By Laurence Hilliard
It was an interesting and exciting Winter Olympics, most notable in the United States because of a U.S. sweep of hockey gold medals by the men and women for the first time, something Canada achieved in 2002, 2010 and 2014.
It wasn’t just that the U.S. won both. The gold medal games were classics with the Americans winning both 2-1 in sudden death. Classics like Canada’s victories over the U.S. at the 2010 Olympics and last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, both also in sudden death.
U.S. vs. Canada hockey has become the best rivalry in sprots. Too bad it can’t be every year.
Even before the men’s gold medal game there was exciting hockey. Canada and U.S. men both had to go overtime in the quarterfinals to avoid elimination, Canada against Chechia and the U.S. against Sweden.
There was some controversy, especially for the men, because OT was three-on-three, not five-on-five. The open ice should have been an advantage for Canada with Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon, the sport’s two best players.
But the U.S. had the best goalie in Connor Hellebuyck and his 41 saves are the reason the Star Spangled Banner was played at the medal ceremony. Ironically Hellebuyck plays for Winnipeg, one of six Canadian-based in the 32-team NHL,
The U.S. had its best Winter Olympics showing with the most ever gold – 12 – and total medals – 33.
That put Uncle Sam second in both categories. First by a wide margin in both categories with 18 and 41 was Norway a country with a population of 5.65 million, less than one-sixtieth of the U.S. If Norway were a U.S. state, it would be about the same as South Carolina, the 23rd most populace.
The individual star was Norwegian cross country skier Johannes Hoeflot Klaebo with a Winter Olympics record six gold medals. He’s the Michael Phelps of the Winter Olympics.
Come December when he A.P. names its male Athlete of the Year, Klaebo should be a leading contender.
But he won’t because the A.P. does not like to choose non Americans. How else can you account for Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer combining for 66 grand slam titles and zero Athlete of the Year while Serena Williams won the female award five times, including a year (2018) when she did not win a single tournament?
If you were glued to your television during the Olympics fortnight, you saw a lot of curling. By the end you probably had a pretty good grasp of the ins and outs of the sport, the strategy involved in sliding a granite stone 38 to 44 pounds down a 45-meter sheet of ice to a target while teammates frantically swept the ice to create friction.
Curling clubs will probably spring up throughout the country. It might be this year’s version of pickleball.
