What a great Olympics

by Matt Unrau
| March 11, 2010 12:43 PM

Well, the Olympics officially ended on Sunday night and now we have only the memories to keep us warm after seeing athletes all over the world race down chilly mountain sides and skate around frigid ice rinks.

Since the Olympics not only hit the big international stage, but also transcend into the smaller metropolises that reside in Northwestern Montana I have decided it would be a great idea to exchange my favorite Olympic memories with all of you.

First off I need to admit that was not able to watch the Olympics as much this year as in previous years, since I don't have cable and there are only so many ways I can finagle myself in front of a television playing NBC.

However this step back didn't stop me from seeing my first favorite memory of watching an incredible ending to Apollo Ohno's 1500m speed skating final.

After an eventful beginning of the race that saw a lot of bumping and jostling it looked like Apolo Ohno was going to be denied a medal, which would have matched the Olympic total for one athlete in speed skating.

Ohno was in fourth place with one turn to go when incredibly two of the three Koreans ahead of him bumped into each other thereby wiping each other out and letting Ohno slip into second place, capturing a silver medal and a piece of Olympic history.

Another favorite memory of the games has to go the U.S.A. men's hockey team. In the 40th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice when the U.S.A. took down the U.S.S.R. and won gold in one of the biggest international upsets in history.

This year's team was equally counted out as being too young and not up to par to do anything real substantial in this Olympics. However as equally shocking as downing the Russians 40 years ago, this year's team took out heavily favored Canada in the qualifying round and ended up losing in a bare-knuckle overtime thriller to the same Canadians in the gold medal game that gave them a silver medal and in my mind secured North American dominance in hockey.

My last favorite moment of the game goes out to an individual who I have decided was my favorite competitor at the games. That was Jeret "Speedy" Peterson who won silver in the freestyle aerieals after he successfully landed the incredible "hurricane" that he failed to land in Torino four years ago.

His failed attempt four years ago cost him a medal in those games, but the competitor went for the near impossible trick again this time around and landed it. It was awesome to see guts like that on display from a guy who always goes for it all and never plays it safe.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn't say that it was once again great to see the U.S.A. win the medal count over second place Canada, sweet payback for losing out on winning gold in men's hockey. Although it might have been too much to see U.S.A. win in hockey over the home team, Canada. After all those guys up north sure go crazy for their hockey and we have to let them have something.