Maddie Rooney’s save from Meghan Agosta handed the US a 3-2 shootout success as they ended Canada’s dominance of the event after a tense final had finished all-square at the conclusion of the overtime period at the Gangneung Hockey Center.

The result gave the US a first gold since they won the inaugural women’s tournament at the 1998 Games in Nagano.

Their triumph also avenged the defeats they suffered to Canada in the final of the last two competitions in Sochi and Vancouver.

“Before Meghan came down, I just looked over at the bench and saw my teammates pointing at me, just one more, and to have their support made it a whole lot easier,” said Rooney.

“I just reacted to her and then everything kind of went into a blur.

“When she cut across like that, a lot of people tend to go five hole so I kind of anticipated it.”

Hilary Knight scored the game’s opening goal to put the US in front in the dying stages of the first period.

Quick-fire strikes from Haley Irwin and Marie-Philip Poulin then swung the contest in the favor of the Canadian team in the second stanza.

The US went in search of a late equalizer in a thrilling encounter between the two sides and it came thanks to Monique Lamoureux-Morando in the 54th minute.

After neither team was able to find a winner, the match went into a 20-minute sudden death overtime period.

The two sides could still not be separated following the additional time, leaving a shoot-out as the only remaining method to decide the Olympic champions.

It is the first time a women’s ice hockey final had gone to a shoot-out.

The teams remained deadlocked after five rounds until Lamoureux-Morando gave the US the upper hand.

Agosta needed to find the net to keep Canadian hopes alive but was thwarted by the considerable presence of Rooney in the American goal, sparking wild celebrations from the US team.

Finland claimed bronze yesterday with a 3-2 win over the Olympic Athletes from Russia.

“It’s an indescribable feeling,” added Rooney.

“This group of women are just amazing to do it with.

“We had great role models in 1998 and to do it with this group, this was the group to do it.”

By Liam Morgan

Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz. 

The beauty of the Olympics is the possibilities they offer.

For some, it’s medals and records. For others, it’s the experience and the memories that will last a lifetime.

And then there are those who want nothing more than to inspire. To plant the seed of an idea, and provide the motivation necessary to make it grow.

Seun Adigun and Akuoma Omeoga knew they wouldn’t challenge for a medal in women’s bobsled at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Indeed, the Nigerians were dead last after the first two heats Tuesday night, and the 3.50-second gap between them and the leaders might as well be a chasm in a sport decided by tenths and hundredths of a second.

But there is a greater purpose in their presence here. As the first bobsled team from an African country, they will forever be an example of what happens when you dare to chase a dream.

“You can do whatever you want,” Omeoga said. “If you see our faces and we inspire you to do something, then that’s absolutely all we ask for.”

Adigun and Omeoga are Americans, with family ties to Nigeria. You might have heard of Adigun’s second cousin, in fact, the NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon.

Both ran track in college, Adigun at Houston and Omeoga at Minnesota, and Adigun represented Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Two years later, as Adigun watched Aja Evans and some other track friends make the transition to bobsled, she decided to give it a try, too.

She initially trained with the U.S. team, starting as a brakeman. When she heard that Nigeria didn’t have a bobsled program, however, something clicked. She recruited Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere, and together they formed the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria.

To say it was a barebones operation is an understatement. They started a crowdfunding campaign to pay for training – they raised $75,000 – and built a wooden sled so Omeoga and Onwumere could learn how to push.

Which begs the question of how, exactly, one builds a bobsled. Even a crude replica of one.

“You just kind of walk through a hardware store and think that this works and that works and this wood is long enough and that one is and let’s hammer it all together,” Adigun said.

Simple, but it worked well enough that within three months of teaming up in October 2016, the Nigerian team was on ice for the first time at a race in Park City, Utah.

The Nigerians haven’t raced on the World Cup circuit, securing their spot in Pyeongchang through a lower-tiered circuit, instead.

Still, to go from zero to the Olympics in less than 18 months is no small feat.

“You have these outlandish kind of ideas, and then all of the sudden you see them slowly but surely manifest themselves into reality,” Adigun said. “Every milestone that comes, everyone that gets involved, you start to see it come together.”

The Nigerians are competing 30 years after Jamaica’s “Cool Runnings” sled shattered the myth that you have to have winter to be a Winter Olympian, and they welcome the comparisons between the teams. Just as the Jamaicans opened a whole new world of possibilities for their island nation, the Nigerians hope they can do the same for the African continent.

Already, Adigun and Omeoga said, the Nigerian Olympic Committee is hearing from others who want to join them on their crazy journey.

“I don’t think it’s hit us how impactful this whole process is actually going to be in the long run,” Adigun said. “We’re so honored and humbled to be in the position that we are, to be able to show people that impossible is nothing. And that you don’t have to quantify things by just a result, a first place, second place or any time.”

Every Olympian is fueled by a dream. The confirmation that it’s achievable is a prize in and of itself.

By Nancy Armour

This article was republished with permission from the original author and 2015 Ronald Reagan Media Award recipient, Nancy Armour, and the original publisher, USA Today. Follow columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.

Goggia, leader in World Cup standings ahead of Vonn, clocked what proved to be an unrivaled time of 1:39.22 at the Jeongseon Alpine Center.

Vonn’s hopes of becoming a double Olympic downhill champion were ended when she crossed the line 0.47 seconds behind Goggia,

Mowinckel then relegated the American down into the bronze medal position after finishing just 0.09 seconds off the pace.

Goggia becomes the first Italian woman to win an Alpine skiing event at the Winter Olympics since Daniela Ceccarelli claimed super-G gold at Salt Lake City 2002.

“I still haven’t quite realized yet,” she said on her victory.

“I think I’ll realize when I’m on the podium.

“I’m very proud.

“I feel so focused on the day that I haven’t realized yet what I’ve done.

“It’s about me and my skiing and not the others.”

In what she said would “most likely” be her final Olympic downhill race, Vonn set off fast before losing speed in the middle of the run.

The 33-year-old had been looking to repeat her downhill triumph from Vancouver 2010.

Injury had denied her the opportunity to defend her title at Sochi 2014.

Vonn has broken the record for oldest female medalist in Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics, previously held by Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister, winner of he Turin 2006 super-G aged 32 years and 332 days.

“It was tough to contemplate this being my last Olympic downhill,” she said.

“I struggled to try to keep the emotions together, but I left it all on the mountain like I said I would.

“I skied really well, but I think Sofia is untouchable today.”

Mowinckel’s runners-up finish sees her add another silver medal to the one she won in the giant slalom last Thursday (February 15).

She is the first Norwegian woman to win multiple medals in Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics.

“I’m so surprised, but I’m super happy,” Mowinckel said.

“I just tried to bring the best I could do and it was by far my best downhill race ever.

“To do it in the Olympics is amazing.

“Right now, I’m baffled and surprised and can’t really understand it, though I know I’ve done well.

“I really need some time to understand this – I’m so happy.”

Alpine skiing action at Pyeongchang 2018 is due to continue tomorrow when the men’s slalom and women’s Alpine combined slalom events are due to be held.

By Daniel Etchells

Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz. 

It is a representation of the lack of progress organizers have made in cementing legacy plans that we are still discussing the issue past the halfway point of the Winter Olympic Games here.

Senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) official Christophe Dubi confirmed a piece of information at a press briefing this week that the majority of us knew already; that there was still no established legacy for three venues which are being used for the Games.

To put that into perspective, that is around 25 percent of Pyeongchang 2018’s competition facilities.

This figure rises to 40 per cent when you consider two are located in the coastal cluster – the Gangneung Oval and the Gangneung Hockey Centre – which is home to five of the 12 venues.

In the most basic sense, the Organizing Committee approved the construction of almost a quarter of venues without knowing what their use would be in the future.

This at a time when apathy towards hosting the Olympic Games is at its highest, where more cities turn down the chance to stage the event than proceed to a vote.

It is little wonder the IOC have been forced to rethink the entire process.

For the IOC, this is nothing new as they have been raising continued concerns in Coordination Commission meetings, project reviews and other visits since Pyeongchang was awarded the 2018 Games.

In an opening address during an inspection in 2016, Coordination Commission chair Gunilla Lindberg alarmed organizers with her contriteness when she told them in an opening address that decisions on legacy plans had been “delayed for too long.”

“Absence of clear legacy plans also reflects badly on the image of these Games for which legacy were already committed at bid time but never confirmed,” she added.

Two years on and that remains the case for the three venues, the aforementioned two in Gangneung and the Jeongseon Alpine Centre.

The question, then, is how have the Organizing Committee been getting away with it for so long?

Before a stone was curled in earnest, Pyeongchang 2018 were already at greater risk of earning the dreaded white elephant tag than other previous Olympic host cities.

The location of the region, a remote county 170 kilometers from the capital, is not exactly conducive to high levels of visitors, raising concerns over whether they will come after the dust settles on the Games.

The absence of any real discernible atmosphere in the Alpensia area during the Games itself suggests probably not.

It is also well known that venues for the Winter Games, with their technical complexities and narrower target market, are more difficult to maintain and are therefore more expensive.

An absence of winter sports heritage in South Korea only compounds the issue as they have effectively built venues for disciplines not regularly practiced in the host nation, aside from speed skating and now possibly skeleton after Yung Sun-bin won the men’s Olympic title last week.

As part of the bid, Pyeongchang 2018 outlined their aim and hope that hosting the Winter Olympics would ensure the area became a winter sports hub for the entire region to enjoy.

Yet just over an hour’s drive from here is the Alps Ski Resort, which one local official described to Agence France Presse as being abandoned and “completely in ruins.” The resort, which closed suddenly in 2006 and features dilapidated buildings and flailing chairlifts, is a perfect example of how it should not be done.

Those working with the bid and subsequent Organizing Committee would have known this from the start. They would have seen the warning signs.

So why did they not address this much earlier?

It is a question the IOC have not been able to answer – at least properly – so far, although Lindberg claimed the remaining legacy plans would be in place within a few weeks as discussions continue with the Local and Provincial Governments.

“We had hoped it would be earlier,” Lindberg told insidethegames at Sweden Arena.

“We are expecting them to fulfill the promise and we want to see the legacy plans.”

Such is the apparent desperation to rectify the lack of plans that organizers were reportedly considering converting the Gangneung Oval into a refrigerated warehouse for seafood. Not exactly sporting legacy at its finest.

Local officials insisted this was never likely to materialize but it suggests they were certainly thinking it might be better than nothing.

Even those venues where some degree of legacy has been established are falling wide of the mark, particularly the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium.

The 35,000-capacity venue, situated in a part of the world inhabited by only 40,000, will only be used four times before it is dramatically “reconfigured.”

Only the Opening Ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics will have been held there before it is scaled down to a museum and a park, equating to a cost of around $25 million per ceremony. Make of that what you will.

Not only does the current situation prompt valid questions on the strategy of Pyeongchang 2018 and the IOC’s inability to sufficiently pressure organizers to do something about it, but it should also spark a re-think from future host cities.

For a start, it is my personal view that they should have legacy plans in place before a brick is laid or ground is broken on any venue. That way you can ensure hosting the event will be more than a vanity project.

That being said, there are very few examples of a nation being transformed from a sporting point of view after staging the Olympics, but it is more about leaving a legacy for the people who call the host city home, especially as it is often their money which funds it.

In fairness to Pyeongchang 2018, the venues themselves are excellent and the Games have largely been successful from an organisational standpoint.

Yes, there have been complaints of long waiting times for transport and the event has not lived up to its billing as one of the most technologically advanced Olympics in history but these are largely moot points. It is, and should be, about the athletes and the sport.

As Dubi, the executive director for the Olympic Games, pointed out, benefits are being seen elsewhere. Improvements in the transport infrastructure, best highlighted by the high-speed train which connects Pyeongchang and Gangneung with South Korea’s capital Seoul, are there for all to see while the number of visitors to the coast has also risen.

“They’ve done the right things in fundamentally developing the infrastructures that will help this region to be more successful and to bring the numbers, especially from Seoul,” said Dubi.

“The train and the highways is giving a boost to the region. We’ve seen that, in terms of tourism numbers. Gangneung is really, really getting a huge boost.”

But that potential success in those areas will soon be forgotten unless organizers get their act together and ensure these Games are not just for the here and now.

By Liam Morgan

Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.