Unexpected winners

The winter olympics were fantastic and I really enjoy watching the different events. If I had to summarize these games I would call them the games of unexpected winners. 

Starting by Sweden which was at its best and finished the games with 14 medals: 7 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze. Experts before the games had predicted around 8 medals in total.

The neighbour Norway was even more impressive conquering 39 medals, beating all other participating countries. Marit Bjorgen alone won 5 of those and became at the age of 37 the most decorated winter olympian of all times. She has won 15 olympic medals in total and 8 of them are gold. A living legend. 

But that was not unexpected. The following ones were.

Samuel Girard - Short-track Speedskating 1000m

During the semi final the commentators said that he wouldn't have a chance at the medal, but he went through to the final anyway. At the beginner of the final they said he was lucky to be there and wouldn't win. Then suddenly someone falls, dragging someone else along and there you go... Samuel Girard got the gold after all. Speedskating is fun exactly because of that - anything can happen. 

Photo from the internet

Ester Ledecka - Slalom Super G

The race was over, as the athletes left to compete were all ranked too low. Too low to win a medal, they all thought. The "winner" was celebrating, people were packing their things and the public started to exit the stadium. All this while Ester Ledecka was sliding down the hill. At first, the commentators pointed her mistakes with no interest but as they noticed how fast she was the enthusiasm grew. She ended up being the fastest crossing the finish line and was left in the middle of the snow, looking confused at the board. She just didn't believe she had won and thought it was a mistake, but the time was never corrected and the victory started to register. Skiing is not even her main sport, it is snowboard. Oh yeah, and by the way, a few days later she took the gold for snowboarding as well, becoming a remarkable two-sport history-maker. Way to go!!

Photo from the internet

Hanna Öberg - Biathlon

She is a young promising Swedish athlete and has been doing great, but no one could imagine or even dared to dream that she would take the gold at this early age. Biathlon consists of a combination of skiing and shooting (from 50m away) and a lot relies on the last part. Hanna is a great shooter and while top athletes failed their shots and had to take punishment rounds, she never missed one and headed straight for the finish line. She was very happy and surprised at the same time. Like she could almost not believe that it was true. Her colleague Mona Brorsson was even happier and their hug was my favourite moment in the whole olympics. A moment of pure and shared happiness. 

Photo from the internet

Emotion, tears, happiness, frustration and a lot of olympic spirit was what made the winter olympics in Pyeongchang. Now we have to wait another 2 years for some more olympic fun.