Swiss Olympian Succeeds In Skiing Gold Three-Peat

My longtime friend and fellow International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) member J. Brian Carberry loves it when there's a five-ringed three-peat.

For most recent Olympiads -- including the one underway -- he methodically plotted the potential three-, four-, five- or even six-peat feats.

It's a meticulous process, and with Brian's thoughtful work in mind, it was fun to experience an actual golden three-peat in the making on Friday at Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre.

Just steps from the iconic PyeongChang ski jump tower, and in view of the sunny albeit snow-covered mountains decorated with massive wind turbines, Switzerland's Dario Cologna finished the 15 km cross-country snow endurance course in 33:43.9.

Simen Hegstad Krueger of Norway earned silver 18.3 seconds slower, with Denis Spitsov, an Olympic Athlete of Russia (OAR), winning bronze 23 seconds behind the lead.

Norway was an audience favorite, and this blogger must admit to falling in rank with several jubilant Norwiegian fans upon arrival at the venue.

Could not stop laughing at their red "Make Northug Great Again" caps in reference to the legendary cross-country Olympian and 13-time World Champion Petter Northug.

At the post-race press conference I asked Cologna to describe what the gold medal three-peat means to him.

He had a lot to say.

"Three times in this event and four gold medals -- now I am together with [fellow-Swiss Olympian in ski jumping] Simon Ammann, the only Swiss who won four times in the Olympics," said Cologna. "To write a little bit of history, it is not bad."

Cologna continued with his response.

"To win in three different Olympics is very hard work over many years," he said. "I had two not-so-easy years, the last two, but really wanted to be back."

"It feels very good to be back on top," he added.

"So many thoughts are going through the head; very big emotions and many people, the team who helped me a lot, my family who is here, my girlfriend and it is always a great team behind, the all did a very good job."

My query was only one of three in English before the press conference became an all-German language stampede to interview the Olympic champion.

As the gaggle of European reporters subsided, I did get in one more question regarding Cologna's choice to wait at the finish line and congratulate the last three racers from Tonga, Columbia and Mexico, respectively.

The gesture of sportsmanship impressed me greatly, so I asked Cologna what he said to the tropical trio.

"I just congratulated them and said that it is great they are here and I was very happy to see them finish the race," said Cologna.

Tonga's Pita Taufatofua, who earlier this week joked he would be lucky to complete the race before they turn off the lights in the venue, placed 114 out of 117 finishers with a time of 56:41.1, just under 23 minutes slower than Cologna. Mexico's lone entry, German Madrazo, crossed the finish line in 59:35.4 carrying a fan-provided Bandera de Mexico and a gran sonrisa.

Fun to see Taufatofua, who trains with Madrazo, help lift his amigo onto the shoulders of other cross-country athletes to the delight of spectators.

I looked for Mister Tonga but missed him post-race, hoping to catch up with him later in PyeongChang.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

A Very TODAY Show Valentine

If you're an American at the Olympics, you might as well be leaving your patriotism at passport control if you don't make it at least once to the NBC TODAY Show set in Olympic Park.

Been there, done that in Atlanta, Athens, Torino (they brought Al Roker to my P.R. client's B.C. Canada Place log cabin pavilion), Beijing (we took client, the Premiere of British Columbia, to sit with Matt Lauer), London and Sochi.

Wednesday night (Tuesday morning stateside) brought the first opportunity to check this five-ringed ritual off the list, and it turned out to be an exciting night to be there!

I stuck around for the first hour of the show with about 200 fellow Team USA fans and a few curious South Koreans.

Behind the scenes, members of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team awaited their national TV spotlight and conversation with Al Roker to preview their competitions.

Cute to see Olympic silver medalist Devin Logan meet briefly with her boyfriend. Gotta hand it to her for gently stroking his beard with her Trump-size pretend mitts!

Roker's main updates were about the strong winds that temporarily shut down much of Olympic Park.

Other news du jour concerned four-time Olympian, three-time medalist and No. 100 U.S. Winter Olympic medalist Shaun White's triumphant return to the gold medal podium.

White, who earlier in the day got flustered when reporters asked about past #MeToo-relevant choices, took time to apologize in his TODAY interview that focused mostly on his big day in competition.

White addressed questions from co-hosts Koda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie.

"I've grown as a person over the years and it's amazing how life works, and twists and turns and lessons learned," said White. "Every experience in my life I feel like it's taught me a lesson and I definitely feel like I'm a much more changed person than I was when I was younger."

Way to stay on P.R. message.

I was delighted when Kotb later worked the crowd and responded to my offer of an Olympic blog pin, which she complimented while posing for selfies.

We had previously talked hours before the 2016 Olympic opening ceremony (in front of the Rio Marriott) and, as always, she was all smiles and so friendly to each of the fans on site.

Not sure when there might be another late night at Olympic Park (the live broadcasts to the States start at 9 p.m. in Korea), but it will be fun to discover TODAY sets in Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022 and beyond.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

The Scene At Olympic Figure Skating

With Saturday as a scheduled recovery/logistics day -- resting/relocating to coastal Gangneung for the next 12 days -- all bright eyed on Sunday I made it to my first PyeongChang 2018 Olympic event: Figure skating.

As I write this Monday afternoon, the two-day Team Event just concluded with Canada taking home gold, Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) silver and Team USA earning bronze. 

For non-photo journalists, the venue is set up with a media tribune spanning a couple of seating areas for broadcasters to air live commentaries, a few rows of tabled seats for writers with laptops, then corners of the arena for non-tabled press (that's me). 

Generally we are able to roam freely and to the ground level of the venue, which includes a "mixed zone" for athletes and journalists to stand in a queue for 1x1 or group interviews. 

There's also a big media tent with tables space for about 300 reporters, mostly filled both days. 

I read that spectators filled about 88 percent of the stands on Sunday, and today was probably more like 90 percent. 

Highlights from the experience:

• First interview in the mixed zone with Nicole Schott (GER) just after her Olympic debut. Her team publicist said she opted out of opening ceremony for rest, and I asked if she had any regrets about that choice. "I'm a really early sleeper, so I decided to concentrate on practice, but I'm going to do the closing." She considers one of her fellow competitors, Carolina Kostner (ITA) a hero, and Schott skated to one of my favorite Ennio Morricone compositions, "Nella Fantasia" performed by Jackie Evancho.

• Conversation with pairs skaters Maia and Alex Shibutani, who spoke with The New York Times' Jere Longman II for a story on the 10 a.m. competition times to accommodate the Western Hemisphere broadcast schedule. "There is no extra challenge; it's not like we found out a week ago. These are the best athletes in the world and they're gonna figure out how to get the job done" before answering my question about returning to Gangneung Ice Arena for their first 2018 skate on Olympic ice. Maia said, "It was really special to return. Before Sochi we did not have the opportunity to skate in the venue, so coming in [here] we had a year of positive visualization and just really happy memories, so being back here just feels really comfortable."

• Group interview with Bradie Tennell, a first-time Olympian, who explained she gets psyched up for competition with 70s and 80s rock music by the likes of Metallica, Queen and AC/DC. "It's kinda weird because people look at me like, 'oh, blond hair blue eyes' but that music is great for getting pumped up."

• Longer 1x1 interview with Canadian pairs skaters Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. I cornered them about their choice of music, "Hometown Glory" performed by Adele, which left this blogger in tears during their skate. Duhamel explained that she first heard the song in 2007 at a small venue in Montreal where Adele performed she was "ADELE" selling out arenas. "She was wearing this big, blue T-shirt and I yelled, 'I like your T-shirt' and she was like, 'Thanks, I don't like getting dressed up' and I was like oh, my god, I love this girl and I really loved that song and always have, so we started using it in 2012," said Duhamel, who added that last year she saw Adele perform again at one of Canada's biggest arenas. "She's inspired us., From the day we heard [Adele's] music we were so inspired by her passion."

• Spotting Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir in their commentary booth, later interviewing them about their PyeongChang experience so far. Donning my own Kodak Olympic pin featuring Lipinski's likeness, I asked the NBC Olympics duo if they ever thought of creating their own pins. "We know that the Olympics are big about pin collecting and trading, but we don't have our own pin but that's something to think about," said Weir. I brought up meeting Lipinski at Bud House in Vancouver (no surprise, she did not remember but was nice about it and laughed) and asked how things are going compared to Sochi. "We're having a blast," said Lipinski. "We've been waiting for this moment since Sochi to sit in a prime time booth, and it's overwhelming -- we're loving it." Weir said they'd go the distance for many more future Olympiads if given the chance. "As long as people will have us -- we love this job, it's a privilege and an honor to represent our sport to the masses in the United States and to teach them what they're seeing and give them real talk; we have the most fun doing it -- it's a dream," said Weir.

• Accepting a request from Mirai Nagasu to trade a pin; she offered a huge U.S. Figure Skating pin in exchange for a blogger pin for PyeongChang only moments after standing on the ceremonial medals podium (the medalist teams will accept their hard-earned hardware at Olympic Medals Plaza later tonight). 

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

It Takes A Village

I'm a longtime critic of Olympic Villages. PyeongChang's Village team nailed it!

Since my first Games experience as an Atlanta Olympic Village housing coordinator/supervisor in 1996, I've looked at the housing areas with a manager's eye -- what works, what elements may remain in place as handed down from the Centennial Olympic Village, and what's new. 

South Korea's housing area featured some of each. 

Some additional context on my critiques: Later five-ringed travels afforded a day pass or two to the athlete housing areas at six Olympiads.  

More specifically, in Sydney I was a pre-Games Village volunteer (will never forget meeting Aussie hero Dawn Fraser on the bus one day after a shift). In Salt Lake I was just a visiting spectator (the director was a former Atlanta colleague), and later as an NOC guest it was fun visiting -- and critiquing -- the temporary homes of the Olympians in Beijing, Vancouver, London and Rio. 

Some Villages score on ambiance. Others on efficiency. Some exude an Olympic electricity while others get the job done with measured fun.

Visiting the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Village today, for the first time as a credentialed reporter, was an amazing experience. And the Korean village housing scored two big thumbs up from this blogger.

Here's a Olympic Village first: They have a robot! 

The PyeongChang Village near the mountain Alpensia venues sits along a river and in the foothills of a curving and wooded elevation, with about a dozen residential towers (600 rooms) close to a domed sports arena now serving thousands of meals per day as the main dining hall. 

After passing through security screening with fellow journalists and athletes from Team GB, Slovenia, Turkey and Ghana (yes, Ghana has a skeleton athlete), the Village Welcome Center opened into an international plaza decked out with flags of all 95 competing nations. 

And, yes, the North Korean flag enjoys a spot of prominence near the Olympic and South Korean banners. 

Olympic Villages consist of two main areas.

An International Zone featuring the team welcome ceremony stage, entertainment options and necessities like a post office, hair salon, general store and Olympic merchandise. 

All of the services for PyeongChang's athlete village are nestled into on giant tent (I understand the coastal village at Gangneung, with its 922 rooms, is similar).

Usually the adjacent Residential Zone forbids non-athletes from visiting, but today media got a rare chance to roam freely across a few acres of the Village, affording me photo opps in an athlete game room (i.e. billiards, pinball), lavanderia (since athletes, too, have dirty laundry) and the entry to the tower housing Team USA (the only larger nation in PyeongChang that did not deck the exterior walls with patriotic banners). 

I attended a couple of the Welcoming Ceremonies during which the host nation officially celebrates each arriving nation. 

Today's entrants included a lone alpine ski athlete and HRH Henri Grand Duke of Luxembourg, who were down for some pin trading, as well as Turkey, Australia, Thailand and India. 

According to the first of two Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) competitors met today, their competitors are/were not permitted to create a team pin. Anyone got an egg timer to see how long it takes for bootleg OAR pins to show up on the scene?

While enjoying the warmth of the retail areas, I stamped my passport with an Olympic Village post office postmark and enjoyed an introduction to an Ambassador of Morocco by IOC Member Ms. Nawal El Moutawkel, who asked me to share that her home nation will enjoy an African first: a shot at hosting a future Youth Olympic Games (she also requested a shout-out to her alma matter Iowa State University). 

Pin trading was robust both outside and in the Village. It was fun running into fellow Olympin members Bud and Sid (and his wife) trading near the security entrance. 

I arrived with about 50 pocketed pins and ran out of trading material in less than 90 minutes of trekking the Village, coming home with coveted 2018 NOC pins from Ghana, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Austria, and Mongolia, among others, and even scored a special-design IOC snow globe pin for PyeongChang ... for the win!

Most interesting conversations: short chats with arriving Team USA alpine and snowboard athletes checking in from their Seoul-to-PyeongChang bus ride. Everyone was all smiles, happy for the nomination of luge bronze medalist and four-time Olympian Erin Hamlin, who will carry the Stars and Stripes into the stadium tomorrow night.

It's going to be a great Games!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

PyeongChang Packing Complete

About eight hours from posting this, it's gonna be wheels up for this writer heading west on a direct Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea.

I'm tired of the buildup. Let's get this Games going!

Truth be told, it was uncertain PyeongChang 2018 would be in the cards. 

This is to say I always knew I'd go, but thought perhaps for only a few days of this Olympiad.

With thanks to the U.S. Olympic Committee Media Relations team, a full media credential was, of course, a massive tipping point to book three full weeks for the winter sports experience. 

Now the pins are packed, the AirBNB's are booked, a rental car is secured and a blog schedule, of sorts, is finally starting to gel. 

Here are some target activities on the books so far:

• Securing a coveted ticket to the Opening Ceremony (one event for which the media credential does not guarantee access)
• Checking out Intel's first Games as a worldwide sponsor
• Attempting to share a coffee date with one of North Korea's hand-picked female sports ambassadors
• Another presidential selfie like this one
• Trading pins with my longtime five-ringed friend Nippy F. in the Olympic Village (where he is helping Team Australia)
• Cartwheeling through Beijing 2022 House
• Interviewing as many of Team USA's 243 or so winter Olympians as possible!

The past six months were challenging both professionally and personally. 

While 2017 was the "best year ever" in my independent public relations business, on the home front, as my inner circle of friends heard ad nauseum, I kind of got my guts kicked in on the romantic side and in terms of a seismic shift in personal growth. 

It was tough. It remains challenging. There's a long road ahead. And PyeongChang 2018 may help make some great strides while affording a clean break from curious influencers and influences. 

Looking for the "Where's Waldo?" good in a forest of poo emojis, with the help of some real friends, not to mention close family members, things are already on the up-and-up in 2018. 

Snow Angel (left) with Nick (no saint)

In the last 10 days, I enjoyed a "do over" with one acquaintance (friend? meh? -- tough call much of the time) who visited the South, while later I was popping north for a day to visit former stomping grounds in Milwaukee, mostly to surprise a longtime bestie (see photo) who celebrated a milestone birthday. 

While in the land of "Laverne & Shirley" I also stopped in to the Pettit National Ice Center in West Allis, Wis., and got a nice surprise in spotting Olympic champion Bonnie Blair on the speed skating oval in training with her daughter (see photo). So slick!

Olympic Champion Bonnie Blair (left)

The Pettit staff were understandably all abuzz about Team USA's speed skaters who embarked that very morning (Jan. 30) for PyeongChang. The Olympic excitement is contagious. 

Looking forward to touching down in South Korea soon, and welcome questions, ideas, topics or other inquiries and suggestions for this site in the weeks ahead. It's going to be a great Olympics!

Images via NBC and Yahoo! with personal photos in Wisconsin by Nicholas Wolaver

Grazie Mille

Thanksgiving ranks among my favorite U.S. holidays. It's the one around which the very best family gathering memories of youth are centered, and for which some of the most fun solo or con amigos experiences resonate.

I am thankful for so many people, places, things and ideas spanning a lifetime to recent weeks and months. It's been an extraordinary year of personal change, mostly positive, and of renewed optimism for the future.

Lots of travel, too, thanks to good timing and the generosity of clients who engage the P.R. team of partners with whom I'm privileged to collaborate.

Through visits with friends and family, some of the top Thanksgiving events spanning 1973 to present (my 44 turkey days) are fresh on the brain, so capturing a few here for posterity and shout-outs to those with whom a shared experience took place.

Love, love, love being thankful.

1978 -- Kindergarten Pilgrim hat, buckle and turkey (cut from the outline of my hand) made of construction paper, and earliest recollection of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and consciously comparing female friends my age to the characters on the screen (yes, Lucy and the football). Can't get enough of that Vince Guaraldi soundtrack!

1980 -- Flying a Styrofoam glider and a "pheasant kite" (sort of a sling-shot and paper toy bird) at the big park in Oklahoma City with my sister, Uncle Scott, Grandpa Louis and dad. The first of many cloudless and wonderfully warm Southwestern Thanksgiving Days.

1982 -- The holiday was the eve of my sister's tonsillectomy, teeing up a father-son cooking experience featuring Campbell's alphabet soup and turkey leftovers (the tradition continues!)

1984 -- Thanksgiving in "Big D" Dallas, Texas, during which I learned about Cole Porter and Big Band music, saw "The Karate Kid" on the silver screen and we ate the best damned turkey chili

1985 -- Turkey and ping-pong during our first and only holiday trek to my maternal family's home town, Enid, Okla.

1986 to 1990 -- Trivial Pursuit, home movies and pie

1991 -- Screening "Point Break" then feasting with the Nord Family at Lake Minnetonka, which froze solid in the moonlight as we watched from their cozy living room. This turned into a house-sitting adventure and experiencing my first white-out blizzard later in the weekend

1993 -- Working a double-shift at KMSU-FM in Mankato, Minn., learning about nearby musical hero Prince in detail (the station had a complete collection of his tunes) and discovering radio God of KCRW-FM Joe Frank via his astounding holiday special "Pilgrim" (available via free download through www.JoeFrank.com this month)

1994 -- Saint Louis holiday with college first-love, Jenny, with a sumptuous meal hosted by Fran and John at their historic home in suburban University City, Mo.

1995 -- Celebrating my sister's 21st birthday in St. Louis before a day-long road trip to Oklahoma City for one of the last Thanksgivings with most of the elder family members. We enjoyed a cousin-hosted feast before the full family (about 12 of us) drove caravan-style to see "The American President" together

1997 -- My first international flight from Atlanta to Barcelona, eventually enjoying a "borrowed" bottle of red wine on the Mediterranean sands before translating the Burger King menu for a bunch of female U.S. Navy sailors on shore leave at Las Ramblas

2001 -- Buying a $30 round-trip flight to Washington, D.C. (via post-9/11 pricing), to meet longtime friend Joanne on The Mall after a wonderful solo day in several free museums

2003 -- Surprising a special woman in Milwaukee to launch a 12-year romantic adventure and partnership (now evolved into a tremendous 14-year friendship); not long after the meal, she dumped her Thanksgiving date (which I crashed) so we could share our first official date and trek to The Windy City for the third time that year

2004 -- Window shopping, ice skating and absorbing all the sites of Christmastime Chicago for the second consecutive Black Friday (see 2003)

2015 -- Connecticut holiday with newlyweds Jason and Dominick hosted by Faith and Philip. Still looking for a family game rematch (victory was robbed!)

2016 -- Fessler feast in suburban Birmingham with longtime friends, their son and mother, a source of inspiration, strength and perseverance

2017 -- Early pancake breakfast, turkey via Whole Foods Market, and a quiet afternoon packing for a weekend road trip. Destination: Manhattan/Long Island/Middletown, N.J. Enjoyed a record number of calls and messages from friends from coast-to-coast and even a Thanksgiving fan over yonder in Moscow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by Nicholas Wolaver