Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 11

 Day 11 - February 14, 2022





Happy Valentine's Day, and the most important Valentine for the Olympic athletes is a medal!

In hockey, we the viewers all get what we want - a Canada/US Final!!!  The Olympic hockey gods are definitely good!!!

In worse news, the Kamila Valieva positive drug test situation took an interesting turn.  Sha'Carri Richardson, the U.S. Sprinter who tested positive for THC at the US trials, went public with the question as to why Valieva - who tested positive for a performance enhancer at the ROC's Olympic trials - still gets to compete when Richardson could not - and answers the question by stating it must be because Vaileva is white.  And, Richardson isn't wrong.  Stay tuned as Valieva competes tomorrow.

Something incredible interesting is brewing in Bobsled, as the 2-man competition completed their first two runs, with German squads in first, second, and fourth, with the fourth-place sled only .05 seconds behind the Russian Olympic Committee sled.  This could be the only time one country has swept the podium in bobled.

The men's ski jumping team competition (large hill) took place, with Austria winning gold over Slovenia (silver) and Germany (bronze).

In the X-Games competitions, the women's freestyle skiing aerials and slopestyle took place.  In the aerials, the host China wins gold behind Xu Mengtao, followed by Hanna Huskova of Belarus (silver) and American Megan Nick (bronze).


 
In slopestyle, Eileen Gu of China, the gold medalist in the half-pipe, won her second medal by coming in second in slopestyle, beat only by a tremendous run by Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland who takes gold.  Kelly Sidaru of Estonia comes in third.  The Russian Olympic Committee is protesting what it believes was low scoring for fourth place Anastasia Tatalina.

After some weather delays, the women's downhill was completed, and Switzerland's Corinne Suter won gold in an incredibly fast run.  She was joined on the podium by two Italians, Sofia Goggia (silver) and Nadia Delago (bronze).



In speedskating, the team pursuit competition finished with Norway defeating the Russian Olympic Committee for gold in the final.  The United States won the third-place match over the Netherlands to take home bronze.  The U.S. team, made up of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman, and Joey Mantia - Ethan Cepuran skated in the semi-finals) kept Sven Kramer from winning his 10th all-time Olympic medal.

Athlete of the Day:  Sofia Goggia, Italy, Alpine Skiiing
Goggia won the silver medal in the women's downhill, JUST THREE WEEKS AFTER A CRASH LEFT HER WITH A DAMAGED ACL!!!  She is in pain, and likely needs surgery, but she was not missing the Olympics.



Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Everyone in the Skating world not related to Russia, Every Country Except Russia, Figure Skating
Virtually everyone in the world of figure skating, form athletes, to former athletes, to coaches, to administrators, to broadcasters, are unanimous in condemning the fact that Kamila Valieva is still performing in these Olympics.  Although, the IOC has stated that no medals will be awarded should Valieva finish first, second, or third, until its investigation is complete and all legal challenges are finished.

Olympic Term of the Day: Hammer - In curling, the team with the last stone in any given end of play holds "the hammer."  The 16th delivered, or last stone, curled in any given end.

Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Curling, Bobsled, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Ski Jumping

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, Hilary Knight, Elana Meyers Taylor

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