For all of the controversies surrounding this year’s Olympics, I actually thought the sports were pretty good. It may be the most unusual version Winter Games we will ever see, but the athletic competitions gave it a “classic” feel I didn’t expect. If these same Olympics were to be theoretically held in a more-stable location in a more-stable (non-pandemic) world, all of us would have much more to talk about for a very long time.
There was a time in my life (mid 90’s-early 2000’s), when the Winter Olympics were more enjoyed than their Summer counterparts. Atlanta 1996 had it’s issues, and I didn’t really catch up with Sydney 2000 until many year later. As a 90’s kid, Lillehammer, Nagano and Salt Lake were even greater than the Super Bowl. As phenomenal as a Denver Broncos victory in Super Bowl XXXII was, the 1998 Winter Olympics were equally great!
In the most bizarre way, this year’s Games brought back many of those same memories as well. To keep up with tradition, here are 22 things I took away from Beijing.
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1. Lindsey Jacobellis
Her win in women’s snowboard cross will probably be No. 1 on 80 percent of the lists that are made. I was a senior at Texas Tech when her big slip-up happened in 2006. A premature celebration lead to an unnecessary silver. Keep in mind, snowboard cross is an untraditional sport, and snowboarders will do untraditional things.
Lindsey’s frustrations that followed in Vancouver, Sochi, and PyeongChang are what made her two golds in Beijing all the more gratifying. Her and fellow gold-medalist Nick Baumgartner were a combined 76 years of age, and still found a way to win the mixed team snowboard cross. Even if they’re getting older, their vast amounts of experienced prevailed in the end.
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2. Erin Jackson & Brittany Bowe
Even if the two had left Beijing empty-handed, it would’ve still been one of the best feel-good stories from this year. To those who don’t know: Erin slipped during the 500m at the Olympic Trials and didn’t make the team as a result. Since Brittany had qualified in the 500m and 1000m, she gave up her spot in the 500m– and it turned out to be the greatest gift!
With Erin becoming the first black female to win a speed skating gold (women’s 500m) , NBC should’ve done much more on that day- especially with a Super Bowl-sized audience. Her story didn’t have to overtake the commercials, game, or Pepsi Halftime show. I just think more shout-outs would’ve helped.
To be honest, NBC did cover her win quite a bit in its closing ceremony broadcast. All in all, speedskating was one of my favorite things to watch this last month!
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3. U.S. Men’s Hockey Team
I know I probably placed it way too high on this list. As I’ve been telling people nonstop, the U.S. men were about 45 seconds away from becoming one of the biggest stories of Beijing– if not the entire year in sports.
By having an odd mix of college athletes, and European professionals join together on short notice, the team chemistry was unprecedented. The 8-0 opening win against China was really no surprise, but what shocked me was the 4-2 win over Canada– which was followed with a 3-2 win over the reigning silver medalists from Germany.
While facing Slovakia in the quarterfinals, the U.S. was 45 seconds away from medal contention (and probably many inspirational screenplays for many unsuspecting film screenwriters), but it all evaporated in less than an hour. Their lack of team experience caught up with them in the end. Not only could they not put Slovakia away, but the guys missed four times in the shootout. To their credit, the eventual winners from Slovakia did go on to claim a bronze medal- with a resounding 4-0 win over Sweden.
This was surprisingly a great team from the U.S. I just hate how it’ll be quickly forgotten.
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4. Finland upsets Russia 2-1!
Maybe, this is Finland‘s very-own “Miracle On Ice“. I really didn’t expect ROC to lose on Olympic ice. Unlike the NHL, KHL players are allowed to go. After the world saw a drop off in quality in PyeongChang 2018, the return of NHL stars was pretty much a given. That was until Covid kicked in. Those in Russia’s professional league did not have similar restrictions.
With 19:31 left in the game, Finnish forward Hannes Björninen (who also plays in the KHL) likely had no idea his score would be the game-winner. With Russia being one of the world’s greatest superpowers in hockey, I really question their decision to not pull their goalkeeper until 17 seconds were left on the clock.
I genuinely felt like a kid when Finland held on for the win!
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5. The Monobobs– Kaillie & Elana
And, this one probably isn’t high enough. From the get-go, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Super Bowl LVI and the 2022 Winter Olympics happen at the same time. I applaud the network’s decision to go back to the Olympics, instead of airing an all new episode of “The Voice” or “America’s Got Talent“. Even if the organizers didn’t plan it this way, it looked real smooth going from the game- straight into Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers-Taylor 1-2 win in bobsleigh‘s inaugural monobob event.
Having won two golds for Canada in previous Olympics, Kaillie was probably one of the most-patriotic Americans I saw throughout the Beijing Games. Elana is probably one of the most-likeable people on Team USA, and I was glad she had a second chance to carry the United States flag, which came during the closing ceremony.
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6. Thursday Night Drama
I really don’t want to go into great detail about Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva‘s doping scandal. The girl is just a teenager, with regular teenage ambitions- both on and off the ice. With poor judgment from the adults surrounding her, she became the biggest story of this year’s Olympics- casting a shadow over a sports gathering that was already met with great scrutiny, and had been for several years.
What made the night even more insane was the silver-medal reaction from her teammate Alexandra Trusova. At first, I thought she was in tears because of the circumstances. No, it was a classic “Why me? I should’ve been first”. The other victim was gold-medalist Anna Shcherbakova, who stood masked with her teddy bear like her hand was caught in the cookie jar. The whole fallout was a stark contrast to the reactions we’ve seen from Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi, Sarah Hughes and Yuna Kim. The whole thing wasn’t even Anna‘s fault.
Finally, there were the tears of joy from Japanese bronze medalist Kaori Sakamoto. Thankfully, it was a happy cry. It just looked very unusual on TV, while all of us were dealing with the drama from the ROC.
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7. Farewell Shaun White!
I really haven’t provided that much Shaun White coverage on here over the years. I remember first hearing of him during the Torino Games in 2006. Before I knew what his name was, I just kept hearing “The Flying Tomato”.
If you’ve looked at how much the snowboard halfpipe has progressed from 2002 (last Olympics to not have him) to now, you can definitely see a difference- and it was mostly from his legacy. Shaun had one last moment of glory in the qualification run, which is when he scored an 86.25 under immense pressure- therefore extending his Olympic stay.
For some reason, his fourth-place finish in Beijing looks much more honorable than that same placing he had in Sochi eight years ago.
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8. Nathan Chen’s long-expected gold.
It goes without saying that Chen’s men’s figure skating gold was four years in the making. The fact that he’s already featured in the video signature for NBC Sports means his win was pretty much understood. All the network needed was three seconds of emotion, and that’s what they got- right as he was punching the air!
He’s probably an odds-on favorite to win in Milano-Cortina four years from now as well. After the individual event, Chen could’ve easily packed up and gone home. Instead, he stayed for the exhibition, where he performed a flip!
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9. More than just a medal.
The first Tuesday was a bit unusual. After I snuck off to watch all the sports, I texted Caitlin Nordgren to let her know that I just saw her on national TV with her newborn (as of one day) Astrid- giving a shoutout to the first-time father Leif Nordgren from 6,800 miles away!. Apparently, the two just got home from the hospital in time to watch him race.
On a side note, I worked with Caitlin when she was a reporter/weekend weathercaster here in Lubbock. Here in West Texas, she and I covered an unreal amount of city government stories, and horses. We got to meet Texas Tech’s mascot horse “Fearless Champion” in his first year, and worked late on a hot Friday in August 2013 to profile the horses in Lubbock’s legendary Depot District. So yes, seeing her family featured on NBC’s Prime Time show was a bit unreal. She also was covered by broadcast legends Lindsay Czarniak and Rebecca Lowe.
Leif’s best on-screen moment came in the men’s 4 x 7.5 relay when he anchored the United States to a 13th-place finish, which is commendable for Team USA in this particular sport. It was an Olympic Games desperately in need of a feel-good story, and they unintentionally provided one.
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10. Mikaela’s Woes
This could’ve been placed a little bit higher on the list, and is probably one of the biggest stories of this month. This is also a story that many Beijing critics will quickly turn to, along with the figure skating fiasco. It could’ve also been one of the saddest stories for all of us if alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin hadn’t handled herself so well throughout the last two weeks.
She is one of the best technical skiers in the world, and many were shocked to see her ski off the hill three different times- in the women’s slalom, giant slalom, and super combined, all events tailored for her. Shiffrin finished 9th in the Super-G, and 18th in the women’s downhill– which really isn’t her specialty. Finally, her team (with Tommy Ford, Paula Moltzan, and River Radamus) claimed fourth in the mixed team parallel– and missed the podium by .42. That team was easily one of the most likeable teams from this winter in Beijing.
Given how her last two years have been, especially with the loss of her father Jeff- getting there was a miracle in and of itself. As we learned with Simone Biles last summer, every two years- we expect the biggest names to earn medals- much like how we earn tokens Friday night at the arcade- but it doesn’t always work that way.
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11. River’s Close Finishes
I remember watching alpine skier River Radamus ski in the Youth Winter Olympics all the way back to Lillehammer 2016, where he won three golds! That YOG was also the first time Chloe Kim competed under the Olympic rings, and the U.S. Boys’ hockey team ran away with the gold.
His two-fourth place finishes (super combined and team slalom) came by a combined .68! If the wind had blown a certain way (not ‘winds of change,’ but the real, actual wind), he could’ve left China would two more souvenirs- aiding to the United States’ medal haul along the way.
In case you guys don’t know who he was, River was the one with striped-colored hair seen throughout Sunday’s closing ceremony.
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12. German Sliding Dynasty
Across the Atlantic- this story is being talked about much more. At this point, I’m thinking Team Germany generally expects to win when they suit up for these particular sports. At the Yanqing National Sliding Centre, the Germans earned four golds in luge, three in bobsled, and two more in skeleton. In total, the team left China with 16 more medals.
The only NOC that got in their way was the United States, especially Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers-Taylor, who are both mentioned above. By no means will I discredit the Americans’ performance (I’m a big fan!), but the Germans pretty much dominated in all the events that were already a part of the Olympic program.
Germany finished No. 2 on the overall medal count behind Norway. Without the sliders, they would’ve been 14th.
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13. What would an Oslo 2022 Games have been like?
And, speaking of Norway– If not for the controversies that surrounded the Sochi Games of 2014, we could’ve easily seen the Scandinavian country host the Winter Olympics for a third time! Instead, the IOC was left to choose between Beijing, China and Almaty, Kazakhstan. That itself was a close vote. Beijing won 44-40.
Lillehammer (third time I’ve mentioned it’s name, here on today’s post) stands as one of the most-successful Winter hosts of all time. I’m just curious to see another Winter Olympics in a country where it is greatly appreciated. Of course, the stands would’ve been unfairly empty because of the pandemic.
A better parallel comparison would be the way golf and baseball were displayed in Tokyo last summer. In a perfect non-Covid world, such events would’ve been standing room only by a large margin!
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14. Or Almaty?
Sure, we would’ve learned more about Kazakhstan‘s culture, all would’ve heard more Borat references. Given the world’s current situation, I really don’t know if Almaty would’ve been the best host– or, if their venues would’ve even been ready on time.
The team finished with zero medals, and their most-recent link to the Winter Games is the late figure skater Denis Ten– 2014 bronze medalist, who was unfairly murdered in 2018.
The nation’s push came after success hosting the Winter Asian Games in 2011.
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15. But, it WAS in Beijing!
It’s really not my place to address all the controversies away from the ice and snow. To catch those, all you have to do is turn on your TV- or unfurl your newspaper. If we seek out the positives from this February, we can say: they controlled Covid (albeit over aggressively- just ask Vincent Zhou), and gave us the world’s greatest light show (not once, but twice). The organizers also stood back and let the athletes give us one of the best on-ice/ on-snow performances in history. Even if this wasn’t the best Olympics we’ve seen, the organic storytelling was still on-point!
For the record: I’m well-aware of the other questions surrounding China, and its human rights record. I’ve asked many questions myself. However, I’m trying to keep this about the sports as much as I can- and the positive takeaways, since we all need some.
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16. Eileen Gu
Her whole backstory is interesting. If she had worn Red, White & Blue this year, people would be linking her to Shaun White and Chloe Kim. While she instead wore Red and Yellow, she took gold in big air and halfpipe, to go with a silver in slopestyle. Many believe those medals could’ve been earned for the United States. That would’ve bumped them up all the way to No. 2 on the overall medal count. I know she chose her mother’s country so she could be seen as a national hero, and as an actions sports pioneer.
Late last Saturday, Mike Tirico interviewed China expert and Yale professor Jing Tsu, who went into great detail about her. While the host residents applaud Eileen‘s performance and the well-deserved honors, many in China will never have access to the same amenities. It’s too soon to say whether the Chinese will construct a statue of her just yet, or name the nearest course “The Eileen Gu Slopes“.
I also wonder if Stanford will honor her at sporting events, much like how they have with swimmers Simone Manuel, Miya DiRado and Katie Ledecky.
Enough geopolitics for now.
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17. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue- Future Hall of Famers!
I know this phrase gets kicked around quite a bit in all of the sports, and figure skating is no exception. That said, look at the ice dancers’ impressive resume! Not only is this their second trip to the Winter Olympics- but, their career includes wins at the U.S. Classic, Skate America and silver medals at the world championships (2018, 2021).
Their ice dance bronze earned on Super Bowl Sunday was a culmination of 11 years of hard work and sacrifice. Hopefully, they won’t have to wait that long to receive their team silver. It could turn into gold?.
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18. Madison Chock and Evan Bates team skate- It was just that good!
Their short program was great too, but their free skate in the team competition should be remembered by many for a very long time. There was something visceral about watching them skate to Daft Punk’s medley of “Contact,” “Touch,” and “Within“. During the team event, I even forgot what I was doing for a few minutes. That’s the effect I want!
Shortly afterwards, I was screaming: “That’s just like Torville & Dean!… In 1984!“. It’s a phrase I don’t think I’ve ever kicked around before, and may not for a very long time. I know the judges agreed, since their 129.07 was almost a full point higher than their ROC counterparts- Victoria Sinitsina & Nikita Katsalaopov.
If their silver is upgraded to a different color (in the courtroom instead of on the rink), Evan & Madison played a huge part in it!
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19. What about Oceania?
Even though I don’t think either Australia or New Zealand celebrates winter sports like they do with swimming, soccer or rugby, there is something interesting going on in both places- especially with the action sports.
While Australian moguls skiier Jakara Anthony opened Beijing ’22 with gold, Scotty James (snowboard halfpipe) took silver and Tess Coady (snowboard slopestyle) gave the Land Down Under a bronze.
On the ice, Jaclyn Narracott also added a silver in women’s skeleton.
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As for the Kiwis, they originally came to Beijing having won no winter medals at all. Fast-forward two weeks, and they now have two golds and one silver. While American Julia Marino gave the U.S. it’s first medal of the year, a silver in women’s snowboard slopestyle, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott awarded New Zealand its first Winter medal in history, a gold, in that same event. Days later, Zoi took silver in women’s snowboard- big air.
Towards the end of the Games, Nico Porteous overcame the blistering wind and other competitors for gold in the men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe.
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20. David Wise vs. The Wind
Let’s stay on the men’s freeski halfpipe for a moment.
David Wise also has a highly-decorated halfpipe career, much like Shaun White and Lindsey Jacobellis. He won gold in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018, and if not for 40 mph wind gusts and a wind chill of -33, who knows what would’ve happened in Beijing 2022?
He did, however, leave China with a silver- and his life, as did the other competitors, thankfully.
If this is his final run, thanks for the great career! NBC showed a great vignette of him and his family. It’s great to see how much they openly share their faith!
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21. Hats off to U.S. Aerials!
I probably had them far too low on this list, but they were pretty high up in the air and high on the boards. I came home for my lunch break, and watched the team of Ashley Caldwell, Christopher Lillis and Justin Schoenfeld land gold for the United States! It was a narrow win over China and third-place Canada.
Even though the United States trailed the host nation by six points after the first run, a combined 338.34 on the second go-round gave the U.S. trio a well-deserved gold. It’s probably safe to say the Americans were more mentally-prepared. A miscue from the hosts put Team USA in gold-medal position.
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22. Jessie Diggins- Now has a medal of every color!
Last but not least, don’t forget Jessie Diggins– who now has a one medal of every color. The United States doesn’t exactly have an illustrious history in Nordic skiing, but during the last few years- one woman from St. Paul, Minnesota is doing her part to change that!
Four years after PyeongChang, where she and Kikkan Randall became the first Americans to win gold in cross country skiing (team sprint gold), she’s proven that she hasn’t missed a step. This year in China, she won bronze in the women’s sprint, to go with a silver in the women’s 30 km freestyle (that one came while she was fighting off food poisoning).
Fans all over the world got to see her infectious smile one last time as she accepted her silver medal during Sunday night’s closing ceremony (similar to what the Summer edition does for the marathon). At this point, they should start naming courses and trails after her. Thank you Jessie!
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As I mentioned above, I wasn’t too crazy of seeing the Super Bowl take place along with the Olympics. As much as I love Olympic sports, I love the NFL just as much. It just seems that I wasn’t fully invested in Super Bowl LVI, compared to so many other postseason games we had just witnessed.
However, it seemed to pay off, and we saw the Americans leave with a top two finish in a first-ever event.
I don’t know how advertisers could’ve managed a situation where the Rams-Bengals had played on CBS, with the Olympic happening on NBC at the same time. Seeing how they pull this off with Milan-Cortina in 2026 may be a different story!
Medal Zone 