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 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

Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 4

 Day 4 - February 7, 2022

Some incredibly exciting action in Day 4; some of the best we have seen to date.

The biggest match of the day was in women's hockey - The United States versus Canada.  The two heavyweights in the field, and most likely finalists, played each other for seeding, with Canada defeating the United States 4-2 despite being outshot 53-27.  This gold medal match is going to be AMAZING!

The hockey game was the best single game of the day, but the best event - BY FAR - was the Freestyle Skiing, Big Air competition.  Each of the competitors were spellbounding, and amazing, and any other super superlative you can think of.  They pushed each other to the max, to the point where they were all trying moves they had NEVER tried in competition before, because they saw the tricks that the others were completing.  Even when an athlete was unable to complete her trick or landing, the rest of the jump was awesome.  San Francisco born 18 year old Eileen Gu won Gold competing for host China - the country of her mother's birth, with Tess Ledoux of France winning silver, and Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud earning bronze.  In any other competition, any of the top 10 jumps would have won the gold, it was that amazing.  Also, Gu reportedly scored a 1580 on her SAT!

In the women's 15K biathlon, German Denise Herrman wins gold, while American Deedra Irwin finished 7th, the best finish by any American in the biathlon - EVER!

And, in the men's Super Giant Slalom, Austria's Matthias Mayer defended his gold from Pyeongchang with a magnificent run in Beijing.  But, the story in this race was the silver medal winning Ryan Cochran-Siegle.  RCS, as he is known, was one of the fastest skiers in the world in any discipline last year before he crashed before crashing and injuring a vertebrae in his neck last year.  It was unknown at the time wheter he would even be able to compete for a place IN the Olympics, much less for a medal, yet he perservered and won a medal 50 years after his mother won gold in the slalom in1972 in Sapporo, Japan.  RCS also has an aunt and uncle that competed in the Olympics, as well as two cousins.  Congratulations Ryan!

Staying in Alpine Skiing, Matthias Mayer earned the bronze medal in the downhill (making that two medals for him in two races), behind Beat Feuz of Switzerland (gold) and France's Johan Clarey (silver).  Clarey's silver medal makes him the oldest Alpine Olympic medalist in history at 41.

The day was not without its controversy, however.  In the team ski jumping competition, 5 women were disqualified for having too loose clothing.  The reasoning behind the rule is because some loose clothing can actually catch the air and allow a jumper to glide farther down the hill.  However, each of the 5 women wore the same uniform the day before in the women's normal hill competition.  The jumpers disqualified were from medal contenders Japan, Austria, Germany, and Norway (2 jumpers).  Germany, Norway and Austria won gold, silver and bronze at the 2021 world championships.  Slovenia - a very strong team and a medal contender even without the DQs, won gold, with the Russian Olympic Committee and Canada finishing 2nd and 3rd.  It was Canada's first ski jumping medal in the Olympics.  Even with one of their jumpers disqualified - and thus earning a 0 on her jump, Japan finished in 4th.

In short track speed skating, controversy returned in the form of penalized skaters benefitting host China.  South Korea's Hwang Dae-Heon, the second ranked 1000m skater in the world who won his semi-finals in the 1000m with a daring pass of two Chinese skaters, was penalized for that pass, sending both Chinese skaters to the final.  Likewise, in the other semi-final, Lee Jeon-seo was disqualified via a penalty for an improper lane change.  In the finals, Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu was disqualified and given a yellow card after finishing first and presumably winning gold.  That paved the way for Chinese skaters Ren Ziwei (gold) and Li Wenlong (silver) were the primary beneficiaries of the yellow card, with Liu's brother - Shaoang Liu - winning bronze.

On the women's side, Italy's Arianna Fontana goes back-to-back in the 500m following up her gold in Pyeongchang with a gold in Beijing, earning her 10th overall Olympic medal!

Doing Fontana one better, Germany's Natalie Geisenberger goes back-to-back-to-back in the luge, winning her third gold in single's luge (5th overall), something only done by the German great Georg Hackl.  Geisenberger was followed onto the podium by her compatriot Anna Berreiter, and the Russian Olympic Committee's Tatyana Ivanova.

Finishing up the day (Ok actually starting tomorrow, but at the end of our day in the west), was the short program in Men's figure skating.  American Vincent Zhou had to withdraw from the games due to a positive Covid test, leaving the Americans with only two competitors.  Two-time defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu was the first of the contenders to perform, and he mis-jumped - it look like his blade stuck in the ice - on his first quadruple, earning 0 points and finishing in 8th place.  His teammate Shomo Uno, the only other skater besides Hanyu to defeat Nathan Chen in the past 6 years, finished third behind fellow Japanese skater Yuma Kagiyama.  In first, American Nathan Chen followed up his phenomenal program in the team competition with a WORLD RECORD performance in the short program!  His teammate Jason Brown, one of the more elegant skaters in the world even without all of the athletic quad jumps in his performance, finished 6th, leaving him an opportunity to capitalize on a medal chance should one of the leaders falter.

For the second day in a row, we have Co-Athletes of the Day.  With all due respect to Arianna Fontana and Natalie Geisenberger, whose achievements were phenomenal, the two best performances of the day go to ...

Co-Athlete of the Day - Nathan Chen, United States, Figure Skating

World Record Short Program performance, and odds-on leader to win Gold in men's figure skating.

Co-Athlete of the Day - Ann-Renee Desbiens, Canada, Hockey

She made 51 saves as the Canadian women's hockey team beat the United States 4-2 despite being outshot 53-27. Brienne Jenner scored two goals, but Desbiens was the first, second, and third star of this game.

Teamwork Moment of the Day - Japanese Ski Jumping team

After Sara Takanashi, who finished 4th in the women's individual normal hill competition and thus definitely a threat to play a large role in a potential Japanese medal in the team competition, was disqualified for a suit violation after her 103 meter first round jump - said jump being ruled a scratch - Takanashi rebounded for a great second jump, and teammates Yukiya Sato, Yuki Ito, and men's individual normal hill gold medalist Ryoyu Kobayahsi kept competing to finish in fourth, only 8 points behind Canada for the bronze medal (safe to say Takanashi's jump would have scored over 100 points), and only 54 points behind the Russian Olympic Committee for silver.

Olympic Term of the Day: Telemark Landing - In ski jumping, a landing with one ski advanced and the knees bent.  Earns maximum style points for the landing when performed correctly.

Olympic Events Watched:  Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Luge, Short Track Speedskating, Ski Jumping

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer:  Nathan Chen, Hilary Knight