Figure Skating’s Best Moments at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Every Olympic year comes complete with new fan-favorites, record-breaking scores and endless buzz about everything from the athletes to their outfits. The events in Sochi will officially end with the closing ceremony on Sunday, but the final figure skating medals will be awarded today after the ladies free skate. Overall, it was another stand-out year for skaters across the globe. Let’s take a look at some of figure skating’s best and biggest moments at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
- This year, Olympic figure skating reached new heights with the implementation of team figure skating. The first team event went off without a hitch with home team Russia winning gold, Canada earning silver and the U.S. taking home the bronze medal.
- Russian figure skater Evgeny Plushenko bowed out of the men’s figure skating event due to injury, but not before helping lead Russia to a gold medal in the team event. Fans will be happy to know Plushenko is not ruling out the possibility of competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics due to this set-back.
- Yuzuru Hanya’s performance landed him the title of first Japanese man to win an Olympic figure skating gold. On top of that, Hanya set a new world record in the short program and brought Japan their first title of the 2014 Winter Games.
- Longtime duo Meryl Davis and Charlie White made history earlier this week as they became the first Americans to win Olympic gold in ice dancing. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada followed with silver, while Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia took home the bronze medal.
- Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski made quite the off-ice pair with popular commentary throughout the entire run of the Games as NBC Olympic analysts. Their own experiences as former Olympians, along with eyes for fashion, made the U.S. viewing experience as fun as ever.
See official figure skating results here and tune into the closing ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on Sunday, February 23 at 7:30 p.m. CST on NBC.
Image Source: Martynova Anna / Shutterstock.com