The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang

The UK doesn't have a bobsleigh track. yet the last three Olympic champions for women's skeleton are British. It helps to be a wealthy country in the Winter Olympics.
 
Black Wizard said:
The UK doesn't have a bobsleigh track. yet the last three Olympic champions for women's skeleton are British. It helps to be a wealthy country in the Winter Olympics.
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I was thinking about skiing mostly. Not many people have access to a bobsleigh track anywhere. Skiing itself is definitely a preserve of the rich in some countries, but not so much of a niche activity in others.
 
What a thrilling gold medal game in women's hockey! USA beats Canada in a shootout. This ends Canada's streak of 4 straight gold medals in women's hockey.
 
Men's slalom saw the world's number 1 (Hirscher) and his biggest rival the last three seasons, Henrik Kristoffersen, both go out ... leaving the podium open for André Myhrer and Sweden's second gold in slalom (Frida Hansdotter won the women's slalom). Number 3 in this race was Michael Matt, younger brother of the great slalom skier Mario Matt - and he is the third in the family to win an Olympic medal. Not only did Mario win gold in Sochi, but their brother Andreas won silver in the ski cross race in Vancouver!

As this day advances, I expect Germany to take the lead in the gold rush. They are favourites to win both the Nordic Combined team event and the women's biathlon relay race.
 
GOLD for Suzanne Schulting on the 1000m short track! First Dutch golden Olympic short track medal in history. What a race (also the semi final was super!). :cheers::notworthy::clap::yey::okok:
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Congrats! Still skating though :p

Big surprise in the women's biathlon relay race. Belarus wins, Germany were out of it already from the first leg. Sweden 2nd and France 3rd. Norway 4th which is pretty much as I expected. Especially on the 2nd and 3rd stage, the shooting conditions were chaotic and I'm very impressed with those who managed 5/5 in that weather.

And I'll count Belarus' win as 1/8 Norwegian, since Darya Domracheva is married to Ole Einar Bjørndalen and they live in Norway :D
 
Crazy day. The biggest disappointment so far in the Olympics when Henrik Kristoffersen failed in his attempt to win gold. Congratulations to Sweden. The biathlon relay for women was madness, and a surprising win for Belarus. Loved seeing Ole Einar Bjørndalen running besides her on the final lap. And once again Norway is one penalty lap away from the gold. Hopefully the girls get a shooting trainer, I doubt they have one.
 
Forostar said:
GOLD for Suzanne Schulting on the 1000m short track! First Dutch golden Olympic short track medal in history. What a race (also the semi final was super!). :cheers::notworthy::clap::yey::okok:

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Her reaction when she crossed the line was fantastic. I did laugh very loud at work when the Koreans collided in that final - in their home Olympics! It seems like Elise Christie isn't needed to cause chaos! :lol:

And I just saw that the USA beat Canada in men's curling! More thoughts and prayers for @LooseCannon. What a terrible day for Canada!
 
Canada, the team that is second in the medal count?
Truly, a terrible two weeks for us.

We may have lost the women’s hockey streak (helluva game, despite the ending) but we’re building another one in women’s ski cross. Three Olympics for the sport, three golds for Canada, by three different women.
Also have silvers in backtoback games.
 
mckindog said:
Canada, the team that is second in the medal count?
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27 medals. The most medals in Canada's winter Olympic history.

I rather look at the amount of golden/silver/bronze medals, and via that (more common) ranking Canada is currently third at these games.
Also this would be Canada's third best result ever. That can be changed: One more golden medal or two more silver medals and it would be Canada's second best result ever, beating the Sochi results. Beating Vancouver would need 4 more golden medals.

14 events to go! Today I'm hoping for a good result on the 1000 meter speed skating. Also curious about Canada-Germany and biathlon.

@Dr. Eddies Wingman Klaebo didn't want to do his last langlauf event. He thought enough was enough. Isn't that odd, because he took away chances for Norway, more important: another Norwegian. Or do I see this wrong?
 
I'm not sure I understand the "Isn't that odd, because he took away chances for Norway, more important: another Norwegian." question, but I'll shed some light on the reasoning.

This is Klæbo's first Olympics and yet the expectations on him have been sky high because of his performance level in the World Cup races. Thus it has been both physically and mentally draining for him. In addition, the 50km was probably never his best chance for another gold medal in the first place. Also keep in mind that the competition for a place in the team is stiff, and if Klæbo thinks he doesn't have a medal fight in him for the final race, he makes the coach's job a bit easier. In practice, it means one more out of Didrik Tønseth, Emil Iversen and Niklas Dyrhaug gets a chance. (Sundby is a given and Holund very likely, due to his performance on the 30km).
 
I felt it's like this: Klaebo chose to qualify for these Games on this event. Then when the moment comes, he quits. If he did not choose to qualify, he did not qualify, thus someone else would have qualified. I thought there is no replacement now.
 
That doesn't sound right. I don't think the cross-country events have individual qualification criteria for each event (i.e. an athlete must qualify for the 30km separately, the sprint event separately, and so on). At least I understood it like this:

The cross-country squad was chosen as one squad for all events, and the head coach chooses who participates in each event based on what he thinks maximizes the chances of a good result. Any individual athlete may well be considered a first choice for, say, the sprint, but a reserve for the 4*10 km relay race or for the 50km. Thus, it is not decided before the games who will take part in each event.
 
The 50 km we were talking about, the one he decided to skip. Is that an individual or a team (country) event?
 
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