The Winter 2018 Olympics officially made its debut last Wednesday with the opening ceremony appearing on Friday, February 9. It was definitely one to remember with North and South Korean athletes walking together united in PyeongChang, South Korea. Ever since then the Olympics have been in full swing trying to pack 15 sports and 102 different events in by its official closing on February 25.
Personally, I have always been more of a fan of the Summer Olympics partially because there is no school but also because of the events. I love track and field, gymnastics and swimming and there are so many others to watch. However, probably my favorite Winter Olympic or even Olympic event in general is the snowboarding halfpipe. I am amazed by the crazy intense and dangerous runs these athletes are able to accomplish. My favorite and probably the most famous athlete in the event is Shaun White.
For those of you not familiar with White aka “The Flying Tomato” he made his Olympic debut in the 2006 Torino, U.S. games where he won gold at just 19 years old. He also won gold in the Vancouver 2010 games. However, the Sochi games proved to be a massive disappointment. White made it through the qualifying rounds and was in the finals with his final run being the decider on a podium position. White rarely cracks under pressure, but he is still human of course. He lost momentum in his final run and ended up getting 4th place losing any chance of a medal.
This year at age 31 many wondered whether White would return for another games, but sure enough he came back stronger than ever. White ran a perfect 100 in qualifying for the Olympics and was hungry for gold. I made sure to watch the halfpipe on Olympic Primetime Tuesday night and it was worth every minute of the two hours. In the final round of three runs, White was sitting at silver position. His two biggest competitors Ayumu Hirano of Japan and Scotty James of Australia sitting at 1st and 3rd respectively went before him. Maybe it was luck or fate but his competitors both fell during their run leaving the pressure on White. It was a beautiful thing seeing White nail the run with back to back 1440s (a feat he had never practiced) get a 97.75 and cry in his mother’s arms as he repped the American Flag! This was probably the only Olympic moment I needed to see after a historical win which also marked the 100th U.S. winter games medal won ever.
It has been a great year for U.S. snowboarding in general taking four of their five current golds. This includes Chloe Kim who was able to win gold in the halfpipe women’s event in her parent’s native country of Korea at just 17 years old. Also, youngster Red Gerard won gold in the men’s slopestyle event making him the youngest male Winter Olympic champion ever at just 17.
Congratulations Shaun! Four years of training and 62 stitches pay off.