GANGNEUNG, South Korea – Some Winter Olympic events are thrilling. Some, let’s face it, are a little bit boring. And some are just kind of weird.
Figure skating’s team event drifted past its midway point on Sunday afternoon at the Gangneung Ice Arena, and sits firmly in the final category.
It is like the mixed doubles at a Grand Slam tennis event, where it is nice to win, but no one pays too much attention, and beyond the participants there’s scarcely a soul alive who remembers who won a year later.
In figure skating the teams do their thing on the main ice, obviously, but in terms of importance it doesn’t have a lot in common with the intensity and prestige of winning in an individual discipline.