Day 8
Didn't see a whole lot. They showed a cross country relay that was really long. I went and saw a movie, The Monuments Men, with my friend instead of watching primetime. (Excellent movie, btw). A USA guy, Matt Antonie, won bronze in skeleton.
Day 9
Men's 2 man bobsled. USA Steve Holcomb drove to 3rd place after 2 runs. 2 more to go.
Women's snowboarding cross. So exciting and so crazy. Lindsay Jacobellis was the favorite to win but didn't even make it to the finals. What a heartbreaking sport.
Bode wins a bronze with a tie with another guy. First medal for these olympics and becomes the most decorated alpine skier of USA ever.
First night of ice dancing. Meryl and Charlie got the highest score ever and beat their Canadian rivals for first place. They are just a cut above the rest. I hope they win.
Day 10
Bob is back!!!!!!!! His eyes look a little worse for the wear. Bob thanked everyone for their concern and he apologized for taking the attention away from the athletes all in normal Costas witty fashion. What a thing to have to go through in front of millions of people and become a trending topic on twitter. SO GOOD to have him back though. Just wasn't the same.
Mens' Arials-USA kid who originally wasn't going placed 5th. I think he was 18 and this was his first or one of the first international competitions of his career. What a debut! A Belarus guy won and made it so a Belarusian won in each event both men and women.
Steve Holcomb drove USA two men bobsled to a bronze medal finish. Those BMW sleds must have paid off. And apparently the Germans are mad that their government sponsored sleds are not doing the job in a sport they are known for. Having the German made sleds driven by the Americans are no doubt driving them crazy!
Finals for ice dancing. Russian pair did excellent playing to the home crowd picking Swan Lake as music. Dramatic music and moves, very balletic.
Canadian pair did well, nice job
Meryl and Charlie!! They actually dance on the ice. They are so good and help me actually like ice dancing. Their program was the story of Scheherazade and was also to Russian music. Smart. It was lovely, balletic, and interesting lifts and made it look effortless. They won the gold for USA and I was excited for them!
USA is tied with Russia for medals
Day 11
Women's bobsled-USA has two track stars who have come over from summer Olympics to push for USA. USA 1 is leading after two awesome runs. They are looking to head into tomorrow night, get two more and get the gold. The other USA sled was in third place and could be in contention for a medal as well.
Women's Super G-saw Michaela Shiffrin's Olympic debut-she did well, ended up in 5th, great job for the 18 year old. She is bound to be a phenomenon someday. Julia Mancuso did not win a medal. Tina Maze of Slovakia won another gold. The weather conditions were terrible, rainy and snowy.
Saw the debut of men's ski halfpipe. We had a ton of USA men in the competition. David Wise ended up getting gold in crazy conditions-he did a great job.
So far USA has won a medal every day of the Olympics, hope they keep the streak up.
Day 12
Men's ski cross-France takes gold, silver, and bronze.
First night of ladies figure skating. Yuna Kim does an amazing job but young Russians threaten to take the gold from her. The Americans do ok.
Ted Ligity finally gets his gold in Giant Slolom. He beats the field by more than a second going into the second run. He won and finally won his gold medal in the discipline that he feels is his best.
Day 13
Women's ski halfpipe-was an emotional competition due to the passing of Sarah Burke in an accident in 2012. She was integral to getting the sport included in the Olympics. There were four Americans in the competition and the girl Maddie Bowman, from Lake Tahoe won the gold and did a great job for team USA.
Second night of ladies free skate-just as emotional as the first night. Yuna ended up getting silver, she didn't have enough elements in her skate to beat the 17 year old Russian Adelina who packed the points on with all her jumps. Americans ended up in the top 10 but none were able to medal. Better luck next time. Yuna Kim will be missed in 2018 in her home nation of Korea though.
Day 14, 15, 16 (Closing Ceremonies)
I don't really remember much from these days. More Dutch dominance from the speedskating track. USA gets their one and only medal in short track speedskating in team relay. A silver, because two other teams in the final crash. USA four man bobsled get bronze and they are happy about it. Russian guy gets gold. I think we saw ski cross men's and women's. Just as crazy as snowboard. This sport is maybe just as much about luck as it is about skill. USA women lose to Canada in hockey for silver. They were leading until the very last minutes of the game. USA men lose to Canada in hockey, play for bronze and lose to Finland. Canada beats Sweden for their second straight gold in a row. They showed a 1.5 hour piece on Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan and the 1994 scandal. Holy crap. What a mess. I don't remember a thing about it even though I was alive. Oh yeah, Mikaela Shiffirin got gold in the slolom-she was excellent and led by almost a second after the first run. She bobbled coming down and was able to recover and still win the gold. She will totally be winning more medals in her career. I really enjoy her.
Closing Ceremonies-that projection screen again! What technology. Koreans give a presentation that makes me excited for 2018. More Russian Ballet!! Although I liked the stuff in the opening ceremonies better. Russians poke fun at themselves for the gaffe of the unopening olympic ring in the opening ceremony by re-enacting it. Tribute to Russian writers, and I'm pretty sure NBC edited out some grand piano playing of Russian composers. Tomas Bach, IOC President declared it the Athletes' Games. Misha the bear, as a blow up balloon and his friends, the hare and the leopard, blew out the olympic flame to end the games. The bear was a throw back to the 1980 Moscow games and they even used the same music. It was interesting to get a better feel for Russian culture, pride, and history and was pretty good for a closing ceremony.
Thoughts:
I wasn't as sad to finish the Olympics this time. I wonder why-the winter games don't get me as rilled up as the summer ones do. I also got to watch a lot more of these games because I was by a television.
There are and always will be the naysayers at the beginning of every games. Trying to make everyone freak out about security, unfinished infrastructure, political scandals, etc. Remember how London 2012 was making everyone afraid they hadn't hired enough security?...It's totally the media. They want the news and most likely blow it a little out of proportion. (It does make the country look good though when things go more smoothly than we expect). I don't think this will ever change. From all accounts the games went very well, security was good, the venues were nice, and the Russian people were very hospitable. Good for you, Sochi!
The Medals count-Some people whine that USA underperformed at these games. I have several thoughts on this: I do agree that there were a lot of returning medalists/athletes that we expected would medal but didn't. This just further shows how hard it is to medal, and the crucial fact that one needs to peak in their athletic performance at the exact place and time, which happens to be the olympics. Such a gamble and these people spend so much time working towards it. I also think we need to realize that the winter sports are very much more a country dominated sport. The Dutch and ice skating, Germans and sliding sports, Finland and ski jumping, USA and the extreme sports (halfpipe, etc), Norway and cross country skiing, Austria and the Swiss in Alpine skiiing. I think these Olympics in particular were very much won by the countries that are known for that specific sport. USA has to be grateful that we had so many new sports to compete in. Ha ha. Also, we don't have swimming to rack up our medal count in...It was disappointing though that speedskaing in particular did so poorly. I hope they get back on track. Something is wrong when NO ONE is medaling. Also, we finished second so cool your jets. And lastly, there is something to be said for being the host country. There is just something there that helps/makes it so that the host country is usually in the top three in medals. Team Great Britain did it in 2012, Russia was first in medals and they were predicted to be around 5th. It just happens that way. I think Team USA did a great job and had a lot of new faces as the winners. Yay! That just means they will all be back for more in 2018.
Yuna-Have you ever witnessed something so moving that it made you cry? Heard a song or saw a performance so beautiful that you just had to weep? This was Yuna's performance in her short program for me. She skated so beautifully and effortlessly. Her skating was quiet, delicate, ethereal. The jumps weren't huge explosions of energy but she still showed a controlled power and made it look like they were nothing at all. Ballerina arms and artistry as she moved over the ice. The music was soft but melancholy. Send In The Clowns. I was just taken in during the performance and forgot about everything else. It was so amazing that I was almost in tears at the end. I hardly noticed time passing and wished she could skate forever. It was so hard to explain to my dad who had missed the performance why everyone else was talking about her. She really does deserve the name The Queen.
PS. I also cried at the broadway version of Lion King at the Circle of Life number where all the animals come out. Go see the show. It's awesome.
If I couldn't have Bob's job I'd do Mary Carrillo's. She gets to tour the country making the special interest pieces. It would be so much fun. She got to go to the Russian Ballet and also see how they make the Russian nesting dolls.
I can't wait until Rio. The Olympics will only be 3 or 4 hours (actually it's 5) ahead instead of 12. Then maybe I can watch them live. I did do pretty well on my goal of no social media until after the broadcast. (I really don't want to know the results before I watch, otherwise, what's the point in watching?). I only knew a few of the people who won before I saw it. Although fitting in all of my interneting after 11:30 pm was very tiring.
Saddest USA story-Shaun White. I wanted him to win. I hope he's doing ok. Also the USA women's hockey team. What a bummer. Best USA story-Noelle Pikus Pace winning silver in skeleton. She seems like an awesome lady. Also loved Alex Bliodeadu and his brother. THAT is why I watch Olympics.
I Love Bob Costas.
The Finish.
