorin Linesmen: Petr Blümel Pierre Racicot
	0–1 15:51 – P. Bondra (M. Šatan) 0–2 46:16 – Mari. Hossa (P. Demitra, M. Gáborík) 0–3 58:58 – R. Suchý (P. Demitra, Mari. Hossa)
	14 min	Penalties	10 min
	17	Shots	31

Allegations have surfaced of Sweden throwing the game against Slovakia so the Swedes would face Switzerland in the quarterfinals instead of Canada or the Czech Republic. Shortly before the game, Sweden coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson was reported to have publicly contemplated tanking in order to avoid those teams, saying about Canada and the Czechs, "One is cholera, the other the plague."[10] During the game itself, one reportedly suspect sequence came when Sweden had an extended five-on-three powerplay with five NHL stars on the ice—Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Daniel Alfredsson, Nicklas Lidström and Fredrik Modin—and failed to put a shot on net. Sports Illustrated writer Michael Farber would say about this particular powerplay, "If the Swedes had passed the puck any more, their next opponent would have been the Washington Generals." "[They] were even afraid to shoot!", Russian coach Vladimir Krikunov said.[10]

As part of a subsequent interview about the championship over five years later, Forsberg was interpreted to insinuate that Sweden lost their preliminary round game against Slovakia on purpose, so as to draw Switzerland as their quarterfinal opponent, rather than Canada or the Czech Republic. Swedish forward Henrik Sedin, who played alongside Forsberg on the 2006 team denied the notion while adding that Forsberg's comments in the interview were misconstrued.[11][12]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovakia	5	5	0	0	18	8	+10	10	Quarterfinals
2	Russia	5	4	0	1	23	11	+12	8
3	Sweden	5	3	0	2	15	12	+3	6
4	United States	5	1	1	3	13	13	0	3
5	Kazakhstan	5	1	0	4	9	16	−7	2
6	Latvia	5	0	1	4	11	29	−18	1

Source: IIHF

Medal round

Quarterfinal

22 February 2006 21:35

Slovakia

1–3 (0–1, 0–1, 1–1)

Czech Republic

Palasport Olimpico, Turin Attendance: 6,893

Game reference
	Peter Budaj	Goalies	Milan Hnilička	Referee: Don Van Massenhoven Linesmen: Stefan Fonselius Pierre Racicot
	0–1 12:51 – M. Ručínský (SH) 0–2 28:41 – M. Hejduk (F. Kaberle, M. Ručínský) M. Gáborík (Mari. Hossa) – 43:38 1–2 1–3 59:57 − M. Straka (EN)
	8 min	Penalties	14 min
	21	Shots	28

The Slovakian luge delegation was one of the Olympic team's largest, but managed only a single top 15 finish, from the doubles team of Ľubomír Mick and Walter Marx.[13]

The lone Slovak short track speed skater competing in Turin, Matus Uzak, was disqualified from two of his events, and failed to advance from his heat in the third.[14]

Martin Mesík represented Slovakia in ski jumping, but did not advance from the qualification round in either the large hill or normal hill events.[15]

Radoslav Židek failed to qualify for the medal round in the men's parallel giant slalom, but was more successful in the snowboard cross. Židek qualified in the top ten, then won in three consecutive rounds to make the final.[16] He finished just behind American Seth Wescott, who made a dramatic pass and pipped him to the line. Still, Židek's second place finished earned him a silver medal, the first winter medal in Slovakian Olympic history.[17]

Parallel GS

Snowboard cross

Athlete[16]	Event	Qualifying		1/8 finals	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		Time	Rank	Position	Position	Position	Position	Rank
Radoslav Židek	Men's snowboard cross	1:21.19	9 Q	1 Q	1 Q	1 Q	2