Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

The Closing Ceremony

Athena

Recommended Posts

blackwing

blackwing

I know the cross country win was historic for the US, but it was a team event, why can't her partner share in the duties?

I was sure it was going to be the Lamoreux twins together.  One for sending the game to OT and the other for the winning shootout goal.

On the Canadian side, I was thinking Kim Boutin too, especially after the awful death threats she received.  But there are a lot of good stories. Maybe they haven't named one yet because they are waiting to see how Mark McMorris does in Big Air.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
blackwing

blackwing

19 minutes ago, kittykat said:

Any chances it would be Kaetlyn Osmond since she grabbed Canada's record breaking medal?

I think zero chance.  Virtue/Moir did opening, and if they were going to pick another figure skater I think it would be Eric Radford and Meghan Duhamel.

Link to comment
SeanC

SeanC

I will say, regarding Canada's flagbearer, purely by looking at the medal count my instinct would have been to say that Canada should reward somebody on the freestyle skiing team, which, pound for pound, delivered the most hardware.  Their seven medals were a bit less than a quarter of the total medal count, and they had four of the country's eleven gold medals, more than a third.  However, it doesn't seem like any of the four gold medalists (Kingsbury, Sharpe, Leman, Serwa) really became a story in their own right.  If Marielle Thompson had been able to defend her title like she initially looked like she might, that might have done it.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
greyhorse

greyhorse

(edited)

I'm happy to see Jessie Diggins get the honor.  Four top 6 finishes to go along with the historic gold in the team sprint.  Sure, Randall was obviously half of the gold, but I think it was her overall performance and getting into so many finals.

The US women have won gold in hockey before in Nagano, so not historic, although dethroning the four time gold medalists was still a great accomplishment.

The snowboarders probably did the best of any discipline, but a lot of their events are just one and done, so it's hard to make a case for them.

I'm just glad that Adam Rippon isn't being shoved down our throats yet again.

Edited by greyhorse
  • Love 9
Link to comment
blackwing

blackwing

17 minutes ago, SeanC said:

I will say, regarding Canada's flagbearer, purely by looking at the medal count my instinct would have been to say that Canada should reward somebody on the freestyle skiing team, which, pound for pound, delivered the most hardware.  Their seven medals were a bit less than a quarter of the total medal count, and they had four of the country's eleven gold medals, more than a third.  However, it doesn't seem like any of the four gold medalists (Kingsbury, Sharpe, Leman, Serwa) really became a story in their own right.  If Marielle Thompson had been able to defend her title like she initially looked like she might, that might have done it.

I have no issues with it being Boutin, she was a revelation these past two weeks.  Kingsbury and Serwa were past silver medalists who waited their turn and won gold. Brady Leman had a better story because he overcame a disappointing finish and a broken leg in his two previous outings.

But I do think there was a strong case to be made for Cassie Sharpe, as a way to honour Sarah Burke.  Every freestyle halfpiper owes a lot to Burke, who lobbied tirelessly to have the event included in the Olympics, and didn't make it to see its fruition.  Not only did Sharpe thoroughly dominate the competition, but she paid tribute to a late pioneer.  

  • Love 4
Link to comment
dankesean

dankesean

27 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I don't care who carries the flag, I just want to see my Tonga boyfriend one last time.  That's all.

Pita's the only one there from Tonga, so I assume he'll carry the flag as well. As far as seeing him... well, given the 'everyone enters in a giant mass of people' tradition of closing ceremonies, he won't be the easiest to spot, but if he goes for the grass skirt and coconut oil outfit for a fourth time, I find it very likely the cameras will linger on the glistening magnificence our favorite Tongan in the crowd for a shot or two.

  • Love 7
Link to comment
Ohwell

Ohwell

10 minutes ago, dankesean said:

Pita's the only one there from Tonga, so I assume he'll carry the flag as well.

Yeah I know.  What I meant and should have said was I don't care who carries the flags of other countries.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Irlandesa

Irlandesa

4 hours ago, kittykat said:

I'm not surprised at Diggins carrying for US.  Our first Cross country medal, and it's gold.  Thats flag bearing achievement right there.

Yes.  And while it's a team event,  it was the amazing uphill sprint which brought it home.

4 hours ago, blackwing said:

I'm actually slightly surprised that it wasn't Adam Rippon.  I half expected NBC to say "we paid a billion dollars for this, you WILL choose him". 

He was mainly the big week 1 story.  The second week brought more surprising gold medals in x-country and curling (Could have gone with the skipper).

  • Love 2
Link to comment
greyhorse

greyhorse

1 hour ago, PradaKitty said:

If it were up to me, I would choose Adam Rippon as the flag bearer for the US in the closing ceremony - he really embraced the entire Olympic experience and had a great time doing it. 

Not at all surprised it wasn't him.  There are plenty of athletes who embrace the Olympic experience AND actually perform well against competition and bring home the gold, i.e. Jessie Diggins.  Adam obviously enjoyed himself at the Games and took full advantage of the media frenzy that declared him America's gay sweetheart.  But in terms of actually performing when it counted?  He was third on the US team as expected he would be, although I'll admit I had no idea who Vincent Zhou was before the games and you would think NBC didn't know Zhou was even on the team as well.

  • Love 8
Link to comment
mtlchick

mtlchick

Rippon would have been considered if 1) he won an individual medal and 2) there wasn't a performance that wouldn't have outstaged him.  The fact that a non North American wins a medal in any cross country event is a big deal (and if God had worked his way and Alex Harvey did medal this morning for Canada, he would have been a legitimate flag bearer candidate.)  The fact that it was gold and almost out of nowhere? She was a lock.   If anything, the Shib Sibs would have made more sense if we were looking at figure skating. 

 

Happy for Boutin.  I had other picks before her, but she medaled in all of the individual events, proving the first bronze that caused people to hate on her wasn't a fluke. 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
legaleagle53

legaleagle53

31 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

If anything, the Shib Sibs would have made more sense if we were looking at figure skating. 

Or Nathan Chen.  To come back after a disastrous short program and do six quads in his Free Skate AND to actually win the Free Skate because of those six quads?  Sorry, Adam, I like you a lot, but you're not even close to touching that!

  • Love 2
Link to comment
  • Popular Post
voiceover

voiceover

  • Popular Post

I didn't know where else to put this, but I have to say: 

After watching the MiraCurlers, the women's hockey team, and Jesse, I was reminded that the best Olympic stories are the *unexpected* ones.  The athletes who come in & unexpectedly knock the world on its collective ass?  There's joy in those faces like no other.  And that's the reason that, after all my grumbling, I'll tune in for the next Olympics too.

  • Love 27
Link to comment
Dots And Stripes

Dots And Stripes

5 minutes ago, EllenB said:

No, Tara, an athlete getting a shout-out from Brittany Spears (or however it's spelled) only matters to a shallow twit like you.

The hockey player tweeted her back and seemed happy about it when asked. A lot of the athletes have had fun with the celeb shout outs.

  • Love 10
Link to comment
Jeddah

Jeddah

14 minutes ago, EllenB said:

No, Tara, an athlete getting a shout-out from Brittany Spears (or however it's spelled) only matters to a shallow twit like you.

I don’t even like Britney Spears, but I’d think a shout out like that was cool. It would just seem like a random, hilarious perk of winning a gold medal.

  • Love 9
Link to comment
KenyaJ

KenyaJ

(edited)
14 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

The hockey player tweeted her back and seemed happy about it when asked. A lot of the athletes have had fun with the celeb shout outs.

Yeah, Gus Kenworthy and Adam Rippon were really excited about getting shout outs from Britney too. I'm not a Britney fan at all, but I love that she was home watching the Olympics like the rest of us and sending shoutouts to athletes.

Edited by KenyaJ
  • Love 18
Link to comment
Dots And Stripes

Dots And Stripes

1 minute ago, KenyaJ said:

Yeah, Gus Kenworthy and Adam Rippon were really excited about getting shout outs from Britney too. 

If feels Britney and Reese Witherspoon tweeted everyone. The two of them and Leslie Jones would fit in very well around here with their level of Olympic fandom.

  • Love 9
Link to comment
Jeddah

Jeddah

4 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

If feels Britney and Reese Witherspoon tweeted everyone. The two of them and Leslie Jones would fit in very well around here with their level of Olympic fandom.

...maybe they are here. 

  • Love 4
Link to comment
legaleagle53

legaleagle53

10 minutes ago, KenyaJ said:

Yeah, Gus Kenworthy and Adam Rippon were really excited about getting shout outs from Britney too. I'm not a Britney fan at all, but I love that she was home watching the Olympics like the rest of us and sending shoutouts to athletes.

And the same thing with Adam Rippon and Reese Witherspoon's mutual fanboying/fangirling.  I thought it was adorably adorkable on both their parts!

  • Love 6
Link to comment
EllenB

EllenB

I'm sure it was fun for whatever athletes got a message or mention from a celebrity, it's just that I thought Tara made it sound like it was the high point of their Olympic experience.  But I can't think of any show-business celebrity who would make me giddy, so it could be just me.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...