The Winter Olympics
Every four years, the Winter Olympics are held in the month of February. Luckily, we are able to experience the Olympics this year live from Sochi thanks to NBC. In case you were unable to watch, here is a summary of the most notable moments from the XXII Olympic Winter Games.
1. The Opening Ceremony
Sochi’s Opening Ceremony was elegant and beautiful. Like all Opening Ceremonies, Sochi’s was a tale of Russian History. Viewers followed the dreams of a young girl as they saw Russia’s heritage unfold in the form of music, performances, animations, and particularly, ballet.
2. Snowboard: Men’s Halfpipe
The Flying Tomato is no more. Possibly one of the most shocking moments of the 2014 Olympics occurred when Shaun White did not medal in the men’s halfpipe. Instead, his long-time rival, Igor Podladtchikov, I-pod, won gold. After the event, Shaun White announced his retirement from competitive snowboarding.
3. Ice Hockey
In Women’s Ice Hockey, this Olympics’ gold medal game had the same result as that of the Vancouver Olympics. Team USA played team Canada. The American women were up by 2 goals until the final 3 minutes of regulation. Unfortunately, they lost during a power play for team Canada in overtime.
In my opinion, the American Men’s hockey team was more disappointing than Shaun White. In a repeat of “The Miracle on Ice”, the American men defeated team Russia going into multiple shoot out rounds with T.J. Oshie scoring multiple shoot out goals. Unfortunately, team USA fell to Canada in the semi-finals; the Olympic committee made a huge mistake by putting these teams in similar brackets, as this should have been the gold medal match up. Team USA was then defeated by Finland in the bronze medal game; just like Shaun White, the USA Men’s Hockey team placed forth.
4. Overall Medal Count
Russia, the host of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games finished strong with a total of 33 medals followed by Norway with 26 medals and Canada with 25 medals. The United States ranks forth in the medal count with a total of 28 medals, 9 gold, 7 silver, and 12 bronze.