The 25th Winter Olympics wrapped up in Milan, Italy from February 6 to 22 which featured around 2,871 athletes.
These athletes come from 92 nations competing for 116 medals across 16 disciplines.
While many students prefer the summer Olympics, there are some who prefer the winter Olympics. One of those students is Holland Tait, a senior rhetoric major.
“I greatly prefer the Winter Olympics. I like that there’s this element of danger if you mess up. There’s either a mountain of snow below you or like there’s knives on your feet,” Tait said.
The most popular sports this year appear to be figure skating, hockey, skiing and curling.
Students also agreed that both women’s and men’s hockey has been a favorite.
“I watch pretty much whatever’s on, but I specifically tune in to figure skating and then all of hockey,” Tait said.
Hannah Beth Chapman is a senior history major. She also enjoys watching figure skating and hockey.
“I like figure skating because it’s very similar to dancing.” Chapman said.
The U.S. earned three medals in figure skating, two gold and one silver. The team earned gold in the team event. Madison Chock & Evan Bates, who are long-time Olympic veterans, scored a silver medal in pairs free dance.
Another popular event is the women’s free skate. Hopes for a medal were hinged on Alysa Liu, who displayed a near-perfect score and rested in third place after the women’s short program.
Alysa Liu returned to the Olympics in hopes of redeeming herself from her last Olympic performance. She finished the free-skate program, earning the top score and a gold medal for the U.S.
Japan followed the U.S., earning a bronze and gold medal.
“I’ve been learning about the different types of spins and it’s hard to tell which ones they are, but you can tell which ones they are depending how fast they’re going,” Chapman said.
Both the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey team won a gold medal. Students around campus were excited for the gold medal games.
“I like how fast paced it is.” Chapman said. “I’ve watched football a lot of my life, and it’s a lot of going and stopping but hockey is nonstop going. It definitely keeps my attention a lot more,”
The women’s gold medal game was between the US and Canada, who are long-time rivals. The U.S. women’s team scored a gold medal.
The men’s gold medal game featured Canada vs. the U.S. The game went into overtime as the U.S. won. It is the first time the U.S. have won gold since 1980.
“I’m excited to see who wins,” Tait said.
Skiing seems to be another popular sport that students are watching.
Skiing is an overarching term for various events. Freestyle focuses on tricks and aerials, alpine focuses on speed and downhill risk, cross-country skiing shows athletes’ endurance and stamina over a long period of time. The U.S. currently has six medals.
Another fan favorite, and also the most controversial, is curling. Students have noticed the drama on social media as Canada was accused of cheating.
Phoebe Davis, a freshman exercise major, has not been watching the Olympics but has heard about them online.
“I like the drama surrounding curling,” Davis said.
There have been allegations of cheating and foul language on the ice that have spread through social media.
Clips have been circulating online of a Canadian player “double-touching” the stone, which is an illegal move. Double touching is when a player touches the stone twice. The stone must pass through the hog line untouched, which is what Canada was accused of doing.
Curling is known to be a “gentleman’s sport,” meaning that there is no official or referee watching the game. This allows players to go off the honor system.
Canada went on to win the gold medal amidst the allegations of cheating and foul play.
The U.S. finished the Olymic games with the second most medal’s, with 33 total. Norway finished with 41 total medals, including 18 gold medals, the most in the tournament. For more information, please visit www.olympics.com.
