While the US Men’s Hockey Team squandered their impressive win with embarrassing and shameful locker room behavior (that included laughing at the US Women’s Team while on the phone with felon Trump) the US Women’s Hockey Team proved that they had more grit, sense, and grace in their gold medal win, earning them this Dazzler of the Day crowning. It also merits much fanfare that the US Women’s Hockey Team has won way more medals than the US Men’s Hockey team, and still goes egregiously unheralded in comparison. Here’s to the heroic Women’s Hockey Team, putting the men to shame year after year after year after year…
Olympic figure skating is like my Super Bowl – perhaps even more-so than the Oscars this year. That said, these Winter Olympics started out rather casually and without the usual pomp and circumstance hat led into previously-hyped games. yet this one turned into one of the most emotionally-tumultuous Olympics, thanks largely in part to all the figure skating drama.
The figure skating dance competition was controversial enough, with the backstory of Guillaume Cizeron (physically naked backstory below for those kind of fans – just keep scrolling down) and his new partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry taking center stage – and that was before the judges robbed Madison Chock and Evan Bates (flawless free skate) of the gold and giving it to Cizeron and Beaudry (flawed free skate).
The media was as awful as the media has become – hyping American athletes to the point where the pressure becomes too much – but the athletes themselves seemed to support each other in the face of all the madness, and the grace and good will of medalists and non-medalists was an affirmation of basic human decency. It was a breath of fresh air in this dark winter.
I’m not sure if it’s the bright lights of the skating arena, or the relatively benign nature of this good-spirited worldly competition compared to the more sinister visions that typically comprise night-time television, but the Winter Olympics always feel like a festive comfort when they roll around every four years.
It’s a time when an athlete’s performance is hopefully heightened, and everything just seems to mean a little more, such as the anticipatory electricity of a dinner party or a visit from distant friends or family. The older I get, the more I find myself seeking out such comfort. Here’s to the next Winter Olympic Games, scheduled for the summer of 2030… (but look for the 2028 Summer Olympics first) and here are this year’s Olympic posts for those who are already feeling nostalgic:
With his record-breaking six gold medal wins at the Winter Olympics, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo earns the culminating Dazzler of the Day to this year’s Olympic Games. He helped Norway climb to the most gold medals of the entire Winter Olympics, an impressive feat to close out the games as we prepare to recap the glorious event in tonight’s upcoming blog post.
Bringing a joy and infectiously-giddy spirit to her Olympic journey, Alysa Liu has already been a Dazzler of the Day here – this is just to spotlight her current Olympic performance, in which she takes a classic Donna Summer hit and turns the world into her shimmering disco ball. This comeback season has been based on her unshakably relaxed and mindful manner of accepting whatever happens on the ice without it being a life or death situation for her. That’s the magic key to so much of life, and she’s found it just in time for these Olympic Games. Shake it for the gold!
He’s already been a Dazzler of the Day here, but Jordan Stolz is coming into his next chapter with a spectacular Olympics performance – as of this writing he’s already won two gold medals for the United States and today he races for another. As we careen toward the end of this Olympic Games, I’m already pining for it to begin all over again.
Six-time Olympian Elana Meyers Taylor just earned the gold in a lifelong quest for that elusive and precious medal. The grit, determination, and focus required to make it to that many Olympic Games is astounding – really unimaginable for mere mortals like myself. All I can do is marvel and cheer Taylor on as she puts her bobsledding legacy into the record books. This Dazzler of the Day honor is the very least of her laurels.
Joining Japan’s next figure skating hopes for a gold medal is Kaori Sakamoto, who skates her short program today, in a season when three Americans also stand a chance of making the podium for the gold. Sakamoto earns her Dazzler of the Day crowning for the years of dedication and champion-level bravura – and she has the fiery drive to add to her 2022 Olympic bronze medal.
Deserving of this double Dazzler of the Day crowning, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara found themselves in 5th place after a lift in their short program shorted out, and after being the favorites coming in – and Japan’s first possible gold medal in figure skating pairs – they are in jeopardy of not making the podium. However, if the Olympics stay true to their unpredictable nature, they maintain the possibility of a medal – even a gold one – and this pair is one that has defied devastating falls in the past to come through in the clinch. They earn this Dazzler honor regardless of how things turn out based on their history of championship performances.
Figure skaters dominate the Dazzlers of the Day this week as Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin earn their first crowning thanks to a powerful and practically perfect performance for their short program. Representing Germany, this figure skating pair has been on an arc of momentum, and cresting during the Olympic Games is the very best timing.
US figure skating pair Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea turned in a lovely short program yesterday and will skate for a place on the podium in their long program today. Figure skating has been mired in muck of late, so when a pair of skaters performs without drama, bringing beauty and grace to the proceedings, they more than earn this Olympic Spotlight.
This sort of upset is the stuff of Olympic legend, and because most of us were counting on Ilia Malinin to bring home the gold, it felt more stunning to see him falter. Perhaps no one was more shocked with this outcome than Mikhail Shaidorov, who turned in a technically marvelous skate that earned him the gold medal and this Dazzler of the Day. It’s often said that no one can predict what happens at the Olympics, and that proved true with the men’s free skate. Congratulations to Mikhail Shaidorov for rising to the moment.
Alpine ski racer Marco Odermatt won the gold medal at the Olympics in 2022, and he’s back for this Winter Olympics aiming for more. To make it to one Olympic Games is insanely impressive on its own – to make multiple visits as one of the best in the world is incredible. His list of championships is too extensive to put down here, and it’s still increasing, so we’ll have to wait for the comprehensive collection.
I’ve seen a lot of online posts about Ilia Malinin being the first athlete to land a backflip on Olympic ice, but with all due respect to Malinin, this is woefully wrong and entirely untrue. That honor belongs solely to Surya Bonaly, whom I very much remember defiantly landing one on Olympic ice – against the rules, against the judges, and against a sport unprepared and unwilling to recognize and reward her power and brilliance. This Dazzler of the Day goes to her for an astounding career in the face of adversity and odds all stacked against her, and for leaving an impact so great that I still remember her whenever Mr. Malinin does a backflip.
Earning the first Olympic medal for the United States at this Winter Olympics, Breezy Johnson also earns her first Dazzler of the Day thanks to all that gold. I will never not marvel at what it takes to earn any Olympic medal, or even to make it to the Olympics at all. The hours of hard work, dedication, and obsession to excel to such a level is impressively astonishing, and Breezy Johnson is living proof of this.
PS – How awesome is the name ‘Breezy Johnson’? Hint: very.
This is an impossible year for a male figure skater to make quite the mark that Ilia Malinin seems poised to make at the Winter Olympics, but if any contenders are capable of rising to such a level, it may be Shun Sato. His first skate on Olympic ice helped his team to a silver medal. In any other year he’d be making a stunning splash – and he still deserves this Olympic spotlight for his fighting spirit. And who knows – there is no such thing for a shoo-in when it comes to the Olympics.
