March 28, 2024
Winners and losers of the 2018 winter games
PYEONGCHANG - With 102 events in the winter games, we can't possibly do justice to all the big winners and losers in this space. But these are the stories that we won't forget any time soon.

John Shuster found redemption on the curling sheet. Elise Christie did not find it on the short-track speedskating rink. Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randall made history in cross-country skiing. Ester Ledecka did the same in multiple sports. And, oh, Canada, what happened in curling and hockey?

Let's take a look back through an entertaining two-plus weeks of frigid action in South Korea with the biggest winners and losers of the Games.

It didn't take long for Norway to assert its dominance in Pyeongchang, as it earned four medals on each of the first two podium days of the Games, including a clean sweep in the men's 30-kilometer skiathlon. From there, it cruised to unofficial victory with 38 total medals. Canada finished second on the list with 29.

In the month leading up to the Winter Olympics, we were bombarded with the names of three American athletes: Shaun White, Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn.
White held up his end of the bargain, winning gold in the snowboarding halfpipe at the age of 31 with a phenomenal final run.

But the ski queens were a disappointment.

One of the few areas in which the United States was clearly the best in the world was snowboarding. Americans won four of the 10 gold medals as well as two silvers and a bronze. Canada was the only other country with more than two snowboarding medals, and the Canadians were well behind Team USA with four total.

The biggest stars for the Americans were a pair of teenagers who couldn't see an R-rated movie without an adult until a few months ago.

Redmond "Red" Gerard won the first gold medal in snowboarding in Pyeongchang. The 17-year-old struggled in the first two finals runs of the men's slopestyle event, but he threw down a ridiculous third run, edging a pair of Canadians for the gold. He also placed fifth in the men's big air event two weeks later.

Gerard was the surprise winner.

Chloe Kim was not.

Get ready to hear a lot about Kim and Gerard in the lead-up to the Beijing Games in 2022. It's already a foregone conclusion they will be marketing gold for the next four years.
Story Date: February 25, 2018
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