Day 10 - February 13, 2022
Not as much Olympic stuff today, since it was Super Bowl Sunday, but some pretty cool things happening for the U.S. squad nonetheless.
In men's hockey, the United States wins its group, going undefeated after beating Germany 3-2. Next stop for the Americans is the quarterfinals.
In short track speedskating, the women from the Netherlands won the 3000m relay, giving Suzanne Schulting her third gold medal of the games (with 1 silver also). In winning the gold, the team broke their own Olympic record in defeating South Korea (silver) and China (bronze). It was an emotional win for the Netherlands, who were without the reigning 500m world champion and member of the 2018 Pyeongchang championship relay team Lara van Ruijven, who died in July 2020 after discovering an autoimmune disorder.
Hungary's Shaoang Liu won gold in the men's 500 meter, defeating an excited Konstantin Ivliev of the Russian Olympic Committee and Steven Dubois of Canada, who joined him on the podium with silver and bronze respectively.
In the figure skating arena, the ice dancing concluded with Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France easily winning gold, beating out world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov from the Russian Olympic Commitee who won silver, and the American teams of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (bronze medalists) and Madison Chock and Evan Bates (4th place).
The bronze in ice dancing was not the only medal won by the Americans yesterday, as Erin Jackson won gold in the women's 500 meter speedskating event, becoming the first black woman to win a medal in Olympic speedskating history. Jackson, the world number 1 ranked skater at 500 meters, and whose Olympic trial stumble caused her to finish 3rd and almost miss the Olympics if not for Brittany Bowe's decision to give up her 500 meter spot on the team, beat Japan's Takagi Miho by .08 seconds. Miho settled for the bronze.
And the United States wasn't finished. Over in the sliding sports, the last two runs in the monobob were completed, and the Americans dominated with a 1-2 finish. Recently sworn-in citizen Kaillie Humphries dominated for the gold, while Elana Meyers Taylor progressed steadily each run, going for 4th after 2 runs, to 3rd after the 3rd run, and into the sliver medal after her final run!
The four medals on the day bring the United States into 4th place, behind Norway, Russian Olympic Committee and Germany.
Athlete of the Day: Kaillie Humphries dominated, and Suzanne Schulting is putting up a performance for the ages, but this award goes to Erin Jackson. When you can be the first of anything in 2022, you will get saluted.
Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Iivo Niskanen, Finland, Cross-Country Skiing
Most of the awards for this category have involved "teamwork," but today's is definitely about sportsmanship. Niskanen took home gold in the 15km cross-country race finishing in 37:54.08, beating Alexander Bolsunov from the Russian Olympic Committee (who won silver) by approximately 23 seconds. However, it wasn't the difference in time between Niskanen and Bolsunov that people took note of, but rather the difference between Niskanen's time and that of Columbia's Andres Quintana. When Quintana finished his 15 kilometers in 55:41.09 seconds - last in the entire Olympic field of 95 skiers - Niskanen was waiting to greet him. Before leaving the track to begin his cooldown or to celebrate his victory, Niskanen waited for every last contender to finish, because "All athletes must respect each other, everyone has worked hard to be here. You have to show this kind of respect at the Olympics towards countries that don't have much budget to get the best results, unlike the best nations." It should be noted that the Norwegian bronze medalist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway also waited around to congratulate Quintana on finishing. Now THAT is the Olympic spirit.
Olympic Term of the Day: Impeding - In short track speedskating, impeding is "intentionally pushing, blocking, tripping or otherwise causing an impediment for another skater." This results in a penalty for the offending skater, and could cause the impeded skater to advance to the next round, no matter where that skater finished in the race.
Olympic Events Watched: Bobsled, Curling, Figure Skating, Hockey, Short Track Speedskating, Speedskating
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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