2018 Winter Olympics: Women’s Wrap-Up

Team U.S.A. came home from the Winter Olympics with many stories to tell. The most profound of these stories could be the Women’s Ice Hockey Team.

Team U.S.A. has been beaten by their rival, Canada, in the past two Olympic finals. The championship rematch was nerve wracking. The U.S. had the first score of the game, followed by two consecutive scores by Canada. As the game was coming to a close, U.S. player Monique Lamoureux-Morando scored to tie the game 2-2. The game went into overtime, and no one scored so a shoot out ensued. Morando’s twin sister, Jocelyne, had the winning score over Canada. Winning gold against their long-time rival shone a proud spotlight on the team.

The next big story coming out of the Olympics is 17-year-old Chloe Kim. She dominated the Snowboarding Halfpipe and coasted to a gold medal finish. Kim scored 93.75 in her first run; a score that no one would beat. Another personal accomplishment comes with her being able to complete two 1080s in her final run. No other woman has landed back-to-back 1080s in competition before now. Continuing with the snowboard events, Jamie Anderson won gold in the Snowboard Slopestyle competition. All competitors in this event competed more against the weather than against each other. Anderson has now become a back-to-back gold medalist in this Olympic sport.

Mikaela Shiffrin brought home gold and silver medals for Team U.S.A. Shiffrin competed in the Slalom as well as the Giant Slalom race. At 18 in 2014, Shiffrin became the youngest athlete (male or female) in history to win a gold medal for Slalom.This year the medalist only won silver in Slalom, even though it is her best event. However, Shiffrin competed well and brought home gold in the Giant Slalom. After her first run in the Giant Slalom, Shiffrin landed in second place behind Italy. In Shiffrin’s second run, she was able to cut time and jump into first place, winning by 0.39 seconds. Overall, a very competitive performance by Shiffrin.

Although other U.S.A. athletes competed well, these are the most notable stories from the 2018 Winter Olympics. All of these players proved something to the world and to themselves.