VANCOUVER (AFP) — The first gold medals of the troubled Winter Olympics were decided Saturday but problems piled up for organisers with the men’s skiing downhill postponed and violent protests in Vancouver.

Luge training went ahead despite the horrific death on Friday of Georgia’s Nodar Kumaritashvili, with the mood sombre at the Whistler Sliding Centre where modifications were made to the track to prevent another tragedy.

A day after a dazzling ceremony opened the Games, the first gold was claimed by Switzerland's Simon Ammann, who won the normal hill ski jump ahead of Poland's Adam Malysz and Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer.

Dutchman Sven Kramer took out the 5,000m men’s speedskating title, finally capturing a medal that eluded him four years ago at Turin.

He won in 6mins 14.60sec, setting an Olympic record to defeat South Korean Lee Seung-Hoon by 2.35sec with Russian Ivan Skobrev third.

Canada had high hopes that Jennifer Heil could deliver their maiden gold of the Games in the women's moguls freestyle skiing, but she was pipped at the post by the United States' Hannah Kearney with another American, Shannon Bahrke, third.

Meanwhile, there was disaster on the ice for South Korea which was looking at a cleansweep in the men’s 1,500m short-track speed skating before Sung Si-Bak and Lee Ho-Suk collided and crashed on the last turn.

Their teamamate Lee Jung-Su took the title, with American Apolo Anton Ohno second to become the most decorated Olympic short-track skater with six medals. America’s J.R. Celski finished third.

Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina was a shock winner in the women’s 7.5 km biathlon sprint.

While those events took place, the unpredictable weather that has haunted organisers forced the blue-riband downhill, a medal event, to be put back until Monday.

The International Ski Federation said overnight snow and rain in the Whistler mountains followed by mild temperatures meant that skiing on the piste was out of the question.

“The piste has been badly affected these last two days by the mild temperatures and the humid conditions with snow and rain,” said the FIS race director Gunter Hujara.

The women's super-combined, which had been scheduled for Sunday, was postponed until Thursday, with practice runs not possible.