With the conclusion of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics comes my traditional review of the games. The Winter Olympics are one of my favorite tournaments in sports, along with the Summer Olympics and the World Cup. These international tournaments embody a spirit of celebration thru competition that ultimately bring the world together. The Winter Olympics are not quite as grand in scale as the Summer Olympics, however still has it's marquee athletes and events.
I was first inspired by the Winter Olympics with the Nagano games of 1998, and ever since I have followed the games from Salt Lake 02, Turino 06, Vancouver 10, and Sochi 14. This year I was excited to see the games return to Asia, with Pyeongchang, South Korea as the host city. I enjoy Korean culture thanks to my good friend EJ. I enjoy Korean food, their friendly people, and their passion for soccer and speed skating. I still have yet to learn about Korean history, perhaps someday.
These games marked a chance for Korea to display it's culture to the world. As with any Olympic games it is up to the host to provide the venues and arenas that bring together athletes, coaches, and fans from all across the world. Meanwhile the rest of the world tunes in on TV, watching the ceremonies, games, interviews, and stories of the games.
With Korea being 14 hours ahead of the US it made for an unusual broadcast thru NBC. Some of the good stuff was live during prime-time, yet most of it happened while we were asleep in America. Luckily I was able to watch the marquee events such as figure skating and snowboarding live during prime time. The rest of the events were already news by the time we awoke and pre-packaged on TV broadcasts. Nonetheless the games were very enjoyable, a total success! There were high-lights, low-lights, and great cultural entertainment for two full weeks of which I'll write about it here. But first I wanted to touch upon a recent opinion of mine regarding the Winter Olympics and it's limited appeal to only northern countries.
Time to Expand Winter Olympics
As it's name entails the Winter Olympics embodies elements of winter; the ice, snow, and the cold. Therefore it's reach is far more selective, particularly those that experience colder climates in the northern hemisphere. Northern countries such as Norway, Russia, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, and of course the USA usually provide the top competitors since they experience colder weather. It's extremely rare to see any athletes from the warmer climates of South America or Africa in these games. Therefore one could make the case that these games are not quite as global as the Summer Olympics or the World Cup.
I love that there are two separate Olympics games for the Summer and the Winter. It brings the tournament around every 2 years rather than having to wait the full 4 years. However the Summer games are ten times more exciting than the Winter games. I think this is because the Winter Olympics are too seclusive to the cold. The Summer Olympics have 42 sports while the Winter Olympics only have 15. One way I think the Winter Olympics could increase it's reach is by including indoor events to it's games. Why should the sports of the winter games only take place on the ice or snow?
There are many other sports that could be included in the Winter Olympics. Sports such as basketball, boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting to name a few, are indoor sports that are often played during the winter-time. These sports should have no tie to the summer nor the winter games since they are played indoors. The inclusion of these indoor games would make for a much larger scale tournament, that would reach into the southern hemisphere.
This is just an idea that hit me early on during these games and I felt the need to share. I simply love the spirit of these cultural games and am always looking for ways they could be improved. Nonetheless back to the matter at hand; Pyeongchang 2018. As I mentioned before, this tournament hosted by South Korea was a grand success. I'm now going to highlight the games, athletes, stories, and moments that most inspired me.
Highlights from the Pyeongchang Games
The Opening Ceremony was a grand success of welcoming the world to Korean culture. During the parade of athletes both North Korea and South Korea walked out together in a major sign of unity between rival nations. USA's flag bearer was decided over a flip of the coin, and speedskating medalist Shani Davis lost out to luging medalist Erin Hamlin. Russia was banned from the games due to doping scandals and their athletes participated as Olympic athletes from Russia. While watching the commentary of the ceremony I surprisingly discovered that Norway has the most medals in the winter Olympic games. The highlight of the night came when the Olympic cauldron was lit by gold medalist figure skater Yuna Kim.
Speedskating
As usual the speed skating was dominated by the Dutch, who swept the women's 3000m event and went on to win a total of 16 medals in the sport. Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis won 2 gold medals in the mens events; other multiple medalists for the Dutch were Sven Kramer, Ireen Wust, and Antoinette de Jong. The US team only got one medal in the women's pair events and superstar Shani Davis fell short in all his events.
Figure Skating
The first event I followed was the figure skating team event. Unfortunately two of my favorite skaters from the last games did not qualify, Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner. However USA still put on a strong performance in the team event thanks to the individual skating of Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, and Bradie Tennel; and the pairs of married couple Alexa and Chris Knierem and the ice-dance brother-and-sister pair of Mai and Alex Shibutani. Nathan Chen had a bad performance however Mirai Nagasu stole everyone's attention when she nailed a triple axle. The USA team went on to win bronze in the team event, while Canada got the gold and Russia got the silver.
In the pairs ice skating events, I did not pay as much attention to as the individual events. I was pulling for the American married couple Alexa and Chris Knierim however they finished in 14th place. China went on to win the gold in the pairs event. In the ice-dancing pairs event the Shibutani siblings went on to win the bronze medal, while Canada got the gold.
In the men's individual figure skating program, American Nathan Chen was a favorite to win it all. However just as he struggled in the team event, he once again got off to a terrible start in his short program. On his free skate, he had nothing to lose and went big by nailing 6 quads, something that had never been done before in the Olympic games. This gave him a large score however it was still not enough to make up for his bad score in the short program and Nathan finished 5th place. Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu went on to win his 2nd consecutive gold medal.
Snowboarding
Snowboarding to me is still somewhat of an off-shoot category of the Olympics, catered more to the extreme sports rather than the traditional ones. For this reason it is mostly dominated by the Americans and doesn't include the other Winter Olympic power houses. I suppose over time I've grown a little more accustomed to the inclusion of this sport thanks to the celebrity of Shawn White. I first remember when the young flying tomato won his gold in 2006 Turino. He became an icon then, a face of the sport of snowboarding and of team USA at the winter Olympics. He went on to repeat at Vancouver for his 2nd gold medal, and then fell short of receiving any medals at Sochi. At the age of 31 this time at Pyeongchang would likely be his last attempt.
It was Tuesday night when I caught the men's half-pipe event which was fortunately broadcast live on NBC prime time coverage. Shawn White got off to a strong start yet was eventually bumped into 2nd place by a Japanese jumper. On his 3rd and final run he needed his best jump yet to win the gold. With all the pressure on his back, Shaun White soared thru the air and achieved an incredible 97-pt score to win his 3rd gold medal. His emotional reaction afterwards made the moment all the more significant. It was one of the best moments of these Olympic games.
Other highlights in the snowboarding events including the two young American 17 year olds Redmond Gerard winning gold in the slopestyle and Chloe Kim winning gold in the womens half-pipe. The other American gold medalist in snowboarding was Jamie Anderson in the slopestyle event. The American choke-artist Lindsay Jacobellis, notorious for her epic flub in Torina, came up short of a medal once again in the snowboarding cross event. The Americans went on to win a total of 7 medals in the 10 snowboarding events.
Sled Events
In the sledding events, the Germans went on to win 3 of the 4 gold medals in luge, while American Chris Mazdzer won silver in the men's event, the first time for team USA. A new South Korean superstar was born in the men's skeleton race when Yun Sung-bin won gold for his home country, donning his Iron-man helmet. Great Britain won the gold in the women's event. Germany also swept the 3 gold medals in the bobsleigh events; yet the two-man event was a tie between Germany and Canada for the gold.
Alpine Skiing
The alpine skiing events got off to a delayed start due to the harsh windy weathers. As per usual the Norwegian Vikings did well in the men's events receiving 7 medals total. Switzerland and Austria also received 7 medals in the 10 events. Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher went on to win 2 gold medals. The US did not medal in the men's skiing events however were favorites in the women's skiing events thanks to our two beautiful blonde superstars, Mikeala Shiffrin and Lindsay Vonn.
Lindsay Vonn became a female alpine superstar when she won gold and bronze at Vancouver in 2010. Yet couple years later she suffered a terrible injury and was not able to compete in the Sochi games. At the age of 33 this was likely her last chance to add to her medal collection. Mikeala on the other hand could be considered Lindsay's heir, as she won gold in Sochi and is currently at the prime of her career at the age of 22.
Lindsay Vonn went on to win the bronze medal in the downhill event. She was on track to win gold in the combined event, yet missed her flags on her 2nd run. She can still hold her head high however, going home with her 3rd Olympic medal of her career. Mikeala rose to even higher heights by securing her 2nd Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom event, and an additional silver medal in the combined event. She could have even won a couple more medals had it not been for the terrible weather causing a compressed schedule in the alpine events. She also demonstrated extreme nerves prior to some of her events. Nonetheless Mikeala now has 3 Olympic medals just as Lindsay does, and she has became the new young star of alpine skiing. If she can stay healthy and conquer her nerves she could become one of the most decorated alpine skiers of all time.
Short track speed skating
My favorite sport at the Winter Olympics has always been the short track racing. This sport was first introduced to the games in 1992. I believe it was the Salt Lake City 2002 games when I discovered this exciting sport thanks to the superstar American skater Apollo Ohno (who would eventually go on to win 8 medals at 3 different Olympic games). Short track racing is an extremely exciting sport that mixes elements of speed, balance, and tactics.
Over the years the Koreans have become heavyweights in this sport; just as the Dutch dominate the speedskating, the Germans dominate the sledding, the Norwegian dominate the skiing, and the American dominate the snowboarding. At these games South Korea went on to win 6 medals of the 10 events in the sport. This included Choi-Min Jeong who became a 2 time gold medalist winner for her home country. Also there was the young cute Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting who won gold in the 1000m and bronze in the team relay event. Hungary won it's first ever gold medal in this event in the men's team relay. US only went on to win one medal in these sports with John-Henry Kreuger's silver medal in the 1000m race.
Other Games
I always make an effort to catch a little bit of every sport at the games, even those I don't care so much for; such as the hockey, curling, etc. This year I came to a new appreciation for the cross country and biathlon ski events as I would watch them during work.
In the cross country skiing the Norwegians dominated as usual winning 14 medals (7 gold) in the 12 events. However the most exciting race had to have been the women's sprint freestyle, where the American team of Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randal barely edged out the Swedish team to win America's first ever gold in cross country skiing.
The 10 Biathlon events, a sport that mixes shooting and cross country skiing, had a more balanced distribution of medals; 7 for Germany, 6 for Norway, 5 for France, 4 for Sweden, and 3 for Slovakia.
The 4 ski jumping events were shared by the Germans and Norweigans; Andreas Willinger went on to win 3 medals in ski jumping for Germany.
The 10 ski freestyle events were shared among a more variety of countries; the Canadians won 7 medals, while the US and Switzerland won 4.
In hockey, the USA women beat Canada to secure their first gold medal since the 1998 games. Canada had won the gold medal the previous 4 straight Olympics. For the men there was a major upset when Germany beat Canada in the semi-finals; yet lost to Russia in the gold medal match. Another highlight in hockey was the united womens hockey team of North and South Korea.
The Curling is my least favorite event of the games, yet I still caught a few matches during work and was especially attracted to the women's teams. The Swedish women went on to win gold against the Korean "Garlic girl" team. As for the men, the US won it's first ever gold medal in this sport that was just recently introduced in 1998. I still think however this game is this least athletic of all the winter sports.
Women's Individual Program
I remember it was last Olympics at the Sochi games that I came to the conclusion that the Women's Individual Figure Skating event was the main event of the Winter Olympics. In my opinion it is the most prestigious, glorious, and awe-inspiring event of the games. It might also be the most popular and watched event of the games. It is the ultimate celebration of female beauty through athleticism, grace, and sheer artistry. It has become the marquee event, perhaps the equivalent to the 100 meter dash in the Summer Olympics.
Honestly I really don't know that much about figure skating, however each Winter Olympics I find myself quite captivated by the female skaters. Last Olympics I got to know each of the female stars and wrote a detailed post about the event. I was especially in awe of Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner, Yuna Kim, and Yulia Lipnitskaya. This year unfortunately none of those 4 figure skaters would be returning to these games. However the event still lived up to it's entertaining hype and was perhaps even more dramatic than the previous games. That was much thanks to the Russian rivalry of Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva.
From the start these two young skaters were considered the clear favorites in a league of their own. At only the age of 16 Evgenia was considered the slight favorite over her younger Russian counterpart Alina, to win Olympic gold. Evgenia had previously won back-to-back gold at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships in figure skating. With numerous other championships she was considered to have the confidence and experience to perform on the most prestigious stage of figure skating. However unfortunately for her was the emergence of another rising Russian superstar in Alina Zagitova.
For the past 2 years Evgenia had dominated the major figure skating tournaments, however at the 2018 European Championships Alina shocked the skating world when she beat Evgenia for the gold. This must have been a preview for things to come at the Olympics, where Alina had suddenly emerged as a top contender to challenge Evgenia. It set the way for perhaps one of the most anticipated rivalries in Olympic figure skating history. These two Russians were in a class of their own, not concerned about the other skaters, yet only concerned about one another.
The big question for everyone else in the women's figure skating event was who would win the bronze medal.
There was of course the returning veteran, Carolina Kostner, who had just won the bronze at Sochi. She was renown for her artistry however at the age of 31 she was unable to execute her technical jumps convincingly at these games.
Then there was the powerful Canadian skater, Kaetlyn Osmond, who had won silver in the team event at the Sochi games. She executed each of her jumps with great power and precision and brought a pleasant blend of athleticism and grace to her skating. I enjoyed watching her skate.
Japan had two contenders very small in stature yet still precise in their skating. Satoko Miyahara and Kaori Sakamoto.
Then there was the Korean home crowd favorite, Choi Da-bi, trying to repeat what her idol Yuna Kim had done in Vancouver 2010. I thought she skated with great elegance and execution, easy to watch and worthy of a medal.
Finally there were the Americans, 3 of which were in the discussion. Most the attention went to Marai Nagasu, who was considered an X factor if she could only nail the triple axle jump, a very difficult and highly scored component. She attempted the jump in both of her programs yet ultimately fell short of the podium. She was slightly edged by her American counterpart Bradie Tennel who had good technicalities in her skating yet a lack of passion. Finally there was Karen Chen as the #3 American skater who simply did not shock and awe in the event.
The final event was this past Thursday and was the ultimate experience of sports championship drama. The event consists of the total score from Tuesday night's Short Program skate and Thursday nights Free skate program. Therefore the pressure is even greater on Thursday, with the highest ranked skaters, going in the last group. The medal is thus up for grabs on the second day/skate of the event, and gets more exciting with each skater throughout the night.
After each skater completed their 2nd program their new score was tallied putting them in position. For a while the Korean skater, Choi da-ba sat in first place, yet this was still with 7 more skaters to go. Eventually she was bumped down with each skater to come. The final group of 6 are the figure skating divas, the favorites to medal; and after each skater came a new position in the score table. Japanese skater Satoko Miyhara was in 1st place before Alina took to the stage.
Alina skated perfectly in her iconic toupee and long red gloves like a doll from a music box or snow globe. From to start to finish she was poetry in motion, skating with the utmost of grace and jumping with athletic ease. Her final score put her in first place by a large margin and all the pressure then fell on Evgenia who would skate last. With all the pressure on her shoulders Evgenia did not falter whatsoever. She skated powerfully, precisely, and with great passion.
After she awaited for her score with tears in her eyes, one could make the case that she wanted the medal more and perhaps even deserved it slightly over Alina. Yet the scores came in, and Alina had won the gold medal by 1.31 points. Evgenia got the silver, and Kaetlyn Osmond from Canada got the bronze. While I felt somewhat bad for Evgenia I do agree that Alina was the slightly better skater. The event did not disappoint whatsoever and was perhaps one of the most exciting and dramatic moments in these games, perhaps in Olympic history.
Final Medal Count
I was first inspired by the Winter Olympics with the Nagano games of 1998, and ever since I have followed the games from Salt Lake 02, Turino 06, Vancouver 10, and Sochi 14. This year I was excited to see the games return to Asia, with Pyeongchang, South Korea as the host city. I enjoy Korean culture thanks to my good friend EJ. I enjoy Korean food, their friendly people, and their passion for soccer and speed skating. I still have yet to learn about Korean history, perhaps someday.These games marked a chance for Korea to display it's culture to the world. As with any Olympic games it is up to the host to provide the venues and arenas that bring together athletes, coaches, and fans from all across the world. Meanwhile the rest of the world tunes in on TV, watching the ceremonies, games, interviews, and stories of the games.
With Korea being 14 hours ahead of the US it made for an unusual broadcast thru NBC. Some of the good stuff was live during prime-time, yet most of it happened while we were asleep in America. Luckily I was able to watch the marquee events such as figure skating and snowboarding live during prime time. The rest of the events were already news by the time we awoke and pre-packaged on TV broadcasts. Nonetheless the games were very enjoyable, a total success! There were high-lights, low-lights, and great cultural entertainment for two full weeks of which I'll write about it here. But first I wanted to touch upon a recent opinion of mine regarding the Winter Olympics and it's limited appeal to only northern countries.
Time to Expand Winter Olympics
As it's name entails the Winter Olympics embodies elements of winter; the ice, snow, and the cold. Therefore it's reach is far more selective, particularly those that experience colder climates in the northern hemisphere. Northern countries such as Norway, Russia, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, and of course the USA usually provide the top competitors since they experience colder weather. It's extremely rare to see any athletes from the warmer climates of South America or Africa in these games. Therefore one could make the case that these games are not quite as global as the Summer Olympics or the World Cup.
There are many other sports that could be included in the Winter Olympics. Sports such as basketball, boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting to name a few, are indoor sports that are often played during the winter-time. These sports should have no tie to the summer nor the winter games since they are played indoors. The inclusion of these indoor games would make for a much larger scale tournament, that would reach into the southern hemisphere.
This is just an idea that hit me early on during these games and I felt the need to share. I simply love the spirit of these cultural games and am always looking for ways they could be improved. Nonetheless back to the matter at hand; Pyeongchang 2018. As I mentioned before, this tournament hosted by South Korea was a grand success. I'm now going to highlight the games, athletes, stories, and moments that most inspired me.
Highlights from the Pyeongchang Games
The Opening Ceremony was a grand success of welcoming the world to Korean culture. During the parade of athletes both North Korea and South Korea walked out together in a major sign of unity between rival nations. USA's flag bearer was decided over a flip of the coin, and speedskating medalist Shani Davis lost out to luging medalist Erin Hamlin. Russia was banned from the games due to doping scandals and their athletes participated as Olympic athletes from Russia. While watching the commentary of the ceremony I surprisingly discovered that Norway has the most medals in the winter Olympic games. The highlight of the night came when the Olympic cauldron was lit by gold medalist figure skater Yuna Kim.Speedskating
As usual the speed skating was dominated by the Dutch, who swept the women's 3000m event and went on to win a total of 16 medals in the sport. Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis won 2 gold medals in the mens events; other multiple medalists for the Dutch were Sven Kramer, Ireen Wust, and Antoinette de Jong. The US team only got one medal in the women's pair events and superstar Shani Davis fell short in all his events.
Figure Skating
The first event I followed was the figure skating team event. Unfortunately two of my favorite skaters from the last games did not qualify, Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner. However USA still put on a strong performance in the team event thanks to the individual skating of Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, and Bradie Tennel; and the pairs of married couple Alexa and Chris Knierem and the ice-dance brother-and-sister pair of Mai and Alex Shibutani. Nathan Chen had a bad performance however Mirai Nagasu stole everyone's attention when she nailed a triple axle. The USA team went on to win bronze in the team event, while Canada got the gold and Russia got the silver.In the pairs ice skating events, I did not pay as much attention to as the individual events. I was pulling for the American married couple Alexa and Chris Knierim however they finished in 14th place. China went on to win the gold in the pairs event. In the ice-dancing pairs event the Shibutani siblings went on to win the bronze medal, while Canada got the gold.
In the men's individual figure skating program, American Nathan Chen was a favorite to win it all. However just as he struggled in the team event, he once again got off to a terrible start in his short program. On his free skate, he had nothing to lose and went big by nailing 6 quads, something that had never been done before in the Olympic games. This gave him a large score however it was still not enough to make up for his bad score in the short program and Nathan finished 5th place. Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu went on to win his 2nd consecutive gold medal.
Snowboarding
Snowboarding to me is still somewhat of an off-shoot category of the Olympics, catered more to the extreme sports rather than the traditional ones. For this reason it is mostly dominated by the Americans and doesn't include the other Winter Olympic power houses. I suppose over time I've grown a little more accustomed to the inclusion of this sport thanks to the celebrity of Shawn White. I first remember when the young flying tomato won his gold in 2006 Turino. He became an icon then, a face of the sport of snowboarding and of team USA at the winter Olympics. He went on to repeat at Vancouver for his 2nd gold medal, and then fell short of receiving any medals at Sochi. At the age of 31 this time at Pyeongchang would likely be his last attempt.
It was Tuesday night when I caught the men's half-pipe event which was fortunately broadcast live on NBC prime time coverage. Shawn White got off to a strong start yet was eventually bumped into 2nd place by a Japanese jumper. On his 3rd and final run he needed his best jump yet to win the gold. With all the pressure on his back, Shaun White soared thru the air and achieved an incredible 97-pt score to win his 3rd gold medal. His emotional reaction afterwards made the moment all the more significant. It was one of the best moments of these Olympic games.
Other highlights in the snowboarding events including the two young American 17 year olds Redmond Gerard winning gold in the slopestyle and Chloe Kim winning gold in the womens half-pipe. The other American gold medalist in snowboarding was Jamie Anderson in the slopestyle event. The American choke-artist Lindsay Jacobellis, notorious for her epic flub in Torina, came up short of a medal once again in the snowboarding cross event. The Americans went on to win a total of 7 medals in the 10 snowboarding events.Sled Events
In the sledding events, the Germans went on to win 3 of the 4 gold medals in luge, while American Chris Mazdzer won silver in the men's event, the first time for team USA. A new South Korean superstar was born in the men's skeleton race when Yun Sung-bin won gold for his home country, donning his Iron-man helmet. Great Britain won the gold in the women's event. Germany also swept the 3 gold medals in the bobsleigh events; yet the two-man event was a tie between Germany and Canada for the gold.
Alpine Skiing
The alpine skiing events got off to a delayed start due to the harsh windy weathers. As per usual the Norwegian Vikings did well in the men's events receiving 7 medals total. Switzerland and Austria also received 7 medals in the 10 events. Austrian skier Marcel Hirscher went on to win 2 gold medals. The US did not medal in the men's skiing events however were favorites in the women's skiing events thanks to our two beautiful blonde superstars, Mikeala Shiffrin and Lindsay Vonn.Lindsay Vonn became a female alpine superstar when she won gold and bronze at Vancouver in 2010. Yet couple years later she suffered a terrible injury and was not able to compete in the Sochi games. At the age of 33 this was likely her last chance to add to her medal collection. Mikeala on the other hand could be considered Lindsay's heir, as she won gold in Sochi and is currently at the prime of her career at the age of 22.
Short track speed skating
My favorite sport at the Winter Olympics has always been the short track racing. This sport was first introduced to the games in 1992. I believe it was the Salt Lake City 2002 games when I discovered this exciting sport thanks to the superstar American skater Apollo Ohno (who would eventually go on to win 8 medals at 3 different Olympic games). Short track racing is an extremely exciting sport that mixes elements of speed, balance, and tactics.Over the years the Koreans have become heavyweights in this sport; just as the Dutch dominate the speedskating, the Germans dominate the sledding, the Norwegian dominate the skiing, and the American dominate the snowboarding. At these games South Korea went on to win 6 medals of the 10 events in the sport. This included Choi-Min Jeong who became a 2 time gold medalist winner for her home country. Also there was the young cute Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting who won gold in the 1000m and bronze in the team relay event. Hungary won it's first ever gold medal in this event in the men's team relay. US only went on to win one medal in these sports with John-Henry Kreuger's silver medal in the 1000m race.
Other Games
I always make an effort to catch a little bit of every sport at the games, even those I don't care so much for; such as the hockey, curling, etc. This year I came to a new appreciation for the cross country and biathlon ski events as I would watch them during work.
The 10 Biathlon events, a sport that mixes shooting and cross country skiing, had a more balanced distribution of medals; 7 for Germany, 6 for Norway, 5 for France, 4 for Sweden, and 3 for Slovakia.
The 4 ski jumping events were shared by the Germans and Norweigans; Andreas Willinger went on to win 3 medals in ski jumping for Germany.
The 10 ski freestyle events were shared among a more variety of countries; the Canadians won 7 medals, while the US and Switzerland won 4.
In hockey, the USA women beat Canada to secure their first gold medal since the 1998 games. Canada had won the gold medal the previous 4 straight Olympics. For the men there was a major upset when Germany beat Canada in the semi-finals; yet lost to Russia in the gold medal match. Another highlight in hockey was the united womens hockey team of North and South Korea.
The Curling is my least favorite event of the games, yet I still caught a few matches during work and was especially attracted to the women's teams. The Swedish women went on to win gold against the Korean "Garlic girl" team. As for the men, the US won it's first ever gold medal in this sport that was just recently introduced in 1998. I still think however this game is this least athletic of all the winter sports.
Women's Individual Program
I remember it was last Olympics at the Sochi games that I came to the conclusion that the Women's Individual Figure Skating event was the main event of the Winter Olympics. In my opinion it is the most prestigious, glorious, and awe-inspiring event of the games. It might also be the most popular and watched event of the games. It is the ultimate celebration of female beauty through athleticism, grace, and sheer artistry. It has become the marquee event, perhaps the equivalent to the 100 meter dash in the Summer Olympics.Honestly I really don't know that much about figure skating, however each Winter Olympics I find myself quite captivated by the female skaters. Last Olympics I got to know each of the female stars and wrote a detailed post about the event. I was especially in awe of Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner, Yuna Kim, and Yulia Lipnitskaya. This year unfortunately none of those 4 figure skaters would be returning to these games. However the event still lived up to it's entertaining hype and was perhaps even more dramatic than the previous games. That was much thanks to the Russian rivalry of Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva.
From the start these two young skaters were considered the clear favorites in a league of their own. At only the age of 16 Evgenia was considered the slight favorite over her younger Russian counterpart Alina, to win Olympic gold. Evgenia had previously won back-to-back gold at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships in figure skating. With numerous other championships she was considered to have the confidence and experience to perform on the most prestigious stage of figure skating. However unfortunately for her was the emergence of another rising Russian superstar in Alina Zagitova.
For the past 2 years Evgenia had dominated the major figure skating tournaments, however at the 2018 European Championships Alina shocked the skating world when she beat Evgenia for the gold. This must have been a preview for things to come at the Olympics, where Alina had suddenly emerged as a top contender to challenge Evgenia. It set the way for perhaps one of the most anticipated rivalries in Olympic figure skating history. These two Russians were in a class of their own, not concerned about the other skaters, yet only concerned about one another.The big question for everyone else in the women's figure skating event was who would win the bronze medal.
There was of course the returning veteran, Carolina Kostner, who had just won the bronze at Sochi. She was renown for her artistry however at the age of 31 she was unable to execute her technical jumps convincingly at these games.
Then there was the powerful Canadian skater, Kaetlyn Osmond, who had won silver in the team event at the Sochi games. She executed each of her jumps with great power and precision and brought a pleasant blend of athleticism and grace to her skating. I enjoyed watching her skate.
Japan had two contenders very small in stature yet still precise in their skating. Satoko Miyahara and Kaori Sakamoto.
Then there was the Korean home crowd favorite, Choi Da-bi, trying to repeat what her idol Yuna Kim had done in Vancouver 2010. I thought she skated with great elegance and execution, easy to watch and worthy of a medal.
Finally there were the Americans, 3 of which were in the discussion. Most the attention went to Marai Nagasu, who was considered an X factor if she could only nail the triple axle jump, a very difficult and highly scored component. She attempted the jump in both of her programs yet ultimately fell short of the podium. She was slightly edged by her American counterpart Bradie Tennel who had good technicalities in her skating yet a lack of passion. Finally there was Karen Chen as the #3 American skater who simply did not shock and awe in the event.After each skater completed their 2nd program their new score was tallied putting them in position. For a while the Korean skater, Choi da-ba sat in first place, yet this was still with 7 more skaters to go. Eventually she was bumped down with each skater to come. The final group of 6 are the figure skating divas, the favorites to medal; and after each skater came a new position in the score table. Japanese skater Satoko Miyhara was in 1st place before Alina took to the stage.
After she awaited for her score with tears in her eyes, one could make the case that she wanted the medal more and perhaps even deserved it slightly over Alina. Yet the scores came in, and Alina had won the gold medal by 1.31 points. Evgenia got the silver, and Kaetlyn Osmond from Canada got the bronze. While I felt somewhat bad for Evgenia I do agree that Alina was the slightly better skater. The event did not disappoint whatsoever and was perhaps one of the most exciting and dramatic moments in these games, perhaps in Olympic history.
Final Medal Count
| Rank | NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Norway (NOR) | 14 | 14 | 11 | 39 |
| 2 |  Germany (GER) | 14 | 10 | 7 | 31 |
| 3 |  Canada (CAN) | 11 | 8 | 10 | 29 |
| 4 |  United States (USA) | 9 | 8 | 6 | 23 |
| 5 |  Netherlands (NED) | 8 | 6 | 6 | 20 |
| 6 |  Sweden (SWE) | 7 | 6 | 1 | 14 |
| 7 |  South Korea (KOR) | 5 | 8 | 4 | 17 |
| 8 |  Switzerland (SUI) | 5 | 6 | 4 | 15 |
| 9 |  France (FRA) | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 |
| 10 |  Austria (AUT) | 5 | 3 | 6 | 14 |
| 11 |  Japan (JPN) | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| 12 |  Italy (ITA) | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 13 |  Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) | 2 | 6 | 9 | 17 |
| 14 |  Czech Republic (CZE) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 15 |  Belarus (BLR) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 16 |  China (CHN) | 1 | 6 | 2 | 9 |
| 17 |  Slovakia (SVK) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 18 |  Finland (FIN) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 19 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 20 |  Poland (POL) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 |  Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Ukraine (UKR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 23 |  Australia (AUS) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 24 |  Slovenia (SLO) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 25 |  Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 |  Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 28 |  Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Latvia (LAT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Liechtenstein (LIE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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