The things we learned from Pyeongchang 2018
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Third time is a charm. After two failed bids for the Winter Olympics, Pyeongchang got its chance in the spotlight in 2018.
Set in a low-profile region of South Korea's north-east, the Games looked at first glance like an event that would struggle to achieve any form of global resonance.
That changed in the weeks leading up to the Games, when South Korean and North Korean officials declared their intentions to form a unified team for the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang.
Since then the event has delivered the incredible, the absurd, and posed lingering questions about Russia's involvement at Olympic events.
Expect the unexpected
Amid escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula in the lead-up to the 2018 Games, the thawing of relations between the North and South caught many by surprise.
The two nations marched together at the opening ceremony. North Korea's athletes were permitted to compete at the games and even formed a unified ice hockey team with South Korea.
High-level officials from the North visited the South, and a famous handshake between South Korean President Moon Jae-In and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong stole headlines on a freezing night.
On the field of play, the surprises continued.
Czech star Ester Ledecka became the first athlete to win a gold medal in a skiing event (Super-G) and a snowboarding event (parallel slalom) at the same Olympic Games.
And even without the NHL players at the Winter Olympics, Germany's run to the gold medal match against the Olympic Athletes of Russia stunned the experts.
Despite falling short in overtime against the Russian athletes, Germany won plenty of fans on its journey to an unlikely silver medal.
Norway topped the medal tally for the first time in 16 years with a record haul of 39. Not bad for a nation of just over 5 million people.
Korean pride
South Korea won five gold medals at its home Olympics, one shy of its best.
But it did deliver its best medal haul at a winter games with 17 podium finishes.
While gold medallists get most of the attention, some of the most inspiring and popular performances from Korean athletes fell one step short on the podium.
The Korean curling team turned into viral sensations known as the "garlic girls" due to the primary product of their hometown.
Turns out they could curl too.
The team surprised many on their way to a silver medal, finally going down to Sweden in the gold medal encounter.
Equally impressive was the Korean 4-man bobsleigh team's silver medal on the final day of competition.
In a sport where money matters, significant long-term investment paid off for the hosts, as the Korean team slid into second in an event traditionally dominated by a handful of wealthy nations.
Curling dope
It seemed unlikely mixed doubles curling would have a major impact on the Olympic Games.
Enter Alexander Krushelnitsky.
Russia had been banned from the Pyeongchang Olympics for its systemic doping program at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, but more than 160 Russian athletes were controversially permitted to take part under the Olympic banner because they had been deemed clean enough to compete.
The International Olympic Committee had even seemed likely to lift its ban on Russia in time for those athletes to march under their own flag at the closing ceremony.
But in the end, curling athlete Krushelnitsky's positive test for the banned substance meldonium cost him and his wife a bronze medal, and played a significant role in ensuring the ban on the Russian Olympic committee was not lifted ahead of the closing ceremony.
His positive test, along with one for bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva, were primary factors in the IOC's decision not to reinstate the Russian Olympic Committee before the end of the event.
So at the conclusion of the Games, there is lingering uncertainty surrounding the integrity of any future event involving a Russian team.
There are questions too, about whether or not sports diplomacy can have anything more than a symbolic effect on the Korean peninsula in the long term.
After Beijing in 2022, there is uncertainty about which country will be willing to take on the significant costs of staging the Games.
All is not golden within the Olympic movement.
But in the face of security concerns, and question marks over its cost — South Korea did deliver a successful event in its own right, in its cold and blustery north-east.
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ABC .net
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