Team Japan's speedskaters suffered another unexpected blow Tuesday after it was announced that Kei Saito had withdrawn from competition after testing positive for a banned substance. Saito denied that doping was intentional, but he has accepted the provisional suspension and left the Olympic village to minimize the "disturbance" to his teammates.
Japan's remaining medal hopes rest with underdogs: Ayumu Hirano in the men's halfpipe, Nao Kodaira in the ultra-competitive 1000m women's speedskating event, and even Yuzuru Hanyu, whose projected finish in men's figure skating has been downgraded to silver by one analytics firm.
But anything can happen.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.