These
Winter Games officially known as The XXIII Olympic Games ~ are more
commonly known as PyeongChang 2018 ~ is an ongoing international
multi-sport event ~ hosted by the 'county of PyeongChang, South
Korea.' Selected as the 'host city' in 2011, it marks the first time
that South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics ~ and the second
Olympics held in the country ~ the first being the 1988 Summer
Olympics in Seoul, the capital City of the Republic of South Korea.
These Games feature 102 events (the most ever) in 15 sports
disciplines including 'new this year' :
Big
Air Snowboarding...Mass
Start Speed Skating...Mixed
Doubles Curling...Mixed
Team Alpine Skiing
to the Winter Olympic program. A total of 2,952 athletes from 92
National Olympic Committees are slated to compete ~ including the
debut of Ecuador,
Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore.
In after 2 years of 'high-level-talks,' North Korea agreed to
participate in the Games.
The two countries marched together during the Opening Ceremony
and agreed to field a unified women's hockey team.
Mascots
for the Games: Soohorang
(a white tiger) and
Bandabi
(an Asiatic Black Bear)
were unveiled on 2 June, 2016.
Luge:
Sledding on Ice at 145 km/h
(Born and raised on a farm, my knowledge of sleds were for
tobogganing, which we had and used frequently; we also had sleighs
for child-play and for being horse-drawn by 1 or 2 horses.)
Luges? I'd not heard of them until tuned in to Olympic Games a
few years ago!
A black and white photo by The Canadian Press published today, shows
an action-drama photo:
Sam Edney of Canada competes in Run 3 of the men's singles luge event
on Sunday.
This overhead 'shot' shows Sam, wearing a #25 bib and laying flat on
his back while speeding his luge;
fans
in the foreground cheer him on with flags and upraised arms!
Edney
finished 6th
in his Olympic farewell race.
Victor Mather, from The New York Times writes about this race:
One of the most appealing things about luge is its name. Luge.
It's like a sled whooshing down an icy track (it's actually a Swiss
term for a small sled.) Luge feels familiar ~ it's like when you
leapt onto your Flexible Flyer and steered down the hill with your
feet. Only, these sleds weigh 23 kilograms and can hit speeds of
145 km/h. And then, there's the doubles luge. Is that one person
just lying on top of the other person as they race down the icy
track? Yeah, pretty much.
They've
been lugeing in the Olympics since 1964. A lot of people remember
back in the 1970's when some lugers wore conehead-style-helmets to
gain an aerodynamic
advantage
(which are no longer allowed.) The start of the race is vital. The
lugers push off with their hands as they sit facing forward on the
sled and try to get going as speedily possible, aided by gloves that
have spikes to grip the ice and propel the sled forward. They steer
with their calves as they shoot around corners of the course.
(It causes me to wonder how when laying on their back(s) they see
where they are going???)
It can be a dangerous sport. In 2010 in Vancouver, the day before
the Olympian competition began, Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia flew
off the track in a training run
and crashed into a steel beam. Sadly, he was killed.
Luge added a new event in 2010: the team relay! Each country
sends one man, one woman and one men's double down the course, one
after another. As each reaches the finish , they reach up and slap a
board, which opens a gate to send the next racer down the icy track.
The total time of all 3 runs determines winners.
What
They Said...(Compiled by The Canadian Press)
“I'm
on the podium and I probably shouldn't even be here. So, I'm pretty
stoked!”
Regina
snowboarder Mark
McMorris,
on winning a bronze medal in 'slopestyle' less than a year after
suffering multiple injuries in a crash in British Columbia.
I
said to myself, “Listen, Max. You fell 2 straight times. You can't
fall on your 3rd
final run! I had a lot of pressure and my heart was beating really
fast before starting on the course. Talking to myself, “I've been
snowboarding since I was 9 years old; it was already a victory that
I was here at the Olympic Games.” Canadian snowboarder, Max
Parrot
on his silver-medal winning in 3rd
in slopestyle run.
(Best score of 3 runs determines the athelete's given score.)
“You
just don't get too many shots at an Olympic medal, let alone an
Olympic Gold Medal. I believe Canada has a great chance. We're a
'skating country...the choreographers...the coaches...the skaters
that have come from our country are second to none.” Canadian ice
dancer, Scott
Moir...with
chances for gold in the figure skating team event ~ which he and
Tessa Virtue won!
“I
crossed that finish line knowing that no matter what happened next,
this was it! This was the best run I could put down at the right
moment and now it's the judges' decision. If I could do something
that I could be proud of, and knowing that I did everything I could,
no matter what the medal is.” Canadian freestyle skier, Justine
Dufour-Lapointe
on winning silver in the women's moguls.
“That
perfect race where you get into a flow and just fly to the finish ~
it doesn't always happen, but I made the most out of it ~ and I gave
everything of myself. I'm really proud to be on the podium and it's a
really big reward for my whole team.” Canadian speed-skater,
Ted-Jan
Bloemen
finishing 2nd
in the men's 5,000 metres behind Dutch legend, Sven Kramer.
“Sixth
place at the Olympics is still something to be really proud of ~ it's
just not exactly what I was hoping for.” Luger Sam Edney, who
raced his last Olympic men's singles race. His 6th
place is Canada's best-ever result in the event.
Alex Gough of Calgary ~
leads Canada's 8 lugers into the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea
where the country seeks its first Olympic Medal in the sport ~
and Gough is Canada's most decorated luge athlete
with 25 World Cup medals and 2 World Championship Bronze in women's
singles.
Canada's team certainly has the depth of talent and experience
to 'battle for the top of the medal table'
and win more Winter Games medals than ever before.
We head into the Games, probably with our strongest team ever,”
said.
Own
the Platform chief
executive officer, Anne
Merklinger.
Written by Merle Baird-Kerr...February 12, 2018
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