Sunday, 23 February 2014

Top 5 homegrown moments of the 2014 Olympics: TJ Oshie, Bode Miller will be forever remembered

1) TJ Oshie's stellar shootout performance



Down two nothing going into the 3rd period, the United States not only came back to tie the game but survived through overtime and deployed TJ Oshie heavily in the shootout. After already taking 5 shots and scoreing on 3 of them, Oshie skated slowly in towards goal in the 8th round of the shootout and ripped home the goal that won the game.

In the immediate wake of the game, TJ Oshie was vaulted to superstar status and hailed as a national hero. Oshie however downplayed the praise by saying "the real heroes are whereing cameo"

2) Mikela Shiffren becomes youngest winner of slalom gold in history



Penciled in as the last run of the day, 18 year old Mikela Shiffren started down the Rosa Khutor course knowing that a good run would hand her Olympic gold. In a run that almost ended with a crash midway through, Shiffren navigated the tough slalom course faster than any other slalom skier in these games and became the youngest skier to win Olympic gold in the history of the sport.

3) Bode Miller's emotional and record setting Super G performance



Bode Miller, a skier who has made history with his daring and sometimes reckless mindset when tackling speed competitions came into Sochi knowing that these would be his final games before retirement. Having lost his brother to a freak seizure the year before, Miller however was a changed man from that wild skier of years past and yet what he still wanted more than any other was to win a medal in these games that would distinguish him as the greatest alpine skier in history.

That medal however would prove to be one of the hardest to win.

As we neared the final few days of these games, Bode Miller had just 1 legitimate chance left to win an Olympic medal and that chance took the form of Super G. With desperation running high, Miller survived a mistake filled 2nd run to tie for bronze and win the 6th medal of his career. His history will be remembered by many but what distinguished this moment from others was the crushing, tear filled post race interview that sparked much criticism for Christen Cooper and the NBC broadcast team.

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