Monthly Archives: February 2022

The Closing Ceremony wrapped up the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but not before Nathan Chen punctuated his trip with a backflip, and Mikaela Shiffrin won a race.

BEIJING, China

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing officially came to an end Sunday morning with the Closing Ceremony. If you werent awake to see the ceremony live, it will air again during NBCs Olympic Primetime Coverage.

Before the games concluded there were still plenty of exciting moments, including figure skater Nathan Chen ending his gold medal-winning trip with a stunning performance, and skier Mikaela Shiffrin got her first win in an event after a disastrous start in Beijing.

Figure skating gala

American Nathan Chen gives a freeing performance to end his Olympic experience during the figure skating gala. During his routine, Chen landed an impeccable backflip punctuating his first gold medal at the Olympics.

Alpine skiing

In the alpine skiing combined team event, Mikael Shiffrin got her first win at the Beijing games over Slovakia's Rebeka Jancova, helping the U.S. to advance out of the first round. Unfortunately, the American team finished just off the podium in fourth.

Cross-country skiing

American skier Jessie Diggins guts it out to win the 25th and final U.S. medal of the Beijing Games, taking silver in the 30km cross-country race while combating the lingering symptoms of food poisoning.

Closing Ceremony

Athletes representing Team USA enter National Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest," to 'Ode to Joy' during the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Anyone who wasnt awake early Sunday morning to watch live has another chance to see the ceremony in its entirety during NBCs Olympic Primetime coverage Sunday night.

Olympic Bloopers

From inadvertent stumbles to the dire need for snacks, here are the zaniest offbeat moments from the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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Winter Olympics top video moments for Sunday: Chen backflips, Shiffrin wins and the Closing Ceremony - 9News.com KUSA

21 February 2022, 13:59

Violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon led the Italian national anthem alongside pop singer Malika Ayane at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

At the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, China handed over duties to Italy, which is set to be the host country for the next Winter Games in 2026.

To mark the handover, the Italian national anthem was performed by pop singer Malika Ayane and violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon as a beautiful solo violin-led arrangement.

Chinas theme for the 2022 Winter Games was to celebrate ordinary people and they did not have any major celebrities perform at the opening and closing ceremonies. Italy however, decided to highlight their national talents during the flag handover ceremony.

According to Christian Milici, Head of Events for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, the performance decision of bringing a pop star and classical star together was to, represent the excellence of their seemingly distant worlds, as a metaphor or a harmonious dialogue between two opposites.

Read more: When Pavarotti sang his final Nessun dorma to close Italys Olympics Opening Ceremony

Pop singer Ayane, born in 1984, grew up in Milan, and as a teenager sung in the White Voices Choir at Italys famous opera house, the Teatro alla Scala. She also studied the cello at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in her hometown.

Ayane broke into the pop industry in the 2000s, and had multiple top 10 singles in Italy during the 2000s and 2010s.

However, she has also crossed over into the classical genre before. In 2009 she featured on Andrea Bocellis cover of Blue Christmas on the operatic Italian tenors 13th studio album, My Christmas.

Violinist Zanon, born in 1998, is a graduate of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, and at the age of just 24 has already won over 30 national and international competitions.

Zanon performs on a Giuseppe Guarneri del Ges violin which was made in 1739 and was previously owned by American-born violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

Unlike the usually full orchestral version of the Italian national anthem, Ayane and Zanon performed a solo violin-led arrangement, where Zanon added impressive semi-quaver passages to the score.

The Italian national anthem only technically became the countrys official anthem in December 2017, 170 years after its original composition.

Read more: What are the lyrics to Italys national anthem, and what do they mean?

The 2026 Olympics will take place across both Milan and Cortina dAmpezzo, hence the name Milano Cortina. It will be the first Olympic Games to be hosted by two cities, two regions and two provinces.

The choice of location is reflected in the main theme for the 2026 games, which is creating a bridge between mankind (Milano) and nature (Cortina).

The 2026 logo was revealed in a theatrical performance at the 2022 closing ceremony as two young people walked on the surface of what appeared, thanks to lighting tricks, to be thin ice while playing with a globe.

According to the Milano Cortina Instagram page, this was to suggest the fragile condition of our planet, and sustainability will be at the heart of these next Games.

The performance was concluded by the tagline of the next Games lit up on the floor by LED lights, Duality, Together.

Read more: This mesmerising dance of bodies for the Paralympic Games is a visual masterpiece

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Violinist duets with vocalist at Olympics closing ceremony for unique take on Italys national anthem - Classic FM

Feb 20, 2022

Greg WyshynskiESPN

Finland won its first ever Olympic men's ice hockey gold medal with a 2-1 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee on Sunday in Beijing.

Finland forward Hannes Bjorninen scored the game-winning goal just 31 seconds into the third period. He added an assist on Ville Pokka's goal in the second period that tied the score after the ROC opened the scoring in the first period.

This was the 18th Olympic men's ice hockey tournament appearance for Finland, which was undefeated in six games in Beijing. The nation won silver in 1988 and 2006 and captured bronze four times (1994, 1998, 2010, 2014) before capturing gold.

"It is hard to put in words what it means. What a tough tournament. I felt like we played well the whole time, and this is the reward," said Finland forward Valtteri Filppula, who won a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. "Hockey's a big thing in Finland. This is for all of us, for sure."

Harri Sateri made 16 saves, but it was the Finnish offensive attack and forecheck that won the day. Finland had a 21-14 shot edge after two periods and ended with a 31-17 shot advantage for the game. Russia was seeking its second straight Olympic men's hockey gold medal -- although not necessarily by name.

Russia competed as the Russian Olympic Committee due to a ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which prohibited Russian athletes from wearing their flag or any Russian symbol on their uniforms. This follows IOC sanctions in 2018, when Olympic athletes from Russia captured the gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The ROC opened the scoring on its second shot. With Bjorninen in the box for a high-sticking penalty, forward Mikhail Grigorenko used a perfectly set screen from teammate Pavel Karnaukhov to beat Sateri for a 1-0 lead just 7:17 into the game. Nikita Gusev picked up an assist for his team-leading sixth point.

The Finns tied the score just 3:28 into the second period. Defenseman Ville Pokka sent a shot from just inside the blue line that went through the legs of defenseman Nikita Nesterov and past goalie Ivan Fedotov to knot the score at 1-1.

The Finns took a 2-1 lead 31 seconds into the third period. The sequence began with Fedotov giving the puck away to Bjorninen. That sparked a forechecking clinic by Finland that had the ROC running around in its own zone. Forward Marko Anttila collected the puck and sent a wrist shot from high in the zone. It was deflected by Bjorninen for the first Finland lead.

Among the former NHL players winning gold for Finland: forwards Markus Granlund, Valtteri Filppula and Leo Komarov, as well as defensemen Sami Vatanen and Mikko Lehtonen.

"Great team. Great effort. It wasn't easy for us, but we found a way to win every game," Anttila said. "We found a way to win these tough games."

The Beijing Olympics marked the second straight Winter Games without the participation of NHL players. Despite an agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA to send players to Beijing, the league decided to opt out due to a material change to its 2021-22 regular-season schedule because of COVID-19 postponements.

Finland wasn't the only Olympic team to make history in Beijing. Slovakia, which eliminated the U.S. in the quarterfinals, defeated Sweden 4-0 to capture the bronze, its first Olympic men's hockey medal.

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Finland beats ROC to win nation's first Olympic men's ice hockey gold medal - ESPN

US hockey loses gold to Canada, Shiffrin skis out; Two-woman bobsled Friday

Mikaela Shiffrin will leave Beijing without an individual medal. US women's hockey falls to Canada in gold medal game. Kaillie Humphries returns Friday.

Sandy Hooper, USA TODAY

BEIJING The 2022 Winter Olympics will likely be remembered as bothcontroversial and isolating. They've featuredpolitical tensions and severe COVID-19 restrictions. Questions about the whereabouts of Peng Shuai and forced labor camps in Xinjiang. Plexiglass barriers. A Russian doping scandal. Complaintsfrom athletes about quality of food and quarantine conditions.

But you wouldn't know any of that from talking with 16-year-old figure skaterAlysa Liu.

"ITS BEEN SO FUN SO FAR," she wrote on Instagram last week.

The youngest athlete on Team USA in Beijing, Liu said she's been having a blast in her first trip to the Games, despite all the negativity surrounding them. She's made new friends from other countries, bought souvenirs for friends back home, participated in multiple snowball fights and raved about the peach juice available in the Olympic village.

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The experience hasn't really been what she expected, but in a great way.

"I thought because of COVID and everything, I would just be in my room, and then (at the rink). But thats not the case," Liu said after her short program Tuesday night.

"And theres, like, a mall (at the Olympic village). I didnt know there was a mall. I found out when I got here. I was like, theres a mall? I think they told us there was a mall, but I obviously didnt hear that. So the village is really fun."

Liu said she's also been surprised by how many games are available in the village, including a mini basketball arcade game outside their Team USA apartment, and cornhole boards outside of Team Canada's.

"Apparently, I was playing it wrong," she said, laughing."I was like throwing (overhand). Someone from our medical team was like, uh, underhand Alysa.' "

That Liu skated well in her short program Tuesday night was just an added bonus.

A two-time U.S. champion who was knocked out of this year's national championships by a positive COVID-19 test, Liu finished eighth in the first half of the women's individual competition, leaving her as the highest-ranked American in the field. She later said teammate Madison Hubbell, who won a bronze medal in ice dance, did her makeup ahead of the competition.

"Im really glad I did a clean short program," Liu said afterwards."I would also be fine if I didnt do a clean short, but Im glad I did a clean short program."

Naturally, she had a huge smile when she stepped onto the ice, and perhaps an even larger one when she left.

Liu's outlook has offered a rare glimpse of the excitement that usually permeates the Olympics but has been harder to come by in Beijing. And it hasn't been dampened by what's happening in Liu's own event with Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who has been permitted to compete despite testing positive for a banned substance, sparking a high-stakes legal battle and international backlash.

When asked if they're following Valieva's case, most skaters Tuesday demurred or said they were only focused on their own performances. But Liu?

"Yeah, its like the biggest thing thats happened here so far in the figure skating event," she said."So, yeah, weve definitely talked about it. ...Every time something new happens, we tell each other, because there's updates on it."

Liu admitted that "it does suck" that Valieva's case led to the cancellation of the medal ceremony for the team figure skating event, where her teammates were scheduled to receive silver medals. But she understands it. And while the Valieva saga continues to loom over her event, she said it hasn't tarnished her Olympic debut.

"Im still having fun here," Liu said. "It hasnt ruined my experience here."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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Alysa Liu having a blast during Winter Olympics that have been controversial and isolating - USA TODAY

BEIJING They have come to an end, the strangest, most controversial, most unwelcoming Olympic Games of our lifetime.

Walled off from the outside world in order to succeed, accompanied every step of the way by questions about Chinas human rights abuses, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games ended their bizarre 17-day run on a frigid Sunday night at the Birds Nest, Chinas National Stadium.

We have never seen anything quite like these Olympics. They will be deemed a success only because they were not an abject failure. The closed-loop fortress worked; COVID-19 did not explode and run rampant through the Games.

But at what cost? These were an Olympics without personality, untouchable by design. The purpose of an Olympics is to unite the athletes, to extend into the community, to metaphorically bring the world closer.

There was no chance of that here. This wasnt a joyous festival of sport; this was a forbidding fortress of separation. Gates slammed shut every minute of every day, keeping anyone associated with the Olympics away from everyone else in Beijing. It had to be, but it was jarring, and wont soon be forgotten.

MEDAL COUNT: Who finished atop the Olympics medal count? Heres how each country performed.

CHINA GOT WHAT IT WANTED: A doping scandal helped

AT GAMES WITH NOTHING POSSIBLE: US athletes showed obstacles can be overcome

Dancers perform during the closing ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

In this sense, these were the non-Olympic Olympics. There were times they felt more like a big multi-sport world championships, detached and unconnected. While there were momentous triumphs, heartbreak stole the show: from Mikaela Shiffrins star-crossed ski slopes to Kamila Valievas unrelenting sheet of ice, from the devastating quarantine isolation of American athletes Elana Meyers Taylor and Vincent Zhou to an empty medal stand where team figure skaters should have stood.

We were celebrated back home but we werent celebrated here, U.S. team figure skating co-captain Evan Bates lamented on Sunday, referring to the International Olympic Committees decision to keep the silver-medal-winning Americans and bronze medalist Japanese from receiving the medals they won nearly two weeks ago out of fear that the gold-medal-winning Russians will be disqualified due to Valievas positive drug test.

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This moment has now passed and this window is closing and people move on, Bates said sadly. To leave here without the Olympic medal that we won fairly is unbelievable. Its unprecedented.

What a fitting coda on Beijings Olympics, unprecedented in so many ways, and at times, just very sad.

Dancers perform during the closing ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Coming along six months after the Tokyo Summer Olympics, these Games were so much like those last year in Japan, forever altered by the pandemic, never reaching their potential. But the issues emanating from Beijings Olympics were far more serious, making the Tokyo Olympics look almost normal by comparison.

The troubling saga of three-time Olympian Peng Shuai served as a prelude to these Games, then merged with them when she was paraded from event to event by the IOC as if to say all was well, whitewashing the worlds current biggest #MeToo case.

These Games offered more questions than answers, more uncertainty than resolution. What becomes of Valieva, an athlete who should have transcended the Olympics, but instead left broken under the weight of their pressure? Who ends up winning the gold medal in team figure skating, and when will they win it? Will Russia and its state-sponsored doping system ever be taught a lesson? How does Shiffrin move on from here?

To be sure, all was not lost, perhaps best exhibited at the closing ceremony by Meyers Taylor robustly waving the rippling U.S. flag as she entered the massive stadium. She was supposed to carry the flag in the opening ceremony but was in COVID isolation instead. After getting out, then winning silver and bronze here, she got another chance.

Russia seems to get more chances than anyone, so it was fitting that the last medal ceremony of these Games, held on the floor of the stadium, was for a Russian cross-country skiing gold medalist. The Russian flag wasnt supposed to be here, but there it was on his detachable armband. The irony was lost on no one that the nation the IOC officially didnt allow to be at these Games was the one holding the final celebration.

Thats Beijing 2022 in a nutshell. Nothing was quite right; everything seemed a bit off. One big cautionary tale, thats what it was.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2022 Winter Olympics go down as most unwelcoming, controversial

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The most controversial, most unwelcoming Olympics of our lifetime are now over | Opinion - Yahoo! Voices

Norway's Therese Johaug gestures as she wins the women's skiathlon 2x7,5km event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on February 5, 2022. Odd Anderson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Norway's Therese Johaug gestures as she wins the women's skiathlon 2x7,5km event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on February 5, 2022.

BEIJING When Tore Ovrebo, head of Norway's vaunted national athlete development program known as Olympia toppen, arrived in Beijing, he predicted exactly how many medals his country would win.

"The medal aim is 32 three, two," Ovrebo said at a press conference, making the number crystal clear for anyone not listening closely.

That is an astonishingly high bar, sort of like a Major League Baseball manager promising his pitcher will throw a no-hitter.

Ovrebo proceeded to map out his game plan, predicting Norway would medal repeatedly in three core disciplines: alpine skiing, biathlon and cross-country skiing.

Gold medallists Hallgeir Engebraaten, Peder Kongshaug and Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Team Norway pose during the Men's Team Pursuit medal ceremony at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on February 15, 2022. David Ramos/Getty Images hide caption

Gold medallists Hallgeir Engebraaten, Peder Kongshaug and Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Team Norway pose during the Men's Team Pursuit medal ceremony at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on February 15, 2022.

With the Winter Olympics entering the final days of competition, his country's athletes are actually well ahead of schedule. The U.S. with its vastly larger population lags by half a dozen medals.

Norway's athletes are outpacing the U.S. even though its team is less than half the size, with 99 Norwegians competing in Beijing compared to 223 Americans.

So how does a nation with so few people do it? The Norwegians have been asked this a lot in Beijing.

"It's a good question," said Birk Ruud, a member of Norway's freestyle ski team, who won a gold medal in the Olympic big air competition. "We're a country with a lot of good genes and we work hard."

He and his teammate Ferdinand Dahl told reporters that winter sport is a big part of life in their northern country. It's something just about everyone does from the time they're little kids.

"We have this term, that we're born with skis on our feet," Dahl said. "Fun is the fundamental drive. A lot of hard work, I think and a lot of fun and dedication and skiing."

That national sports culture has created a pipeline of skiing superstars that other countries, so far, can only aspire to match.

Maiken Caspersen Falla of Team Norway competes during the Women's Cross-Country Team Sprint Classic Semifinals at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on February 16, 2022. Clive Rose/Getty Images hide caption

Maiken Caspersen Falla of Team Norway competes during the Women's Cross-Country Team Sprint Classic Semifinals at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on February 16, 2022.

Young people compete against each other, growing stronger before they ever reach the international level.

Sometimes Norwegian athletes are so dominant, so much better than the competition, other nations build strategies around the race for silver and bronze.

"Therese is queen of cross-country skiing and now I feel like I'm the little princess," said Finnish skier Kerttu Niskanen, after finishing second to Norway's star cross-country racer Therese Johaug.

At that press conference, Johaug herself - who had already won a pair of gold medals - confidently predicted she might reach the podium two more times.

"Today I took the second [gold medal] and its fantastic but the Olympics is not finished yet," she said.

There are some practical things, beyond a love of winter and snow, that raise Norway's Olympics game. Many of these sports disciplines are pretty marginal in the U.S. in terms of audience appeal.

But in Nordic countries, cross country skiing and biathlon are mainstays on television. With that popularity comes fame for Norwegian athletes, along with more sponsorships, more money.

Norway also funds its Olympic athlete development programs with a national lottery.

Billy Demong is a former U.S. Olympian in Nordic combined, a sport that pairs ski jumping with cross country skiing. He won a break-out gold medal in Vancouver 12 years ago.

Norway's Robert Johansson soars through heavy snow fall during the Ski Jumping Men's Large Hill official training on February 13, 2022 during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Odd Anderson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Norway's Robert Johansson soars through heavy snow fall during the Ski Jumping Men's Large Hill official training on February 13, 2022 during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

But he notes that his success wasn't followed by a pipeline of other American athletes reaching the podium.

"Was there a group [of U.S. athletes] behind me?" Demong said. "Absolutely there was. Did they all quit essentially or retire young? Absolutely."

Demong now heads a team called USA Nordic that develops Olympic-caliber ski jumpers and Nordic combined athletes. He says the problem isn't a lack of talent, though he does think the the U.S. does need a broader base of grassroots winter sports programs.

He says there's just not enough money to keep Americans in these sports at the elite level until they can mature and get really good the way Norwegians can do.

"Nobody's making money from sponsors in these niche winter Olympic disciplines" in the U.S., Demong said. "We certainly don't have the income to be able to pay our athletes."

Demong said if the U.S. wants to compete for medals in a broader variety of winter sports, Congress needs to work with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and other sports programs to revamp funding programs.

"We've got to get more creative than this," Demong said. He suggested expanding the U.S. military's athlete program and considering a small tax on sports betting to support development of Olympic talent.

But that kind of transition, even if it happens, won't produce Norway-style success for years. It takes a long time to nurture, train and polish athletes of this caliber.

Meanwhile the Norwegian Olympic machine is firing on all cylinders now, with its athletes still looking forward to many of their best events in the final weekend of the Beijing Games.

That 32-medal goal? It's starting to look like a low-ball estimate.

Gold medallists Tarjei Boe, Sturla Holm Laegreid, Johannes Thingnes Boe and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen of Team Norway celebrate with their team and staff during Men's Biathlon 4x7.5km Relay flower ceremony on February 15, 2022 at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Patrick Smith/Getty Images hide caption

Gold medallists Tarjei Boe, Sturla Holm Laegreid, Johannes Thingnes Boe and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen of Team Norway celebrate with their team and staff during Men's Biathlon 4x7.5km Relay flower ceremony on February 15, 2022 at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The rest is here:

Norway dominates the Beijing Winter Olympics medal count. Why is it so good? - NPR

There is a reason why Charlie Volker became the NSJIAA 100-meter dash champion at Rumson-Fair Haven High School, an All-Ivy League running back at Princeton University and a member of the USA Bobsled team for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

He holds himself to sky-high standards.

So Volker departed Beijing Sunday with decidedly mixed feelings after his four-man bobsled team finished 10th and his two-man team placed 27th.

A very cool experience, he wrote via text as he prepared to board a plane home. To compete against the best in the world, share meals, and live amongst them is something like I have never experienced before. As for our results, I have mixed emotions.

BACKSTORY: How Charlie Volker made the USA Bobsled team

Neither of the two U.S. pilots, Hunter Church and Frank Del Duca, was able to attend a crucial test event on Beijings bobsled track last fall. Del Duca wasnt ranked high enough at the time yes, there is a worldwide ranking for bobsled pilots.Church, who was Volkers pilot in both events, broke his toe over the summer after dropping a weight on his foot.

We were fighting an uphill battle, Volker said. Despite this, we had some fun learning the track. When it finally came time for the races, for the most part I dont think we performed as expected. The 2-man was awful, and I was disturbed with how slow we pushed compared to in season. Then the first day of 4-man racing we were the last sled up to the start, and thus started off the competition on the wrong foot. After the first day, we sat in 13th in what was supposed to be our medal contention event.

Volkers four-man bobsled team earned a bronze medal at Januarys Bobsleigh World Cup, which is viewed as a reliable precursor to the Olympics. In Beijing they wound up finishing 2.76 seconds behind the gold medalists from Germany. Each bobsled team makes four runs, and the first one left Volkers quartet playing catch-up.

That was frustrating, but we came back swinging today (Sunday) with some better start times and down times, he said. So in a way we ended the season on a better note. Theres definitely still frustration, because we were shooting to medal, but a top 10 finish is decent, and will only fuel my fire.

The 24-year-old, who hails from Fair Haven, was a newcomer to bobsledding in 2020 after NFL scouts recommended it to him. He earned a spot as thebrakeman the fourth and final push-man on the USA's top sled.

This sport has taught me a lot about the importance of leadership, and these games have taught me the importance of having a support system, Volker said. I had family and friends watching from New Jerseyto Okinawa, and that was incredible to feel so supported.I am very blessed to have them all in my life rooting me on.

Although he spent most of his time in Beijing focused on his events, Volker wound up sitting next to American snowboarding legend Shaun White during the opening ceremony (hes a cool dude) and took a gondola ride atop a local mountain on an off day (the views up there were incredible).

With this experience under his belt, will he continue to pursue bobsledding with an eye toward the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games in Italy?

Thats a question Ive been asked a whole lot recently, he said. I need to go home and spend some time with my family and friends before I make my game plan.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996. Contact him atjcarino@gannettnj.com.

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Winter Olympics: Fair Haven's Charlie Volker departs Beijing with 'mixed emotions' - Asbury Park Press

The U.S. men's hockey team lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to Slovakia in the shootout Wednesday at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, Team USA captured gold and silver in the men's freeski slopestyle, as Alex Hall and Nick Goepper were 1-2 in the event.

We've got all the action covered:

Slovakia stunned Team USA in their Olympic men's ice hockey quarterfinal 3-2, tying the game in the final minute of regulation and then eliminating the tournament's top seed in the shootout Wednesday in Beijing. Former Boston Bruins winger Peter Cehlarik scored the lone goal of the shootout on Slovakia's fourth attempt, beating U.S. goalie Strauss Mann (34 saves).

The U.S. was unsuccessful on all five shots against Slovakia goalie Patrik Rybar (33 saves), including the final attempt by captain Andy Miele. The U.S. team leaves Beijing without a medal, making this three straight Olympics without one. Its last Winter Games hardware was the silver medal it won in Vancouver in 2010. Team USA hasn't won gold since its "Miracle on Ice" title in 1980.

While Team USA fans were mourning the upset, the mood in ice rinks around Slovakia was understandably celebratory. Miroslav atan, president of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation, shared a video that perfectly encapsulated the energy.

When the NHL opted out of the Winter Olympics, USA Hockey opted to bring a roster of mostly NCAA players to Beijing. For three games, it looked brilliant: The team finished first overall after group play (3-0-0), including a win over rival Canada, and had the best goal differential (plus-11) in the tournament. But that inexperience really caught up to the Americans in their stunning quarterfinal shootout loss to Slovakia, an 8-seed the Americans really should have put away.

After Sam Hentges' goal gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead in the second period, the Americans had 6 minutes and 38 seconds of power-play time that they squandered before Slovakia tied the game with less than a minute left in the third period. That included 58 seconds of 5-on-3 power-play time in the third period and another power play with less than five minutes remaining in the game. It was as if Slovakia was sticking its chin out, awaiting a knockout blow that never arrived.

Instead, Marek Hrivik scored with 44 seconds left in regulation, after Slovakia pulled Rybar, to tie the game. Cehlarik scored the lone goal in the shootout, and Rybar (33 saves) did the rest to eliminate the Americans.

There are other lingering questions from the loss. What if Brian O'Neill, a top-line forward and the only returning player from the 2018 Olympics, hadn't injured his foot on a blocked shot and left the game after just 9:16 of ice time? What if puck-moving defenseman Jake Sanderson, so solid in Team USA's win over Canada, had been available for that 3-on-3 overtime? Why on earth did coach David Quinn leave the brilliant Matty Beniers, his best player in overtime, on the bench for five shootout attempts?

In the end, those Miracle on Ice comparisons this U.S. team was getting were applicable -- in the sense that a scrappy underdog pulled a shocker against a top-seeded team. -- Greg Wyshynski

Canada's Charles Hamelin brought down the curtain on his short track speedskating career with a gold medal in the men's 5,000-meter relay Wednesday.

Canada's team of Hamelin, Steven Dubois, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Pascal Dion finished in 6:41.257, edging South Korea by 0.422 seconds, while Italy took bronze.

The victory gives Hamelin six Olympic medals in his career on the ice. The win at the Capital Indoor Stadium saw him draw level with Cindy Klassen as Canada's most decorated Winter Olympian.

In a thrilling final, Canada led for much of the race as China crashed out to finish eight seconds off the pace. -- Tom Hamilton

American freeskiers Hall and Goepper took gold and silver, respectively, in freeski slopestyle Wednesday morning, the best finish for Team USA since Goepper was one-third of a U.S. sweep of the event in the 2014 Sochi Games.

"This is amazing," Hall said after the event as he and Goepper celebrated at the bottom of the course, draped in American flags.

Hall won the contest on his first run, which included arguably the most difficult and unique skill of the day: a pull-back 900, a trick in which Hall launched a double cork 1080 but stopped the spin early and pulled the rotation back to a 900 before landing. For his part, Goepper was the only rider to use the side takeoff on his second jump, a right double cork 1440. With his win, Hall earned the first U.S. gold medal in freeskiing in Beijing, while Goepper earned his third slopestyle medal in as many Games, and his second silver. Goepper is the only three-time medalist in the event. Jesper Tjader of Norway took bronze. -- Alyssa Roenigk

The U.S. lost a nail-biting 7-6 contest against Canada in women's curling, but not before putting up a fight.

After being down 4-1, the U.S. made a comeback, tying the game at 6 entering the 10th end, before Canada eked out a win by one point. Canada's Jennifer Jones executed a perfect 8-footer with her last rock draw for the win. The loss puts the U.S. women's record at 4-4. With a playoff position still attainable, they play Japan next.

The U.S. men are in a very similar situation. They fell to Italy 10-4 earlier in the day but are still in a position to make the playoffs. Tied for fourth place with the Russian Olympic Committee, the U.S. takes on Denmark next in a must-win situation. If the Americans do win, they'll have a 5-5 record in Beijing, the same record that took them to the playoffs at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. After the win, they would have to play the waiting game to see whether they make the playoffs, based on the performances of the nine other teams. -- Aishwarya Kumar

A week after taking silver in snowboard slopestyle at the Beijing Olympics, U.S. snowboarder Julia Marino withdrew from Monday's big air qualifier. On Tuesday on Instagram, Marino revealed why, writing that the International Olympic Committee had requested she cover the Prada logo on the base of her board or be disqualified from the event.

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Winter Olympics 2022 - Team USA men's hockey eliminated, U.S. goes 1-2 in slopestyle and more from the action in Beijing - ESPN

Great Britain's women's curling team powered to a 10-3 win over Japan to take gold on Sunday.

This was skipper Eve Muirhead's fourth Olympics and she finally has the gold she's so desperately wanted. The feat came 20 years after Great Britain's last gold in curling, which came back at Salt Lake City 2002 when Rhona Martin's rink won there.

"This is a moment I've dreamed of as a young child," Muirhead said. "To have this moment now, and know that I followed in Rhona's footsteps and have this gold medal around my neck, is something very, very special."

Muirhead's team of Vicky Wright, Jennifer Dodds, Hailey Duff and alternate Mili Smith, were dominant against Japan and the key moment came in the seventh end when Great Britain took four, to take a 8-2 lead. And they closed the match out to take a dominant 10-3 triumph.

The gold for Muirhead sits alongside her bronze from Sochi 2014 and helps mend the heartbreak of losing two semifinals. "It was emotional for sure," Muirhead said. "I managed to hold (the tears) until the flag was getting raised.

"It's a moment that I've been waiting for for so many years. The girls have helped me become a better curler. They've also helped me become a better person and without them I wouldn't be here."

The women's team secured their knockout spot by the thinnest of margins after winning five of their nine round-robin matches. Heading into the final batch of games, Muirhead's team needed to beat the ROC and rely on results elsewhere going their way. With the win-loss record-equalling out between Britain, Japan and Canada, it came down to the Draw Shot Challenge (which takes place before every game and rewards teams closest to the button) and Britain secured their spot in the semifinals by fewer than 10 centimetres ahead of Canada.

They then came back from four stones down in the first end to edge past Sweden 12-11 with the match needing an extra end.

And against Japan, the women picked up two points in the first end and controlled the scoreboard from there. They effectively clinched it in the seventh with that four to take an 8-2 lead, bringing the biggest cheer yet from the British fans in the crowd.

Japan could only manage one point in the eighth. When Muirhead took two in the ninth, the Japan captain Satsuki Fujisawa slid over to bump fists and concede. Another roar arose from the crowd, which included Great Britain's men's silver medalists.

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Winter Olympics 2022: GB claim gold with victory in women's curling final - ESPN