It doesn’t take long once you arrive to an Olympic host city to realize that you are suddenly family with everyone sharing this experience with you. You can expect to find yourself saying, “what a small world” on nearly a daily basis as you uncover the commonalities and connections you share with those also present for the games.
I had one of those moments Tuesday when a friend from college messaged to tell me that her boyfriend and his father were also in PyeongChang. As part of my Olympic-experience family she connected the two of us and with a struck of luck I found they had two extra tickets for the night’s short track competition.
I had not had the opportunity to witness an event outside of my IOC responsibilities so I was especially excited about the opportunity. Arriving to the oval we made it to our seats just in time to witness the qualifying rounds.
It is amazing how fast you can become an expert in critiquing a sport you’ve never watched before.
The competition was incredible. Outside of an injury to Great Britain’s Elise Christie the competition was electric.
Witnessing world #1, and Korean athlete, Choi Min-jeong, win gold in front of home country and crowd was an especially exciting point in the night. Definitely one of those Olympic experiences you know may be once in a lifetime.
