Dear Kid,

I have kept an open mind, and I am happy to report I don’t hate the team ice skating competition. (I’m sure you’re greatly relieved.) In some ways it is unfortunate weird odd to have competitors skating programs when they know their team can’t possibly win a medal. But that’s part of the Olympics. There are a lot of competitors in many events who are competing for the joy of being an Olympian (can you say Jamaican bobsled team? Or American biathloners? bialethetes? skiers and shooters.).

white-skatesThe Russians won the team competition quite handily (followed by Canada and the US).

Canada didn’t win any of the team ice skating events, but because they were so strong overall they won silver. So that’s pretty cool about the team stuff.

The US ice dancers Charlie White and Meryl Davis rocked (and by “rocked” I mean were completely awesome and won both of their events). Almost as importantly, their moms rock so yay for a shout out to sports moms. The US won bronze (way to go dudes).

The big star from the team competition is 15-year-old Russian skater Yulia Lipnitskaya. She won the short and long program and not only is she adorable, she is 15 kinds of talented. Watching her spin was breathtaking.

In case you’ve been doing something useful like studying, I should probably let you know that this might be the Sibling Olympics. You may have heard that there were three Canadian sisters competing in moguls. The Canadian Dufour-Lapointe sisters won gold and silver (the third sister did not medal). The Mulder twins dominated in the 500 speed skating. (They came in 1st and 3rd with a fellow team member coming in 2nd for a Dutch podium sweep). There’s also a really nice story about Canadians Frederic and Alex Bilodeau. Alex successfully defended his gold in men’s moguls. Frederic is his older brother who has cerebral palsy and is Alex’s inspiration. They both became huge stars in Canada after the Vancouver Olympics and have raised serious money for cerebral palsy research. Lovely story.

A final (probably) word on the US costumes from the opening ceremony. Your sister (who is often as snarky as I am about these things) had a very insightful point of view. It didn’t bother her at all that the uniforms were awful (she didn’t argue that point). She just thought it was great that all the athletes were awful together. “It doesn’t matter that they’re bad. You can walk around in that and everyone will know you’re a US Olympian. How cool is that?”

She’s right.

Love, Mom

Want to be sure you see DearKidLoveMom every day? Sign up for direct delivery to your email box! Just sign up near the top of the post. It’s easy and tax free!