BEIJING (AP) — Halfway through the world's second pandemic Olympics, lots has happened. We have a doping scandal out of Russia, an American skier who faltered unexpectedly, and a lot of people in full protective medical gear managing — perhaps against the odds — to keep COVID contained through the Games' first week.
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Ayumu Hirano saved his best for last. By doing so, the Japanese rider might have saved snowboarding from a good, old-fashioned judging mess.
Hirano linked his trendsetting, once-thought-impossible triple-cork trick to four more rock-solid jumps to win gold on the Olympic halfpipe Friday.
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Shaun White bent down to one knee, set his snowboard on its edge and raised his left hand toward the sky.
The crowd, never huge to begin with in this pandemic era, had thinned to four or five dozen — most of them who knew him, or loved him, or had been around over the past 20 years to watch him take snowboarding on a wild ride to the Olympics and beyond.