So happy for the German pair! 
They deserved this win - no questions about judges’ bias etc.
Girls with braids are destined to win Olympic gold! 
I don’t remember so many gold medalists crying after winning as I’ve seen this year. Wondering if there is more pressure on athletes these days – so much media attention, and social media followers.
Snowboard cross - what a crapshoot!!
One of my favorites – it is chaos! But all I saw was the finals. 
And tracking women’s Nordic online tonight. Another 5th place finish for Jessie Diggins. So a 6th and two 5ths this Olympics. Argh – so close! One more shot for a medal in the relay. Still 30K as well, but that is not a distance the US has much shot at.
Ah… and freestyle sprint is left, too.
Anyone watching the luge relay? What a fun, crazy event!
I think the Good Sport Award of the Day should go to the Canadian pairs skater Meagan Duhamel, who, upon learning that Germany won gold, ran over and hugged her competitor fiercely while proclaiming “You did it!” over and over. I think she was more happy that they won gold than her own medal!
Very happy for the German pairs skaters. Their program was pretty much flawless and I’m glad they won.
That German skater’a perseverance is amazing. Fifth Olympics, and she is still fabulous. Move over, Shaun. This is the real renaissance story!
I heard that Massot acquired German citizenship quite close to the cut-off to qualify as German for the games. He had to pass a German language test first. I was joking with my spouse that the language test consisted of the greeting, “Guten Tag, Herr Massot!” followed by “Oh, um, Guten Tack.” Close enough! Passed! Olympics-here-you-go!
I am sure that it was really on the up-and-up
I only caught the German and Canadian pairs on TV last night, and was glad to hear that the Germans took gold. They were magnificent - they skated flawlessly with such speed.
This is hardly the first instance. I’m sure Victor Ahn’s acquiring Russian citizenship was strictly by the book. =))
Didn’t Tanith Belbin get US citizenship only right before the Olympics in which she competed with Ben Agosto? I’d bet there was some Congressman who got it through then.
Both of the German skaters skated for their home countries before gaining German citizenship, she skated for Ukraine in her first Olympics. Pairs can skate internationally without both holding citizenship, but the Olympics mandate both must be citizens.
Right, because nothing says Deutschland like the name Aliona Savchenko!
I agree with all that Savchenko was magnificent. i was pulling for her throughout the evening after she and Massot skated.
Actually, I welcome the fluidity of citizenship in the Olympics. I think this may help to enhance the Olympic idea of peace and perhaps trans-nationalism.
I think its wonderful the way the North Korean skaters have been treated with such warmth, both by the audience and in news coverage. I don’t think the Olympics does all that much to promote peace, but it’s nice to see the people separated from the politics – other than the unfortunate de-nationalization that the Russian skaters have had to endure due to their home country’s cheating in the last Olympics.
People and the government cheated. I don’t think the athletes are off the hook.
I had the tv on for just a few minutes this afternoon while I was preparing to take my walk. They were talking to Jessie Diggins, a cross country skier from the US who had finished 5th in her race. She spoke about having done her best and how she was proud of her performance and that she thought she and her team had represented our country well. I was so impressed, much more so than with some athletes who are so about themselves and needing to win gold to validate themselves.
Netflix has an excellent documentary on the doping called Icarus. No athlete could have accidentally doped.
Here’s a current article about doping and abuses of prescription medications. Evidentially Norway’s team is prodominately asthmatic. They brought 6,000 doses of asthma medication with them. For two weeks. Really? I have asthma and even when I was running I didn’t use a quarter of one inhaler (200 doses in an inhaler) in a month. Using the amounts they brought in should tell a doctor that your asthma is not under control and you are at risk of a major attack. Somehow I doubt that a significant number of the Norwegian team is that impaired. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/2/14/17003898/olympics-russia-doping-science