At Friday's opening ceremony, the 15,000-strong crowd was treated to a new version of the Olympic Oath as Austrian alpine skier Christina Ager, 16, swore—literally—to respect the ideals of the Olympic movement.

In the live broadcast ceremony, Ager—taking the traditional pledge in the name of all athletes participating in the Games—fluffed her lines just as she came to the part about "respecting and abiding by the rules" and audibly swore before eventually reading the rest of the oath from a piece of paper.

Austrian luge coach Angelika Neuner—taking the oath on behalf of all coaches—also briefly got stuck in the same spot.

Meanwhile, an ice machine failure overnight meant curling matches scheduled for Saturday morning had to be postponed until Tuesday, although the afternoon games were to go ahead as scheduled.

Where conditions were ideal on the other hand was on the slopes.

After days of heavy snowfall that created minor chaos in Tyrol, blocking roads and access to entire valleys, the situation had calmed down leaving a good layer for the alpine skiing, biathlon and other ski competitions. In past Olympics, snow had sometimes to be brought in by lorry or, more recently, churned out by snow cannons to ensure that competitions could proceed smoothly, organisers noted.