Now that the Olympics are over...

How Sammy enjoyed the Olympics

It's hard to believe the Olympics ended almost a week ago. I spent so much time anticipating them and then enjoying them while they were on that it was a bit of a let down once they finished. Since I wrote a preview before the Games began, I thought it would be nice to wrap things up with a post about some of my favorite moments (and yes, most of them are figure skating related).

What I want to remember about the 2014 Winter Olympics:

• Meryl Davis and Charlie White winning the first gold medal in ice dancing for the United States. They are such great ambassadors for the sport, and it was wonderful to see them win with two great performances.
• Carolina Kostner winning the bronze in the ladies’ event. Carolina is a skater I’ve come to appreciate over the last few years because she focuses on interpreting the music rather than racking up points. I was so happy she had a great Olympics after finishing well off the podium at the previous two.
• Mao Asada’s long program. It was so beautiful after her disastrous short program.
• Noelle Pikus-Pace winning the silver medal in skeleton. I think she may have been the happiest silver medalist ever, and her family was super cute.
• Ted Ligety and Mikaela Shiffrin winning gold medals for the U.S. in skiing. I'm glad they didn't "respect" the course as much as some of the other skiers.
• The three U.S. women (Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds) finishing in the top 10. Both Gracie and Polina showed a lot of promise for the future, and Ashley showed that she really did deserve to be at the Olympics.
• Both of Jeremy Abbott's programs. After he took such a hard fall at the beginning of his short program, I thought his Olympics might be over. I'm glad he got up and skated as well as he did. (And kudos to the crowd for cheering him on.)
• Other top moments: Watching the snowboarders celebrate at the bottom of the hill; seeing Denis Ten win the first Olympic medal in figure skating for Kazakhstan; enjoying all of the Russian culture, music, and dancing during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies; cheering as the U.S. men's hockey team defeated Russia

Only a couple more years until the next Summer Olympics. Rio, here we come!