The 2018 Winter Olympics are nearly over and with it, the story of Jamaica and Nigeria having women's bobsled teams.
When's the movie coming out?
The qualifying of these teams reminds many of the inexperienced team with gigantic hearts from Jamaica immortalized in the Disney film Cool Runnings. They, too, came out of nowhere in the 1988 games to capture hearts.
Their story -- as we've learned over time -- isn't quite what we remember it to be from the film.
Interesting tidbits aside, it is still inspiring to see new teams from countries you'd think might not have a team.
The Nigerian team became the first bobsled team from an African nation to compete in the women's event. And though they finished in 20th-place, nearly four seconds behind 19th-place Jamaica, the smiles on their faces said it all.
This is what competing in the Olympics is all about.
Whether it's a bobsled team or Elizabeth Swaney competing for Hungary in the halfpipe, competing at the highest level of a person's respective sport is what it's all about. A desire to win gold, or to end up on the podium, might be the ultimate goal. But to participate in this world-wide event and give it your all has to be one of the biggest thrills of all.
Gold medal or last place, the Olympics might just be the one example of someone saying "I'm just glad to be here" and actually meaning it.
I, for one, believe them.
USA bouncing back
Speaking of the bobsled event, the USA team of Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs took home the silver medal, narrowly losing to a team from Germany led by Mariama Jamanka. The difference between the two teams: 0.07 seconds, the closest margin ever in the Olympics for women's bobsled.
Women continued to add to the Americans haul, with Jamie Anderson picking up silver in the big air snowboarding event. Anderson previously picked up a gold medal in these games.
Gold was attained for the first time in USA history in cross-country skiing, as Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins won the team sprint contest. Randall and Diggins edged Sweden by 0.19 seconds.
Lindsey Vonn also brought home a medal, earning bronze in the women's alpine downhill. The medal came eight years after Vonn won gold in the same event. Both Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin are currently competing in the Women's Super Combined (airing Wednesday night).
*Update: Vonn currently sits in 1st while Shiffrin just completed her run for 6th.
The men's USA hockey team -- for the hockey aficionados out there -- won their qualifying match against Slovakia two nights ago. Alas, they dropped their quarterfinal match after failing to score in an overtime shootout with the Czech Republic.
Medal tracker
Anderson's medal was number 16 for Team USA with at least one more guaranteed tonight in the women's hockey final.
Norway 33 (13G, 11S, 9B)
Germany 24 (12G, 7S, 5B)
Canada 21 (9G, 5S, 7B)
Netherlands 16 (6G, 6S, 4B)
USA 16 (6G, 4S, 6B)
What to watch
Wednesday night (2/21) is the gold medal match for the much anticipated women's hockey game between Team USA and Team Canada. The puck drops at 11:10 (EST) on NBC Sports Network.
The men's freeski halfpipe should produce a medal or two for the Americans, as four of the 12 finalists are from Team USA.
The slalom portion of the Super Combined will take place, completing the event.
The slalom portion of the Super Combined will take place, completing the event.
On 2/22, be sure to catch the finals of the women's figure skating with the long program (Currently the American women are on the outside the podium).
2/23 be on the lookout for the men's 1000 meters race.
And on 2/24, bobsled will give us the four man events' final runs, plus a men's gold medal hockey game, the women's gold medal match for curling.
Curling. Bringing us full circle and back to where we began. Sweeping the ice.
Thanks for joining me for the Winter Olympics. This will likely be my last post updating the events so be sure to follow on Twitter for Olympic updates, sports, pop culture and more: @jasonrh_78
Picture courtesy of pixabay.com
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