Pyeonchang 2018: Recap

After two weeks and three weekends of competitions at the Winter Olympics; it is time to recap what we saw. I could summarize all the wins and losses, specifically by US athletes, but I want to look at the most memorable features of the competitions. If I just wanted to glorify the athletic feats I couldn't do a better job than NBC. I will instead focus on looking at what I will remember from these olympics.

The Good
The olympics witnessed champions winning to continue there illustrious careers. Among them are Marit Bjoergen of Norway who has now earned more medals than any winter olympian. The Dutch continued their dominance of long track speedskating. We also saw some of the greatest athletes in their sport put it all on the line and yet get beat. Lindsey Vonn is widely considered the best skier in the downhill event. She was presumed to be the top gold medal threat, but only managed to earn bronze. We should remember that this is sports and that the unexpected can happen on any day. In Pyeonchang we had Ester Ledecka and Yun Sung-bin who pulled off wins that were completely unexpected before competition began. It was also great to see sports like curling and cross country skiing get so much coverage which is normally non-existant.

The Bad
The coverage schedule was so hit or miss on NBC and its networks. I understand that the alpine skiing was delayed and rescheduled. This did throw a monkey wrench into the carefully choreographed prime time schedule. The problem was that it seemed to be that an event schedule for airing in the afternoon would suddenly not be broadcast when it had been scheduled. It would also be nice to see some events completely rather than getting this partial and reduced coverage which only shows the back half of an event and the podium spots.
The other bad news to come out of the olympics was doping. Specifically doping by Russian athletes. The Russian Olympic Committee had already been kicked out of the Pyeonchang games because of the systemic doping program they had run during the Sochi games. One would think that the Olympic Athletes from Russia would be conscientous to avoid the use of doping products. Unfortunately the mixed doubles curling team member tested positive. There were reports of a second doping positive from a Russian athlete. In my opinion no Russian athlete should have been competing in Pyeonchang due to the Sochi doping program. A tough line might have finally convinced the Russians that the doping programs they have a sad history of being associated with are not worth it. One can only hope that Russian athletes can compete clean in the next few olympiads.

The Best Tweets
People are able to be more creative and expressive with the use of twitter. They can run the gamut of serious, poignant, or funny. I will highlight some of the best tweets I saw related to the Olympics:

Travel advisory: Germans in Canada should exercise a high degree of empathy. Be nice, don’t gloat, give hugs, buy rounds of hot chocolate.

Just imagine how you would feel if Canada beat us in soccer 😱

🇩🇪 ❤️ 🇨🇦#CANGER @TeamD @CanadaFP @GermanyInCanada @KanadaBotschaft pic.twitter.com/0HlHoxMA7E

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) February 23, 2018

Listen, you're up watching the Opening Ceremony already.  Put on a pot o' coffee and stay to see if @jessdiggs @kikkanimal @rosiewbrennan and co. can bring home USA's first XC Olympic medal!?  Live: 2:15 ET/1:15 CT on @NBCSN @NBCOlympics. It's the #WinterOlympics

— Chad Salmela (@ChadSalmela) February 9, 2018

We should not forget that the Paralympics have begun. We should be watching these truly talented individuals compete.