The Winter Olympics just concluded and the passion from each and every competitor showed during game. The U.S. was led by Erin Hamlin at the opening ceremony, a bronze medalist in luge.
The first day of competition was training for the women’s 7.5km biathlon, men’s luge, and men’s ski jumping. The first medal event was the women’s 7.5km biathlon sprint, and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier took the gold and Norway’s Marte Olsbu got silver. U.S. olympian snowboarder Shaun White attended his fourth olympics, looking for a gold medal in the halfpipe freestyle event. White qualified and got the best score of 93.25 and eased his way into the finals. Shaun White was passed by Japan’s Ayumu Hirano on his second run, but Shaun White got a 55.00 and took the lead once again. His final run of 97.75 was his best out of all of his competitors. Shaun White now holds the record for the highest score in the men’s halfpipe. He has his thirteenth gold medal. White is also the first olympian to win gold three times in one event.
Another elite winter olympian, Lindsey Vonn, a skier for the USA, she competed in the women’s downhill skiing and women’s alpine skiing. Her first event was in downhill skiing and she finished in the top five in all three training runs. On Vonn’s final run, she came in third and received a bronze medal, the gold medal winner was Italy’s Sofia Goggia. Lindsey also finished twentieth in the alpine combined, but finished first again in the downhill race and received another bronze medal. The Nigerian bobsled team had made history this winter olympics. They did not win a medal, but they did win the respect and love from others all over the world. Grace Herrick, sophomore said, “I was very surprised by how well Nigeria’s women’s bobsled team did this olympics. This was their first time and they did remarkably well. The Nigerian team is the first African team to ever compete in that sport, the team was comprised of Seun Adigun, Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere.
The Winter Olympics have many interesting sports like snowboard cross, alpine skiing, and bobsledding, but the dangerous luge and skeleton attract many viewers. Luge is when one rider lays down on his/her back on a small sled and go down a track at about eighty miles per hour. Skeleton is similar, but the rider is lying face down on their stomachs. In both sports them were very little padding or protection. The competitors wear a tight arrow dynamic suit and a helmet. Sometimes when they finish a race, you can see scrape marks on their helmet where they hit the helmet on the ice. USA’s Chris Mazdzer took silver in the men’s luge behind David Gleirscher from Austria. One sport that was very popular during this year’s olympics was curling. USA was very dominant in men’s curling and went all the way to the finals. They were in contention to get their first ever gold medal in curling. They went to the finals against Sweden. The men’s curling team had everyone in the country alongside for this game, and wanted them to bring home the gold. The Americans defeated the Sweden team 10-7 and won the gold for the first time in USA curling history. “My favorite part was watching Mirai Nagasu making history by being the first American to land the triple axel at the Olympics.” stated Hedrick.
The country with the most medals was Norway with fourteen gold medals, fourteen silver medals, and eleven bronze medals with a total of thirty nine medals. In second was Germany with forteen gold medals, ten silver medals, and seven bronze medals. In the last winter olympics in Sochi these countries finished very strong with Norway in second with twenty six total and Germany in fifth with nineteen. The U.S. came in fourth this year with twenty three total medals; nine of them were gold. “I’m not surprised because there’s other countries with better climates better for the winter events so they looked more prepared,” commented sophomore Amber Kressler. With the Olympics just finishing, some people are already looking forward to the next Winter Olympics in Beijing 2022.