Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 15

Day 15 - February 18, 2022

Starting to wrap up the Olympics, so not a lot of events, but some very important ones.

In figure skating, the pairs short program was contested.  China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong set a phenomenally high short program score, to lend the pairs into the final program.  

In men's hockey, the Russian Olympic Committee defeated Sweden, 2-1 in 8 shootout shots, to qualify for the finals.  They will play against Finland, which defeated Slovakia 2-0.

The women's 2-man bobsled started with its first two runs, with Germany dominated.  Germany is in the first 2 positions, with the US in third and firth, and Canada fourth and Germany 6th.   Interestingly, in the monobob all sleds have to be provided by the same company, so we really find out who the best driver is.  In the two and four-man bobsleds, the countries can supply their own sleighs, so the engineering behind the sleighs are very important.  So, basically, Germany's engineers are uparalleled at this point.

In curling, the women's semi-finals were held, and Japan beat Switzerland 8-6, and Great Britain defeated Sweden 12-11.  In the 9th end Great Britain scored 4 points to take an 11-8 lead on Sweden.  But in the 10th end, Sweden scored 3 to make in 11, and send it to extra ends.  Great Britain scored 1 in the 11th end to qualify for the finals.  There is no doubt that these are the two best women's teams!

In the men's ski-cross, the overwhelming favorite Ryan Regez of Switzerland won gold, joined on the podium by his teammate Alex Fiva, who won silver.  The Russian Olympic Committee's Sergey Ridzik won bronze.

In the biathlon, the men's 15km mass start was completed, with Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe won gold, followed by Sweden's Martin Ponsilouma (silver) and Norway's Vetjle Sjaastad Christiansen (bronze).  This was Johannes Thingnes Boe's 4th gold (and 5th medal) of these Olympics.  France's Quintin Fillon-Maillet finished fourth, unable to add to his 5 medals in these Olympics (2 golds and 3 silvers).  

Athlete of the Day:  Johannes Thinges Boe, Norway, Biathlon

He won gold in the 15km mass start, his 4th gold of these games, and 5th overall medal.

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day: Haralds Silovs, Latvia, Speedskating

Silovs donated his skates to American Casey Dawson who lost his skates due to lost luggage on his travels to Beijing.  Dawson had Covid, but the tests he took prior to the Olympics were disqualified as the laboratory in which he took the tests was disqualified as an appropriate lab.  By the time he had a negative test that was acceptable to the games, he rushed to Beijing, and some of his equipment was lost.  Silovs loaned Dawson his skates for the 1500 meters speedskating race.  Silovs finished 24th, and Dawson finished 28th, but the sportsmanship was remarkable.\

Olympic Term of the Day: Peel - Curling - A stone delivered with heavy take-out weight, but curls away from the takeout into another area, possibly into the scoring zone.

Olympic Events Watched: Biathlons, Bobsled, Curling, Figure Skating, Hockey, Ski-Cross, Speed Skating

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, ELANA MEYERS-TAYLOR