2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi Russia.
The Olympics according to Alayna.
Opening Ceremony
Did you see the clip of Pride and Prejudice in the Russian video at the beginning of the opening ceremony?
Russian monastery choir. They still have those?
Lots of countries. Insane opening ceremony. The country of origin lights up on the "floor globe" as their athletes walk in.
Bermuda wore Bermuda shorts. And it was hilarious. Only one athlete though.
The Venezuela athlete was jumping up and dancing around with the flag. A nice reminder that it's a great opportunity something to be proud of.
Germany is wearing sherbet colors (apparently it's a statement for gay rights. Russia is NOT a fan.)
The order the countries enter based on their position in the Russian alphabet, which makes it incredibly unpredictable
America has DORKY sweaters... and everybody still looks thrilled to be there. It proves just how proud and brave we are.
Lots of countries are sending their first winter Olympians.
This one guy skis for a country whose language doesn't even have a word for skiing.
Russia looks like Santa Claus, with fur coats and everything.
The floor of the arena (which was built specifically for the opening and closing ceremony) looks 3D because of 60-ish projectors on both sides of the arena. The technology was very 'next gen' throughout the whole performance... because Russia was so desperate to prove that they belong in the modern world.
They tried
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| This little girl flew around, thousands of feet in the air (probably the envy of all her 4th grade class). She broke her arm in rehearsal and still performed. |
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| The last ring never opened up. It was really tragic, considering how many millions of dollars were spent. But it became an internet sensation and a moment of infamy. See? |
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| Woah. Their doves look like jellyfish at first. And in the end it became so beautiful and clear! |
It was the longest Olympic torch relay in history.
It's a shame, really.
But in the soon enough, the opening ceremony was over and the games officially began.
Olympic commercials are beautiful and tender, really playing on our emotions and loyalties.
There were many fun moments:
My Olympic Heroes
I heard one of the reporters refer to the box the athletes go to after they finish the figure skating routine "The kiss and cry area." I thought it was humorous.
Here are my Olympic heroes. They may not have medaled, or made big news. But in "the Olympics according to Alayna," these are the athletes that really mattered.
Jeremy
Abbot (Figure Skating) American from Colorado.
Went out onto the
ice
… and FELL. HARD on his hip. I gasped as he slammed into the wall and was
heart-broken for him as I expected him to hobble off the rink. But the crowd egged him on. He got up and finished his performance without a single flaw.
He DANCED and it was one of the best (and certainly among the most impassioned) performances I've ever seen. When the stupid, nosy NBC reporter asked him about his performance he simply said. “I fell hard, and got back up again. I may not be an Olympic medalist, but at least I can teach the
world that.” Seriously? My faith in humanity is restored, thank you sir. He got up because of the fans and finished
it for them, even though he doubled over in pain moments after finishing his skate... it was inspiring. He's a four time Olympic champ, and got a bronze medal in the "team skate." (which is new this year.) He was no
longer a medal contender after the short program, but the final set (the
freestyle skate) was beautiful and flawless. He’s an artist. And on his last
Olympic skate, he has nothing but good memories facing him.
Henrik Harlaut (Swedish surfer dude.) Chillest
dude in the winter Olympics.
I mean, he has
dreadlocks for heaven's sake. And he wore purposefully
baggy clothes, he ordered xxl pants, and they hung around his knees most of the
run. But I've never seen anyone have so much fun. Win or lose. Make it or not.
Fall or stick it. He’s having the time of his life. Henrik skis with a raw egg in
his pocket because of an
American movie of a
Jamaican bobsled team ("Cool Runnings") where one of
the members of which kissed an egg for luck. That egg
definitely cracked a couple of times.
5th place, and thrilled.
Evgeni Plushenko (Russian Figure skater) A legend.
I remember him from last
time. And since that was 4 years ago…. That’s impressive. He’s had back surgery since then and hasn't really skated in 2 years. He did a jump in the practice and… didn't
fall. But couldn't land it. So when his name was called to perform, he skated out to the
judges table and withdrew. The stadium cheered his exit. How heartbreaking! A chance to skate for GOLD in his home country. And he couldn't do it.
I HATE NBC reporters. Of course he’s devastated, of COURSE he’s in pain! You
don’t have to keep asking! But she did anyway. And in his heavily accented
English he said, “I’m just like you. We all have good and bad days. And
that’s ok." (Paraphrased) And I’m so proud of him because of that. I'll miss seeing him perform, but I'm glad he could go with grace. Although he didn't compete in individuals, he did lead the Russian team to Gold.
Nick Goepper (American Skiier in first-ever slope style Olympic competition)
He grew up in Indiana, built it a training arena
in his backyard. He skis
without poles which is weird, but works for him. His dad lost his job, so he’s been working odd jobs to fund his
dream for YEARS (talk about the American dream). He got Bronze.
Joss Christensen (Slopestyle Gold) His dad died 6 months ago, and he skis with a picture
of him in his pocket. He was 5ish points short of a perfect score, a record. And he
got GOLD. America’s first. America swept men’s slopestyle.
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| Oh ya... and we swept the podium. |
Women’s Figure Skating
Gracie Gold: Leading lady
Her parents must have had figure skating on mind when they named her, because that’s a perfect name. She skates beautifully. Got 4th overall, and danced to “All that jazz” in the bonus/ just for fun round. So free and fun, putting on a hat half way through. She was a gold medal favorite and the star of most Olympic commercials that interrupted the action... but I forgive her.
Polina Edmunds: American girl
One of America's rising stars, 15 year old Polina Edmunds is still growing into herself. Babyface, tall and gangly as can be. She didn't rank very highly, but she has PLENTY of time for that.
Yulia Lipnitskaya: Russia's hope.
Russian skater with a performance of pure power and energy. She carried the weight of the host nation on her shoulders... and it showed. It brought her down. She Twirled faster than I thought humans could move. Fell once, lost lots of points, and that was the end of that. Oh, and by the way. She is also 15.
Adelina Sotnikova: Russian phoenix
Rising from the ashes of her country’s darling, she skated past everyone’s expectations and wowed the world. 98% of the time, her facial expression was a firey“AH!” with a “look at me, world!” defiance. Truly compelling. She shocked everyone (someone who wasn’t even the favorite RUSSIAN athlete) by getting Gold. THIS girl, was on fire. Some figure skaters get tired, but she never seemed to. Most people put their hardest stuff in the beginning. She ended in a fury of twirls. At the end of her Gold skate it took a small army of little skaters to pick up all the flowers and tokens thrown onto the ice for her. But she deserved every single one of them.
Kim Yuna: Silver of the South
South Korean staying on top, but she ended with Silver. She’s the inspiration of a whole nation, more famous (and for much better reasons) than Lady Gaga... or whatever Korean equivalent there is. She rules the ice with unparalleled grace. She danced to “Imagine” with a super-gorgeous ombre-blue outfit in the free for all.
Russia and S.Korea wear their tights over their shoes and one of the Russians had gloves on. Interesting... I wonder if it's a cultural thing.
Ice Dancing
SO much fun to watch. Many of the couples have an energy and presence that is simply delightful to witness. Charming and alarming, this sport mixes the sweetness of dance with the unbelieveable difficulty of skating. All of the dances were great…. But Canada, Russia, and America were the best for the short program which seemed to have a 20's theme. One of the American Ice-dancers teams is a brother-sister duo, and they danced to a Michael Jackson Medley. Another American dance team: Large height difference, but they danced to Les Mis, and stole our hearts. SO many really impressive lifts and stuff. VERY enjoyable.
Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (Russian Ice Dance Team) Bronze Medal
Russian, Swan Lake (Odille and Rothbart, rock’n the darkness). 98% of their routine was me wondering, “Where did (insert body part) go?” Crazy beautiful, still in awe of many of the lifts, and they did their home country proud. It was a great moment to be a part of. They totally nailed it.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canadian Ice Dance team) An Olympic favorite
They are BEAUTIFUL (but America for the win). And both of them are drop-dead gorgeous, so that's a plus. Aparently, they share a coach with the American team, which could get awkward. This team won gold in the Vancouver Olympics, but got silver here because....
Meryl Davis and Charlie White (American Ice Dancing Team) USA's golden couple
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| Every moment was genuine |
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| and fun |
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| and intimate. |
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| I seriously wonder if he has any feeling in his legs... he did this SO many times. |
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They are just... priceless.
(we think they got bonus points for Charlie's hair... you should have seen it when he twirled) |
Honestly, they aren't beautiful individually. Something seems off about Meryl's face and I didn't even know figure skaters were
allowed to have that much hair (Charlie). But together... the passion and grace is tangible. I'm obviously biased because of my nationality, but I loved them
so much.
On the first part, they danced to “My fair Lady” (I should have danced all night, which happened to be the only
non-20’s dance, and totally endeared them to me). Then they danced to Les Mis, and I gave my heart to them completely.
His hair though….. we called him Kristoff.
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| For obvious reasons |
Gold medal round, Americans rocked it, Charlie rocked the royal purple. Their lifts were effortless, their
skating was graceful, the energy was unbelieveable. It’s the first American
gold in Ice Dancing. I have a love affair with his hair… and they both sang the
national anthem while on the podium, something that made me proud to be
AMERICAN. Highest score ever recorded in ice dance.
And just for the adorbs...
Closing Ceremony
There were a lot of issues coming into The Games (and
#sochiprobs is a trending hashtag) but for once, all of that was forgotten as we
celebrated the closing ceremony.
Russia highlighted the cultural things that
make them great:
ballet (with a chandeler and two “stages” representing their
most famous companies. There were tons of beautiful ballerinas and it was great
to see),
artists (A whimsical tribute to Marc Chagal),
Russian authors (The 3D
floor lit up with open books and hand written letters, eventually creating a
swirl of papers in flight which added onto the real vortex created by fans and
slips of paper. Famous Russian authors had their photos rise out of the ground
on long thin sheets, standing tall for all to see).
Near the end they brought out lots of mirrors which looked amazing, as we saw a
distorted and confusing cacophony of images of the stage, the athletes, and the
stadium.
Then the weird animals that look like giant Dream Works puppets came
out again. Apparently they represent The Games, and the big teddy-bear like one
represents Russia. (Russia is a bear, and saying that it’s a
nice bear now, is making a very useful
political statement.
But the odd animals meandered around the mirrors, then suddenly a replica
Olympic flame (with real fire) was brought in front of the bear. I called that
he was going to blow it out, signifying the end of the games, and it did, with
cloudy smoke coming out of the bear’s mouth to add to the effect. What I WASN’T
expecting was the tear that leaked out of its eye afterwards. It was emotional
and silly but I REALLY liked it.
And for the smallest moment... we were united around the world with an appreciation of all that Russia had done and given.
And so ended the 22 Olympic games.
