Category Archives: Olympics

Representing Canada, Vanessa James and Eric Redford are competing in the ice skating pairs competition, and while Radford is one of several openly-gay male skaters in the sport, James is the only Black female competing in this year’s Olympic figure skating events. Check out this article for more on the dearth of Black figure skaters at the Olympics. Today, James and Radford are crowned Dazzlers of the Day for their quick and spectacular ascension on the ice – they’ve only been together a short time compared to other teams, and in that time they’ve made themselves into a formidable pair. 

In a thrilling halfpipe routine that left the commentators breathless, Japan’s Ayumu Hirano earned a gold medal in Beijing yesterday, solidifying an ascension to the previous perch of Shaun White. Hirano is crowned Dazzler of the Day for his impressive performance, especially as his second run was ridiculously under-scored and he came back to show the judges who was boss. 

Repeating her gold win in the women’s snowboard halfpipe from 2018, Chloe Kim earned another gold medal in Beijing, handily crowning her this Dazzler of the Day in the process. Back-to-back Olympic medals, in gold no less, is a feat so spectacular I can’t quite get my head around it, other than to feel incredibly awestruck and simultaneously inspired. She is simply amazing. 

High hopes for a US Medal in Women’s Figure Skating rest on the shoulders of figure skater Karen Chen, whose free skate in the group competition pushed the US into silver medal territory. While she’s up against some formidable competition in the individual event, Chen easily earns the Dazzler of the Day for a career that culminates with this Olympic Games. 

Red-hot red-head Shaun White is heading into his fifth Olympic Games, which, if you do the math involved, is pretty damn impressive. He earns this Dazzler of the Day for his lifetime of snowboarding magnificence, and all the Olympic medals he’s collected along the way. This winter he may add some new jewelry to his collection. 

Swizzling their way onto the road to the Winter Olympics, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue earn their first crowning as Dazzlers of the Day, even if Zachary has been featured here previously. This is reportedly their last outing as a competitive ice dancing pair, which lends all of their programs an added gravitas and flare. I’m always here for both.