I've been enjoying watching the Pyeongchang Olympics. It's been such a treat.
Ever since "my" Olympics, in Sarajevo, I've been closely following the Winter Olympics events.
And inevitably each Olympics had stories that have become part of history.
Pyeongchang Olympics hasn't been different - there have been already a couple of amazing achievements, but I will focus here on women's alpine skiing.
Yesterday, during women's Super G race, things were going almost in a routine fashion. The best in the world were holding the first three spots (except that the best out of best ones was sharing the fifth place. And she would've been leading if she didn't make that error at the very end).
And then something happened that has never happened before. The girl who wasn't supposed to be on the top, or in the top twenty, started her run as the 26th skier. Her run was bumpy, wild, maybe shaky too, but throughout the run, she was leading and when she crossed the finish line, her time was in "green".
That meant that she was leading, that she posted the fastest time. She was 0.01 seconds, faster than the current leader, the defending Olympic champion from the skiing nation, Austria.
TV camera focused on her upper body, so we were able to see her face. Her face looked puzzled. She was standing there, almost confused, I guess looking at that green colour, and not believing that she was indeed on the top. That was something so pure and amazing.
This was more incredible because she is not a skier, she is a snowboarder, that's what you'll find on the internet, and even more importantly, that's who she considered herself to be - a snowboarder.
An even more amazing reaction, excitement, and emotions came from commentators. Our Canadian commentators were freaking out - they let out their emotions too, it was pure happiness. Like kids.
It felt so good to watch and to listen to all of that.
Another crazy thing is that she borrowed Super-G skis before the race, and her lender was another equally amazing athlete.
The good thing for us, for viewers and audience, is that there still might be more. Ester Ledecká will compete in her snowboarding events, in the sport that she's dominated. That means that she has a chance to win gold in snowboarding. If that happens, it will be the first time ever that anyone won a gold medal (or medals) in different sports in the winter Olympics.
What a treat to watch that.
What she did is comparable to someone who is really good at badminton but decides to play tennis as well, and then goes to Wimbledon and wins it.
How incredible that would be.
The Olympics have been always been inspirational from so many angles. This was the ultimate one. Perhaps the most descriptive and humble comment came from the best female skier ever - she said:
"All I can say is I wish I had so much athleticism as she does to be able to win at two sports in the same Olympics, because I'm only good at one sport, and that's ski racing. So the fact that she was able to beat all of us and be a snowboarder is pretty darn impressive".
There are no limits.
Ever since "my" Olympics, in Sarajevo, I've been closely following the Winter Olympics events.
And inevitably each Olympics had stories that have become part of history.
Pyeongchang Olympics hasn't been different - there have been already a couple of amazing achievements, but I will focus here on women's alpine skiing.
Yesterday, during women's Super G race, things were going almost in a routine fashion. The best in the world were holding the first three spots (except that the best out of best ones was sharing the fifth place. And she would've been leading if she didn't make that error at the very end).
And then something happened that has never happened before. The girl who wasn't supposed to be on the top, or in the top twenty, started her run as the 26th skier. Her run was bumpy, wild, maybe shaky too, but throughout the run, she was leading and when she crossed the finish line, her time was in "green".
That meant that she was leading, that she posted the fastest time. She was 0.01 seconds, faster than the current leader, the defending Olympic champion from the skiing nation, Austria.
TV camera focused on her upper body, so we were able to see her face. Her face looked puzzled. She was standing there, almost confused, I guess looking at that green colour, and not believing that she was indeed on the top. That was something so pure and amazing.
This was more incredible because she is not a skier, she is a snowboarder, that's what you'll find on the internet, and even more importantly, that's who she considered herself to be - a snowboarder.
An even more amazing reaction, excitement, and emotions came from commentators. Our Canadian commentators were freaking out - they let out their emotions too, it was pure happiness. Like kids.
Another crazy thing is that she borrowed Super-G skis before the race, and her lender was another equally amazing athlete.
The good thing for us, for viewers and audience, is that there still might be more. Ester Ledecká will compete in her snowboarding events, in the sport that she's dominated. That means that she has a chance to win gold in snowboarding. If that happens, it will be the first time ever that anyone won a gold medal (or medals) in different sports in the winter Olympics.
What a treat to watch that.
What she did is comparable to someone who is really good at badminton but decides to play tennis as well, and then goes to Wimbledon and wins it.
How incredible that would be.
The Olympics have been always been inspirational from so many angles. This was the ultimate one. Perhaps the most descriptive and humble comment came from the best female skier ever - she said:
"All I can say is I wish I had so much athleticism as she does to be able to win at two sports in the same Olympics, because I'm only good at one sport, and that's ski racing. So the fact that she was able to beat all of us and be a snowboarder is pretty darn impressive".
There are no limits.
