Day 5 - February 8, 2022
Not the overall excitement of the day before, but still some pretty good stories.
The most dominant Olympic performance so far has been Italy's mixed curling team, that won gold by defeating Norway 8-5. Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner finished the Olympics 11-0, and a double takeout by Constantini in the final end sealed. She had been making those type of shots all tournament!
Out on the courses, the Men's biathlon saw an amazing performance in the 20km, as France's Quenten Fillon Maillet scorched the course (and targets) by almost 15 full seconds over Anton Smolski of Belarus, with Norway's defending champion J.T. Boe winning bronze, over 30 seconds behind.
In skiing without rifles, the men's sprint champion is Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who added to the three gold medals he won in Pyeongchang. While on the women's side, American Jessie Diggins hung with the heavy favorites and finished in bronze medal position, behind two Swedes, Jonna Sundling (gold) and Maja Dahlqvist (Silver). Diggins' finish is the best American Olympic individual finish ever.
Staying on traditional skis, the women's slalom started with, and finished without Mikaela Shiffrin. It is too bad as this is her best event, and she was the gold medal favorite. Shiffrin, who also skied out of the giant slalom, has three more events, with the combined her best chance at a medal. Now, Shiffrin's issues are not without controversy, however, as she stayed on the snow just off the course for about 20 minutes. Since there are no reports that she is injured, this is highly improper and not sports(wo)manlike, as the entire race was held up for her. Nothing like a little controversy to spice up the Olympics.
And speaking of controversy, the actual medals for the team figure skating HAVE NOT BEEN AWARDED YET. So apparently the results are still unofficial while a blood test for a skater representing the Russian Olympic Committee is being re-tested. The skater's name has not been revealed, but a ROC skater did fail the initial drug test. The United States finished second, Japan third and Canada 4th. Those three countries, and the ROC, are all awaiting the official results, as the US, Japan and Canada could move up.
The "X-Games" style sports continued with some heavy hitters hitting the venues for the first time. We had Chloe Kim and Shaun White both performing in the snowboard half-pipe. Whereas Kim easily outdistanced the competition in qualifying first, White was in danger of missing the finals after falling on his first run. He nailed his second run to finish fourth and advanced to the finals!
Staying on the snowboard, Ester Ledecka from the Czech Republic won her second consecutive gold in the women's parallel giant slalom, and Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States won gold in the snowboard cross. Jacobellis, 36, became the oldest medal winner in snowboard Olympics history, and won the first of these games for the United States. Jacobellis is largely remembered for taking a HUGE lead in the Snowboard cross final in 2006 in Turin only to perform a trick on the penultimate jump. Jacobellis ended up falling and losing the gold to Tanja Friedman. Jacobellis, a 10x X-Games gold medalist and 5x World Champ, missed the final rounds in 2010 and 2014, only to finish fourth in Pyeongchang in 2018. And "Fourth", according to yesterday's fourth place finisher Belle Brockhoff of Australia, "is shithouse. It's so shit. You are the loser of the big final." Of note, the year that I themed out my Olympic blog to write about the biggest disappointment of every day during the Olympics, Jacobellis appeared. Not today. Congratulations Lindsay!
The United States also won a medal in freestyle skiing - big air - as Colby Stevenson won the silver medal just behind the seemingly unbeatable Birk Ruud of Norway.
In the tenth pairing of the men's 1500m speed skating, Thomas Krol obliterates the previous 18 skaters to move into first place, setting an Olympic record in the process. That lasted all of one pairing, as his teammate Kjeld Nuis breaks Krol's Olympic record, and holds on to win gold, with Krol winning silver. Speed skating is truly the Dutch national sport, and perhaps one day I will tell the story of being surrounded by Dutch fans in Salt Lake City watching this exact event, the men's 1500 meters!
Athlete of the Day - Lindsay Jacobellis, United States, Snowboard
She shrugged off her faux pas from 2006, one of sports' all-time boneheaded plays, as if it is just something that happens in snowboarding, making it seem as if the sport - or at least the athletes - are not as competitive as "real" sports. This gold medal completes her redemption arc, and the best snowboard cross athlete in history final gets the Olympic medal she has seemingly missed from her collection - and it is GOLD!
Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Petra Vlhova, Slovakia, Skiing
Not exactly teamwork or Sportsmanship, but more like perseverance. Vlhova, in her third Olympic games, wins gold in the women's slalom (yes, the slalom - I know Shiffrin skiing out absorbed all the oxygen in the room), her first ever, and the first ever skiing medal for Slovakia. (A note, American Katharina Liensberger won silver, and Sweden's Wendy Holdener won bronze.)
Olympic Term of the Day: Goofy, or Goofy-footed - A snowboarder's stance with their right foot on the front of the board and left foot on the back. The reverse is called regular.
Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Freestyle Skiing, Snowboard, Speed Skating
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer: Nathan Chen, Hilary Knight, Lindsay Jacobellis
