Centrebet. February 21, 2002.

This really has been an incredible winter games as most of the Gold medal events decided so far have been won by non-favourites. Australia have also chimed in for two Gold medals in a performance that has stunned the nation. Steven Bradbury showed that the tortoise can beat the hare when a shock winner of the speed skating. We didn’t even list Bradbury in the opening markets, and he was still a despised outsider at $17 when he made the final field. We never took a single bet for Bradbury, but we can report there were a few punters celebrating along with Alisa Camplin when she won Gold in the Aerials. With original second favourite Jaqui Cooper out, we took several small bets on Camplin at $17, but this is one winner we were extremely happy to pay.

Centrebet. February 14, 2002.

Favourites have faired very poorly in the first few days of Olympic competition. We got off to a great start when Spain's Johann Muehlegg, and $8 chance, won the men’s 30K Cross Country gold. Per Elofsson was the big favourite at $1.80, but Norwegian duo Thomas Alsgard and Ole Einar Bjorndalen ($7) were both backed to take out more than 500,000 NOK ($AUD 100,000) by loyal Norwegian fans.

Norway’s Kari Traas win in the women’s Mogul Gold helped recoup some of those losses by Norwegian punters. There was hardly any interest shown in any of the other skiers, with the largest bet landed being 50,000 NOK at $1.50.

Betting on the Ice Hockey preliminary matches has been enormous, and while Switzerland’s 3-3 draw with France gave us a bonanza result when the Swiss were backed into $1.35, the 3-1 win by Belarus over France on Tuesday wasn't so good. Belarus were backed from an opening $1.85 into $1.55, and won easily.

Looking ahead, it seems as though the men’s 50K Cross Country event, due to go off on the 23rd of Feb, will be the biggest betting event. Following Muehleggs gold in the 30K, he is now $3.25 to win the 50K, and we have already seen nearly $5000 come for him. Elofsson has drifted to $5, but had previously been backed to win $10,000 when he was $3.50, while Norwegian Erling Jevne ($6) and Russian Makhail Ivanov ($15) have each been backed to win in excess of $15,000.

Centrebet will be covering every event of the Games, and we have to admit to being surprised by the high number of Australians who have been betting particularly on the televised Ice Hockey matches. Unfortunately our best chance for gold, Jacqui Cooper, who was second favourite at $2.75 to win the women’s Aerials, has injured herself and will not get a chance to compete.

Centrebet. February 6, 2002.

The winter games don't have the following on this side of the world that they enjoy in Europe, but all the Centrebet staff will be glued to the television screens for the next two weeks as we are heavily involved on some of the events.

The men's K90 Ski Jumping event will be the first Gold medal decided, and Germany's Sven Hannawald is the favourite at $2.35. He has been best backed, but our form analysts say that Hannawald will be better suited in the K120 and is a risk in the K90. Indications are that some punters agree as we have also had support for second favourite Adam Malysz ($2.75) and Martin Schmidt at $8.

The Curling has attracted a lot more interest than we anticipated, and Sweden will go in as heavy favourites in both men's and women's events. Interestingly enough, the money for Sweden to win men's gold ($2.50 - $2.25) has come from Norwegian punters, but in the women's, the $2.50 Sweden is being taken by Swedish fans.

Ice Hockey matches are expected to be our best betting medium for the games, and the top six in the betting have all been backed to take gold. Canada remain favourites at $2.80 ahead of Russia and the USA at $4, while Sweden ($7) and Finland ($15) have both been backed to take out just under $50,000. The Czech Republic were in commission early, but two key injuries have seen the Czechs ease to $4.50, and the money has dried up.

On paper, the women's looks a match in two between the USA ($1.40) and Canada ($2.50), but both Finland ($11) and Russia ($17) have been backed to win $20,000.

Two of the early cross country events have also commanded plenty of attention from punters. The women's 15K will see cross country's answer to Anna Kournikova, Julija Tchepalova, try to emulate her 1998 victory. The Russian has been backed from $2.40 into $2. Best backed to beat her has been Estonias Kristina Smigun ($6), who is back in the field after a second test cleared her of a doping suspicion. Smigun won a similar event back in December.

In the men's 30K cross country, Swede Per Elofsson, who has dominated these events for the past few years, has firmed from $1.80 into $1.65, with one Swedish punter placing 50,000 SEK ($10,000) at $1.80. Many rate Elofsson as a strong chance to be the first ever to win three gold's, so he should win the 30K.

 

MEN'S ICE HOCKEY GOLD MEDAL
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	Best
Canada	2.75	2.8	2.75	3	3	2.7	2.62	2.75	2.87	2.87	3
Czech Rep	4	4.5	4	4.25	3.75	4	3.75	4	4	3.75	4.5
Russia	4.5	4	5	4	4.5	3	5	4	5	5.5	5.5
USA	5.5	4	5.5	4.25	5	4.5	5	4.5	4.5	5	5.5
Sweden	8	7.5	7	8	6.5	10	6.5	9	8	7	10
Finland	17	13	21	17	13	17	13	19	13	13	21
Slovakia	34	40	26	26	34	21	34	41	21	26	41
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	Best
A- William Hill, B- Centrebet, C- Ladbrokes, D- Sportodds, E- Sports Interaction F- Olympic, G- Paddy Power, H- SportingBet, I- Blue Square, J- UK Betting Last Updated - 08/02/02 22:00 AEDST