(ATR) Team USA reached a milestone of 100 gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games as snowboarder Shaun White wins the men’s halfpipe event in PyeongChang.
White becomes the first snowboarder to win three Olympic gold medals and the first American man to win gold medals at three Winter Games. He previously had won the halfpipe at Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010.
In addition, White sets a U.S. record for the most years between gold medals at 12, besting Ted Ligety’s previous record of eight.
"Man, three gold medals. My fourth Olympics. Thank you, I'm feeling blessed," White said immediately afterward.
White’s gold medal is the fourth of the PyeongChang Games for Team USA with the competition now in its fifth day. All four golds have come in snowboarding.
The United States joins Norway as the only countries to have reached 100 gold medals in the Winter Games. Norway has 121 while Germany is closing in on the century mark with 92.
The first gold medal won by the United States came at the inaugural Winter Games in Chamonix, France in 1924. Long track speedskater Charley Jewtraw won the 500 meter event.
"Each and every one of the 100 times we have heard our national anthem play in Olympic Winter Games competition has been a truly unique and special moment," said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun in a statement. "These medals have spanned nearly 100 years and showcase the dedication to excellence that is central to Team USA and the entire U.S. Olympic family."
Snow Volleyball on Tap
FIVB, the international volleyball federation, will hold a snow volleyball exhibition at Austria House Wednesday afternoon in PyeongChang.
Where's Thomas Bach Today?
IOC President Thomas Bach was on hand to see White win the gold in the halfpipe. Later in the day he will be at biathlon.
The women’s slalom event was also on Bach’s schedule for the day but it was postponed due to high winds. It has been rescheduled for Friday afternoon.
The slalom is the latest alpine skiing event to be pushed back to due poor weather conditions, joining the men’s downhill and women’s giant slalom.
Gangneung Olympic Park Temporarily Closed
The high winds not only are affecting the competition but also activities in the Gangneung Olympic Park.
POCOG announced Wednesday afternoon a temporary suspension of all activities in the common domain of the Olympic Park to "ensure the safety of all personnel".
Spectators are being encouraged to stay indoors and general admission to the park has been suspended for the rest of the day. Temporary structures have also been closed until the high winds subside.
Here is the scene at the Olympic Media Village a few kilometers from the Olympic Park, courtesy of ATR's Aaron Bauer.
blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is how it looks slash feels at the media village a few km away a href="https://t.co/VVOZHDlAQa">pic.twitter.com/VVOZHDlAQa/a>/p>— aaron bauer (@ABauer_ATR) a href="https://twitter.com/ABauer_ATR/status/963680575809839105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2018/a>/blockquote>script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8">/script>
Temperatures in Gangneung on Wednesday were much higher than previous days, with a high of 11c/52f expected for Thursday.
It snowed Wednesday in PyeongChang but the forecast for the next three days calls for temperatures above freezing during daytime. At night, lows predicted to be a few degrees below freezing. Partly cloudy to sunny skies are forecast for the rest of the week.
Written by Gerard Farekand Ed Hula in PyeongChang
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