My apologies for the long delay in blogging. The last few weeks have been rather intense. When you combine the holiday with the slowing down of Olympic sports, I really didn’t have that many opportunities to write. That said, I am glad to be back in the swing of blogging! Below are my ten favorite events I got to write about in 2018:
Note: MedalZone pertains to Olympic-related sports. Or else, Super Bowl LII would be near the top, along with the Los Angeles Rams 54-51 Monday Night win over the Kansas City Chiefs back in November.
Without further ado, here are my ten favorite events from the past year:
As I cover a wide variety of sports, I make sure to include military adaptive events, especially those that include the best servicemen and servicewomen across the globe.
I’ve always enjoyed watching international sporting events held in the Land Down Under. As always, Australia pulled it off with unbridled success. Spoiler: Sydney 2018 is not the only such event I have listed here. Medals and bragging rights were not all that was at stake. On opening day, Team France showed off the most skills in the Jaguar Land Rover Challenge.
Among the top-performing Americans were: Retired Sgt. Gabby Graves-Wake, U.S. Marine Corps, who earned nine medals in cycling and track (all but two were gold), Lance Cpl. Kira Lavine, U.S. Marine Corps, who became one of the year’s most-decorated swimmers, and Retired Airman Austin Chance Field, U.S. Navy, who helped the Stars & Stripes to wheelchair basketball gold, and joined Master Sgt. Brian Williams, U.S. Air Force for bronze in wheelchair tennis.
On the final day, the Duke and Dutchess of Sussex (better known as Harry & Meghan), passed the Invictus torch onto The Netherlands as The Hague will host in 2020.
9. 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships
With no surprise, Team USA owned the medal count, with 45 medals (20 golds) in the city that will be hosting the next Summer Olympics 18 months from now. Keep in mind the Pan-Pacs include nations not in Europe.
Future Hall-of-Famer Katie Ledecky owned the distance events as expected (golds in the women’s 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle), but not without facing a challenge from the upstart Australian Ariarne Titmus, who was only 1.16 away from taking gold in the 400m freestyle.
Ryan Murphy was the Samurai Shark as he left with three golds (100m and 200m backstroke, medley relay), and Chase Kalisz regained his claim as “the world’s most versatile swimmer,” with titles in the 200m and 400m individual medley.
The host-nation Japan appears to be closing the gap against the Americans and Australians. In home water, the Blue earned 23 medals, six of them gold, which is the nation‘s best-ever at Pan Pacs. Butterfly swimmer Rikako Ikee emerged with four medals, including a gold in the women’s 100m butterfly.
More on her performance below.
8. 2018 FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Even if Simone Biles wasn’t feeling her best in Doha, she still performed at her peak- as far as what the rest of the world has been able to see. While battling kidney stones, the Rio gold medalist added more jewelry to her collection with golds in the team and individual all-around, floor exercise and vault. One of Simone‘s biggest moments in Qatar came as she actually took silver in the uneven bars, which was the only individual event in 2016 where she didn’t medal.
Five-time United States champion Sam Mikulak was finally able to get the international monkey off his back as he earned bronze in the men’s horizontal bar– his first-ever honor at a major international competition. Perhaps, this will set the tone for a run at Tokyo 2020!
Once again, an Australian event makes my top ten list. As much as I like to keep up with Team USA, it’s fun to occasionally break away and cover other events in different parts of the world. It was especially-enjoyable following a beach-themed spring spectacular in Gold Coast.
Of course, my personal favorite moment was Skye Nicolson taking gold in the women’s 57kg boxing competition winning a 29-28 nail-biter over Northern Ireland’s Michaela Walsh.
England also turned in some strong performances as Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow took gold in the men’s 10m synchronized platform, highly-touted Katarina Johnson-Thompson earned a highly-anticipated gold in the women’s heptathlon, and who can forget the Roses‘ 52-51 last-second win in-front a partisan Aussie crowd for netball glory.
Finally, New Zealand’s men and women’s gold in rugby sevens set the tone for a historically-dominant 2018.
PyeongChang 2018 is actually the reason I kick-started MedalZone in the first place. It was suggested by my uncle I start a podcast or a blog, mainly because the Winter Games in South Korea was my one-and-only window at the time.
Early on in the competition, it appeared the United States was going to regain it’s place high-atop the Olympics medal count. While veteran snowboarders Jamie Anderson and Shaun White added to their already-impressive resume, up-and-comers Red Girard and Chloe Kim earned the first Olympic golds of their promising careers.
The Red, White and Blue actually went a full-week without any golds. That was until Minnesota cross-country skiier Jessie Diggins edged out Sweden’s favorite Stina Nilsson by .19 for gold in the women’s team sprint. Joining Diggins for gold was Kikkan Randall, who is currently halfway past her radiation treatments as she is currently battling breast cancer.
Hours later, the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team was finally able to shake off the four-time reigning Olympic championships from Canada for its first gold in two decades. In the shootout round, Jocelyne Nicole Lamoureux-Davidson‘s now-legendary “Oops I Did It Again” slapshot went past Shannon Szabados for the go-ahead score. Seconds later, Minnesota-Duluth’s Maddie Rooney aptly anticipated Meghan Agosta‘s shot, as she shut down the Canadian for the win.
Two days later, John Shuster, Matt Hamilton and the other northerners were able to cap-off a five-game winning streak for America‘s first-ever gold in men’s curling. Just eight days prior, Team Sweden manhandled the United States men 10-4. With two key wins over Canada, and another over Great Britain, the U.S. men found themselves in an unexpected spot, the gold medal final. There, they exacted revenge on the Swedes , who are actually all good friends off the ice, with a 10-7 win. The match actually wasn’t that close as the score would indicate. It was a victory very well-worth it for those of us here in the States who stayed up until 3 a.m. to watch it.
I’m curious to see how popular curling has become in America during the previous 11 months.
This was the one event that taught me quite a bit about adaptive sports with military veterans. I was also able to learn just how much sacrifice went into their battles, just so we can appreciate the freedoms we enjoy today.
A couple of the performances that stand out to me are: Lt. Anna Kerry, U.S. Navy, who opened Colorado Springs 2018 with five golds on the track. There was also U.S. Army Captain James Howard, who competed for the Special Operations Command unit. His swimming performance in the men’s 100m freestyle even made SportsCenter, as he was able to finish his round without any voluntary use of his hands.
The United States Marine Corps also proved to have some of the world’s best swimmers as the Hoorahs earned 38 medals, 24 of them the best color of all. Lance Cpl. Kira Lavine landed four golds, and set two records along the way. She also went on to win two more golds in October’s Invictus Games.
It’ll be interesting to see if Tampa ’19 can give us a better show than what we witnessed from the Air Force Academy last June. Team SOCOM will be hosting.
For one who cannot go four years without watching Olympic sports, Buenos Aires 2018 did not disappoint!
While the world was given a sneak peak of some sports that will make their Olympic debut in Tokyo, karate and sport climbing, fans across the globe also had the chance to watch competitive breakdancing.
While Team USA earned gold in women’s 3×3 basketball, gymnastics (Brandon Briones, Gilbert, AZ), track and field (Grace Stark, White Lake, MI), and wresting (Robert Howard, Oradell, NJ), many of my favorite stories came from the host nation Argentina.
Fan-favorite distance swimmer Delfina Pignatiello became one of my favorite to watch, as she earned silver in the girls 400m and 800m freestyle. Her medals also came days after losing her grandmother. During the podium segment following the 400m free, a tearful Delfina showed the world the “Abuela” phrase written on her hand. Note: I could also sympathize, as I had lost my grandmother a few weeks before.
During these Games, it was also fun keeping up with American gold medalists Trenton Cowles (archery), Jennie Gai (badminton), and Mattie Hatcher (equestrtian) on social media, which is a staple of any YOG-event.
One very-important thing to know if you follow international events as often as I do is: the Paralympics often upstage the Olympics. PyeongChang was no exception.
I can honestly go so-many different different ways with this, in terms of what my favorite story from March is.
- For many years, Louisville, KY’s cross-country skiier Oksana Masters had been trying to win Paralympic gold. As she crossed the finish line for her first-ever gold in the women’s 1.5 km sprint-sitting, her emotional journey was complete. Days later, she doubled her gold medal count with a win in the women’s 5km sitting.
- Joining Oksana for nordic gold was Navy SEAL commander Daniel Cnossen and Kendall Gretsch.
- Alaska-native Andrew Kurka earning gold in the men’s downhill-sitting, four years after suffering a serious crash shortly before Sochi 2014.
- There are also snowboarders Brenna Huckaby, who landed two golds, edging out American teammate Amy Purdy, whom you often see on TV commercials and ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars.” Purdy also took silver in women’s snowboard cross.
- One of my favorite stories is cancer survivor Bibian Mentel-Spee of The Netherlands who also earned two golds in a different snowboarding classification. Her wins also came two months after surgery!
- Finally, there was the United States Sled Hockey team‘s dramatic 2-1 win over Canada in the gold medal final. Late in the contest, it actually appeared the Maple Leafs would exact revenge on Team USA. That was until Declan Farmer equalized- with 38 seconds left to play. Three minutes in OT, the sled hockey veteran struck once again for the Americans‘ second-straight title.
Yes, the late was sensational. What stands out the most about this win is the fact it’s the team’s first since the loss of longtime coach Jeff Sauer, who lost his battle for cancer the year before.
Four years ago, there were doubts Jakarta could host the world’s (quantitatively speaking) biggest sporting event. As Palembang offered to help, the 2018 Asiad quickly became one of the most-memorable events of 2018. An opening ceremony that would make most Olympic hosts jealous set the tone for a successful two weeks.
The standout performer in Indonesia was Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee, who dominated the waters with eight medals, all but two gold. Ikee did not swim an individual event without earning gold (50m and 100m free, 50m and 100m butterfly).
There was also the triumphant stories of:
- India’s Tejinder Pal Singh Toor, who broke a shot put record for gold while his father was fighting cancer back in Punjab.
- Son Heung-min, who anchored South Korea for gold in men’s soccer with a 2-1 victory over Japan, earning a military exemption along the way- much to the delight of Tottenham Hotspur fans in London.
- Hong Kong’s fencing star Lam Hin-chung‘s bronze in team sabre, which was coupled with a successful marriage proposal moments later.
- Wushu queen Lindswell Kwok of Indonesia retiring with a gold medal win in Taijijian, in front of Indonesian president Joko Widodo.
- Chinese Diamond League sprinter Su Bingtian becoming the “Fastest Man in Asia,” setting an Asiad record of 9.92 in the men’s 100m sprint.
Covering the Asiad was a great deal of work. However, I don’t regret a second of it! It was also great seeing the host-nation do so well in badminton (eight medals, two golds), which is among its favorite sports.
Being an Olympic/World Cup historian, I’ve never been able to decide which World Cup is the greatest since I’ve been alive. I’ve often debated which is better between Mexico ’86 or France ’98. I had even thrown in USA ’94 and KoreaJapan ’02 into the mix.
That was all until this summer, when Russia 2018 happened.
Whenever the tournament seemed to go in a particular direction, it would often take a fair share of twists and turns. For instance, Germany entered the tournament as a heavy-favorite. In the opening bout versus Mexico, Hirving “Chucky” Lozano had other plans. His ‘35 strike would end up being the only score of the game. Up until that point, a win over Die Mannschaft appeared impossible. Days later, the defending world champions were sent home with a stunning 2-0 loss to the underdogs from South Korea.
The Three Lions of England teased its long-suffering fan base by making it all the way to the semifinals. That was until a Croatian squad, lead by 2018 Golden Ball (World Cup MVP) recipient Luka Modrić, earned its way to the planet’s biggest stage with a 2-1 extra time win in Moscow. Defender Mario Mandžukić scored the winning goal at 109′, and even knocked down photographer Yuri Cortez in the process. Just check out these photos!
In Russia, English striker Harry Kane netted eight goals to win the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the tournament’s highest scorer.
Switching gears, I honestly didn’t know how Belgium was going to lose. Even though the Red Nation opened with blowout wins against Panama (3-0) and Tunisia (5-2), the team appeared unstoppable.
in the other semifinals, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard were caught off-guard by a young French squad, who bested Belgium for a 1-0 win. Centre-back Samuel Umtiti landed the only score at 51′ for the win, punching France‘s ticket for the final.
While playing in front of Russian head-of-state Vladimir Putin, Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, and French president Emmanuel Macron, the World Cup final became a victory lap for Les Blues in the second half. With scores from veteran Paul Pogba and young prodigy Kylian Mbappé, the soccer-rich nation earned it’s first World Cup titlesince hosting in 1998, doing so with a 4-2 win over the upstart Croatians.
I ranked the overall tournament No. 1 on my list- mainly because it had something for everybody. Most definitely, an appearance by Team USA would’ve been great. I just wonder how Christian Pulisic and the Yankees would’ve done in Group G against Belgium and England, who ended up as the third- and fourth- best teams in the world.
In case you’ve made it this far, here are some things to look out for this year!:
- 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, France. June 7- July 7.
- 2019 Warrior Games, Tampa, FL. June 21-30.
- 2019 Angel City Games, UCLA campus, Los Angeles, CA. June 20-23.
*I didn’t really get to mention it much on this countdown list, but it is much like a junior Paralympics. Click this post to learn more.* - 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships, Gwangju, South Korea. July 12-28.
- 2019 Pan American Games, Lima, Peru. July 26- August 11.
- 2019 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Doha, Qatar. Sept. 27- Oct. 6.
- 2019 FIG World Gymnastics Championships, Stuttgart, Germany. October 4- 13.
Medal Zone 