As the 2018 Winter Olympic Games came to a close, we look back at some of the highlights from the games. Throughout the games, we witnessed the union of North and South Korea, marching together under the Korean unification flag. We also spotted various aspects of the Korean culture, such as K-Pop, being incorporated into the competition. Lastly, we saw the amazing talent held by each one of the Olympians participating in the games. Each participant brought home a lot of pride and joy in their countries, including several gold, silver, and bronze medals to celebrate their triumph in the competition. To start the competition off, the opening ceremony of February 9 introduced viewers worldwide to the Korean culture by incorporating K-Pop (songs such as “Gangnam Style”), patriotic uniforms, and the arts. Later, athletes from around the world participating in an innumerable amount of sports surprised with their talents and skills while competing. After a progressive two weeks, the competition ended with the closing ceremony, marked by exciting music and performances along with images resembling a peaceful future.
The opening ceremony was broadcasted in over 200 countries around the world. To begin the ceremony, the president of the Republic of Korea, Moon Jae-in, spoke. Later, Ha Hyun-woo of the band Guckkasten, ahn Ji-young, lee Eun-mi, and Jeon In-kwon performed. The Rainbow Children’s choir also performed, using Korean traditional musical instruments, and introduced an arrangement centering around the national anthem. Insooni sang the theme song of the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Torch Relay, titled “Let Everyone Shine.” Armenia was spotted having four competing athletes, and Olympic athletes from Russia competed as part of the neutral party. Overall, the ceremony centered around peace and passion. The Parade of Nations followed; South Korea and North Korea unified to walk together under the Korean unification flag. The ceremony also included the torch lighting.
Among the many events in which athletes participated, Alpine skiing is one of the most exciting. As defined by the Olympics, “Alpine Skiing is a discipline in which the skier slides down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed heel bindings.” The sport is divided into two categories: speed events and technical events. The Downhill and Super-G events are a part of the speed events while the technical events consist of the Giant Slalom and Slalom. Throughout the course of the event, snowboarder Ester Ledecka, from the Czech Republic, won a gold medal in the sport; she finished better than 19th in a World Cup Super-G event. Lindsey Vonn became the oldest female Alpine skiing medalist in the Olympics by bringing home a bronze medal. Also, Marcel Hirscher, one of the best Alpine ski racers to ever enter the 2018 Olympic Games who previously had no Olympic medals at all, won a gold medal!
Biathlon can be divided into the following categories: individual, sprint, relay, pursuit, and mass start. Overall, Germany won the highest number of medals in the sport, bringing home seven medals. A total of 219 athletes participated from 28 different nations. Throughout the course of biathlon, Belarus took home women’s biathlon 4x6 km relay gold. Germany took home gold in the Women’s 7.5km sprint and Norway’s Boe took home gold in the men’s biathlon 20km individual.
According to the Olympic Committee, “Bobsleigh is a winter sport invented by the Swiss in the late 1860s in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled”. In general, Germany’s Francesco Friedrich won gold in the two-man and four-man competition, sharing his victory in the former with Canada’s Justin Kripps; Olympic debutant Mariama Jamanka won the two-woman event. It was quite interesting to hear how Nigeria’s first ever participants in the Olympics went on to becoming the first ever African bobsled team to qualify their entry into the competition. Seun Adigun and Akuoma Omeoga did not receive medals, however, they did make a major breakthrough with their appearance in the competition.
The Curling team is composed of two to four athletes with each team having to take turns throwing the curling stone. When the stone is thrown, athletes follow the movement of the stone and begin “sweeping” the ice surface. They use “broom” to control the direction and speed of the stone. For the first time in Olympic history, men’s and women’s curling will be introduced as mixed doubles. Overall, the Republic of Korea secured a medal and Switzerland took a bronze. Sweden and Switzerland each took home 2 medals. The United States Curling Team finally brought home a gold medal since they had previously finished last and second-to-last in the last two Olympic games.
Figure skating began with the Dutch who were practically the earliest pioneers of the sport. In order to maintain communication from village to village they used to skate on canals during the 13th century. There are many categories in the figure skating category: Singles men and female and pairs. There are also two types of program: the short program and the free dance. There are many requirement routines that must be performed during the short program. There were many talented olympians. For the men’s single short program winners are Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) gold, Shoma Uno (Japan) Silver, and Javier Fernandez (Spain) bronze. Women’s singles short program winners are Alina Zagitova (Olympic Athletes from Russia) who took the gold with her beautiful performance. Evgenia Medvedeva (Olympic Athletes from Russia) who won silver. Medvedeva is actually half Armenian whose father is Arman Babasyan. She competes under her maternal grandmother’s last name. The Russians added a new element to the routines as Medvedeva introduces it to the audience. As she did her double or triple axels instead of keeping her arms in, instead she holds it above her head applying more a difficulty in the performance which both Russian figure skaters did flawlessly. Kaetlyn Osmond (Canada) won bronze. The pair program winners are Germany who won gold, China who won silver, and Canada who won bronze. The Ice dance which is the pairs ballroom ice dance winners are Canada gold, France silver, and USA bronze. Towards the end each skater participates in the freestyle portion of the figure skating competitions. They are not score but they are more towards entertainment as they show off their skills off of the standard routines. At the end everyone came together and performed under “This Is Me” which is from the soundtrack of the movie “The Greatest Showman,” which concludes the figure skating ceremony.
Ice hockey originated in Canada in the early 19th century, based on several similar sports played in Europe, although the word “hockey” comes from the old French word “hocquet,” meaning “stick.” Ice hockey spread to Europe around the turn of the century, and the first Olympic Games to include ice hockey for men were the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games. There is the Men’s hockey in which the winners are Olympic Athletes from Russia with gold, Germany with silver, and Canada with bronze. There is also Women’s Hockey in which USA won gold, Canada won silver, and Finland won bronze. Overall we are all extremely proud of the women’s USA hockey team who won gold!!
Snowboarding was developed in the United States in the 1960s as people across the country began to seek out new winter activities. Over the next decade, various pioneers boosted the production of boards and the sport began to gain crossover appeal. Surfers and skateboarders became involved, and by 1980, snowboarding was a nationwide activity. There are many categories under the snowboard umbrella: Men/Women’s parallel giant slalom, halfpipe, cross, slopestyle, and big jump. Overall it was exciting to see that U.S. olympian Shaun White returned to the halfpipe winning gold as well as U.S. olympian Chloe Kim winning gold and Arielle Gold winning bronze!! Very proud of our U.S. team!!
The closing ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic games took place on February 25th. In the opening, South Korean singers Jang Sa-ik, Yang Tae-hwan, and the rock band Jambinai performed. Jang Sa-ik performed Aegukga with children from the Gangwon Province, Yang Tae-Hwan performed “Winter” of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Jambinai performed “Time of Extinction.” The parade of nations begun with flag bearers of 92 National Olympic Committees. Dutch DJ Martin Garrix performed “Forever”, “Together”, “Animals”, “Like I Do”, and “Pizza.” The host city of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be Beijing; they presented a special performance See You in Beijing in 2022. The presentation included the national icons of China: pandas and dragons. Two pandas skated as people forming red lines eventually became a dragon. The 2018 Olympic Games hosted in South Korea emphasized peace and union for a better future. The opening and closing ceremonies focused on the themes of happiness and unity. The national anthems of South Korea, Greece, the Olympic hymn, and the People’s Republic of China were sung.
Written By: Veronica Mkhsi-Gevorkian & Aelita Arshakyan
Sources: The Olympics/2018 Pyeongchang Olympics
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