Just Sports

This sportive week has been everything: Political. Sexy. Nerv racking. Amore. Praying. Pure art. Competitive. Emotional. Drama. Fashion.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show. A political statement. Like the music or not, he delivered a statement. A message. And that was beautiful.

“In Bad Bunny’s America, love triumphs over hate”

The first week of the Olympic Winter Games held in Milano Cortina, Italy is complete. The meaning of Olympia hasn’t changed: promoting world peace, international unity, and human cultivation through sports.

Thousands of athletes from over 200 nations compete in various disciplines, like alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, Nordic combined, short track, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating, and ski mountaineering.

My all time favorite: ice figure skating. Wow! Very impressive. Could watch it for hours. And so I did.

Rules have been flipped on the ice:

Ilia Malinin made a statement with a backflip in the Olympics. Banned in 1976, the backflip was finally legalized by the ISU again in 2024.

Same guy: have you seen this amazingly emotive performance that honoured those lost in the tragedy of Flight 5342 about a year ago? Skating in front of a Boston crowd at the World Championships just after Boston Skating Club had been devastated by the loss, Malinin brought the crowd to its feet with this heartfelt tribute.

Maxim Naomov, an USA ice skater, who lost his parents in that flight crash a year ago.

Honored his parents at Figure Skating Olympic Games 1 year after their deaths in D.C. plane crash

Most favorite Olympic coach: he’s been training 16 athletes at the same time. Wow! Biggest challenge: changing outfits fast enough and waiting for the results 😅

For others, it’s about fashion: Alysa Liu, American ice figure skater, and her “rings” in the hair.

The artistry. The precision. The emotion. This is what Olympic figure skating is all about. Moments like this remind us why we love the sport. 💙

Gold for that phenomenal performance from the French couple: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18Dmb81imx/?mibextid=wwXIfr

“They didn’t just win gold – they set the ice on fire”

By the way, Guillaume Cizeron is the first-ever two-time Olympic champion with two different partners 🇫🇷

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier skated this routine in memory of Piper’s mum, who passed away shortly after the 2018 Winter Olympics.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17u1dBVWhx/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Look at those female rock stars:

What a day for Breezy Johnson: first a crash, and later engaged 💍

Sofia Goggia broke her hand mid-run and still finished second. Wow!!! Professional skiers must be built different 💪🏻

Not so lucky was Lindsey Vonn. She had a heavy crash during the Olympic Games and broke her leg and had already 3 surgeries this week. Much respect and wishing you a speedy recovery! All the best 🤞🏻

And more wow! Speedskater Jordan Stolz broke an Olympic record in the 1,000-meter, winning gold for the U.S.

He had been saving the exact blades he broke the record in to wear again at the Winter Olympics. Wow!

A lot can happen on the ski slope:

He turned into superman, taking a shield with him🦸🏻‍♂️

Some tragic moments, too: Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych has been banned from competing at the Winter Olympics for continuing to wear a helmet which features images of athletes killed during Russia’s invasion of his home country.