Medals Madness

With a full day of travel and the Opening Ceremony under my belt, it was time for the real work to begin. Day one started with men's slopestyle snowboarding and ended with women's moguls.

Being the first day and my first trip up to the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, I wasn't really sure how long things were going to take or how accurate the media bus schedule was going to be. Still, I left my hotel armed with a timetable of all the buses, extra layers of clothing in my backpack and every charger you could think to bring. I quickly learned that, while chargers are always necessary, carrying my life in my backpack most definitely was not (especially if I wanted to be able to feel my shoulders at the end of the day).

To say things got off with a bang would be an understatement! Sage Kotsenburg claimed the first gold medal of the Olympics (in slopestyle snowboarding). It was the first time since 1952 that the USA had earned the first gold medal of the Games! It was pretty awesome to experience firsthand the process athletes go through when they win a medal. First, they were escorted from the finish area to a podium for the in-stadium flower ceremony (medals were awarded in the Medals Plaza down in the Coastal area at night), then they were ushered through the mixed zone and finally ended up in the Press Center for their press conference. After that, they were whisked away for more media and preparations for the Medals Ceremony.

That evening, though, there was no time to get down to the coast for medals! Instead, Sarah and I made our way to Stadium HAM (which stood for halfpipe, aerials, moguls) at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park for women's moguls. Hannah Kearney, the defending Olympic Champion, was the heavy favorite for the night's event. While things didn't go exactly how she wanted (she ended up with bronze), it was still exciting to be there.

Day one: two for two for USSA athletes in medals at events!

Onto day two, which consisted of the first alpine event (men's downhill) and women's slopestyle snowboarding.

Downhill was very exciting! Although we didn't end up on the podium, Travis Ganong got his career-best result (to that point...a few weeks later, he ended up on a World Cup podium!) and Bode Miller is just incredible to watch. The Rosa Khutor Alpine Center venue was breathtakingly gorgeous, as well. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of media in person that I had previously only spoken with via email.

Post-downhill, Sarah and I booked it over to the Extreme Park's Stadium PSX (parallel, slopestyle, cross...also, pronounced "pee-six" by the Russians) for women's slopestyle snowboarding. This was the first of many trips down the infamous steps by the Extreme Park gondola (imagine the longest staircase you've ever been up and multiply it by two but add in rocks, mud, snow and ice...and lots of people). Jamie Anderson rocked the course, bringing home yet another gold medal for the USA.

Since there were no events that Sarah and I had to be at that evening, we hopped on the TM10 after Jamie's win and headed down to the Coastal Cluster for our first Medals Ceremony. Since it was only our second trip down to the coast, we weren't 100% sure where we were going. Fortunately, though, the Medals Plaza was right in the middle of everything!

We just squeaked into the Medals Ceremony before it started. I gotta say, though...there's just something amazing about hearing your national anthem while watching your flag rise to the top of the flagpole in Olympic Park. Even at my last Medals Ceremony of the Olympics, it was still awe-inspiring.

After medals, we decided to head over to USA House, the hospitality house hosted by the USOC, to get photos and social media content of the Order of Ikkos ceremony. Order of Ikkos is a very cool ceremony where athletes that win medals have the opportunity to present a coach with a medal, as well, to thank them for all their work on the road to success. We got to listen to both Hannah and Jamie share their Order of Ikkos awards, which was very moving.

Finally, as midnight crept up on us, Sarah and I made our way back to the Main Media Center (via a very long walk, as we didn't quite have the bus system down yet for the coast), hopped back on the TM10 and slept as we made our way back home to the mountains.

Two days, three medals in the books. 14 days to go!