Day 12 - February 15, 2022
For some, Valentine's Day can be disappointing. For these Olympics, that day occurred on February 15 - the day after Valentine's Day.
On the ice, the U.S. men - who had secured the #1 overall seed for the quarterfinals - lost to Slovakia in a shootout. The US took a 1-0 lead into the last 1:30 of the game, when Slovakia pulled goalie Patrik Rybar. With the extra man, Slovakia tied up the game with 45 seconds remaining. Both teams failed to score in overtime, sending the game to a shootout. Slovakia scored on their 5th opportunity, and US captain Andy Miele's shot was saved by Rybar, advancing Slovakia to the semi-finals 1-0 in the shootout.
Even more disappointing is not only did Kamila Valieva participate in the women's short program, she finished in first place heading into the long program. No matter what happens in women's figure skating - usually the most important single event in the Winter Olympics - the story is Valieva.
The Freestyle skiing men's aerials preliminaries took place, with all 3 Americans advancing to the 12 person semi-finals. They will each make 2 runs until the finals are whittled down to the top 6, who will each make one run for the medals!
Germany did make history in the 2-man bobsled, sweeping all three medals. Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis defended their 2018 gold medal from Pyeongchang by again winning gold. Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer finished second for silver, and Christopher Hafer and Matthias Sommer won bronze.
In the men's Nordic Combined Large Hill/10km, Norway won gold and silver, with Joergen Braabak won gold ahead of compatriot Jens Luraas Oftebro and Japan's Watabe Akito, who won silver.
Staying on skis, the 4 x 7.5 km relay finished up the men's biathlon competition, which had a lot of noteworthy performance. Norway - whose team consisted of Sturla Homl Laegreid, Tarjei Boe, Johannes Thingnes Boe, and anchor Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen - won gold in the most important biathlon race in these games, defeating France (silver) and Russian Olympic Committee (bronze). The Boe brothers each won their 4th medal at these games. Definitely not to be outdone, France's Quintin Fillon-Maillet won his 5th medal in Beijing with France's second place performance.
Athletes of the Day: Quintin Fillon-Maillet, France, Biathlon and Patrik Rybar, Slovakia, Biathlon
Rybar gave up one goal against the United States in the hockey quarterfinals, and none in overtime and in the shootout, as Slovakia advances to the semi-finals. Fillon-Maillet won hist 5th medal of these games!!!
Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor, United States, Bobsled
The two American teammates lobbied the IOC and the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation to add monobob to the Olympics. Monobob is competed internationally on the bobsled circuit, but was not previously competed in the games. Humphries - who competed for Canada at the time - and Meyers Taylor were rivals, but both wanted to see additional chances for women to compete at the Olympics. Although the decision to add monobob was made years ago, the two rivals, and now teammates, benefited from their own lobbying winning gold and silver, and giving women an additional Olympic event in which to compete.
Olympic Term of the Day: Nordic Combined - Nordic combined is an event that has been held since the first Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France. It combines Cross-Country Skiing with ski jumping. In the Olympics, the Nordic Combined is competed under the Gundersen method, where the ski jumping results determine the start times of the athletes in the ski jumping (e.g. the highest-scoring ski-jumper starts first in the cross-country portion, with the remaining athletes starting at times determined by their ski jumping scores.
Olympic Events Watched: Biathlon, Bobsled, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Nordic Combined
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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