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 12

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

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 3

Day 3 - February 6, 2022

Day 3, and the medals start coming.  The Russian Olympic Committee leads with 6 total medals, followed by Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Canada, Italy, and Austria - each with 4.  The United States has 3, along with Sweden, Germany and France.

In hockey, the US Women just annihilated Switzerland, winning 8-0 and scoring in all three periods.  Hilary Knight, Jesse Compher and Kelly Panneck each scored twice, with Knight, Compher, and Alex Carpenter leading the team in total goals (3).  Today's matchup with Canada is for the number 1 seed in the quarterfinals and is a potential gold medal preview - or at least it should be.  Anything else would be disappointing for us fans.

In the men's luge, Johannes Ludwig of Germany claims gold, with Austria's Wolfgang Kindl and Italy's Dominik Fischnaller winning silver and bronze respectively.  Ludwig had the fastest time in each run and set the course record after his first two attempts.

In ski jumping, Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi takes the gold medal in the men's normal hill, winning Japan's first ski jumping gold since Sappora 1972.  Keyser Soze of Hungary approves.  Manuel Fettner of Austria earned the silver, and Poland's David Kubacki wins bronze.

In the women's normal hill competition, Ursa Bogataj of Slovenia wins gold, Katharina Althaus of Austria finishes with silver, while Bogataj's compatriot Nika Kriznar wins bronze.

Alpine Skiing finally got started after some delays due to unsafe wind conditions.  The women's giant slalom started things off, but for American medal contender Mikaela Shiffrin, the day ended early, falling and missing a gate in the upper portion of the course.  Sara Hector of Sweden wins gold, followed by Frederica Brignone of Italy and Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami.

In freestyle skiing, the Big Air competition was held, with qualifying rounds held at the venue, which is making headlines not for the venue, but for the background!

Julia Marino wins the silver medal for the United States in Snowboard Slopestyle, finishing second behind Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand.  Sadowski-Synnott earned New Zealand its first ever Winter Olympics gold medal.  The United States won silver again as Jaelin Kauf finished behind Australian Jakara Anthony in the freestyle skiing moguls.

The United States won its third silver medal of these games in Team Figure Skating, as the team of Nathan Chen (1st in mens), Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (2nd in pairs), Madison Chock/Evan Bates (1st in Ice Dancing), and Karen Chen (6th in ladies), had a strong finish in the free dance portion.  However, they, and the rest of the competition, was overshadowed by Kamila Valieva, as the 15 year old became the first ever woman to land a quad at the Olympics, and she landed 2.

Women's curling was also interesting, as Norway challenged Italy, before Italy's Stefania Constantini scored 5 points in two different ends, to stay undefeated.  Subsequently both the Italian's and Norwegians have rolled into the finals, which they will play tomorrow.

Irene Wust of the Netherlands won the gold medal in the 1500 meters, winning a gold medal in her 5th Olympics, the first ever athlete to do so.

Co-Athlete of the Day - Irene Wust, Netherlands, Speed Skating

SHE WON A GOLD MEDAL IN HER FIFTH STRAIGHT OLYMPICS!

Co-Athlete of the Day - Kamila Valieva, Russian Olympic Committe, Figure Skating

FIRST WOMAN TO EVER LAND A QUAD IN OLYMPIC COMPETITION!

Teamwork Moment of the Day - Chinese Team Figure Skating Team, China

Women's skater Zhu Yi, who was born in the United States, and she took a lot of flak when she was selected to skate by the Chinese coaches to skate in the Team Competition.  She took even more, including death threats, after she fell during the short program portion of the team competition.  She fell on her first jump in the free skate, but afterward picked herself up and skated a beautiful performance.  During the announcement of her scores, the other members of the team were all hugging her and rubbing her arms, and otherwise trying to comfort her as she was obviously crying.  Some of these team members did not get to skate in the team competition because Zhu was selected ahead of them.

Olympic Term of the Day: Power Play (in Curling) - Once per match, each team may elect a power play, in which they place the guard stone at a location half in the 8m circle and half in the 12m circle, with the back of the stone placed on the center line.  This blocking stone keeps the entire house open, and makes for a potential big scoring end by the team holding shot rock.

Olympic Events Watched:  Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Luge, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, Speed Skating

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