This is actually the first year that I've been able to really watch the Olympics, so I truly enjoyed the experience. Whenever the Olympics roll around--every four years to be exact--I have only been able to watch events whenever I was near a television that was able to receive the airwaves. But this year, the Sochi Olympics could be viewed in our library. At any rate, I would like to share some of the highlights with you from the past two weeks. Of course, the USA team had many wonderful moments, and you can view them here at NBC Olympic Moments.
Jamie Anderson delivered a wonderful run on the slopes with her snowboard, as she took the gold for Team USA in the inaugural Women's Slopestyle Event in Sochi.
At thirty years of age, Kelly Clark is taking the bronze medal home after her final competition in the Snowboard Ladies Half-pipe of her career. USA team member, Kaitlyn Farrington, came away with the gold.
J.R. Celski and his team took the silver in the Men's 5000 relay. He had a tough time in the individual speedskating events though. He was doing so well in his first two times on the ice, but with a rookie mistake and a possible push from another competitor, it dropped him back to fourth in the final run. In the final run, Celski finished with a trailing fourth position after losing ground with a final time of 2:15:624. Celski almost made the podium with a bronze, but was too far back in the pack to gain speed before it was end of the final lap.
Twenty year old Sage Kotsenburg did a wonderful job of winning the gold in the freestyle snowboarding event, where he started with a score of 93.5 on his first run. In his second try, his time was slower than his first run, finishing with a 91.75. In his second run, he performed a "Back 16 Japanese" rotation, which he said he had never done before. He laughed when he said that he blacked out and was wondering what just happened when his board touched the ground again. In any event--excuse the pun--Sage did a great job for Team USA. To learn more about Sage's day, you can see the details here: Sage Kotsenburg.
The closing ceremonies, in my opinion, were much more interesting than the opening ceremonies; but both were equally well prepared for and performed well. The choreography was simply amazing! They even made it funny by making us all wait a few, interesting moments for the fifth ring to open. Nice to see that the creators had a sense of humor!
So to end the 2014 Sochi Olympics, our USA team can return home as champions with 9 gold, 7 silver, and 12 bronze medals. The USA holds the second highest number of medals (28) for a country competing at these events. But our focus should not be on whether they won or lost the chance to stand on the podium, such as Shaun White and Ashley Wagner; it's about the American spirit, good competition, and staying safe at these Olympic games.
But I would like to ask you a question that I've been playing over in my mind for the last two weeks. At the beginning of the games, the commentators on NBC claimed that the Olympic events bring countries closer. The focus for athletes, trainers, and their countries is to get to the top of the podium. Do you believe that the commentators were correct in saying that the Olympics really do bring countries closer? or just brings them together in one place?
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