This article contains a chronological summary of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Highlights Opening ceremony – 10 February Opening ceremony Stefania Belmondo lit the Olympic flame. Actresses Susan Sarandon and Sophia Loren (along with some other famous women) carried a flag into the stadium while Laura Bush and Cherie Blair watched from special seats in the audience. Luciano Pavarotti, in his final performance, sang Nessun Dorma.
Day 1 – 11 February Biathlon Michael Greis of Germany wins the first gold medal of the 2006 Winter Olympics, with a victory in the individual 20 km race. Figure skating Russian pair Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin lead after the short program. Freestyle skiing Jennifer Heil becomes the first Canadian woman to win a medal in moguls. Norwegian Kari Traa wins the silver and Sandra Laoura of France wins the bronze. Ice hockey The Canadian women's hockey team sets an Olympic record for the most lopsided win, beating their Italian hosts 16–0. Nordic combined German Georg Hettich picks up the gold medal in Nordic combined. Speed skating American Chad Hedrick wins the 5000 m long-track event.
Day 2 – 12 February Alpine skiing Antoine Dénériaz of France wins gold in the men's downhill event. Cross-country skiing Estonian Kristina Šmigun wins the women's 7.5 + 7.5 km double pursuit event; a few hours later, Yevgeniy Dementiev secures gold for Russia on the men's 15 km + 15 km distance. Figure skating Michelle Kwan of the United States withdraws from the Olympics following a groin injury in practice. Emily Hughes is named her replacement. Ice hockey Canada defeats Russia 12–0 in the women's competition. United States defeats Germany. Luge Armin Zöggeler of Italy wins the gold in men's singles. Mārtiņš Rubenis of Latvia won his country's first ever Winter Olympic medal, a bronze. Short track speed skating Ahn Hyun-soo of South Korea wins gold in the men's 1500 m. His compatriot, Lee Ho-Suk wins silver and Chinese veteran Li Jiajun earns bronze. Snowboarding Shaun White of the U.S. team takes the gold medal at the men's snowboarding halfpipe event. Speed skating 19-year-old Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands wins gold at the women's 3000 m long-track event. Ski jumping Lars Bystøl from Norway wins the gold medal at the men's normal hill K95 ski jumping event.
Day 3 – 13 February Biathlon Russian Svetlana Ishmuratova wins the women's 15 km biathlon. Figure skating Russian pair Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin beat two Chinese pairs to take home the gold, posting the only composite score over 200. Chinese pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao finish their free skate and win the silver medal, despite a fall and injury to Zhang Dan after their attempt at a quadruple throw. Snowboarding Hannah Teter of the U.S. team takes the gold medal at the women's snowboarding halfpipe event. American teammate Gretchen Bleiler wins the silver, with Kjersti Buaas of Norway taking the bronze. Speed skating Joey Cheek of the United States wins the gold medal at the 500 m long track event, skating both runs in less than 35 seconds; the fastest time of any other competitor was that of silver medalist Dmitry Dorofeyev, with a 35.17. Lee Kang-seok of Korea wins a bronze medal, the first Korean medal in (long track) speed skating in 14 years.
Day 4 – 14 February Alpine skiing Ted Ligety wins gold for the United States in the men's Combined. Then-leader Bode Miller was disqualified for straddling a gate in the first slalom section; in addition, the leader after the first slalom section, Benjamin Raich, skied off-course in the second section and was also disqualified. Ivica Kostelić of Croatia was second and Rainer Schönfelder of Austria took the bronze. Biathlon Sven Fischer of Germany wins the 10 km sprint race. Cross-country skiing Sweden's first medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics was brought home by Lina Andersson and Anna Dahlberg, who won the gold medal in women's team sprint, classical style. Minutes later Thobias Fredriksson and Björn Lind did the same in men's team sprint, giving the Swedes a sweep of the event. These were Sweden's first Winter Olympic gold medals since 1994. Figure skating Russian Evgeni Plushenko leads after the men's short program. Plushenko's score of 90.66 was the highest for any short program since the current scoring system was adopted in 2003. Ice hockey In the women's competition, Canada defeats Sweden 8–1 and will face Finland in the semi-final. USA defeats Finland and will face Sweden in the other semi-final match. Luge Germany's Sylke Otto wins gold in the injury-plagued women's luge event while countrywomen Silke Kraushaar and Tatjana Huefner complete the podium. Speed skating Svetlana Zhurova of Russia takes gold in the women's 500 m event. Wang Manli and Ren Hui of China win the other two (2) medals.
Day 5 – 15 February Alpine skiing Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria won the women's downhill. Martina Schild of Switzerland and Anja Pärson of Sweden completed the podium. Freestyle skiing Dale Begg-Smith of Australia won the men's moguls. Mikko Ronkainen of Finland and Toby Dawson of the United States won silver and bronze, respectively. Ice hockey On the first day of men's competition, Canada defeated host Italy 7–2. In upsets, Latvia tied with the USA 3–3 and Slovakia defeated Russia 5–3. Luge Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger won the doubles competition. Teams from Germany and Italy took the silver and bronze. Nordic combined High winds in the ski jumping hill forced the jury to abandon the team competition midway through the second round. The teams resumed the next day. The Norwegians withdrew due to illness. Speed skating Both Canadian men's and ladies' team pursuit teams set new Olympic records, the first of the 2006 Olympic Games. In the men's competition the record was subsequently broken by the Netherlands, and then by Italy. Short track China's Wang Meng won her country's first gold at Turin in the women's individual 500 m. Bulgaria's Evgenia Radanova took the silver, while Canada's Anouk Leblanc-Boucher claimed the bronze.
Day 6 – 16 February Biathlon Florence Baverel-Robert of France wins the women's biathlon 7.5 km sprint. Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden and Lilia Efremova of Ukraine complete the podium. Also, Olga Pyleva of Russia, who placed second at the 15 km on day 3, has been disqualified from the Games following a positive test for carphedon. She has been stripped of her medal. Cross-country skiing Kristina Šmigun wins her second gold medal of the Games with a victory in the women's 10 km classical and remains the only Estonian to medal. Curling In men's action, Great Britain edges Germany 7–6, Switzerland keeps New Zealand winless by winning 9–7, Canada edges Norway 7–6, and the United States defeats Sweden, 10–6. Figure skating Evgeni Plushenko of Russia dominates the competition and takes gold in the men's competition ahead of Switzerland's Stéphane Lambiel and Canada's Jeffrey Buttle. Plushenko sets a world record for the highest score in the free skate since the new scoring system was adopted in 2003. Ice hockey The upsets in the men's tournament continue as Switzerland defeats the Czech Republic 3–2. Nordic combined Austria wins the men's team competition after Mario Stecher catches up with Germany's Jens Gaiser on the final 5 km leg. Finland wins bronze, finishing nearly a minute ahead of the rest of the field. Snowboarding Seth Wescott of the United States wins the inaugural men's snowboard cross competition. Radoslav Židek of Slovakia is second and Paul-Henri de Le Rue of France is third. Speed skating The German team of Daniela Anschütz-Thoms, Anni Friesinger and Claudia Pechstein defeats the Canadian team to win gold in the final of the women's team pursuit. Italy wins its first ever Olympic speed skating gold in the men's team pursuit event. The Italians beat the favored Dutch team in the semifinals after Sven Kramer suffers a costly fall. In the final, Italy defeats Canada, which took its second silver in the Oval Lingotto. Skeleton Maya Pedersen-Bieri of Switzerland wins gold in the women's final. Shelley Rudman of Great Britain earns silver, the only medal of the games for Great Britain. Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards of Canada claims bronze.
Day 7 – 17 February
Cross-country skiing Estonia gains another gold as Andrus Veerpalu wins the 15 km classical cross-country race ahead of Lukáš Bauer and Tobias Angerer. Curling In the men's competition, Great Britain makes short work of Sweden 8–2, while the United States defeats Switzerland 7–4. Finland edges Canada, 6–5. Figure skating In the ice dancing competition, the Italian team of Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio lead after the compulsory dance, with Russians Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov in second place. Ice hockey Sweden scores a victory against the United States in the women's hockey semi-finals after a 3–2 penalty shootout win to advance to the gold medal game. There, they will face Canada, who shut out Finland in the other semi-final. Snowboarding Tanja Frieden of Switzerland takes the gold in women's snowboarding cross after Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States falls on the second-to-last jump while performing an unnecessary method grab to give up the largest lead of the entire tournament. Jacobellis settles for silver, while Canada's Dominique Maltais takes bronze after recovering from a crash. Skeleton Duff Gibson of Canada takes gold, just ahead of fellow Canadian Jeff Pain. Swiss slider Gregor Stähli wins the bronze. The 39-year-old Gibson becomes the oldest individual gold medalist in Winter Olympics history.
Day 8 – 18 February Alpine skiing Croatian Janica Kostelić takes gold in the women's combined. Austria's Marlies Schild wins the silver and Anja Pärson of Sweden finishes third. Kjetil André Aamodt wins gold for Norway in the men's Super G, beating Hermann Maier of Austria. Ambrosi Hoffmann takes bronze for the Swiss. Biathlon Germans Kati Wilhelm and Martina Glagow finish first and second in the 10 km pursuit; Albina Akhatova of Russia takes bronze. Vincent Defrasne wins gold for France in the 12.5 km pursuit event, followed closely by Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway. Germany's Sven Fischer takes bronze. Cross-country skiing Russia wins the 20 km women's relay handily, finishing 10 seconds ahead of silver medalists Germany and 11 seconds ahead of bronze winners Italy. Curling In the men's competition, Italy shocks Canada 6–5, while the United States beats Germany 8–5. Great Britain edges Switzerland, 6–5, and Finland takes out Norway 7–3. Ice hockey Switzerland stuns Canada 2–0 in the men's competition. Swiss goaltender Martin Gerber has 49 saves in the win. Slovakia defeats the United States 2–1. Short track speed skating Jin Sun-Yu and Choi Eun-Kyung of South Korea take gold and silver in the women's 1500 m. China's Wang Meng takes bronze, after the disqualification of third-finished Byun Chun-Sa of Korea. In the men's 1000 m, Ahn Hyun-soo and Lee Ho-Suk of South Korea take gold and silver with the United States' Apolo Anton Ohno taking the bronze. Speed skating The United States takes gold and silver in the men's 1000 m with Shani Davis outskating Joey Cheek for first. Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands receives bronze. Davis' victory makes him the first black person to win an individual gold medal in the history of the Winter Olympics. Ski jumping After a disappointing performance on the K90 hill, Austrian ski jumpers Thomas Morgenstern and Andreas Kofler take gold and silver on the large hill, with the smallest possible margin of 0.1 points between them. Norwegian Lars Bystøl, winner of gold on the normal hill, places third, rather far behind the Austrians.
Day 9 – 19 February