Day 12: Rings of Power

 This Czech Wolfhound was staying with his owners in a vacation rental while they went to some of the winter events.  They said he loves being around people, and every day when they left he was getting very sad to be left back.  Well, today he managed to find a way out, made his way to the cross-country skiing venue, and had the best time meeting all the people he could while the crowd roared approval.

It's a good thing he's friendly and had a collar, because if I were skiing and this was chasing me, I would have thought a dire wolf was on my tail.

As he crossed the finish line, the photo finish camera even picked up his stride across the finish line.

The dog is named Nazgul, named after the ring wraiths from Lord of the Rings.  How fitting that today he also felt compelled to pursue a different set of rings - five interlocking ones.

Olympic Champion

 Around the Games:

• Ice Hockey - No medals today, but I have to give a shout out to the incredible games that happened in the men's quarterfinals. They say that watching playoff hockey is as thrilling as driving a motorcycle off a plane with a parachute while wrestling a tiger and that felt pretty much like this day.  3 of 4 went to overtime, Canada scored late to force overtime and stay alive, and won against Czechia in OT. Finland was down 2-0 to Switzerland with 3 min left, tied the game, and won in OT. USA gave up the tying goal with 1.5 min left to Sweden, but ultimately won in OT on an electric goal.  Quinn Hughes waved off the line change and stayed in - then blasted it in.  
  
  
  Hughes is an American Hero.
  
  
• Cross-Country Skiing -
  Nazgul - GOLD
  Women's Team Sprint - Sweden GOLD for Blades of Glory-ish
  Men's Team Sprint - GOLD for Norway and of course Klaebo of Schrimscetti Skis and also Hedegart of Blades of Glory-ish; USA got an amazing, unexpected Silver, John the Baptist got a Bronze with Pellegrino of Italy
  
  
• Snowboarding - Two Slopestyle events, no medals for us
  
  
• Alpine Skiing - Mikaela Shiffrin finally shakes off the demons of the missed opportunities for the last 8 years, and secured GOLD in the Slalom.  She won by 1.5 seconds, which in these skiing sports is a massive margin.  For context - I read today that the combined margins of the winners of the last 7 Olympics (to 1998!) is 1.51 seconds. Shiffrin left no doubt. Blades of Glory-ish is ecstatic (and having an absolutely amazing day).
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Xu Mengtao wins GOLD in the Women's Aerials for My Verona
  
  
• Biathlon - Women's 4x6km relay - France won GOLD for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds and Schrimscetti Skis; SILVER to Sweden, also for Schrimscetti Skis who doubled-up on Biathlon with a wild card pick; BRONZE to Norway and It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!
  
  
• Short Track Speed Skating - 
  Women's 3000m relay - SILVER to Italy and John the Baptist, BRONZE to Canada and Blades of Glory-ish and My Verona. Netherlands was majorly upset in this one and ended 4th.
  Men's 500m - GOLD to Dubois of Canada and Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds, Bronze to Jens van 'T Wout of TASMWTAM.  van 'T Wout's brother took silver.

What an incredible day!  You may want to catch your breath before you look at the scoreboard update...

John the Baptist may have lost his head, Jamaican Bobsled Time has returned to island time, but Blades of Glory-ish is BLAZING up the charts and currently stands in Bronze position!

There's still big double point bonus coming in Bobsled, Curling, and Hockey - don't get comfortable!

Day 11: Flying to the Finish

 In Freestyle Skiing, one of the best events of the day was in the Big Air final, which saw a mega showdown among competitors throwing tricks that had never before been performed in competition. The final three competitiors set three straight olympic records to finish out the final round! In my opinion, Mac Forehand (what a name) was ROBBED, as Norway, and Tormod Frostad (another great name, especially for a Norwegian) threw some "butter" trick in there and grabbed the gold.  It was one of the most extreme events I have seen!

Falling, with style

Unfortunately, no one drafted these guys.

Around the Games:

• Nordic Combined - Monopolies reign, as Oftebro secures his second gold for Blades of Glory-ish, and Lamparter gets the silver again for Schrimscetti Skis. Herola gets the Bronze for Ice Ice Penne
  
  
• Biathlon - the men's relay finished with France getting the gold for Ice Ice Penne, and Silver to My Verona and Norway (which included bad boyfriend getting his 4th medal!)
  
  
• Long Track Speed Skating -
  Men's team pursuit - GOLD - Ghiotto, Italy, Blades of Glory-ish
  Women's team pursuit - GOLD - Blondin, Canada, TASMWTAM; Silver - Groenewoud and Rijpma-de Jong, Netherlands, Ice Ice Penne and John the Baptist; Bronze - Takagi, Japan, Schrimscetti Skis
  
  
• Bobsleigh - a German SWEEP in the 2-man - Lochner takes Gold for Blades of Glory-ish, and Friedrich takes Silver for My Verona

Some events were delayed today because of weather, so overall medals were a bit lower.  Here's the score update! Back to a tie for first! 
Blades of Glory-ish had a glorious day, skating into 4th place and in range of the podium! Lots of points out there, still, but looking like a 2 way race at the moment for the Gold.

As a reminder - total medal count will determine tiebreakers:

Italy is currently outperforming expectations as the home team - 24 total medals so far!  Germany did get a boost with Bobsleigh today, but trails with 20. We'll see where the standings finish!

Day 10: Gotta Get Away

 Atle Lie McGrath of Norway was leading the men's slalom race, and the last to go on the second run down the mountain. All he had to do was put in a solid run and his lead would have likely secured a medal, if not cruise in for Gold. 

But he missed a gate, Olympic Dream over. 

McGrath lost his grandfather during the opening ceremony. It's been a taxing week, and this was the last straw.

First, he javelined his poles away and took off his skis.

Then, he decided to retreat to the forest.

We've all been there, in one way or another.

52 out of 96 competitors did not finish the first run of the highly technical course. Only 39 finished the second run.  None of ours won any medal!

Around the Games:

• Short Track: Xandra Velzeboer claims her second GOLD of these games in the 1000m for Schrimscetti Skis. Courtney Sarault takes Silver for Blades of Glory-ish
  
  
• Ski Jumping - Due to weather, they CANCELLED the final round of the men's Super Team, so the results after the second round stood as the final podium.  Unfortunately for TASMWTAM and John the Baptist, Slovenia didn't get one more jump to try and get on the podium, and Domen Prevc finished 5th in his quest for his third gold. Jan Hoerl of My Verona did secure the GOLD for Austria.
  
  
• Figure Skating - the Pairs program concluded with the pair from Japan of Miura/Kihara taking the GOLD for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time! The US and Canadian pairs disappointed for My Verona and TASMWTAM.
  
  
• Bobsled - the first sleds down the track were the Women's monobob, which sounds like a hairdo. Elana Meyers Taylor of the US won the Gold, but no one drafted her! TASMWTAM drafted Kaillie Humphries of the US, who took the Bronze!
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Eileen Gu (still a sellout and traitor), ended up in silver position in the Big Air.  It's Jamaican Bobsled Time still accepts her, and the points.

Shorter day of medals, so here's the scoreboard update!

Schrimscetti Skis re-takes the top spot, Jamaican Bobsled time is now only 10 points, or one gold medal, away from getting on the podium!  Defying all the odds? We'll see what tomorrow holds!

Day 9: Halfway Home

 We're over halfway through the 2026 Winter Olympics! Team events are moving along and there's lots of earning potential if you invested in Team USA.  The men's and women's hockey teams are rolling along, and the men's and women's curling teams are defying expectations and look like strong contenders for a medal at this point.  With Canada mentally struggling among the stone touching scandal, Team USA is finding their groove, both winning in clutch final points today. Those 20 point medals could swing the standings!

Also, these uniforms are the absolute best - so clean.

Around the Games:

• Biathlon - no medals awarded for our teams in the men's event but sad girlfriend guy medaled AGAIN getting a silver. 
  Women's 10km pursuit saw THREE medals - Vittozzi gets GOLD for John the Baptist, Kirkeeide gets SILVER for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!, and Minkkinen gets BRONZE for TASMWTAM
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Mikael Kingsbury cruised to Gold in the Dual Moguls final and gets the points for Ice Ice Penne
  
  
• Cross-Country - Men's Team Sprint - GOLD to Klaebo, Hedegart, and Nyenget of Schrimscetti, Blades of Glory-ish, and TASMWTAM. Federico Pelligrino with a Bronze for John the Baptist.
  
  
• Alpine Skiing - Giant Slalom - Frederica Brignone comes out on top again with another GOLD for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time! Mikaela Shiffrin comes up short again at the Olympics, in an event she has dominated time after time.  Disappointment for Blades of Glory-ish.
  
  
• Snowboard - Snowboardcross had their team event, It's Jamaican Bobsled Time is dancing again with a Gold medal from Charlotte Banks of Great Britain! Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds and My Verona had the Australian teammates and favorites, but a crash wiped out their chance and they finished 4th off the podium
  
  
  That's not the right way.
  
  
  
• Long-Track Speed Skating - Double medals in the 500 for Netherlands again, but flipped this time from the 1000 - Femke Kok of Ice Ice Penne gets GOLD AND an Olympic Record, Jutta Leerdam of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds the Silver, and Miho Takagi of Schrimscetti Skis gets another Bronze.
  
  
• Skeleton Mixed Team Event - The GBR pair of Steocker and Weston scored a GOLD medal for Ice Ice Penne and Schrimscetti Skis - the rich get richer! Axel Jungk of My Verona gets silver, Pfeifer and Grotheer get Bronze for Blades of Glory-ish and Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.
  
  
• Ski Jumping - Nika Prevc from Slovenia completes the one of each medal challenge and gets a Bronze for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.

Here's the scoreboard after Sunday!  We have a TIE for first place! Also. after a strong day, It's Jamaican Bobsled Time is right on the edge of medal contention. 

One week to go - who will claim the podium?

Day 8: Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'

Curling only loosely has referees, they seem to be there, but not actually watch much. I think they do bring out a fancy measuring compass when it's too close to call. Mostly. it's a game self-refereed by the competitiors.  Essentially everyone is friends that hang out all the time, love each other, and drink lots of beer. That makes it even more controversial that the double-touches are happening, which is cheating, and that teams feel compelled to try and get referees involved, which never seems to happen.  Not much love on this Valentine's day. You might say they've lost that lovin' feelin'.

One day after the Canadian men's team poked the rock, a referee, now watching like a hawk, calls the women's team for a double touch, as Rachel Homan dragged her finger down the rock. She could NOT believe it when the call was made, with the whole team protesting that they would NEVER do that.

These Canucks just can't help themselves. Sometimes when we touch...the honesty's too much.

Around the Games:

• Freestyle Skiing - Women's Dual Moguls - this is called "Dual" but it's more like "Duel" where two skiiers blast off against each other in a bracket-style tournament. SILVER to Jaelin Kauf of USA and TASMWTAM. Jaelin Kauff survived in the semi finals after totally wiping out, only because her opponent inexplicably skiied out of bounds for a few gates.
  
  
• Cross-Country Skiing - Team Sweden was the heavy favorites to win the gold in the Women's 4 x 7.5km relay.  Then, this happened:

Crashing while skiiing in a straight line...on flat ground....BREAKING her right ski.


Carrying the broken ski

The coach, trying to run out a replacement ski to Ebba Andersson, also faceplanting.

Ice and snow are slippery, even for world class Olympians.

Despite the almost inexpicable crash, Sweden managed to rally through for the Silver, but knocking five points off for many of us: Ice Ice Penne, Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds, Blades of Glory-ish, and My Verona.

• Alpine Skiing - South America's first ever winter medal is a gold from Brazil - but this took it away from Marcus Odermatt of John the Baptist, who won his 3rd medal of the games, but not the color he wanted (1 silver, 2 bronze).
  
  
• Biathlon - Maren Kirkeeide took the GOLD for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time! and Lou Jeanmonnot of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds took the Bronze.
  
  
• Skeleton - Some mild upsets on the scoreboad, so only a Bronze grabbed by Jacqueline Pfeifer of Blades of Glory-ish.
  
  
• Long Track Speed Skating - Jordan Stolz threw down the gauntlet again, blasting to his second gold in the 500m race, along with another Olympic Record! Jenning de Boo plays bridesmaid again, getting the silver for TASMWTAM.
  
  
• Ski Jumping - The Slovenian Demon, Domen Prevc, lands his second GOLD for TASMWTAM in the Normal Hill.
  
  
• Short Track saw some controversy, as Jens van 'T Wout takes the GOLD for TASMWTAM, but the rest of the favorites to medal crashed or were bumped out by opponents. In particular, Dandjinou and Dubois of Canada were big disappointments for our teams.

Here's the scoreboard update! Twizzling and Salchowing her way up the standings after a strong day on the snow and ice, the top 4 teams are not separated by much!

Day 7: Everything is Practice...Until the Olympics

 Maxim Naumov of the US competed in Figure Skating and finished 20th, but he proudly honored his former Olympian parents, who tragically died in the Washington DC plane crash last year. A maxim that Maxim said his parents repeated to him was that "Everything is Practice, until the Olympics."  Those rings that weigh above the competition every four years bring out the best to compete, and the bring the pressure that goes with the moment.  

Ilia Malinin seemed to have unending confidence and bravado, embracing every interview and, until now, embracing every moment in his career - he's won basically everything for three years. But all of that was practice - this was the moment, the stage, the chance for coronation as Olympic Champion. It was hard to watch as he completely mentally lapsed on trick after trick - for someone who spins for a living it seemed like the room was spinning out of control for him.

  

It was also hard not to immediately think of Simone Biles, crowned "The GOAT," even wearing a necklace championing the moniker, much like Ilia embraced the "Quad god" title with shirts, etc. Both have now had moments under the brightest lights where the pressure of the moment was too much, those rings hanging overhead and on every wall tighten around them, humanity entered the picture.  Nothing is ever completely a "sure thing" in sports.

Condolences to Blades of Glory-ish. No medal for Malinin in this event. No medals for any of us from the men's final.

Speaking of tensions on the ice, we had juicy curling allegations flying, where the Canadian curling team came under fire for some illegal touching of the granite.

Tempers flared, Sweden asked the officials to watch closely. Kennedy exploded, flinging curses across the ice.  It will be interesting to see if they are able to adjust, or get swept away in the distractions.  

Around the Games:

• Cross-Country - KLAEBO GOLD again, 3rd of the games, now tying the all time winter mark with 8, Schrimscetti Skis is very pleased with this pick. Hedegart managed a Bronze for Blades of Glory-ish.
  
  
• Biathlon - the dude with the girlfriend story got another Bronze! Guess he's not too distracted. None of the favorites hit today though, no medals awarded to us.
  
  
• Snowboard - the men's halfpipe final is arguably the most entertaining event at the Winter Olympics. This was truly an epic battle, scores were so high that the competitors were forced into having to push tricks so late into the run that they had to land after the end of the halfpipe to try and get some extra points, but couldn't pull it off. None of us had the medal winners, but it's worth a watch! 
  
  In women's Snowboard cross, Josie Baff did take home the Gold for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.
  
  
• Skeleton - Matt Weston wins the GOLD for Schrimscetti Skis, Silver to Axel Jungk of My Verona, and Bronze to Christopher Grotheer of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.
  
  
• Speed Skating - Men's 10k, no winners from our teams.

Ice Ice Penne did NOT have their name called today, so that means, for now, there's a change at the top of the leaderboard! No wire-to-wire victory this year:

Congrats to the Schrimscetti Skis on taking over the top of the podium!  

Hope you all feel golden love tomorrow on Valentine's Day!

Day 6: Jezebel

Busy day for me today, so I'm low on narratives, but wanted to get the scoreboard updates out.

I do want to be sure to note...the Ice Dance controversy did make the news cycle today as expected.  The scores from each judge were reviewed and the FRENCH JUDGE once again center stage of scandal. Quite fittingly, her actual name is JEZEBEL. 5 of the 9 judges ranked the US higher than the French team, but Jezebel's scores for France were so much higher that it overcame the difference and secured the Gold for her home country.  This is why judging in sports is, as the McAllisters would say, "les incompétents."

Around the Games:

• Alpine Skiing - GOLD for Frederica Brignone of Jamaican Bobsled Time! in Super-G
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - SILVER for Mikael Kingsbury of Ice Ice Penne in Men's Moguls
  
  
• Cross-Country Skiing - Second GOLD for Frida Karlsson of Ice Ice Penne and Second SILVER for Ebba Andersson of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.  Jessie Diggins of Team USA and Jamaican Bobsled Time takes the Bronze!
  
  
• Snowboarding - SILVER for Eliot Grondin of Ice Ice Penne; SILVER for Chloe Kim of Team USA and Schrimscetti Skis
  
  
• Long-Track Speed Skating - BRONZE for Ragne Wiklund of It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!
  
  
• Short Track - Women - GOLD for Xandra Velzeboer of Schrimscetti Skis, and a WORLD RECORD bonus that she achieved in the semi-finals! SILVER for Ariana Fontana of John the Baptist, and BRONZE for Courtney Sarault of Blades of Glory-ish
  
  
• Short Track - Men - GOLD for Jens van 'T Wout of TASMWTAM, yes, that's how you spell his name.
  
  
• Luge - the team relay event had a single man, woman, and a double mens and womens teams combine to blast down the track one at a time. At the finish line they have to sit up in the sled and smack a level that releases the gate at the beginning for their next teammate.  It's a crazy event!  GOLD goes to Germany, making many of our teams happy - TASMWTAM, Jamaican Bobsled, and Schrimscetti Skis all get a gold. Austria got the Silver, and that gives points to Ice Ice Penne, Blades of Glory-ish, and My Verona.

Lot of points today (not for me!), here's the score update! Jamaican Bobsled Time felt the rhythm and rhyme today!