At the end of the Olympics, it came down to the amount of medals each country held, and America did anything but disappoint. With a total medal count of 37, Americans can stand with pride on top of the podium.
The medals that Evan Lysacek, Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Apolo Ohno, and the USA hockey teams won top my list. Lysacek had big competition over the Russian Evengi Plushenko, and there was definitely an air of rivalry between the two. Despite the hard-core edge that Plushenko tried to put on, everyone watching the event knew that he was worried about the Americans. Lysacek took the ice with nothing to lose and captivated everyone’s hearts. He was able to put on the best routine of his life and defeat the Russian snob that had been in his head since he stepped into Canada.
Shaun White is not human. After scoring not only one, but TWO nearly perfect scores (46.8 and 48.4 out of 50), he took gold in the Men’s Halfpipe Snowboard event. White didn’t even stop with great scores. No, he had to put on a show. White was able to complete a Double McTwist 1260 on his final run and completely blow the snowboarding world’s mind. He’s only 23–years-old at this point, what else does this kid have in mind for the rest of his life?
Lindsey Vonn wasn’t even sure that she was going to be able to compete in the Olympics a few days before the event because of an injury with her shin. Although she was only able to score gold in one of her events, Vonn was happy to even be able to get down the slopes. But hey, if you’re going to go, you may as well go hard, and Lindsey sure did. Lindsey took home gold in the Ladies’ Downhill Skiing, and a bronze in the Ladies’ Super-G. For having an injury that almost took her out of the games, I think she did pretty well at making America proud.
Apolo Ohno has gone down in history this year as the most decorated Winter Olympian ever, although he didn’t win gold this year. After being a big star in the last Winter Olympics, Ohno had a title to live up to. He didn’t crack under the pressure. He exceeded his limits and is now going down in the Olympic Hall of Fame.
America was able to take silver in both men’s and women’s ice hockey. While everyone was focusing so hard on the men’s games, I feel like the girls got a little overlooked. They had just as tough of a match as the boys and still were able to make a good showing in the final game against Canada.
The men’s team was in the spotlight the entire time. Canada was the enemy from the beginning with NHL star Sydney Crosby boosting the Canadian moral. In one of the most intense games ever, America was able to defeat the Canadians in their first match up. For the entire tournament, goalkeeper Ryan Miller was astounding. Not a thing was getting by that man. Miller, a veteran on the USA team, was a strong center and a confidence booster. America seemed to be a little frantic in the final game and Canada was able to come back and beat us for gold. Regardless of the fact that Canada won, we all know that Crosby has to come back to the good old US of A to make his living.
In the end, we all know that we are Americans. We were able to band together and support one team, sporting red, white, and blue. We came out as winners. And we are proud.
Allison Siegel can be reached for comment at [email protected]