Last night was the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Olympics are in South Korea this year. The world is watching as North Korea and South Korea have joined teams in their first show of unity in a very long time. There were questions of whether or not the US would participate in the Olympics, given the close proximity of the event to North Korea, and the rising tensions between the US and North Korea. The sister of the leader of North Korea was shown on television, sitting behind Vice President Pence through out the footage of the opening ceremony. I am always hopeful that there will be peace.
Other points of interest highlighted in the 2018 opening ceremonies, Russia is banned because of a prior year doping scandal. The Russian athletes, who qualified for the Olympics are allowed to compete, but not under the Russian flag. Instead, they walked in with the Olympic flag, and the Olympic anthem will be played in the event that one of the athletes win gold.
The US has the largest number of athletes ever for a winter Olympics. Shaun White is back to try to reclaim gold in snowboarding after a disappointing finish in the 2014 Olympics. Lindsey Vonn is back for her final Olympics. Our youngest competitors this year are just 17 years old.
Nigeria has its first ever bobsled team. The three woman team will be the first African team to ever compete in the Olympic bobsled event.
The opening ceremonies were held outdoors in 28 degree weather, but Bermuda still managed to walk in wearing shorts. Also bearing the cold, was Pita Taufatofua, Tonga’s only athlete competing in the Olympics. He marched in shirtless. Tonga is a Polynesian sovereign state consisting of 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited.
The National Hockey League (NHL) prohibited its athletes from attending the Olympics. This was deemed to be about money. NHL officials said that it did not make sense to pay for the NHL players to travel to Korea, and risk injury.
There are six nations that are competing in their first ever Winter Olympics. They are Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore. In total, 92 countries are competing.
For me personally, the Olympics are always exciting. I love sports. They also give me a reason to stay home in the evening and relax on the couch. Of course, I am rooting for the US. I especially want to see Shaun White and Chloe Kim take home gold for the US in Snowboarding. Shaun White is a legendary snowboarder. He essentially put the sport on the map in the US. Chloe Kim is just 17 years old. I am also rooting for Nigeria in their first ever Olympic team, and for the Korean Women’s Hockey team. The team now consists of players from both North and South Korea. The coach wasn’t very happy about this late decision and the political undertones of it. I appreciate her challenges with suddenly having a bunch of other players, and they are having some language barrier issues, but I think that the unified Korean team being successful in the Olympics would be meaningful to the entire world.
The highlight of the Olympic Opening Ceremony for me was Yuna Kim lighting the Olympic torch. Yuna Kim is a South Korean, Olympic figure skating champion. She was on skates, and ice surrounded the caldron that she was lighting. Two athletes, one from North Korea and one from South Korea carried the torch up a long flight of stairs to her. Yuna Kim did a breathtaking skating routing, and then the torch was lit. The elegance and grace were inspirational. I personally loved that the lighting of the Olympic torch, such a huge honor, went to a young female athlete.
The birds are with their dad this weekend. I am looing forward to their return on Monday, so we can enjoy the Olympic together.
Go Team US!!!!!!!!!!!!