"Garlic Girls," An Olympic Sensation

From ABC.net

"Forget Lindsey Vonn and Adam Rippon, the real rock stars of the Pyeongchang Olympics are a humble group of Korean curlers...called the 'Garlic Girls'...Never considered a medal contender coming into Pyeongchang, they have played their way into the gold medal game while earning worldwide attention for their fierce talent and funny personalities."

"And yet the Garlic Girls have been almost totally sheltered from the international frenzy both by personal choice — they switched off their phones during the games to block outside attention — and by a protective coach who is keenly aware that curling is as much a mental game as a physical one."

"That interest is understandable. The Garlic Girls thrilled the home crowd by beating Japan 8-7 in a tiebreaking extra end on Friday night, clinching at least a silver medal — with a chance to win gold on Sunday against Sweden..."

"They are cute and comical, referring to themselves by quirky nicknames such as "Pancake" and "Steak".

Two teammates are sisters and all are longtime friends, creating irresistible chemistry on the ice. The team's "skip", or captain, has a steely gaze and funky, owl-eyed glasses that have become fodder for endless internet memes."

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Women's 4 X 5km Relay an Exciting Competition!

From PyeongChang and Reuters, Women's 4 X 5km Medalists:

Norwegian flag [flaginstitute.org]

1.   Norway
Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg/Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen/Ragnhild Haga/Marit Bjoergen           51 minutes 24.3 seconds 

2.   Sweden
Anna Haag/Charlotte Kalla/Ebba Andersson/Stina Nilsson                                     51:26.3                 

3.   Olympic Athlete from Russia
Natalia Nepryaeva/Yulia Belorukova/Anastasia Sedova/Anna Nechaevskaya        52:07.6                

From Olympic News: 

MARIT BJOERGEN SKIED A TRIUMPHANT FINAL LEG TO WRITE HER NAME INTO THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES HISTORY BOOKS, DELIVERING GOLD FOR NORWAY IN THE WOMEN'S 4X5KM CROSS COUNTRY RELAY AT THE ALPENSIA CROSS COUNTRY CENTRE ON SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY. IN DOING SO, SHE JOINED COUNTRYMAN OLE EINAR BJOERNDALEN AS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WINTER OLYMPIAN OF ALL TIME ON 13 MEDALS.

Sweden took silver and finished two seconds behind, after fantastic legs by Charlotte Kalla, Ebba Andersson and Stina Nilsson, while Olympic Athlete from Russia came third to take the bronze, 43.3 seconds behind the winners.

Norway missed out on a medal four years ago at Sochi 2014 and looked to be struggling again in the first two legs in PyeongChang. However, Ragnhild Haga, who won gold in the women's 10km free, managed to close the gap to 3.4 seconds in the third leg before she handed over to Bjoergen, with Sweden in the lead, and 0.3 seconds ahead of OAR.

The 37-year-old Bjoergen accelerated up the first hill with Nilsson snapping at her heels at the front of the field, but Olympic sprint champion Nilsson had no answer, and Bjoergen rounded the final corner and sped over the line for victory.     MORE