Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 - Days 9-12

Hi all!

If you're watching the Winter Olympics I hope you're continuing to enjoy them. I certainly am, but then I've always happily been an armchair athlete!

Here's my stitching starting point for day 9 and a small snippet of each Olympic day:

Day 9 - 12th February

Being a Saturday I got to watch a lot more of the Olympics today including ski jumping, speed skating, skeleton, cross country skiing and snowboard cross - a packed day indeed! I'm still wondering how on earth the speed skaters manage to stay upright when they are skating so fast and so close together!

Best moment - Australian Jaclyn Narracott winning silver in the women's skeleton. The Brits usually do quite well in this event but were almost at the bottom of the table this year so, in the usual British way, we claimed Narracott as 'one of our own' because she trains in England and is married to an Englishman! Good on Australia though, especially as it's not a country normally associated with winter sports.

Day 10 - 13th February

Another weekend day, so lots of watching the TV out of the corner of my eye! I caught speedskating, skiing relay and the men's super-G skiing slalom.

Best moment - Jamaican men's giant slalom skier Benjamin Alexander. At every Olympics there's an outsider who embraces the spirit of the competition without wanting a medal. Benjamin Alexander, the first ever Jamaican alpine skier, finished 46th out of 46 finishers, a full 70 seconds behind the winner. BUT he finished both his runs, unlike another 41 competitors. So by not aiming for a massively quick time and successfully completing both runs he, in effect, finished 46th out of 87! He's 38 and only started skiing in 2015; what an inspiration!

Day 11 - 14th February

Lots of Olympic action today as I have a stinking cold and spent my non-working hours curled up on  the sofa feeling sorry for myself! I found the ice dancing quite mesmerising, along with the monobob and ski jumping.

For us Brits, 14th February is Bolero Day, the day ice dancers Torvill and Dean received 9 perfect 6.0 scores for artistic impression for their Bolero routine in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. Of course, the scoring system has changed since then, so that record will never be matched but almost 40 years down the line, Bolero is still considered one of ice dancing's most memorable routines.

Best moment - the women's monobob. A new event in the Winter Olympics, the monobob sees one rider in a bobsled. What I particularly like about this event is that all of the bobsleds are made by the same company, with each country allowed to make only minor adjustments (presumably to fit the size of their athlete). This is in contrast to the skeleton and luge, where hundreds of thousands of pounds/dollars can be spent refining the equipment, something which disadvantages poorer countries. Knowing that each competitor is on a level playing field really places the emphasis on their talent rather than their equipment. I wonder if this will become the case in more sports in future years?

Day 12 - 15th February

Another day with my non-working hours spent on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, so another day of catching quite a lot of Olympic action including lots of skiing and skating.

Best moment - Germany claiming a clean sweep of medals in the two men bob. I'm not particularly patriotic when it comes to sport so enjoy watching all people and all countries. But knowing how good Germany are at the sliding sports, I was really egging on the three German two men bobsled teams. A clean sweep of medals by one country is always a memorable moment.

And here's my stitching finishing point at the end of day 12:

Just the snowflake left now, and one more Winter Olympic post which will hopefully include a finish.

Take care,

Rachel x