Well, the medals have all been handed out and another Winter Olympics has come and gone. The closing ceremonies were held yesterday and USA finished with 23 overall medals, its lowest count since 1998.
Medal count aside for a moment, we had some interesting occurrences during these Olympics. Even after the recent scandal that took place, several athletes from Russia were caught doping.
USA curling won gold for the first time ever this year. I’m not really sure what to say about that, but it happened, so good for us.
Canada and Germany finished with a tie for gold in bobsledding––didn’t know that was possible.
Hungary’s freestyle skier ran the halfpipe without doing a single trick, but still qualified because nobody else from Hungary wanted to do it.
Another interesting thing––the Mexican alpine skiing team sported these electric outfits:
Of all the Olympic events, I was most excited about men’s halfpipe and was ecstatic to see Shaun White win his third Olympic gold. If you haven’t watched him win it yet, I’d strongly suggest doing so. I would go so far as to say that Shaun White is the best snowboarder that is, has been, or ever will be. He’s undoubtedly one of the most impressive Olympic athletes that the US has ever produced. He continues to do things in the air that seem impossible, and he’s certainly the best thing to ever happen to Olympic snowboarding. The future looks bright for US boarding––17-year-olds Red Gerard and Chloe Kim took home the gold in their respective events (men’s slopestyle and women’s halfpipe).
US women’s hockey won their first gold medal since 1998, beating Canada 3-2 in a thrilling victory. To me, it just feels good to beat Canada in sports like hockey and curling because you know it’s really all they have.
Back to the whole medal count issue… while many people like to look at overall medals as evidence of how each country performed, I would argue that the number of gold medals won is more indicative of a nation’s success. It just makes more sense; if you’re aiming to win gold in each event, why would you focus attention on second and third place finishes? This year, the USA won nine gold medals, a tally that ties its past three Winter Olympics results. And yet, people are still saying that US performance in the Winter Olympics is on the decline. I’m sure that’s what they were all saying in 1998, too.
We’ll be back, and roll USA.
(Images via Chris Wellhausen and @SrMedina_MVHS/Twitter)
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