Moments

You’ve been stuck seeing the Olympics through my eyes only, but the Times sports editor asked those who were here to share their favorite moments, which was published yesterday. The photo here is one of Chang’s favorites. He says it the best bobsled photo that doesn’t have a bobsled in it. I am particularly fond of the one below from figure skating where the woman’s head appears perilously close to the man’s blade.

Did anyone catch Chang on the Today Show the other day? The Today Show is clearly paying attention to the E@J blog.

Or maybe it was the NYT Lens blog, which did a profile of Chang returning to his homeland to cover the Games. You have gotten to know the wilder side of Chang a little through my posts. You will see a different side of him here. The part where he cried while photographing the two Koreas marching into the Opening Ceremony together. His mother was from the north, his father the south. His family was torn apart during the War.

No competition moment stood out above the others for me. I suspect the gold medal women’s hockey game would have if I had been there. I was planning to go but impending windy weather caused a rescheduling of women’s Alpine combined race to Thursday from Friday. Sorry I missed the hockey game.

Another much-talked about moment was when Jessie Diggins crossed the finish line to secure USA’s first-ever gold medal in cross country skiing. Diggins, and a good portion of the women’s hockey team, plus the gold medal curlers are all from Minnesota. Just like our Czech friends from Michigan, Minnesota is well represented in the comment section of this blog.

So this article from the the Times is for Chloe, Liza and Steven.

My favorite Olympic moment of all time is Usian Bolt breaking the world record in the 100 meters in Beijing. I am not sure I have ever been in a stadium with more spine-tingling electricity than the Birds Nest, the track and field venue. There was incredible anticipation in the crowd and he didn’t disappoint, even mugging for the crowd over the last 10 meters. Bolt’s 100 in London and again in Rio nearly matched it. I have never seen an athlete have that kind of universal impact. Everyone was there to see him and everyone wanted him to win regardless of where the fans were from.

Here is the Moments article the Times ran. Pay particular attention to the photo from James Hill shooting the aerialists from under the ramp. My favorite photo from Pyeongchang