Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Chloe Kim, Gus Kenworthy, Maame Biney. This is just a small example of the USA’s 2018 Winter Olympic team.
Winter Olympic stars do what the Summer Olympics do, but on ice. Speed skating is the winter equivalent of track and field. Figure skating is the winter equivalent of gymnastics.
I can run and I can swim, but I can not drop into a halfpipe in negative degree weather and do a double McTwist 1260 on a small plastic board. I can not ski down a mountain at 100 miles an hour or go head first down an ice slide with no padding.
Have you ever watched luge? Or skiing moguls where you have to go as fast as possible, over bumps, and then do tricks? What in the world?! Most of these sports, like curling, seem to be made up out of the blue. Let’s slide polished rocks over ice and involve brooms. True insanity.
Personally, I would like to see Summer Olympic athletes attempt winter sports. Michael Phelps speed skating. Simone Biles figure skating. Show me Ryan Lochte doing the ski jump. It would not end well.
The Winter Olympics is one of the greatest examples of what the human body is capable of. It is more extreme than the X-Games and brings together people during the coldest time of the year. Not to mention, the outfits are cuter. Team USA is rocking the Ralph Lauren and those sweaters look super comfortable.
There are few times when watching the Summer Olympics where I yelled “How did they do that?!” but I have uttered these words every day since Feb. 8, and I know I will for the next two weeks.
As I write this, I am in tears in The DePauw newsroom watching Shaun White win his third gold medal, the USA’s 100th gold medal in Olympic games history.
The Summer Olympics is a glorified track and field day. The Winter Olympics is the epitome of human existence. It is the best. Don’t hate them because you can’t be them.
