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What's the significance of the outfits the actors are wearing during the flag parade? I assume it's from an opera but they seem very Chinese/Japanese in their fashion. Madame Butterfly characters?

State (Province) Medal Winning Olympians From Minnesota 12 Michigan 9 Colorado 7 California 7 New York 5 Massachusetts 5 Illinois 5 Ohio 4 Pennsylvania 3 Florida 3 Arizona 3 Wisconsin 2 Texas 2 New Hampshire 2 Missouri 2 Alaska 2 Wyoming 1 Washington 1 Virginia 1 Vermont 1 Utah 1 Oregon 1 North Dakota 1 Nebraska 1 Montana 1 Idaho 1 Connecticut 1 Alberta 1

Women's Monobob is up there. That was the only time I was able to get friends over to watch the games and that result was a shock gold medal for the US. But Alysa Liu's free skate is the winner. Her display of joy should be the standard for figure skating.

This was the best Winter Olympics for the US. This will be very hard to beat for a while. Mark me down with a 9 in the end.

First, Ice Climbing. If it could appear anywhere it should happen in France. I also support cross country running and biking, but Ice Climbing is distinctly a winter sport. It's different from sport climbing more so then any other “summer sport on ice”. Second, I would like to see a mixed team event in Freestyle Ski and Snowboard that combines halfpipe, big-air, and slopestyle plus moguls in ski and something like knucklehuck for snowboarding. It would be a chaotic mess, there's no way to fairly equate the scores between all 4 events when there could be a mix of genders in each discipline. Also it would be a broadcasting and logistics nightmare. But you can't say it wouldn't be fun to see.

Coming back to this to compare the pre-Olympics predictions to the actual results. Not saying I was a great predictor. I had some blind spots in sports that I didn't even list as a possibility . My predictions of 30 medals came short by 3. Alpine Skiing: Predicted 3, Actual 4. Required the whole ski team to get this result. Each medal went to a unique athelte. I thought it would be Shiffrin's games, but she still got her piece of the gold pie. Bobsleigh: Predicted 1, Actual 3. Proud of predicting the monobob win, but 3 was the max number I thought possible. Cross-Country Skiing: Predicted 3, Actual 3 Got the right number, but 2 men's medals was not the path I forsaw at all. Curling: Predicted 0, Actual 1 The legend of the Cory/Korey's will endure. I won't leave the sport off ever again. Figure Skating: Predicted 4, Actual 3 First under prediction. To be fair, everyone would have thought Ilia was a lock for at least a medal. The biggest miss of the games for the whole team but the best opportunity in the French Alps. Freestyle Skiing: Predicted 9, Actual 8 I didn't break down this prediction, but proud of the number. I came up with 9 just as +1 to the 2022 total with the addition of doubles mogul. Considering we got two medals in doubles mogul we did actually underperform in the men's events. Ice Hockey: Predicted 2, Actual 2 Only thing I was off by was predicting the men's medal would be bronze. Luge: Predicted 0, Actual 1 A very nice surprise Short Track: Predicted 0, Actual 1 At least I said there was a possibility here unlike Luge and Curling. An odd bronze was exactly where I saw this coming from. Skeleton: Predicted 1, Actual 0 Highest rank for the US here was 7th. I picked the wrong sled. Snowboard: Predicted 3, Actual 2 Fair to say the US is not a powerhouse in snowboarding any longer. I was almost right about Ollie Martin getting bronze in big air, but it was a different event the men got their bronze. Speed Skating: Predicted 4, Actual 5 I can't say I meant to predict Stolz missing a medal in the Mass Start, but I'll take it. I was exact other then Women's Mass Start. 33 in the end! I'd rather get some surprises then underperform expectations. If I did do a full medal by medal breakdown I'm sure I would have over predicted golds by a couple. I can think of 5 events (figure men, ice dance, women's board halfpipe, men's skate mass start, men's team pursuit) off the top of my head where US were favorites but didn't win. Only question left, 11 or 12 golds in the end? We'll see in the next few minutes.

That was great. Run it back. It feels like skiing with a lot of pitstops.

Semis went exactly this way. I'm no bettor but I'll stick with this prediction

What a final! Conflicting feelings being absolutely exhilarated for Liu but gutted for Glenn missing out on the podium with such an amazing free skate. I guess she’ll always be a gold medalist for the team. She proved what she needed with that skate. Anyway they should rename MacArthur Park Liu Park during the 2028 games in honor.

If we’re going by the track record of the mixed doubles tournament where the group stage result was flipped in every playoff match: Sweden beats Canada, Swiss beats US. Canada bronze, Sweden silver, Swiss gold. For the sake of a US medal I’m looking for only repeats

The US has officially tied the 2022 medal count when considering Women's hockey is already a confirmed medal. Now the question is can we get 3 more golds to break the 9 gold streak started last time the Winter Olympics was on Italian ice?

How did that collapse happen so drastically in the last few laps?

Smart run throwing in the switch 180 before the double cork. She could put a bigger trick into that second jump but she might not need to.

I chose the year precisely. Beijing is to Stoltz as Sydney was to Phelps. Both there as teens but coming into their own in the next games

And he’ll only be 29 in Utah. This is the first of many golds. This is Phelps in Athens.