Amna Nawaz:
All right, let’s turn now to the Winter Olympics. And there are some spoilers ahead.
In the women’s bobsled, Elana Meyers Taylor won the gold. And her American teammate Kaillie Humphries took bronze. Meyers Taylor has now won six medals in her career, tying with Bonnie Blair as the most decorated U.S. female athlete in Winter Olympics history.
Eileen Gu, American-born but competing for China, won silver in what’s known as the free ski big air event. She was edged out for the gold by Canada’s Megan Oldham.
As for the medal leaderboard, the U.S. is now in third place with 19 medals total. Norway leads with 28, and Italy is second with 23.
Liz Landers has a look now at how Team USA is doing overall, including the disappointment for Ilia Malinin and a gold medal rematch in women’s hockey between the U.S. and Canada.
Liz Landers:
Indeed, Amna, one of the most shocking moments was when American figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin, who’s been nicknamed the Quad God and was favored to win gold, stumbled twice during the free skate, leaving him with eighth place.
He posted on social media about the — quote — “invisible battles” that he has been dealing with, which concerned some of his fans.
I’m joined now by Christine Brennan, who’s been covering the Winter Olympics for USA Today.
Christine, thanks so much for joining us.
Christine Brennan, USA Today:
Oh, my pleasure, Liz. Thank you.
Liz Landers:
Let’s start with Ilia Malinin. He was favored to win gold in the men’s free skate. He ended up in eighth place.
And Monday morning he shared on Instagram, saying — quote — “Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness.”
What do you think happened in that free skate? Was it a technical issue or was it mental?
Christine Brennan:
He said right afterwards, Liz, that it was mental as he was doing interview after interview, calmly, patiently, kindly answering every question over and over again, remarkable, a remarkable display for a 21-year-old who had just had the worst performance of his young career.
But he talked about the mental aspect. And I have covered him through really the length of his time at the top of the sport the last four years. He was the last skater. He had a nice lead. All he needed to do was a few quads and he would have that Olympic gold medal.
And he looked so nervous. You could see it in his face. He was breathing deeply. He was looking over at his father, who’s his coach, and looking for reassurance. So it was clear to me when he came out onto that ice that the pressure of the Olympics was extraordinary.
And if anyone, as you watch the Olympics on TV, if you wonder, how difficult is it, how much pressure is it, well, there’s your answer, because Ilia Malinin was a lock to win the gold. He’s been skating great for a year. He hadn’t lost since 2023.
So you could see how this young man crumbled under the pressure. So difficult to watch. Such a tough thing. But also his honesty and the way he’s handled it has been remarkable and I think uplifting for a lot of people who are worried about him.
Liz Landers:
The U.S. women’s hockey team just put up a dominant performance against Sweden. They had a shutout 5-0. What is next for this team on their way to maybe winning a gold medal?
Christine Brennan:
Exactly. Well, it is the finals.
That’s where they — we expected them to be, this really superb U.S. women’s hockey team. And that is exactly where they will be now. And it’s so interesting, because they won two golds in the up to this point seven Olympic tournaments. This is the eighth involving women’s hockey at the Olympics. And the Canadians have won the other five.
So the idea of the U.S. and Canada just squaring off, and one or the other probably is going to win it. But the United States a week ago absolutely dominated Canadians in early round action 5-0. That’s the same score the U.S. beat Sweden today here at the Olympics.
So this team has veterans, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne, and younger players, and they seem to be a juggernaut.
Liz Landers:
Switching to a different sport, speed skater Jordan Stolz has been grabbing headlines after he won the 1,000 and 500 meter races, capturing gold in both of those.
There was a bit of a wonky start in one of those. How did he set an Olympic record in that race?
Christine Brennan:
Because he’s better than anybody else. And he’s peaking at the exact right moment. We talked about pressure with Ilia Malinin.
And Jordan Stolz and Ilia Malinin were both born in 2004. Jordan Stolz is about seven months older than Ilia Malinin. So these are young men facing incredible pressure. Stolz had an Olympics before. So he did not — he has one Games his belt in 2022 in Beijing.
And now he has become the first man since Eric Heiden to win both the 500 and the 1,000 in the same Olympic Games. And Eric Heiden, of course, did that with his five gold medals in Lake Placid in 1980. Stolz has two more events. If he goes four for four, he will have achieved his great dream, although that ice is slippery. You never know.
But he is — right now is truly on a roll. And I think everyone is just watching — enjoying watching one of these superlative performances of these Olympic Games.
Liz Landers:
Despite some of these highlights that we have seen from Team USA, we have also seen some disappointments.
And there’s a medal count battle with the host country, Italy, who’s at number two with Norway leading in first place. Where do you see Team USA heading?
Christine Brennan:
The last four Olympics going — actually the last five Olympics, the U.S. has had nine gold medals when it ended going all the way back to Salt Lake City. Us can get to nine gold at this Olympics as well.
But you’re right. When you look at Lindsey Vonn, whether she would have won the gold or not, but clearly that story riveting in the first few days of the Olympics, but obviously ultimate disappointment and injury, of course, for Lindsey Vonn.
And then Madison Chock and Evan Bates, three-time role champions, gold medal favorites in ice dance, did not win the gold. They won the silver. The U.S. did win the team competition in figure skating. And — but there have been, again, others right now. Mikaela Shiffrin, we will see how it goes with the slalom in a couple of days, but she has not won a medal. And, of course, she was such a star in 2014 and then 2018, and has gone through — been so honest about her struggles over the last few years.
But they’re still — the U.S. is still doing fine. And with hockey and Jordan Stolz, and of course, there could be other events, the U.S., I think, is going to hang in there. But you’re right about Italy. In the first few days, they actually surpassed their greatest Winter Olympic total going back to Lillehammer in 1994.
So the Italians are celebrating as only Italians can. They’re loving these Olympics. They are just pouring it on, getting medals everywhere from the mountains to figure skating and everywhere in between. And that often happens for a host country, where you have put all that effort, the pride, the support of the home nation. It’s a home game, obviously.
And Italy is certainly showing that when you have that home field advantage or home ice advantage or home snow advantage, they’re taking a total advantage of it and clearly having the Games of the entire nation, just something that they have never seen quite like this before.
Liz Landers:
Christine Brennan of USA Today, thank you so much for sharing your Olympic reporting with us.
Christine Brennan:
Oh, my pleasure. Thank you, Liz.
