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    Travis Mewhirter

    Travis Mewhirter

  • Germany stuns Canada, advances to gold medal hockey match

    Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Men Semifinal Match – Canada v Germany – Gangneung Hockey Centre, Gangneung, South Korea – February 23, 2018 – Matthias Plachta and Yannic Seidenberg of Germany celebrate their victory.

  • What you missed while you were sleeping: Russia caught doping ... again, volunteers to save hundreds of dogs

    Russia had one job to do at these Winter Olympics: compete cleanly. Following the sanctions from a state-sponsored doping scandal in the wake of the 2014 Sochi Games, it was a gift from the International Olympic Committee to allow 168 Olympic Athletes from Russia compete in the 2018 Olympic Games. Earlier in the week, curler Alexander Krushelnitsky was caught using a banned substance called meldonium, which increases blood circulation and is the same substance that earned tennis player Maria Sharapova a 15-month ban.

  • American women set to out-medal their male counterparts for first time in 20 years

    In between Chloe Kim’s qualifying runs in the halfpipe, she let the world know, via Twitter, that she really would have appreciated a bowl of ice cream. Four magnificent runs, one more hangry tweet, and a gold medal later, the first American star of these Winter Olympics was born. It set the theme for the next few weeks to come: For the United States, these Games would be all about the women.

  • Elementary students make adorable sign for father of Canadian bronze medalist

    It’s an old school sign, one of those where you have to place individual letters behind a casing to spell out each word individually. Typically, this sign, which greets visitors at Fairbank Public School, will not feature personal messages. A teacher at the school is the father of Olympic bobsledder Phylicia George, who made history this year in becoming the first Canadian African-American female to compete in both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games.

  • The underdogs who crushed Vegas in the Winter Olympics

    It was the reaction of the Olympic Games, Ester Ledecka standing at the base of a mountain in Jeongseon, mouth agape, sure there was a mistake. Gold medalist Ester Ledecka, of the Czech Republic, prepares to receive the most unlikely gold medal of the PyeongChang Games.

  • Dominant Belarus biathlete is a former KGB agent

    To the surprise of few, Belarus has not been a big presence at these Winter Olympics. Two have come thanks to a 31-year-old named Darya Domracheva, a biathlete with an exceptional knack for shooting. Aside from the fact that Domracheva trains that aspect of the sport for competition, she had also apparently been honing it as a KGB agent, a position she held until 2014.

  • What you missed while you were sleeping: The biggest night in U.S. women's hockey history

    Oops, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson did it again. It’s her coach’s name for the move Lamoureux-Davidson laid down for the gold medal-winning goal in Thursday’s thrilling, shootout game against Canada, a 3-2 triumph that has been 20 years in the making. Maddie Rooney, the goalie who would stuff the ensuing Canadian shot to preserve the victory, has no specific name for the final save, though apparently Wikipedia came up with one for her: United States Secretary of Defense.

  • Lindsey Vonn won't stop until she's officially the GOAT

    Lindsey Vonn’s mixed yet magnificent Olympic career came to an end on Thursday with a missed gate and, by extension, a missed podium in the women’s alpine combined event. After her truncated run in the slalom portion of the combined, Vonn told reporters that she’s intent on breaking Ingemar Stenmark’s record of World Cup wins. Vonn’s 81 World Cup victories are already tops among women all time, and she needs only five more to tie Stenmark, with six setting herself alone at the top, the unquestioned Greatest of All Time.

  • What do women's professional hockey players do when it's not an Olympic year?

    Canadian forward Meghan Agosta skated left, and then right, faked sharp right then left and tried to slip the final shot of the gold medal match back around U.S. goalie Maddie Rooney’s right leg. Rooney was ready and stuffed the shot, sealing the long-awaited gold medal for the United States women’s hockey team. It seemed as if the entire United States was suddenly a nation of impassioned women’s hockey fans.

  • IOC strips Russian curler of Olympic bronze medal

    On Thursday, the IOC officially stripped Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky and his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova, of their Olympic bronze medals won during the mixed curling competition, the first event of these Olympic Games. Krushelnitsky tested positive for the banned substance meldonium, which increases blood circulation and is the same substance that earned tennis player Maria Sharapova a 15-month ban. Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky was officially stripped of his bronze medal.

  • Phylicia George makes history for Canada in women's bobsled

    On the surface, there was little to be deeply interested about in the women’s bobsled at the Winter Olympics on Tuesday. Yes, the event is exciting, because anytime a bobsled carrying two human beings is shot down an icy mountain, well, that’s just plain exciting. History, though, could still be made, and it was the moment that Canadian Phylicia George stepped into the sleigh.

  • Elise Christie's devastating bad luck continues

    At this point in Elise Christie’s otherwise brilliant career as a short track speed skater, she is known more for her proclivity for falls and disqualifications in the Winter Olympics than her records and world championship. On Tuesday in Gangneung, Great Britain’s speed skater did it again. Short Track Speed Skating Events – Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Women’s 1000m Competition – Gangneung Ice Arena – Gangneung, South Korea – February 20, 2018 – Elise Christie of Britain reacts.

  • X Games events keeping United States alive in these Olympics

    It was an auspicious start to these Games for the United States. The very next day, Jamie Anderson defended her gold medal in the slopestyle, making the U.S. 4-of-4 in slopestyle gold medals in its nascent Olympic lifespan.

  • What you missed while you were sleeping: Someone stop Norway, Rippon is back, Japan sets short track record

    If you’ve been watching the 2018 Winter Olympics, you have essentially been tuning into a celebration of Norwegian athleticism. Norway is now at 25 medals, nine of which are gold, which puts it eight ahead of second-place Germany and 15 ahead of the United States. Maren Lundby is one of nine gold medalists for Norway, which is dominating this year’s Winter Olympics.

  • Adam Rippon to work for NBC for remainder of 2018 Olympic Games

    Adam Rippon, in his own words, is “not a gay icon or America’s gay sweetheart.” While his Olympics may be over as a competitor, with a bronze in the team figure skating event and a 10th as an individual, the self-proclaimed iconic sweetheart of the United States will remain in PyeongChang as a contributor for NBC, according to USA Today. NBC Spokesman Greg Hughes told USA Today that Rippon will work in television and digital and social media.

  • Olympic curlers: Fitter than you think

    Curling doesn’t appear to be a sport of much physical demand. Athletes move very little, don’t need to pick up anything particularly heavy, nor is anything especially explosive. Their movements are eased by the fact that they’re gliding or kneeling across the ice, though perhaps the sweeping could be a bit of an arm workout.

  • Why Norway doesn't list the weight of its Olympic athletes

    The red and indigo blue flag of Norway has been a ubiquitous presence at the Olympic Games these past few weeks. With nine golds, nine silvers and another seven bronzes, the Norwegians have made the podium 25 times with a week left, eight more than Germany and 15 more than a struggling United States team. Because this is the Olympics, a massive platform for niche sports, there is an abundance of information, both relevant and entirely useless but fun nonetheless, on athletes most Americans would otherwise have never heard of.

  • The best gold-medal winning reaction at the Olympics so far

    Aliona Savchenko has been here before. Five times now the 34-year-old German has competed in the Winter Olympics. She missed out on a gold medal in her first four, despite an abundantly decorated career that included five pairs World Championships gold medals, four European Championships gold medals and another four gold medals at the Grand Prix Final.

  • Iron Man, jaguars, flaming skeletons: The coolest skeleton helmets from the Olympic Games

    The danger is one thing, the Olympic version of a thriller movie, where you don’t really want to watch but you can’t help but uncover your eyes just to see American Matthew Antoine safely cross the finish line in 51.16 seconds. Each helmet is custom-designed per racer, like a race car only without all the sponsors — think Ricky Bobby’s “ME” car. One of the most iconic images in regards to American skeleton racing is that of Jim Shea, the 2002 gold medalist, when skeleton was reintroduced to the Olympic Games after a half-decade hiatus.