Kimberlee K.

Today officially marks the end of the first week of the Olympics, meaning I’ve officially spent a week on the couch watching the Olympics. Aside from a few butt cramps, I’m not complaining. The Olympics are one of my favorite things in the whole world and when they are on, I never want to miss a minute!

That being said, I know there are a number of people out there who 1) don’t have time to watch them, 2) don’t have the means to watch them or 3) don’t really care all that much. While I can’t really help you #3’s out there, fear not, #1’s and #2’s, I’m here to break it down for you. The way I see it, this is a win win because you get the info you’re looking for and I just get to talk about the Olympics, which I never get tired of doing. So let’s dive on in. Here’s what’s happened so far:

The Highlights & the History Makers

To name a few:

• This is the first winter games for South Korea
• Six countries: Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Singapore, and Nigeria are making their winter Olympics debut
• Mirai Nagasu became the first US woman to land a triple axle at the Olympics
• Chloe Kim became the youngest female to ever win an Olympic snowboarding medal
• Adam Rippon & Gus Kenworthy are the first openly gay winter Olympians
• After crashing and breaking one of his poles at the start of the men’s 30km skiathlon, Norwegian cross-country skier Simen Hegstad Krueger came all the way back and won gold
• After failing to medal in Sochi and then facing a brutal injury at the end of last year, Shaun White won gold in the snowboarding halfpipe, making him the first snowboarder in history to win three gold medals.
• Chris Mazdzer became the first American to medal in luge since 1964
• Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won gold in the men’s 5000m, making him the first male to win 8 gold medals in speed skating
• Russian pairs skaters Aliona Savchenko (skating in her 5th Olympics!!) and Bruno Massot earned the highest score ever recorded in pairs free skate to win the gold medal

 The Events

(All images belong to https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/)

Alpine Skiing

Men’s Alpine Combined Slalom

• Gold: Marcel Hirscher – AUT 
• Silver: Alexis Pinturault – FRA 
• Bronze: Victor Muffat-Jeandet – FRA 

Men’s Downhill

• Gold: Askel Lund Svindal – NOR 
• Silver: Kjetil Jansrud – NOR 
• Bronze: Beat Feuz – SUI 

Women’s Giant Slalom

• Gold: Mikaela Shiffrin – USA 
• Silver: Ragnhild Mowinckel – NOR 
• Bronze: Federica Brignone – ITA 

Men’s Super G

• Gold: Matthias Mayer – AUT 
• Silver: Beat Feuz – SUI 
• Bronze: Kjetil Jansrud – NOR 

Women’s Slalom

• Gold: Frida Hansdotter – SWE 
• Silver: Wendy Holdener – SUI 
• Bronze: Katharina Gallhuber – AUT 

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Biathlon

Women’s 7.5km Sprint

• Gold: Laura Dahlmeier – GER 
• Silver: Marte Olsbu – NOR 
• Bronze: Veronika Vitkova – CZE 

Men’s 10km Sprint

• Gold: Arnd Peiffer – GER 
• Silver: Michal Krcmar – CZE 
• Bronze: Dominik Windisch – ITA 

Women’s 10km pursuit

• Gold: Laura Dahlmeier – GER 
• Silver: Anastasiya Kuzmina – SVK 
• Bronze: Anais Bescond – FRA 

Men’s 12.5km pursuit

• Gold: Martin Fourcade – FRA 
• Silver: Sebastian Samuelsson – SWE 
• Bronze: Benedikt Doll – GER 

Women’s 15km Individual

• Gold: Hanna Oeberg – SWE 
• Silver: Anastasiya Kuzmina – SVK 
• Bronze: Laura Dahlmeier – GER 

Men’s 20km Individual

• Gold: Johannes Thingnes Boe – NOR 
• Silver: Jakov Fak – SLO 
• Bronze: Dominik Landertinger – AUT 

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Cross Country Skiing

Women’s 15km Skiathlon

• Gold: Charlotte Kalla – SWE 
• Silver: Marit Bjoergen – NOR 
• Bronze: Kristia Parmakoski – FIN 

Men’s 30km Skiathlon

• Gold: Simen Hegstad Krueger – NOR 
• Silver: Martin Johnsrud Sundby – NOR 
• Bronze: Hans Christer Holund – NOR 

Men’s Individual Sprint

• Gold: Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo – NOR 
• Silver: Federico Pellegrino – ITA 
• Bronze: Alexander Bolshunov – OAR 

Women’s Individual Sprint

• Gold: Stina Nilsson – SWE 
• Silver: Maiken Caspersen Falla – NOR 
• Bronze: Yulia Belorukova – OAR

Women’s 10km Free

• Gold: Ragnhild Haga – NOR 
• Silver: Charlotte Kalla – SWE 
• Bronze: Krista Parmakoski – FIN   & Marit Bjoergen – NOR 

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Curling

Mixed Doubles

• Gold: Canada 
• Silver: Switzerland 
• Bronze: Olympic Athletes of Russia

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Figure Skating

Team Event

• Gold: Canada 
• Silver: Olympic Athletes of Russia 
• Bronze: United States of America 

Pairs

• Gold: Aljiona Savchenko & Bruno Massot – GER 
• Silver: Wenjing Sui & Cong Han – CHN 
• Bronze: Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford – CAN 

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Freestyle Skiing

Women’s Moguls

• Gold: Perrine Laffont – FRA 
• Silver: Justine Dufour-Lapointe – CAN 
• Bronze: Yulia Galysheva – KAZ 

Men’s Moguls

• Gold: Mikael Kingsbury – CAN 
• Silver: Matt Graham – AUS 
• Bronze: Daichi Hara – JPN 

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Luge

Men’s Singles

• Gold: David Gleirscher – AUT 
• Silver: Chris Mazdzer – USA 
• Bronze: Johannes Ludwig – GER 

Women’s Singles

• Gold: Natalie Geisenberger – GER 
• Silver: Dajana Eitberger – GER 
• Bronze: Alex Gough – CAN 

Doubles

• Gold: Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt – GER 
• Silver: Peter Penz & Georg Fischler – AUT 
• Bronze: Toni Eggert & Sasha Benecken – GER 

Team Relay

• Gold: Germany 
• Silver: Canada 
• Bronze: Austria 

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Nordic Combined

Normal Hill 10km

• Gold: Eric Frenzel – GER 
• Silver: Akito Watabe – JPN 
• Bronze: Lukas Klapfer – AUT 

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Short Track

Men’s 1500m

• Gold: Lim Hyojun – KOR 
• Silver: Sjinkie Knegt – NED 
• Bronze: Semen Elistratov – OAR 

Women’s 500m

• Gold: Arianna Fontana – ITA 
• Silver: Yara Van Kerkhof – NED 
• Bronze: Kim Boutin – CAN 

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Ski Jumping

Men’s Individual Normal Hill

• Gold: Andreas Wellinger – GER 
• Silver: Johann Andre Forfang – NOR 
• Bronze: Robert Johansson – NOR 

Women’s Normal Hill

• Gold: Maren Lundby – NOR 
• Silver: Katharina Althaus – GER 
• Bronze: Sara Takanashi – JPN 

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Snowboarding

Men’s Slopestyle

• Gold: Red Girard -USA 
• Silver: Max Parrot – CAN 
• Bronze: Mark McMorris – CAN 

Women’s Slopestyle

• Gold: Jamie Anderson -USA 
• Silver: Laurie Blouin – CAN 
• Bronze: Enni Rukajarvi – FIN 

Women’s Halfpipe

• Gold: Chloe Kim – USA 
• Silver: Liu Jiayu – CHN 
• Bronze: Arielle Gold – USA 

Men’s Halfpipe

• Gold: Shaun White – USA 
• Silver: Ayumu Hirano – JPN 
• Bronze: Scotty James – AUS 

Men’s Snowboard Cross

• Gold: Pierre Vaultier – FRA 
• Silver: Jarryd Hughes – AUS 
• Bronze: Regino Hernandez – ESP 

Women’s Snowboard Cross

• Gold: Michela Moioli – ITA 
• Silver: Julia Pereira Sousa Mabileau – FRA 
• Bronze: Eva Samkova – CZE 

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Speed Skating

Women’s 3000m

• Gold: Carlijn Achtereekte – NED 
• Silver: Ireen Wust – NED 
• Bronze: Antoinetter De Jong – NED 

Men’s 5000m

• Gold: Sven Kramer – NED 
• Silver: Ted-Jan Bloemen – CAN 
• Bronze: Sverre Lunde Pedersen – NOR 

Women’s 1500m

• Gold: Ireen Wust – NED 
• Silver: Miho Takagi – JPN 
• Bronze: Marrit Leenstra – NED 

Women’s 1000m

• Gold: Kjeld Nuis – NED 
• Silver: Patrick Roest – NED 
• Bronze: Kim Min Seok – KOR 

Men’s 1000m

• Gold: Ted-Jan Bloemen – CAN 
• Silver: Jorrit Bergsma – NED 
• Bronze: Nicola Tumolero – ITA 

The Medal Count

In all honesty, I’m really only scratching the surface here. The numbers and names do little to capture the stories behind them. Congratulations to everyone whose hard work earned them the opportunity to represent their country this year, and a special congratulations to those going home with a medal! There have already been so many great moments in the Olympics and I look forward to seeing many more over the next week and a half! If you need me I’ll be on the couch with a remote in my hand, cheering for Team USA!