XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 (Done)

Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir weigh in on Kamila Valiyeva's short program. pic.twitter.com/LdjY4LQOvv

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 16, 2022

 

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924

-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928

-- VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960

-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976

-- XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer 1994 

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 

-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018

 -- XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 (Shustermania!) 

-- XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 (Paper Flags)

-- XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 (Halfway Done)

XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 (Paper Flags)

I am Nathan Chen.

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924
-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928
-- VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960
-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976 
-- XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer 1994 

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 

-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018

-- XXIV Olympic Winter Games, Beijing 2022 (Shustermania!)

XXXIII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2020 (Days 7-15)

Medal standings:

 

1. China 15 gold, 7 silver, 9 bronze
2. Japan 15, 4, 6
3. United States 14, 14, 10
4. Australia 8, 2, 10
5. Great Britain 5, 7, 6
6. South Korea 4, 3, 5
7. France 3, 5, 3
8. Germany 3, 3, 7
9. Italy 2, 7, 10
10. Netherlands 2, 7, 4
11. Canada 2, 3, 5
12. Hungary 2, 1, 2
13. Slovenia 2, 1, 1
14. Croatia 2, 0, 1
15. Kosovo 2, 0, 0
16. Brazil 1, 3, 3
17. Switzerland 1, 3, 2
18. Romania 1, 3, 0
19. Chinese Taipei 1, 2, 3
T20. Czech Republic 1, 2, 1
T20. New Zealand 1, 2, 1
22. Georgia 1, 2, 0
23. Serbia 1, 1, 2
24. Austria 1, 1, 1
T25. Hong Kong 1, 1, 0
T25. Tunisia 1, 1, 0
T27. Estonia 1, 0, 1
T27. Ireland 1, 0, 1
T27. Uzbekistan 1, 0, 1
T30. Bermuda 1, 0, 0
T30. Ecuador 1, 0, 0
T30. Fiji 1, 0, 0
T30. Iran 1, 0, 0
T30. Latvia 1, 0, 0
T30. Norway 1, 0, 0
T30. Philippines 1, 0, 0
T30. Slovakia 1, 0, 0
T30. Thailand 1, 0, 0
39. Spain 0, 2, 1
40. South Africa 0, 2, 0
T41. Indonesia 0, 1, 2
T41. Mongolia 0, 1, 2
T43. Belgium 0, 1, 1
T43. Denmark 0, 1, 1
T45. Bulgaria 0, 1, 0
T45. Colombia 0, 1, 0
T45. India 0, 1, 0
T45. Jordan 0, 1, 0
T45. North Macadonia 0, 1, 0
T45. Poland 0, 1, 0
T45. Turkmenistan 0, 1, 0
T45. Venezuela 0, 1, 0
53. Ukraine 0, 0, 4
54. Kazakhstan 0, 0, 3
T55. Egypt 0, 0, 2
T55. Mexico 0, 0, 2
T55. Turkey 0, 0, 2
T58. Argentina 0, 0, 1
T58. Cuba 0, 0, 1
T58. Finland 0, 0, 1
T58. Israel 0, 0, 1
T58. Ivory Coast 0, 0, 1
T58. Kuwait 0, 0, 1
T58. Portugal 0, 0, 1
T58. San Marino 0, 0, 1

Also, they’ve given 28 medals to competitors from Russia, which actually cheated in Olympics that it hosted.

Previous reports:

-- XXX Olympic Summer Games, London 2012 

-- XXXI Olympic Summer Games, Rio 2016 

-- XXXII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2020 (Programming Note) 

-- XXXIII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2020 (Day 0) 

-- XXXIII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2020 (Days 1 and 2)

-- XXXIII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2020 (Day 3)

-- XXXIII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2024 (Day 4)

-- XXXIII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2024 (Day 5)  

-- XXXIII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2024 (Day 6)

XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Good!)

Good! Not that it changes much at the HP. But, still, good!

Medals table:

1. Norway 12 gold, 6 silver, 12 bronze
2. Canada 11, 10, 7
3. United States 10, 11, 10
4. Germany 10, 5, 7
5. Netherlands 9, 8, 8
6. Switzerland 8, 1, 2
7. Belarus 5, 1, 1
8. Austria 4, 10, 5
9. China 4, 6, 4
10. France 4, 5, 9
11. Poland 4, 1, 1
12. South Korea 4, 2, 2
13. Slovenia 3, 2, 3
14. Sweden 2, 8, 5
15. Czech Republic 2, 4, 3
16. Latvia 2, 1, 3
17. Japan 1, 4, 4
18. Finland 1, 3, 1
19. Great Britain 1, 1, 3
20. Ukraine 1, 1, 0
21. Slovakia 1, 0, 0
22. Italy 0, 4, 7
23. Australia 0, 2, 1
24. Croatia 0, 1, 0
25. Kazakhstan 0, 0, 1
T26. Bulgaria and 62 others 0, 0, 0

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924
-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928
-- VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960
-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976 
-- XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer 1994

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day a)
-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 0)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 1)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 2)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 3)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 4)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 5)
-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 6)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 7)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 8)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 9)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 10)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 11)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 12)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 13)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 14)

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 15)

-- XXII Olympics Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Good!)

-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018

XI Olympic Winter Games, Sapporo 1972

The Internet Is Amazing™, really. I don't know how it took me this long, but I just came across Sports-Reference.com's Olympic Sports site. And I am disappointed to discover the following:

We are sorry to inform you that due to a change to our data licensing agreement we are shutting down our Olympic site sometime in the future..  

The providers of our dataset are working with another publisher to create an extensive site chronicling the history of the Olympic Movement. We will provide information here when that site is available. 

But I am heartened to read that was posted Dec. 16, 2016, so I'm hopeful plans changed or something.

In any event, for however long it is available, this site looks very good. I ran across it after being charmed by the floppy plastic "FINISH" sign and nearby traffic in the background of the following YouTube discovery:

Our new rings-head friends at Sports-Reference.com have an excellent and detailed report on this race, which begins thusly: "The cross-country relay was expected to be a close duel between defending Olympic Champion Norway and the reigning 1970 World Champion, the Soviet Union ..." Spoiler alert: Americans Tim Caldwell of Brattleboro, Vermont; Mike Gallagher of Yonkers, New York; Larry Martin of Glennallen, Alaska, and Mike Elliott of Durango, Colorado, finished 12th.

Here’s how the overall medal standings came out at Sapporo 1972:

1. Soviet Union 8 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze

2. East Germany 4, 3, 7

3. Switzerland 4, 3, 3

4. Netherlands 4, 3, 2

5. United States 3, 2, 3

6. West Germany 3, 1, 1

7. Norway 2, 5, 5
8. Italy 2, 2, 1

9. Austria 1, 2, 2

10. Sweden 1, 1, 2

11. Japan 1, 1, 1

12. Czechoslovakia 1, 0, 2

13. Poland 1, 0, 0

14. Spain 1, 0, 0

15. Finland 0, 4, 1

16. France 0, 1, 2

17. Canada 0, 1, 0

And by the same sorting (golds, then silvers, then bronzes), here were the winners by sport at these games: alpine skiing, Switzerland; biathlon, Norway and Soviet Union; bobsleigh, West Germany; cross-country skiing, Soviet Union; figure skating, Soviet Union; ice hockey, Soviet Union; luge, East Germany; Nordic combined, East Germany; ski jumping, Japan, and speed skating, Netherlands.

But, of course, our old friends at Wikipedia note:

The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.[24] Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism.

#SMH ... upon further review, congratulations, Switzerland.

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924
-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928
-- VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960
-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976 
-- XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer 1994
-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014
-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018

XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018 (Day 2)

So we've got a Team USA guy in contention in some live luging going on a little after 10 Sunday night in Pyeongchang County, but I've got to finish up getting ready for Sunday school here in a couple hours this morning in Madisonville. Hmmm ... challenging ...

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924
-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928
-- VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960
-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976 
-- XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer 1994
-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014
-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018 (Preface)
-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018 (Introduction/Day 0)
-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018 (Day 1)

What's Not On TV Tonight (1969)?

Hoptown's Ugliest Girl In Town fans were disappointed to see that their favorite show is not on tonight's ABC schedule. ABC axed the show after 17 episodes. Here was to be the 18th, which would've aired Feb. 6, 1969:

XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018 (Preface)

Fifteen "disciplines" across seven "sports," are scheduled to award medals across an still-to-be-determined number of "events" at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Feb. 9-25, 2018:

-- alpine skiing,
-- cross-country skiing,
-- ski jumping,
-- Nordic combined skiing,
-- freestyle skiing,
-- snowboard,
-- biathlon,
-- bobsleigh,
-- skeleton,
-- luge,
-- speed skating,
-- figure skating,
-- short-track skating,
-- ice hockey and
-- curling.

Comments flow!

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924
-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928
-- VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960
-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976
-- XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer 1994
-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014

HP Special Report: Congratulations, Oksana Masters! And Hooray for Sports!

This is an HP Special Report ... Sometimes, Earth is so bizarre. 

Oksana Masters, a 24-year-old Louisville Atherton High School grad who was adopted from a Ukrainian (!) orphanage when she was 7, has won a silver medal in 12-kilometer sitting cross-country skiing in the XI Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia (!). (This actually happened on Sunday, but I'm catching up only now, watching videotape of NBC Sports Network's wee-hours live coverage of events.) 

1 yr of skiing later @oksanamasters won #TeamUSA's 1st cross-country #Paralympic medal since '94 #MotivationMonday pic.twitter.com/cF0NF2O0CH
— US Olympic Team (@USOlympic) March 10, 2014

"Oksana skiied an amazing race, earning silver!" her mom reported from Sochi back to her colleagues at UofL Physicians. "She (earned) ... the first woman's cross-country medal in 20 years! The medal ceremony is tomorrow night, but the flower ceremony is today at the venue."

Dr. M. Gay Masters, a speech pathologist, adopted Oksana in 1997 from the orphanage. Per a release from UofL Physicians:

Oksana had been abandoned there by her parents after she was born with tibial hemimelia, which left her with different leg lengths; an absence of weight-bearing shinbones; five webbed fingers instead of four fingers and a thumb; six toes on each foot; and just one kidney. Both of her legs eventually had to be amputated above the knee. To compete in skiing, she has a special sled and her ski poles have to be taped to her hands. ... 

Oskana’s condition is believed to be a result of her birth mother’s exposure to radiation from a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Her birthplace of Khmelnitskyy is just a few hours from Chernobyl.

Yes, they said, Chernobyl (!).

Here's a picture of #oksanamasters and mom Dr. Gay Masters after the cross-country medal ceremony today in Sochi! pic.twitter.com/NDR9QWhzE4
— UofL Physicians (@UofLPhysicians) March 10, 2014

XI Paralympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014

Back to Sochi, baby!

VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960

The story of Squaw Valley's going after and getting the 1960 Winter Games--well, Alexander Cushing's going after and getting them, more precisely--is great.

From pages 582 and 583 of the 1961 Collier's Encyclopedia Yearbook:

Squaw Valley, a tiny California village in the High Sierras, was host to 850 athletes from 31 nations for the VIII Winter Games. Snow fell on the opening day, February 18, but thereafter the weather was excellent. The winter events began amid some grumbling about the site and the state of preparation, but the criticism turned to praise before the closing ceremonies on February 28.

The Russians, who competed in the Winter Olympics for the first time in 1956, greatly increased their supremacy, gaining seven gold medals and earning more than double the points of any other country in the unofficial scoring. The United States repeated its triumphs in both the men's and women's figure skating, and achieved a major upset by winning the hockey championship. In total points, the United States rose to third from sixth in 1956. …

The American hockey team was unbeaten with five victories, including a 2-to-1 triumph over Canada, the Canadians' only defeat. Backed by the excellent goal tending of Ted McCartan, the Americans defeated Russia by 3 to 2. The Soviet Union finished the tournament with two victories, two defeats and one tie.

In the finale of the round-robin play, the United States trailed Czechoslovakia, 4 to 3, after two periods. During the intermission, Soviet Captain Nikolai Sologubov visited the American dressing room and suggested that the disconsolate team try inhaling oxygen to offset the 6,200-ft. altitude. Taking this advice, the Americans went on to score six goals in the third period and defeat the Czechs, 9 to 4. Three of the last-period goals were scored by Roger Christian, who totaled four for the game.

The winter carnival attracted 240,900 spectators during the 11 days of competition, but did not prove a profitable venture for the promoting organization. However, the State of California provided financial backing and will develop the site further as a state park.

Bobsledding was omitted from the program because too few nations indicated an interest.

Medals table:

1. Soviet Union 7 gold, 5 silver, 9 bronze

2. Germany 4, 3, 1

3. United States 3, 4, 3

4. Norway 3, 3, 0

5. Sweden 3, 2, 2

6. Finland 2, 3, 3

7. Canada 2, 1, 1

8. Switzerland 2, 0, 0

9. Austria 1, 2, 3

10. France 1, 0, 2

11. Netherlands 0, 1, 1

11. Poland 0, 1, 1

13. Czechoslovakia 0, 1, 0

14. Italy 0, 0, 1

15. Argentina 0, 0, 0

15. Australia 0, 0, 0

15. Bulgaria 0, 0, 0

15. Chile 0, 0, 0

15. Denmark 0, 0, 0

15. Great Britain 0, 0, 0

15. Hungary 0, 0, 0

15. Iceland 0, 0, 0

15. Japan 0, 0, 0

15. South Korea 0, 0, 0

15. Lebanon 0, 0, 0

15. Liechtenstein 0, 0, 0

15. New Zealand 0, 0, 0

15. South Africa 0, 0, 0

15. Spain 0, 0, 0

15. Turkey 0, 0, 0

("Winter Olympics." Collier's Encyclopedia Yearbook (New York: Crowell-Collier Publishing Corporation, 1961) 582-583.)