Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 14

 Day 14 - February 17, 2022

Figure skating, WOW!

So, for those of you living under a rock, fifteen year old Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee, who was the first female to land a quad in Olympics history during the team portion of the figure skating competition, tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance on December 25, during Russia's Olympic trials.  The results of the sample were finalized just after the team competition ended.  The Russian Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee went through a dance that included an appeal to the Court for Arbitration in Sports, who, prior to any final decision regarding a suspension for Valieva (and/or stripping the Russian Olympic Committee of their team gold - none of the team figure skating medals have been awarded as of yet because of this) are allowing her to compete pending a final decision/resolution.  So, in the women's figure skating competition, Valieva - the overall favorite to win gold - skated superbly in the short program and sat atop the leaderboard above two of her compatriots, and was the last skater in the long program.  As the two other Russians finished their performances in the long program to sit 1-2, Valieva took the ice to perform, and fell twice and stumbled on another occasion.  She ended up finishing fourth - out of the medals - but the raw emotion from Valieva and the other 3 skaters that won medals (will be named shortly), was absolutely heart-wrenching to watch.  These girls, aged 15, 17, 17 and 21, were all put into a situation by others - all adults, in which they should never have been placed.  The extra pressure added to the already hot pressure cooker of the premier event in the Winter Olympics caused them all to break down, even the winners!!!  All the adults involved in Valieva taking the drugs, and in allowing her to compete, and placing the winners in a situation in which they all had to answer for Valieva, SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES!!!

Anyway, the winners were - Anna Shcherbakova of the Russian Olympic Committee (gold), Alexandra Trusova of the Russian Olympic Committee (silver) and Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (bronze).  Interestingly Shcherbakova's routine was devoid of the more highly athletic quads of the other skaters, but she skated eloquently and clean to win gold.

   

In the Nordic Combined relay, Norway won gold, defeating Germany by almost 55 seconds, with Japan just behind Germany for bronze.

In freestyle skiing, Eileen Gu won the gold medal in the half-pipe, her second of these Olympics to go with a silver, beating Canadians Cassie Sharpe (silver) and Rachael Karker (bronze).  Gu medaled in all three of her freestyle skiing events - with a gold in big air and a silver in slopestyle - to become the first athlete to win three freestyle skiing medals in one Olympics.

 

In curling, Sweden beat Canada and Great Britain beat the United States in the semi-finals of the men's competition, meaning the defending gold-medalist Americans would not repeat as champions.  Then, Canada beat the United States for the bronze medal - with the gold medal game pending.  The women's semi-finals are tomorrow.

In speedskating, American Brittany Bowe won the bronze medal in the 1000 meters, finishing behind only Miho Takagi of Japan, who won gold, and Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands, who earned silver.  Bowe, you might recall from earlier in the week, won the 500 meters in the US Olympic trial after favorite Erin Jackson stumbled and finished third, thus not qualifying for the Olympics.  Bowe gave up her 500 meter spot, knowing the 1000m and 1500m are her better events.  Jackson went on to win gold in the 500m, and now Bowe medaled in the 1000m.

For her sportsmanship, Bowe was named to replace Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor as co-flagbearer, along with curler John Schuster, in the Opening Ceremonies.  Meyers-Taylor was unable to participate in the Opening Ceremonies due to the fact that she was in Covid isolation.  It has now been announced that Elana Meyers Taylor, silver medalist in the monobob and begins the two-woman bobsled competition today, will carry the US flag in the Closing ceremonies.

Athletes of the Day:  Eileen Gu, China, Freestyle Skiing, and Anna Shcherbakova, Russian Olympic Committee, Figure Skating

Two opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their events, freestyle skiing being exactly that, wild, free, and flamboyant, with figure skating being staid, stoic and well, flamboyant.  The endings may have been fun versus serious, new school versus old school, and happy versus sad, but both of these athletes came out on top.

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day:  Karma, The Universe, Figure Skating

Kamila Valieva should not have been skating, and had she medaled, there would have been no medal ceremony (as it was they had the ceremony without the medals).  Nevertheless, Karma showed extreme teamwork in doing the job that the Russian Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee and the International Court for Arbitration in Sport would not do - keep Valieva from winning.

Olympic Term of the Day: Skating Clean - Figure Skating - An term uttered by Anna Shcherbakova in her interviews after winning gold, but it wasn't a slight to Valieva and her positive drug test.  Skating clean means skating error free, as in a clean performance.  But, the irony of Shcherbakova's statement was not lost on anyone.

Olympic Events Watched: Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Nordic Combined 

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

Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 1

 Day 1 - February 4, 2022

Hello, and welcome to the newest addition of the Daily Olympic blog!!!  Those that know me, know that the Olympics are the best part of the sporting calendar to me, and as such, I am going to try to keep up the ambitious schedule of one recap post for each day, focusing on the most important story/ies of the previous day, along with any other interesting or unusual stories.  Given the time zone differential between China and me, here in good old Eastern Standard Time, the official days may be off, as I will be reporting on when I see the events, which may be live, but may be off by a half day.  Deal with it, as I have to.

We will also have our guest poster return.  Those of you that actually read the blog may remember Miss Miss, who wrote a couple of posts during Tokyo 2020 (2021), and since she is just as big a fan of the Olympics as I am - maybe even more - she will return.

Back in Rio of 2016, I made a joke about Ryan Lochte not being selected as the flag-bearer.  At that point I decided to make a Ryan Lochte joke every day.  That was pretty easy at the beginning, but then became easier with his antics at the Rio gas station/convenience store, you know the one, where they may have taken gas and/or money, pissed on the outside wall and apparently tried to bribe the cops?  Boy did I have jokes.  I couldn't do that in Pyeongyang 2018, as Ryan Lochte wasn't involved in those Olympics.  But, the day 1 story gave me an idea.  At the team captains' meeting to decide the US flag-bearer for the Opening Ceremonies, apparently Erin Hamlin, the first American luger to medal in the Olympics and competing in her fourth Olympics tied Shanni Davis, the very talented, multi-medal winning speed-skater.  The teams then flipped a coin, which Hamlin won.  Davis was insulted and complained about the entire process.  So, that gave me the idea to do an "American Disappointment of the Day" segment.  I hope that something arises as a common theme for each post this year.

Speaking of flag-bearing, we have great stories with the selection of flag-bearers.  That is right, I said "flag-bearerS", plural.  (Cue How I Met Your Mother last season running joke).  We had three flag-bearers for the first time in history!  Why three?  Well, bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor and curler John Shuster were selected by the captains of each team (Excellent selections by the way).  However, Elana Meyers Taylor is in the Covid protocol, so she was replaced with the next highest vote-getter, speed skater Brittany Bowe.

Brittany Bowe has already shown the world what teamwork and selflessness means.  During the US Olympic trials, Brittany Bowe qualified for three individual events, including the 500 meters.  The 500 meters, which is not Bowe's specialty, is dominated by teammate Erin Jackson, who has won 4 of the past 8 events leading up to the Olympics.  In the Olympic trials, Jackson slipped, causing her to finish third in the trials.  Knowing that Jackson has a better chance to win a medal in the 500 meter, and that Bowe's best events are the 1,000 and 1,500 meter, Brittany Bowe resigned her spot in the 500 meter, giving way for Jackson, the third qualifier, to make the Olympic team.  Kudos to you Brittany!

Hey - that is my idea.  Each day I will feature something selfless, or some show of teamwork.

Not much occurred on the first day of the Olympics, and certainly no medals were awarded, so light blog day today.

Athlete of the Day - Nathan Chen, USA, Figure Skating

Nathan Chen has been the best figure skater in the world for a number of years, however in Pyeongchang in 2018, he fell in his opening skate in the short program, only to not recover despite skating flawlessly afterward.  Today, he skated as good a program as anyone in the short program of the team competition, putting the US solidly in first. 

Olympic Term of the Day:  Salchow - Figure Skating - A jump in figure skating with a backward takeoff from the backward inside edge of one skate to the backward outside edge of the other, with one or more full turns in the air

Olympic Events Watched:  Curling (Mixed Doubles), Figure Skating (Team), Opening Ceremonies

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer:  Nathan Chen

Olympics - PyeongChang 2018 - Day 15

Day 15 - February 21

Lots of competition, lots of medals, and even lots of medals (8) for the United States!  Finally a great day for our red, white and blue.

In speed skating, both the men's and women's pursuit finals were held, and surprise, surprise, the Dutch medaled in both, winning bronze in the men's pursuit and silver in the women's.  In the men's Norway won gold over the locals from South Korea who won bronze.  In the women's event, Japan won gold over the Netherlands (silver) and the United States - yes the United States - earned a bronze!!!!  This is the first speed skating medal of any kind for the US since 2010, and the first women's medal since 2002.  Of course, in didn't come without controversy.  In the team pursuit, 3 skaters from each country skate simultaneously, with each team starting on a separate half of the oval.  The team's then "pursue" each other around the rink.  The time is calculated when the skate of the third skater finishes.  The skaters often take turns leading while the others draft, but for most of the race you want your two best skaters to be in the front and back, with that last skater literally pushing the middle racer at times.  Although three skaters for each country are on the ice at a time, the team consists of 4 skaters, any 3 of which can skate in any race.

The US drew the Netherlands in the semi-finals, and they thought it would be touch to beat the Dutch to make the gold medal match.  So, the US rested its fastest skater, Brittany Bowe, and replaced her with the slowest of the four, Carlijn Schoutens - who was instrumental in qualifying the US for the Olympics as Bowe and Heather Bergsma only skate in the pursuit in the Olympics.  Not only did Schoutens race in the semi-final, she was the lead skater for the US for almost the entirety of the race, leaving Bergsma and Mia Manganello to rest and draft off Shoutens.  The US was hammered by the Netherlands, but plenty rested up to defeat Canada two hours later in the bronze medal match, which featured the return of Bowe.

The finals of the half-pipe in men's freestyle skiing was held, and the United States, behind David Wise (gold) and Alex Ferreira (silver) medaled as did 16 year old Nico Porteous of New Zealand.

Jamie Anderson narrowly missed becoming the first American woman to win two gold medals at a single Olympics since Bonnie Blair, by winning silver after a spectacular run by Austria's Anna Gasser in the women's snowboarding big air finals.

Another American woman chasing Bonnie Blair was Mikaela Shiffrin, who ultimately finished with the silver in the super combined, behind only Michelle Gisin of Switzerland.  Lindsay Vonn, the leader after the downhill portion of the combined, missed a gate in the slalom and DNF.

In the women's 2 person bobsled race, American driver Elana Meyers Taylor won her second straight silver medal (and third overall medal) along with her brakewoman Lauren Gibbs, falling behind only the powerful sled from Germany and just ahead of an equally powerful Canadian team.

As you can see in the above picture, in the women's cross-country team spring title, Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins of the United States won gold over skiing powerhouses Sweden and Norway.  Sweden's Stina Nilsson gave Diggins all she had, but Diggins won gold in the sprint finale as shown below.  Diggins, who twice finished 5th in these Olympics, anchored the gold-medal winning performance, which was the first medal in cross-country skiing for the United States since Bill Koch in 1976.

As exciting as that was, it pales in comparison the the U.S. Women's hockey team's 6 shot shootout victory for the gold medal over Canada.  Jocelyn Lamoureux triple deked the Canadian goaltender, who had no chance at stopping the ultimate winner.  This is the first shootout final in Olympics history, and was sweet revenge for the US after losing in overtime to Canada last year, earing the US their first gold since 1998 in Nagano.  For this, the US hockey team, and specifically Jocelyn Lamoureux are the Performers of the Day.

The American Disappointment of the Day was Lindsay Vonn, who did not finish the slalom portion of the super combined after leading the event after the downhill portion.

Events Watched:  Men's Curling; Women's Bobsled; Men's Speed Skating; Women's Alpine Skiing; Men's Freestyle Skiing