There is a lot of exciting stuff going on tonight! I’m going to bounce around and fill in thoughts on the various events I’m trying to watch in a noncoherent mess of words. Get ready.
Women’s Halfpipe
- Chloe Kim’s first run….should everyone else just Rock, Paper, Scissors for the silver and bronze? We’re done here already right?
- Chloe is crying and talking about how happy she is to have nailed that first run. She is talking with her coach about how she can just do whatever she wants now, including tricks that we’ve never seen. Her family is freaking out in LA. Amazing all around.
- Chloe tried some new things in her second run and it didn’t work out but she still seems very energized and excited so I’m feeling good. And same with her third run but she tried.
- SHE HAS HER SECOND GOLD MEDAL. There is a lot out there on the web about everything that’s happened since her first gold and it’s worth reading. She took some time after winning her gold at a young age to step away from the spotlight and came back even stronger.
Men’s Free Figure Skate
- I switched here for a second and randomly saw Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland skating to Still Don’t Know My Name by Labrinth, recently made famous by the HBO show Euphoria. But it was the song played during an elaborate dance number during the season 1 finale after Rue relapsed so some mixed messages here. Have I become an old man by starting to think they shouldn’t use songs with words?
- I just switched back after almost an hour and it seems like we made minimal progress towards getting closer to Nathan Chen hopefully winning a gold medal. This next group seems to have a lot of guys with formal vests. I only approve if one of them pulls out a pocketwatch on a gold chain at least once during their performance.
- Switched back after Chloe solidified her gold to a guy wearing a black vest with a white shirt and a ponytail. Can’t stop thinking of him as a waiter trying to be too fancy. I’m going to go watch some skeleton until we get closer to Nathan Chen.
- And I fell asleep and now it’s Thursday morning and I’m watching a replay….but Congrats Nathan Chen on the gold medal!!!! One of my favorite facts is that both Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano got a disappointing fifth in their first Olympics and then came back the next games to win gold and now Nathan Chen has done the same thing. I’m not sure if it is a curse or a gift but eithe way, he’s now in great company.
Women’s Curling
- The USA women’s curling team are competing in their first Round-Robin match against Russia right now and currently 4-1 almost halfway through the match. The US men beat Russia this morning in their Round-Robin match. Let’s send a message to the athletes from a country who can’t compete under their own flag because of doping in previous games and are once again accused of doping….
- US Women win 9-3. Cheaters never win in the long run.
Men’s Skeleton
- We’ve got one American in men’s Skeleton. They do 2 runs tonight and 2 more tomorrow. His name is Andrew Blazer and if we didn’t have the same first name he would be my future boyfriend since he’s one of the only out male athletes in the games. He’s currently 20th after his first run, not the best but he can still improve his standing within the competition, and my heart.
- His second run was worse than his first…he king of just bounced around the track the whole time…but his sled has a lot of rainbows on it. So, there’s that!
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