This is the final week of Winter Olympics competitions in Soshi, Russia, as the 17-day games heads toward a closing ceremony Sunday, Feb. 23. For now, the action continues with drama, disappointments and triumphs by young athletes every day – amid unexpectedly warm weather that creates problems at outdoor events. “The snow around here looks like soup, a creamy bisque,� Washington Post sportswriter Sally Jenkins wrote Sunday. That causes risky wipeouts by skiers and boarders, several of whom were injured. "The logo for this Olympics ought to be a stretcher," added Jenkins.

Organizers are compensating for the lack of hard-packed snow with a mix of chemicals, water injections and snow that was stockpiled earlier and covered with thick reflective blankets to minimize melting. In any case, slushy snow didn't keep two U.S. skiers from winning medals Sunday in the Super-G race – a silver for Andrew Weibrecht and a bronze for Bode Miller, his sixth in a series of five Olympics. Miller, 36, now is the oldest Alpine medalist in Olympic history. (See video below.)

News coverage from Sochi includes reports on which athletes burn the most calories (cross-country skiers and figure skaters) and how nutrition advisers accompany some teams to provide high-performance diets. The U.S. women's hockey team, for instance, hired a dietician to plan meals and monitor players to assure they drink enough water and take proper vitamins. The American ski and snowboarding teams brought along a chef to prepare nutritious meals. In a different area, a special effort backfired for U.S. speed skaters when new high-tech racing suits were blamed for slowing the racers and quickly abandoned.

U.S. skier says: "I feel old." – Bode Miller, 36, bronze medalist

Chef says: "Nutrition can make a good athlete great. . . . Nutrition is the fuel for performance." – Allen Tran, chef for U.S. skiers and snowboarders

Journalist says: "This isn't really a Winter Olympics. It's a spring Olympics, with temperatures ranging from 50 to 65 degrees." – Sally Jenkins, Washington Post