2010 Winter Olympics: The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat

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March 1, 2010 • Caleigh Dillingham  
Filed under View from the Crew

       Two weeks ago the torch in Vancouver was lit and celebrations began. The world came together and athletes from all over of the globe have been experiencing heartbreak or have had their dreams come true. Team USA has had many disappointments and unexpected victories. Shaun White, Apolo Ohno, Lindsey Vonn and the USA hockey team are a few to name.

            While Team USA won the medal count with a total of 37 medals and set the record for the most medals ever received in a winter Olympics, Canada swept the gold medals with 14 compared to USA’s 9. The US had many disappointing loses to Canada in the fight for gold medals. The most renowned was the Men’s Hockey team losing to Canada in overtime. USA had momentum in the last 20 seconds of regulation time by scoring possibly one of the best goals in hockey history. The goal tied up the game and forced it to go into overtime where the USA lost in sudden death because of Sidney Crosby’s once-in-a-lifetime shot.  The USA Women’s Hockey team also lost to Canada and went home, like the men’s team, with the silver medal. Another disappointing event for Team USA was the Women’s Halfpipe. The Women’s Team was expected to place first, second and third with the phenomenal athletes of Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark, Elena Hight, and Gretchen Bleiler. But the only two to stick their landings in the competition were Hannah Teter, who took the silver, and Kelly Clark, who won the bronze.

            Team USA also had many triumphs in the past two weeks. Shaun “The Flying Tomato” White was definitely a memorable one. After his unforgettable first run in the Men’s Halfpipe he was already guaranteed the gold and in his second run he decided to break all the records and do a Double McTwist 12, which he just so happened to create. At the end of his second run he was almost granted a perfect score with 48.4 out of 50 which is the biggest run ever recorded since the games moved to a 50-point table.

Another athlete who had a lot of the spotlight on him was Apolo Ohno. In Vancouver he made his third Olympic appearance and raced in the Men’s Short Track 100m, 500m, 1500m and 5000m relay race. Throughout these races he received his 7^th medal in his career and set the record for the most medals ever won by any Winter Olympic athlete. He was said to be one of the best athletes to watch because he is aggressive, in control and can easily come back from behind.  Shani Davis had the right to a victory lap also for the USA team. He won the men’s 1000m speed skating race. Four years ago he was the first African American to win an individual gold in the Winter Olympics. He wanted to win this year so that he would be known for his skating, not just his skin color.

            Vancouver had some troubles hosting the Olympics this year with the lack of snow and opening ceremony mishaps such as the torch not lighting properly; however, the closing ceremony came through full circle. Vancouver managed to make a joke out their torch disaster by hiring a mime to pretend to pull the torch up and they gave Catriona LeMay Doan the chance to light her torch. The closing ceremony had performances by Michael Buble, William Shatner, Catherine O’Hara and Michael J. Fox, Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, and Nickelback. It had a striking performance by the Russian Ballet and the Russian opera singer Maria Guleghina because the next winter Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia.   No matter what anyone says about the 2010 Vancouver Olympics it is definitely one of the most memorable Olympics for Team USA whether they won or lost their event.