Overview

Well, we apparently can't win gold medals, but we won a cricket match vs. in the T20 World Cup!

I want to fully respond on this. Quickly though, Ever since Saturday, I feared that something like this could happen to Ilia, after his short program in the team event. As for Shiffrin, when she was in the start house, she seemed to be very uptight and constantly banging her poles around - not the look of someone who is confident about the upcoming race, Maybe she does that all the time anyway, but right after she finished, NBC said she looked very tight. Stoddard, I don't know enough about her, and I hadn't penciled her in for anything. C&B and Chloe did their best, and it just wasn't their day. I do have some questions about the judging for C&B and I feel badly for them. To be continued ...

At least our hockey team is good...

It just sucks, too, because Ilia has skated beautifully this whole season. Never a mistake. Finally saw a mistake in the SP of the Grand Prix Final, and then of course this...just the pressure got to him. He is human after all, as we found out. I'd just want to crawl in a hole and not come out for a good long while...

Ugly day for USA. C'mon Jordan!!

Ok, gotta figure out how to recover from that, Team USA. Tomorrow... 04:00 Men's GS Run 1 05:20 W Dual Moguls (finishing before 05:50) 06:00 W Cross-Country Relay 07:30 GS Run 2 08:05 M Curling vs. 08:45 W Biathlon Sprint 10:00 W Team Pursuit QF 11:00 M 500m Speed Skating (Don't choke, Jordan!) 13:05 W Curling vs. 13:35 W Skeleton Final Run 13:57 M LH Ski Jump Finals 14:15 Short Track Starts (M 1500 QF, W 1000 heats, M 1500 SF, W 3000 Relay SF, M 1500 Finals, finishing 16:45) 15:10 M Hockey vs.

I feel for Ilia (who wouldn't). I'm glad I saw it live, but it probably now ranks highest in Olympic events I never want to see again.

Finally managed to watch. That hurt. (Happy for Shaidorov .)

Your examples are duly noted….and yes those are good example of success. For example look at Diggins…injury and all mentally willed herself to a podium. Watching Ogden at the start line of the sprint..you could see that dude was getting on the podium. I’m not saying it’s an epidemic but something is different than the past and it’s more than just one athlete. My observation goes even deeper than favorites not medalling, they have almost looked paralyzed. Honestly I watched Stolz first race while standing waiting for something to happen and if you watch and even heard him in his interview at 600m he was in trouble in his pair but then he flipped the switch. Even watching a number of those not as favorites struggle when the pressure gets on more than usual. Performing your best and not winning a medal at the Olympics is something to be proud of for sure. I’m watching body language, facial expressions, there’s trouble for many of them. I’m used to seeing a determined confidence.

Ehhh... I wouldn't generalize it like that. Shiffrin, Malinin and Stoddard like you mentioned are struggling with the pressure of expectations. But, there are plenty of athletes/teams that have responded to the pressure (women's hockey, Chock/Bates, Stolz, mixed doubles curling, women's moguls). Sure, there are individual examples of failure under pressure. There will be individual examples at every Olympics. But, I don't think that's a big enough sample size to generalize it to "American athletes".

Ok, I am going to state what I think is pretty obvious…..our American athletes are really struggling with the mental side of things this Olympics. I know Shiffrin struggled 4 years ago and based on the team event, nothing has really changed. Stoddard was a force during the WC season and wasn’t able to hardly complete a lap. Now tonight. Honestly for the last 30+ years of Olympic watching I have watched Americans rise to the challenge and perform when the pressure was greatest. Something has changed. I’m not knocking our athletes, but I think we need to examine our mental preparation. Something really feels different. Thoughts?

I have not been impressed with the men's team. They are young, so I didn't expect a medal. But, they make way too many mistakes and don't generate enough offense.

NBD...just our women beating the Canadians for the first time in the Olympics.

I would like to file a complaint with the IOC schedulers...next Thursday we have the Women's Free Skate and the Women's Hockey Gold Medal Match. How am I to choose? (Also would like to file a complaint with the schedulers of our church retreat, which begins that day, so I have to be on the road for almost 3 hours at some point in the day.) #firstworldproblems

Dawson withdrew from the 10k today.

Campbell in 12th after the Sprint...only missed one...in pretty good standing for Pursuit...c'mon our Resident Kiwi! (Looking at his splits, he lost a TON of time at the end...ran out of gas...had the potential to be up a few more places.)

I think Ilia will pull it out. Maybe we win a medal in speed skating and/or halfpipe??

Per this, Ilia is planning his 7-quad routine...

Tomorrow...any golds in store? I hope Ilia comes out with a fire and nabs it! 03:05 M Curling vs. 05:45 M 10km Cross-Country Interval Start Free (though not expected to medal) 07:30 W SBX Bracket begins (finishes by 8:45) 08:00 M Biathlon Sprint - C'mon Campbell...be on your game! 08:05 W Curling vs. 10:00 M 10000m Long Track - Casey Dawson has the potential... 13:00 Men's Figure Skating - Ilia Malinin, as long as he does his thing 13:30 M Snowboard Halfpipe - we have three guys here 13:30, 15:05 M Skeleton final heats (we're not in contention really) 15:10 W Hockey vs. (Quarterfinals)

Yep, getting hungry for a gold at this point.

The 15-16 gold medal haul now seems wildly optimistic.

Good result for him! Will he be back in 2030 at 48 years old??

Happy to see Baumgartner make it all the way to the Small Final

10 medals in the last 48 hours matches USA best two-day stretch in the WOG (had 10 medals in two-day stretch in 2010 as well). Hoping for at least one gold tomorrow (Kim?) and maybe a surprise or two (Diggins, Super G, ST, luge).