Similarly, I've always loved the Olympic spirit - this desire for unity among nations and character in competing. Since the Olympics just started, I have not yet found myself being pulled into the emotion of a moment, cheering for all the years of sacrifice and hard work of the athletes.
The debut of the Figure Skating Team competition did start already; although, we were not off to a very good start. Fortunately, those were our weakest disciplines; and after the short programs of all the disciplines were completed, we stand in third. Hopefully, we will be able to pull out a medal, even with the unfortunate start.
We'll see how the rest of the Olympics go. I'm tempted to "put my life on hold" for the eighteen days so that I could just watch it; but, that just wouldn't be very realistic. Life goes on; but, hopefully, I'll be able to still catch much of it, and especially the highlights.
9-Feb: So far, my favorite Olympian is Jason Brown. When he goes out onto the ice and skates, he really seems like he is enjoying it; rather then being overwhelmed by nerves or solely focused on goals. He doesn't even have a quadruple jump; but, he goes out there and does his best on what he is good at. His skate is so fun to watch and really artistic. On top of that, he seems to be a sincerely nice person, always with a smile.
11-Feb: The US was able to work up to a bronze medal in the Team competition. Davis and White are true champions. They were able to go out on the ice and skate their best, even under the pressures of the Olympics.
13-Feb: There have been some terrible heartbreak for some athletes after working so hard for so many years, coming to the Olympics with such great expectations, only to fall short: Shawn White, Shani Davis, J.R. Celski, etc. While Jeremy Abbott literally fell, yet because of the performance of the rest of the U.S. Team, he was able to claim Olympic bronze - so his "heartbreak" may be lessened. I can't imagine how these athletes feel, after all they have sacrificed, to miss their goal in a blink of an eye.
14-Feb: Noelle Pikus-Pace provided a special touching Olympic moment as soon as she finished her final run and she climbed the stands to reach her family to celebrate together. How special! After having missed the Torino Olympics because of a training accident, and missing a medal by placing fourth in Vancouver, it was neat to see her finally reach her goal after all these years of training and working for it.
17-Feb: Davis and White proved once again that they are real champions. They came, they saw, and they conquered. They lived up to their expectations and skated perfectly to win the gold medal in Ice Dance. Their career has built up to this point well, having been undefeated now for about 2 years, and now being capped off with the gold medal in the Olympics. They have medals in every color now.
21-Feb: The most poignant Olympic moment for me so far came from Mao Asada's long program. After the short, she was no longer even really in contention for a medal; but, she still skated her long program beautifully and with all her heart. Her footwork sequence was amazing! She landed her triple-axel, executed all her jumps and spins; and her choreography and costume were great. It was my favorite long program of the evening. And then to see her sob with tears afterwards, really demonstrated the immense pressure she was under, especially after being unsympathetically under fire from her country's own Olympic committee chairman. Mao Asada is an amazing skater, and she totally drew me into her emotional and beautiful Olympic skate. The US women did well; and I'm glad that Carolina Kostner finally has her Olympic medal after three Olympics and all these years. She skated elegantly, and it is interesting that the announcers said that her approach for this Olympics was to skate with Joy.
24-Feb: The Closing Ceremonies marking the end of the 2014 Winter Olympics are over. Looking back, there were some highs and quite a few lows. Not surprisingly, my favorite sport was Figure Skating. Now, it's time to get back to a "normal" schedule - no more late nights watching the Olympics.
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