The past two weeks have been jam-packed full of excitement ever since the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games were opened. From curling to the barriers being broken in bobsledding, the winter Olympics this time around is generating a lot of social media publicity. While it seems as if Norway is gonna walk away with the most gold medals of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Team U.S.A will walk away with some historic memories.
America saw its first PyeongChang Gold medal when 17-year old Ohio native, Red Gerard, put on a jaw-dropping 3rd run in the Men’s Slopestyle Snowboarding event. This victory took him and Team U.S.A by surprise in the fact the Red Gerard’s first two runs didn’t go as planned and initially put him in 11th place. After winning the event and getting Team U.S.A its first gold medal, Red Gerard was so overwhelmed that he let an F-bomb slip on live TV. While this isn’t a huge deal, it is something that Red will surely remember for years to come.
The next memorable gold medal Team U.S.A received was from Chloe Kim, a 17-year old California native. Chloe Kim became the youngest women to receive a snowboarding gold medal when she claimed a gold medal in the Woman’s snowboard halfpipe event. What made her idolized by the world were her tweets before her historic event where she expressed her disappointment in herself for not finishing her chicken sandwich prior to the halfpipe event. She described her mood as being “hangry”. Little did she know that her “hangry” run during the woman’s halfpipe event would make American and Olympic history. Her “hangry” Olympic gold medal even landed her on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Shaun White, the Olympian veteran from California, obtained Team U.S.A’s next historic gold medal. He did so during the men’s snowboard halfpipe event. Shaun White’s first two runs put him in the first place but were soon overcome by Ayumu Hircano. When it came down to Shaun White’s final run, he claimed the gold medal with a nearly flawless run. This was such an emotional moment for White, as he fell short of a medal at the last winter Olympics. Considering this and the fact that he suffered a terrible fall in a New Zeland event that left him hospitalized, there was a lot of psychological burden on him. As his score was posted, this psychological burden was lifted and he couldn’t help but let the emotions flow as he proved everyone wrong. What made Shaun White’s gold medal in the men’s snowboard halfpipe event even more historic was the fact that it was Team U.S.A’s 100th winter Olympic gold medal.
Possibly the most memorable and historic gold medal Team U.S.A received was the gold medal in the women’s team sprint freestyle cross-country skiing event. What made this event so historic is the fact that this the first time in Olympic history that Team U.S.A is walking away with a women’s team sprint freestyle cross-country skiing gold medal. The brutal race came down to the wire and Jessica Diggins of Team U.S.A gave it her all and won by a few feet.
The most anticipated gold medal that Team U.S.A obtained was from Team U.S.A's women's hockey team. What made this gold medal so memorable is that fact that Team U.S.A's women's hockey team had been struggling for the past 20 years to obtain another gold medal. What made it even better was the fact that they obtained the gold medal by defeating their Olympic rival, Team Canada. It was an exciting game that came down to a shootout where we saw Jocelyn Lamoureux deke her way to the game-winning goal that even fans who aren't fully aware of the backstory of the rivalry between Team U.S.A's and Team Canada's Women's hockey team, will remember
Even though the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games have reached its end, the events that took place will be remembered forever. It is exciting to see athletes that are only 17 claim gold as they are claiming gold medals at the very beginning of their career. It can easily be said that these young athletes will soon be world record holders. Something that these winter games have shown us, is that Olympians have seemed to reach an athletic peek. It will be interesting to see what lengths Olympic athletes push themselves to in future Olympic games.
