My (belated) musings on the end of Tokyo 2020/2021

The Tokyo Olympics ended five days ago and I am writing much later than I had planned. I did not have the energy to write upon getting home from work and surviving on power naps from getting up early to watch the final live events from the Games. This might be a bit more abbreviated than my previous post, and possibly more jumbled, but I wanted to share my final thoughts and takeaways.

The other layer to Biles’ decision

Skinner after landing her second vault

Every member of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team that traveled to Tokyo (sans the alternates) got at least one medal. It was especially cool to me to watch both the event specialists, MyKayla Skinner and Jade Carey, get medals a day apart.

Skinner has spoken to several media outlets about the whirlwind of activity that followed Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the team, all-around, vault, floor and uneven bars finals. What struck me is how Biles quickly thought to make sure someone texted Skinner to tell her not to leave Tokyo just yet so she could compete in vault finals. I actually learned about Skinner getting to compete in vault finals from Skinner’s Instagram post, and it made me smile. Not only because it gave her a chance to continue her gymnastics career for one more day and provide an opportunity to medal, but also at how she addressed Simone and said she was ‘doing this for us.’

I have followed Skinner’s career for as long as I have Biles.’ I remember the years leading up to Rio and how gutted Skinner was at being an alternate. She found an awesome fit at Utah, competing in collegiate gymnastics the same time as Kyla Ross, Madison Kocian, Katelyn Ohashi and Maggie Nichols and thriving. It was no surprise to me that she decided to leave Utah in 2019 to return to elite and pursue a spot on the 2020 U.S. Olympic team. She has been transparent about her work leading up to the U.S. Olympic Trials and during the pandemic, posting videos of her workouts to Instagram and YouTube. I was ecstatic she had a chance to close out the Olympics with a chance to medal, and I was thrilled when she got silver. And who was sitting in the stands cheering for her? Biles.

Carey with her floor final gold medal

Carey’s gold in the floor final the next day was also a sweet moment. Throughout her routine, I thought to myself that she seemed more relaxed and like she was enjoying herself than the vault final, where she did not do as well as she expected. And watching her hug her dad afterward…tears. Due to COVID protocols, the only way parents were able to see their kids compete in Tokyo was if they were a coach or trainer. How lucky for Jade that her dad, Brian, is also her coach and he was there to watch her win gold on the biggest stage and embrace her right after.

Then the beam finals. It was obvious from the sounds of the crowd in the background of the broadcast that, despite no public spectators, Biles’ return prompted quite the turnout. I was hoping first and foremost that she did not get hurt, that she enjoyed being out there and that she had made this decision for herself. The hand on her heart, relieved smile and long embrace with her coach Cecile Landi after she completed her routine spoke volumes. To come away with a bronze medal after such a tumultuous week was astounding. I was again impressed with how open, honest and authentic she and Landi were with the media after beam finals. The fact that athlete after athlete, public or not, voiced and shared their support for Biles, even in the athletes’ village, says everything that needs to be said. They could relate. They *can* relate. She did what so many before her believed they were not in a position to do.

My musings on the first week of Tokyo 2020/2021

The women’s artistic gymnastics all-around medalists

It has been strange and somewhat bittersweet to no longer be planning my entire day around livestreams of the Olympics so I can write about them for a daily Olympic column. It has been even stranger to have to rely on social media updates due to the work schedule of my new job and not being home to watch. Today and yesterday have been the first chances I have had so far to watch live coverage from Tokyo, while every other day I have had to settle for replays on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

While this is not the same as the daily columns I wrote for London, Sochi, Rio and Pyeongchang, and no one is paying me to write my thoughts about the Games anymore, I have felt compelled to write about the first week of Tokyo for old time’s sake and to share my myriad of thoughts and feelings about an Olympics unlike any other we have known in our lifetimes. (Shameless plug here, but my older daily Olympic columns are posted to this blog and can be viewed by selecting July and August 2012, February 2014, August 2016 and February 2018 from the dropdown menu on the home page).

For sake of consistency from my older columns, I will write in sections. I took very few notes prior to typing this, so please accept my apologies if it feels like this skips around a bit.

My favorite moments so far

The women’s 200 breaststroke medalists

Last night’s women’s 200 meter breaststroke final is top of my list. I just barely missed watching it live, but luckily the replay of the entire race was posted to YouTube soon after. Not only was it a thrilling race throughout, but seeing South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker’s reaction to her world record time of 2:18.95 was pure joy.

That moment was made better by bronze medalist Annie Lazor of the USA, hugging her from the next lane over and congratulating her. In between the NBC commentary, you can hear Lazor tell Schoenmaker, ‘You’re amazing.’ Lazor’s U.S. teammate and silver medalist Lilly King soon joined in on the celebratory embrace, then Schoenmaker’s teammate Kaylene Corbett to create one giant group hug in the pool. I loved the photos that have been shared of that moment. King shared one of those photos on her Instagram last night, fittingly calling it ‘a race for the ages,’ as did Lazor, who wrote on her Instagram, ‘what an incredible race and experience this was.’ Women supporting women. I will always applaud that.

Lazor, who I have been rooting for ever since I found out she lost her father in April and competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials seven weeks later, said it best on an interview with NBC earlier this morning: ‘How can you not celebrate that as a person in the sport, as a fan of the sport?’ Indeed…how can you not celebrate that? And how lucky is everyone on the U.S. team to have such an awesome, supportive teammate like Lazor?

I have somewhat jokingly referred to swimming as ‘track in a pool,’ but I mean no disrespect. While track is and always will be No. 1 in my heart, I love swimming for the same reasons I love track. It truly comes down to the clock and who is the best athlete on that day. And most of all, just like track, I love how swimmers stop to share in the euphoria of a big moment. Just like Anna Cockrell and Dalilah Muhammad stopping to congratulate a truly stunned Sydney McLaughlin on her world record 51.90 win in the 400 hurdles at last month’s U.S. Olympic Trials (in record heat in Eugene, no less), Lazor and King stopped to congratulate and bask in the joy of Schoenmaker’s world record gold. I have said it before and I will say it again: there is no community like those of Olympic sports. And it is a shame they only get the world’s spotlight once every four (or in this case, five) years.

The Medal Stand weekly column, Feb. 27

This was probably the most difficult column I’ve written since I wrote about Gabe Grunewald last summer.

I have followed Mikaela Shiffrin’s career since she made her first World Cup podium as a 16 year-old in 2011. Until this month, I had nothing in common with the decorated professional skier and two-time Olympian. I wish we did not share such a tremendous loss in common, and my heart has been hurting for her and her family all month. I haven’t talked about it, much less written about it, until now.

The Medal Stand: Meeting each other in our pain

In between the blur that is district and state tournament coverage that requires most of my time this month, I have been hurting for an athlete and fellow human being I’ve never met.

Upon checking Instagram on Feb. 3, one of the first posts I saw was from U.S. alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin. She informed her followers that her father, Jeff, passed away that weekend at age 65, and to please respect her family’s privacy as they grieve. Reading it shattered me. My first thought was, ‘Mikaela is a little more than a month away from turning 25 and just lost her dad. I was a little more than a month away from turning 25 when I lost my dad.’ Her dad was also almost the same age mine was when he died. My dad, Carl Edward ‘Eddie’ Hereford, died at age 66 in December 2013.

I feel a stab in my heart every time I hear of someone losing their father, and I unfortunately have too many close friends and classmates to name who have suffered the same loss as me. But never before have I been genuinely heartbroken for someone in the public eye like I have been for Mikaela these last three weeks.

The outpouring of condolences to the Shiffrins has also moved me immensely. Mikaela has posted three more times to Instagram since the initial post about Jeff’s death, and numerous professional athletes–not just skiers–have left comments. Beyond that, the love and support from the worldwide ski community has been astounding.

She has not competed since Jan. 26. On Feb. 16 at the World Cup slalom in Slovakia, Slovakian skier Petra Vlhova’s fans held up a large homemade sign adorned with the U.S. and Slovakian flags and the words We Miss You Mikaela. This past weekend after Italy’s Federica Brignone won alpine combined and super G in Crans Montana, Switzerland, a journalist asked how she felt about being the new favorite for the women’s alpine overall crystal globe due to leading Mikaela by 73 World Cup points in the overall standings. U.S. Ski and Snowboard shared Brignone’s response: “I want Mikaela Shiffrin back. I really do hope she will return soon for herself so she can do again what she loves most.” That is the epitome of class, and I am not surprised at all. Mikaela has carried herself so well since making her first World Cup podium at 16 years old, always congratulating the skiers who made the podium regardless of how she did and always giving credit where credit is due. It is only fitting that her fellow skiers are treating her with as much class, respect and kindness as she has given them in her career.

The Medal Stand weekly column, Oct. 3

Chari Hawkins is in Doha competing in her first world championships. She is in 11th place through four events of the heptathlon.

The Medal Stand: Hawkins in 11th after day 1 of Worlds

Professional heptathlete and 2010 Madison High School graduate Chari Hawkins completed day one of heptathlon at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, with 3,702 points. That total puts her in 11th place through four events on Wednesday evening.

Hawkins placed sixth in 100-meter hurdles in 13.23 seconds, tied for eighth in high jump upon clearing 1.77 meters, placed 12th in shot put with a personal-best mark of 13.59 meters and placed 14th in the 200 in 24.81. Team USA’s Kendell Williams, who won 100 hurdles and placed second in the 200, is in third place after day one with 3,855. Two other U.S. athletes–Erica Bougard and Annie Kunz–are right behind Williams in fourth and fifth place with 3,853 and 3,840 points, respectively. Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who won high jump and the 200 and placed second in shot put, leads after day one with 4,138 points while Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam is in second with 4,042.

Heptathlon resumes today with long jump and will conclude with javelin and the 800. NBC Sports Network will have live coverage at 9:15 a.m. Mountain Time.

Coming up locally

Run for the Cure, organized by Live Forward Performance, is Saturday at Freeman Park. Announcements and survivor recognition will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the race will begin at 9 a.m.

The Medal Stand weekly column, Sept. 12

The annual LoToJA (Logan to Jackson) Classic–the nation’s longest single-day USA Cycling sanctioned road race–took place Saturday.

The Medal Stand: Several from east Idaho complete LOTOJA Classic

East Idaho, particularly Idaho Falls, was well represented in the 37th annual LoToJa (Logan to Jackson) Classic on Saturday.

Fourteen individual cyclists, two tandems and three relay teams from east Idaho completed the licensed race of LoToJA, which is the nation’s longest single-day USA Cycling sanctioned road race. Mark Rodel of Idaho Falls was the top local finisher and the third Idahoan, completing the race in 9:10:45 to place eighth in men masters 45+A and place 52nd overall among men. Paula Hahn of Idaho Falls was the top local woman to finish, completing the licensed race in 11:31:21 to place 11th in women’s Cat 5.

Last year’s top local finisher, Brandon Nelson of Idaho Falls, completed the licensed race in 9:39:05 to place eighth in men’s Cat 5. Aaron Sautter, also of Idaho Falls, led local finishers in men’s master 35+ B, completing the licensed race in 9:57:15 while Idaho Falls cyclists Winn Oakey and Dave Wilding led local finishers in men’s master 55+ open and men’s master 45+ with respective times of 10:18:39 and 10:19:16.

J&J Speirs Tandem from Idaho Falls took first place in race tandem with a time of 9:52.06. Saddle Sistas Am of Idaho Falls took third in women’s two-person race relay in 11:14:05 while B & T of Idaho Falls placed third in mix two-person race relay in 11:15:06. Tandem Johnsons of Idaho Falls placed first in ride tandem, finishing in 12:27:04. Idaho Avengers from Rexburg finished 14th in men’s 3-5 person race relay in 10:46:19.

Other Idaho Falls LoToJa licensed race finishers were: Christopher Maughan (11:11:42, 117th in men’s master 35+B), Lane Blake (11:46:29, 56th in men’s Cat 5), Mitchell Plummer (12:01:21, 32nd in men’s master 55+ open), Christian Utley and Bret Moss (12:33:27, tie for 37th in men’s master 55+ open) and Tamara Beck (12:34:54, 14th in women’s Cat 5).

Other Rexburg LoToJa licensed race finishers were: Bruce Baxter (11:22:15, 58th in men’s master 45+B) and Aaron Miller (11:46:15, 136th in men’s master 35+B).

Burley’s Kolby Carpenter was the top Idaho finisher, completing the licensed race in 9:04:41 and placing second in in men’s Cat 4 while Kuna’s Jenniffer Halladay was the top Idaho woman finisher (9:57:22, fifth woman to finish and third in women’s pro Cat 1-2-3).

The Medal Stand weekly column, Aug. 8

Firth’s Kurtis Downs concluded his third consecutive X Games Minneapolis appearance with a sixth place finish.

The 2010 Firth High School graduate and member of Nitro Circus Live placed sixth in last Friday’s BMX Big Air with a best score of 79 out of four runs. He received that score in his third run to put him in fifth place, but could not better it in his final run. Pocatello native Colton Satterfield, BMX Big Air champion at X Games Austin in 2014 and 2015, was seventh with a best score of 78.33. Satterfield completed three of his four runs. Downs placed third in BMX Big Air at X Games Minneapolis in 2017, his first year competing there, and crashed last year before the finals.

Team USA Update

The U.S. women’s volleyball team qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics on Sunday upon defeating Argentina, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan in group play of the FIVB Women’s Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament over the weekend in Louisiana. They are the sixth U.S. team to qualify for 2020.

Team USA leads the medal count at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, with 169 total medals (67 gold) through Wednesday evening. Competition continues through Sunday.

Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles and Sam Mikulak are pursuing a sixth national all-around title this weekend at the U.S. championships, which begin today in Kansas City. One U.S. woman, Clara Schroth Lomady, has won six national all-around titles (1945, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952). Mikulak enters this weekend having most recently taken second at the American Cup behind Yul Molduaer, who concluded his college gymnastics career this spring at the University of Oklahoma.

Sara Hall shared this week that she will be competing in both the Berlin Marathon and New York City Marathon, which are 36 days apart. Des Linden, 2018 Boston Marathon winner and two-time Olympian, and 2016 Olympian Jared Ward also confirmed they will compete in New York as has Daniel Romanchuk, defending men’s wheelchair division champion who won at 20 years old last year and has since won two marathons and a half marathon.

The Medal Stand weekly column, July 25

The next big meet for 2010 Madison graduate Chari Hawkins is this weekend: the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. It is a qualifier for the IAAF World Athletics Championships in September.

The Medal Stand: Hawkins competing in USA Outdoor Championships

Rexburg’s Chari Hawkins has been using the hashtag #roadtodoha in several of her Instagram posts since late 2018.

The next step toward Doha, which is where the IAAF World Athletics Championships take place in September, is this weekend at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Des Moines. It is the 2010 Madison graduate’s first meet since she placed 18th in heptathlon with 5,972 points in May at the 45th Hypomeeting in Götzis, Austria, which drew heptathletes from 22 nations.

Hawkins enters this weekend with the fifth best score (6,137) among accepted heptathlon entries. Heptathlon begins Saturday with 100 hurdles and concludes Sunday with the 800. The top three placers from each event final will represent the U.S. in Doha.

Coming up locally

The annual Idaho Falls Marathon, half marathon, 5k and kids run is Saturday at Snake River Landing. Start times are as follows: 5:30 a.m. for the marathon, 6:45 a.m. for the half marathon and 8 a.m. for the 5k.

The Medal Stand weekly column, April 11

Mid-April means one of my favorite sporting events is here: the Boston Marathon. Six runners from our coverage area will be competing in the storied race on Monday.

The Medal Stand: Six locals to run Boston

Of the thousands of runners who will toe the starting line at Monday’s Boston Marathon, 76 of them will be from Idaho.

Of those Gem State runners, six are from the Post Register coverage area. Mark Taylor (Ammon), Carlie Horrocks (Blackfoot), Tiffany Johnson (Idaho Falls), Erin Wood (Idaho Falls), Nicki Kinney (Victor) and Stephen Brang (Idaho Falls) are all among the Idaho entries on the Boston Athletic Association website.

Check back next week to see how they finished.

Coming up locally

This weekend is closing weekend for the 2018-19 winter season at Grand Targhee Resort. The eighth annual Pond Skim is Saturday with registration beginning at 9 a.m. Entries will be capped at 60 people.

Sun Valley Resort remains open for the 2018-19 winter season through April 21.

Team USA Update

The U.S. women’s ice hockey team went 4-0 in group play at the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Espoo, Finland. They begin the quarterfinals today versus Japan.

Carli Lloyd scored twice and had an assist while Christen Press had three assists for the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s 6-0 win over Belgium on Sunday in Los Angeles. The 1999 Women’s World Cup championship team was honored at halftime. July 10 makes 20 years since their World Cup win over China in penalty kicks. Three days earlier in a 5-3 win over Australia in Commerce City, Colo., Alex Morgan became the seventh U.S. women’s national team player to score 100 international goals.

Sam Mikulak and Morgan Hurd claimed the men’s and women’s all-around titles Sunday in Tokyo in the final stop of the world cup all-around series. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are now less than 500 days away.

The Medal Stand weekly column, March 7

Another update on Teton Valley’s Jaelin Kauf. She ended the season second as weather wreaked havoc on the season finale in Kazakhstan.

This column will once again go on hiatus as I take vacation later in the month.

The Medal Stand: Kauf second in FIS moguls standings

Weather ultimately determined who received the FIS moguls crystal globes over the weekend at Shymbulak, Kazakhstan.

Heavy snow and low visibility led to the official decision to cancel that competition, which was supposed to be the season finale for FIS World Cup moguls. With that cancellation, crystal globes were awarded based on current point standings. The women’s moguls globe went to France’s Perrine Laffont, who had 780 World Cup points, and the men’s moguls globe went to Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury of Canada, who accumulated 825 World Cup points to win his eighth consecutive moguls. He also claimed the FIS men’s overall freestyle skiing globe.

Jaelin Kauf, originally of Teton Valley and currently a resident of Steamboat Springs, Colo., finished second in the women’s moguls FIS World Cup standings with 570 points. The 2018 U.S. Olympian made four podium appearances during the 2018-19 season, including two wins.

Coming up locally

The third annual Terrain Park Takeover is Saturday at Grand Targhee Resort. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the entry fee is $10. The park will be divided into three sections with a judge present at each section for an allotted amount of time to award scores to competitors. Skiers and snowboarders of any age and level are eligible to compete. Helmets are required. This weekend is also Idaho Falls Ski Club weekend at Grand Targhee.

The Papoose Club’s Annual Kindercup takes place at 9 a.m. Sunday at Sun Valley Resort’s Dollar Mountain. It is open to non-sanctioned ski and snowboard races ages 3 to 12.

Snow King Mountain Resort in Jackson is hosting the five-day annual U.S. Collegiate National Championships from March 12 through 16th. More than 500 athletes will compete for national titles in nordic, alpine, snowboard and freeski.

Team USA Update

Mikaela Shiffrin’s historic season has resulted in a third consecutive FIS women’s alpine overall crystal globe. She secured it Saturday when the super-G at the World Cup stop in Sochi, Russia, was canceled due to heavy snowfall. Shiffrin leads the World Cup women’s alpine point standings with 1,794 points–719 points ahead of second-place Petra Vlhova’s 1,075. With the cancellation in Sochi and only one event left on the World Cup calendar–the stop at Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, taking place Friday and Saturday–Shiffrin mathematically wrapped up the women’s overall crystal globe. Currently training in Italy, Shiffrin won 14 World Cup races this season to reach 57 career World Cup wins. Among this season’s wins were three in super-G.

The Medal Stand weekly column, Dec. 27

Separate from the Post Register’s end of year top 10 lists compiled by the news and sports staffs, I took the liberty of putting my own top 10 list together for what caught my attention in the Olympic sports world in 2018. This is my final column until after the New Year.

The Medal Stand: My end of year top 10

The Post Register will be releasing its annual top 10 lists this weekend, both in sports and news. This column has been the place where I have shared a year-end top 10 list of stories that stood out to me throughout the calendar year in Olympic events. Here is my list for 2018 in my final Medal Stand of the year. See you in 2019.

1. The strength shown by former and current U.S. gymnasts

Like the Associated Press, I have to rank this high. I remember feeling stunned reading the Indy Star’s stories that were published in 2016 right as the Olympics were about to start. As the months went on and more and more athletes came forward — of various ages and backgrounds — they had my undivided attention and respect. Those who still compete did so not shying away from the conversation as a tumultuous year for USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and Michigan State continued to unfold. Barely a year after resuming training, Simone Biles returned to competition and matched Dominique Dawes’ feat from 1994 upon winning all-around as well as all four individual events at nationals — while wearing a teal leotard in support of her fellow survivors — and went on to win six medals at worlds in November in Doha with a kidney stone. Maggie Nichols, one of the first gymnasts to speak up, won all-around gold at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships in April. The leadership of the organizations that failed these athletes continues to make me shake my head, but the image from this year that will remain in my head for years to come is of the survivors who took the stage at the ESPYs, several with their hands joined. Their strength, their voices and their examples are not lost on me.

2. Des Linden wins Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon will forevermore be a sporting event I look forward to every year. My dad competed in four of them — 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973 — and because of that, the storied race will always be one I hold in high regard.

I was glued to Twitter and every account I followed that was providing updates of this year’s women’s race and still couldn’t believe what I was reading. All the reactions from runners like Alysia Montano, Sara Hall and Gabriele Grunewald furthermore brought a smile to my face. Aside from the awesomeness that was becoming the first U.S. woman to win Boston since 1985, HOW Des Linden won was all the more amazing to me. She told reporters after the race that between miles two and four, she wasn’t sure if she would even finish and she told Shalane Flanagan she would help her when she could. When Flanagan took a bathroom break, Linden waited for her. “Helping her helped me,” Linden said post race about Flanagan, who less than five months earlier became the first U.S. woman to win the New York Marathon in 30 years. I’ve been running for 15 years and I never cease to be amazed by the incredible community that exists in my dad’s old sport. Such class by Linden on a day that provided yet another reminder of how incredible this era of distance running is for U.S. women.

3. Landmark decision by the USOC for U.S. Paralympians

I had to stop what I was doing upon checking Twitter on Sept. 26 and seeing a post from U.S. Paralympics that read: “Today’s decision by the USOC board of directors places an additional $1.2 million in the hands of 2018 Paralympic medalists. Get all the details on Operation Gold Awards…” I furthermore learned that this means Paralympians and Olympians will now receive equal payouts for medal performances. The decision took effect immediately, and U.S. Paralympians who won medals in February at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in South Korea will begin receiving retroactive payments. It is a decision that has been a long time coming, and I hope it’s just the beginning of new opportunities and support for Paralympic athletes.

4. Mikaela Shiffrin showing there’s not much she can’t do on the slopes

What a year Mikaela Shiffrin has had. Gold in giant slalom and silver in combined at Pyeongchang 2018, claiming the overall FIS women’s alpine crystal globe for the second consecutive season, her fifth FIS women’s slalom crystal globe, becoming the first skier ever to win a World Cup race in all six alpine disciplines, and on Saturday, became the youngest skier ever to reach 50 World Cup wins. The 23 year-old, like Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Serena Williams, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, has been responsible for several moments in my life the last seven years I’ve been following her where I’ve audibly said, “How lucky are we to be alive to witness this greatness?” As much as her skiing amazes me, her classy nature is what I admire most. After every single one of her races, regardless of the outcome, she congratulates the skiers who made the podium.