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Closing Ceremony

Youth Olympics wrap with Closing Ceremony, Lionel Messi cameo (photos)

By Nick ZaccardiAug 28, 2014, 11:12 AM EDT
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Lionel Messi, floating mascots and the words “selfie” and “hashtag” in the IOC president’s speech highlighted the Nanjing Youth Olympic Closing Ceremony, extinguishing the Olympic flame after 11 days of competition in the Chinese city.

IOC president Thomas Bach, who called on the athletes to take selfies in the Opening Ceremony, had a slightly different request in his speech Thursday.

“So again, I ask everybody here in this stadium, get your smart phones out — but do not take a selfie tonight,” Bach said. “In the Olympic spirit greet and thank the person next to you and take their picture. Share this token of friendship with the world, and post it with the hashtag #Nanjing2014.”

U.S. women’s rugby player Richelle Stephens was chosen as flag bearer for the 92-athlete delegation. Rugby is returning to the Olympics in 2016 for the first time since 1924.

The U.S. won 22 medals, including 10 golds, at the Youth Olympics, bettering its totals from the first Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010. Only host China and Russia placed higher on the medal table in Nanjing.

The Olympic Flag was handed over to Buenos Aires, which will host the 2018 Youth Olympics. Organizers played a video during the Closing Ceremony that included Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi.

Lillehammer will host the next Youth Winter Olympics in 2016. The Norwegian site hosted the largely praised 1994 Winter Olympics.

NBCSN coverage of the Youth Olympics concludes Thursday with the Closing Ceremony (6:30-8 p.m. ET).

Youth Olympics broadcast schedule

Yuzuru Hanyu opens Olympic season with record score

Yuzuru Hanyu
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By Nick ZaccardiSep 22, 2017, 8:45 PM EDT
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A sore knee didn’t hold Yuzuru Hanyu back. A record score to open his Olympic season.

The Olympic and world champion from Japan hit a pair of quadruple jumps in his short program at the Autumn Classic, a lower-level event in Montreal.

He was rewarded with 112.72 points, the highest short program score recorded under the 13-year-old judging system. Video is here.

It looked like a home competition for Hanyu.

Upon finishing, he bowed toward one set of bleachers (maybe a dozen rows) at the Sportsplexe Pierrefonds. More than two dozen Japanese flags made it hard to see most of the faces.

He bettered Javier Fernández, a two-time world champion and training partner, by 11.52 points. Fernández also landed two quadruple jumps to tally 101.2.

Full scores will be here upon the conclusion of the short program. The free skate is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. A live stream is here.

Hanyu now owns the three highest short program scores under the 13-year-old system. The other two were set in the 2015-16 season.

Showdowns like Hanyu-Fernández are usually reserved for, at the earliest, the Grand Prix series in late October and November.

Hanyu and Fernández are very familiar with each other, having shared a coach in Canadian Brian Orser, the 1988 Olympic silver medalist, since 2012. They train in Toronto.

In that time, Hanyu became the first Japanese man to win an Olympic title (and the second teen from any nation to do it). He followed it up with world titles later in 2014 and this year.

Fernández achieved unfathomable success for a Spanish skater — world titles in 2015 and 2016, overtaking Hanyu in the free skate both times.

In PyeongChang, Hanyu can become the first man to repeat as Olympic champion since Dick Button in 1952. Fernández can become the third Spaniard to earn a Winter Olympic medal of any color in any sport, and the first since 1992.

The figure skating season continues next week with Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany, the final Olympic qualifying competition. North Korea could clinch its first spots in any sport for the Olympics in the pairs event.

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USOC letter assures Olympians about South Korea security

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Associated PressSep 22, 2017, 7:58 PM EDT
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The U.S. Olympic Committee’s security chief sent a letter to potential Winter Olympians saying there are no indications that recent developments between the U.S. and North Korea have compromised security in South Korea.

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press shortly after it was sent Friday, makes no suggestion that the U.S. is considering skipping the PyeongChang Winter Games for security reasons.

But Chief Security Officer Nicole Deal does write that provocations that have been volleyed between the United States and North Korea are likely to persist for the foreseeable future, and “should not be dismissed as insignificant nor feared as precursors of an inevitable conflict.”

The letter comes at the end of a week in which France’s sports minister suggested the country’s athletes would stay home if security could not be guaranteed.

The International Olympic Committee, trying to calm concerns, reiterated that in conversations with high-level officials in China and South Korea, none have expressed doubt about the Winter Games proceeding as scheduled, next February.

The USOC also sent out a public statement Friday from CEO Scott Blackmun.

“We will continue to work with our State Department and local organizers to ensure that our athletes, and our entire delegation, are safe,” he said.

The letter, sent to athletes, national governing bodies and other Olympic leaders in the United States, said the USOC’s security division is operating as “business as usual for our security planning and preparations.”

Deal writes that the USOC is reviewing crisis management plans that address a range of potential scenarios “to ensure our athletes, and our entire delegation, are safe.”

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