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2022 Olympics Digest
CHINA'S GU FIRST SKI FREESTYLER TO WIN 3 GOLDS AT A GAMES
BOBSLEDDER TAYLOR WINNINGEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN AT WINTER GAMES
RUSSIANS GO 1–2 IN WOMEN'S FIGURE SKATING; VALIEVA FOURTH
CHINA'S SU CLAIMS GOLD, SECOND MEDAL IN SNOWBOARDING
JACKSON 1ST AFRICAN-AMERICAN GOLD MEDALIST IN SPEED SKATING
GAO CLAIMS CHAIN'S FIRST SPEED SKATING GOLD
SNOW DISRUPTS SKIING, SNOWBOARDING EVENTS
AMERICAN CHEN WINS FIGURE SKATING GOLD
AMERICAN KIM DOUBLES GOLDEN FUN IN HALFPIPE
SHAUN WHITE'S CAREER ENDS WITH A JUST-MISSED
GEISENBERG WINS 3RD STRAIGHT LUGE GOLD
DIGGINS SCORES 1ST U.S. INDIVIDUAL MEDAL IN CROSS COUNTRY
NEW ZEALAND WINS 1ST WINTER GOLD
1ST QUAD IN WOMEN'S FIGURE SKATING
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Social Studies for Kids |
Eileen Gu won three medals overall, two golds (halfpipe and big air) and a silver (slopestyle). The Chinese sensation became the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Olympic Games and, at 18, is the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing. In 2021, she became the first athlete to win two golds at the Freeski World Championships (also winning a bronze).
Elana Meyers Taylor became the winningest African-American athlete at the Winter Olympics. In Beijing, she won the silver medal in the debut of the bobsledding monobob event and a bronze medal with Sylvia Hoffman in the two-woman event. Her previous medals were a bronze with Erin Pac in 2010, a silver with Lauryn Williams in 2014, and a silver wtih Lauren Gibbs in 2018. Meyers Taylor also carried the American flag in the Closing Ceremonies. She was the flag-bearer when the Games opened as well, and she became only the U.S. athlete ever to serve in both capacities. Bobsled and skeleton competitor Jack Heaton carried the flag in both ceremonies in 1948.
Russian skaters won gold and silver in the women's individual figure skating event. Neither was Kamila Valieva. The 15-year-old Valieva was favored to win after a leading performance in the short program. However, the recent announcement that she 
Su Yiming of China won gold in the men's big air snowboarding event. The 17-year-old Su finished ahead of Mons Roisland of Norway and Max Parrot of Canada. Su had earlier won a silver medal in the slopestyle event, won by Parrot. Su has been snowboarding since he was 3. An accomplished skier, he became a star after appearing in the movie The Taking of Tiger Mountain, when he was 9.
Erin Jackson became the first African-American woman to win gold in the 500-meter speed skating event, powering her way to first place in a time of 37.04 seconds. The 29-year-old Jackson, the current world Number 1, came late to the ice, strapping on her ice skates only in 2016, after previously competing in inline speed skating and roller derby. Jackson took the spot reserved for teammate Brittany Bowe, who finished in the top two in the U.S. Olympic trials but gave up her 500-meter spot to focus on the 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter events. Jackson, who finished third at the U.S. trials, took Bowe's spot. Miho Takagi of Japan took second, 0.08 seconds behind; in third place, 0.17 seconds back, was Angelina Golikova of the Russian Olympic Committee. The last American to win gold in the event was Bonnie Blair, in 1994. Jackson became the first African-American to win any individual medal in speed skating.
Tingyu Gao brought home the host country's first-ever gold medal in men's speed skating, winning in record-setting fashion. The 2018 bronze medal winner took two steps up the podium by clocking in at 34.32, the fastest time set at this year's Games. South Korea's Min-Kyu Cha won silver, and Wataru Morishige of Japan claimed bronze.
Nathan Chen of the United States won the gold medal in men's figure skating, becoming the seventh American man to achieve that feat. The 22-year-old Chen landed five quad jumps during his long program (performing to music from the film Rocketman), easily outdistancing Japanese skaters Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno, who took the silver the bronze, respectively. The other American men to win individual gold in figure skating are Dick Button (1948 and 1952), Hayes Alan Jenkins (1956), David Jenkins (1960), Scott Hamilton (1984), Brian Boitano (1988), and Evan Lysacek (2010).
Korean-American Chloe Kim was on form in China, too. The snowboarding halfpipe gold medalist four years in Pyeongchang four years ago (when, at 17, she was the sport's youngest-ever female Olympic gold medalist), she won the event in Beijing, becoming the first athlete ever to do so. Queralt Castellet of Spain and Sena Tomita of Japan claimed silver and bronze, respectively. Kim was so dominant that she claimed the gold on her first run of the finals. 
Snowboarder Shaun White closed out his Olympic with a memorable performance that didn't get him back on the podium. The American, whom many would see as the most recognizable snowboarder in the world, had won gold in the halfpipe in 2006, 2010, and 2018. His finish in 2014 was fourth; that was his finish position in Beijing as well. Hirano Ayumu of Japan won gold, American Scott James took silver, and Jan Scherrer of Switzerland claimed the bronze.
Germany's Natalie Geisenberger won the women's luge singles event, claiming her third straight gold medal in the event. The 34-year-old also won the event at Pyeongchang in 2018 and in Sochi in 2014, also winning gold in the team relay in both Olympics. Another German, Anna Berreiter, finished less than half a second behind, taking silver. Tatyana Ivanova of the Russian Olympic Committee team won bronze.
In the entire history of the Winter Olympics, the United States has not won an individual medal in the sprint category of cross country skiing. Jessie Diggins changed all that, winning a bronze medal in the freestyle sprint event. Sweden took gold and silver, with first and second place going to Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist, respectively. It was Diggins, along with Kikkan Randall, who scored gold in the women's team sprint four years ago in Pyeongchang. The only other American to win an Olympic medal in cross country skiing was Bill Koch, who won silver in the now-discontinued 30-kilometer race in 1976 in Innsbruck.
New Zealand won its first ever gold medal at a Winter Olympics. Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won the women's snowboarding event, nailing a switchback 900 and back-to-back 1080s in a nearly perfect final run and outdistancing favorite Julia Marino of the U.S. Sadowski-Synnott, who claimed the silver. Tess Coady of Australia got the bronze. The event, at Genting Snow Park in Zhangijakou, afforded each competitor three runs. Sadowski-Synnott fell on her second run; Marino fell on her last. New Zealand first competed in the Winter Games in 1952. Forty years went by before the country won its first medal, a silver won by Annelise Coberger in the women's slalom. Four years ago, in PyeongChang, Sadowski-Synnott herself won a bronze medal, in the women's big air; also in that year, Nico Porteous won bronze in the men's halfpipe freeskiing.
Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old competing for the Russian Olympic Committee team, became the first woman ever to land a quadruple jump in Olympics figure skating. She won both the short and free programs, helping her team win gold. The United States team won silver, and Japan took the bronze. (It was Japan's first ever team event medal.) In powering her team to the win, Valieva landed two quad jumps (a Salchow and a toe loop) and one triple Axel and just missed landing a second quad toe loop. She is in just her first year of as a senior skater and has already won both the Russian Championships and the European championship, in the process setting a new world record for scores in short, free, and combined.
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