Luge Doubles
Gold: Tarkwin and Alivia from Asia. Silver: Ben R and Grady from Africa. Nick and Owen from Australia/Oceania
2022 Olympic News Article:
Tarkwin and Alivia Slide to the Olympic Gold Medal!
(Dedham, ME) With a cold and icy day, the Olympics were starting their fourth competition. The competitors were tense and focused and the crowd was excited and cheering for their country. Chants were yelled and sung throughout the crowd while the competitors were getting ready on the top of the steep, slippery hill. The temperature was below freezing with winds that cut through the spectator's faces with ease. Interviewers were gathering their information and jotting down important details. All watched eagerly at the top of the hill, waiting for the double to slide down.
The rules for this competition are that each team gets two attempts on the hill and only the best time counts. Competitors must wear helmets. Competitors must remain in a prone position with only their heads and shoulders lifted to be able to see. Starting before the signal or missing a gate results in adding five seconds to your time.
The first double to slide down the frozen hill was Ben and Grady from Africa. They traveled down the hill fast and furious going through both of the sets of cones perfectly. Their time was a very speedy 7:18.
Nick and Owen from Oceania were next. They slid down the hill extremely quickly. Once they slipped through both of the gates, Mr. Person said, “That’s a nice run.” The stopwatch read 7:18. They had tied for first place.
The third group to go down the icebound hill was Chase and Zanye. They are from the Americas. While going down the hill, they were scooped up into the air and then slammed roughly back down. Because of this, their time was a little slower with a 7:60.
Next up was DJ and Brock from Europe. Their run displayed the most skill out of all of them. Mr. P said, “Most skilled steering that we have seen today.” The two crashed into the first cone and managed to stay inside the cone and then hit against the second cone and still managed to stay inside the gates. Their time was 7:78.
DJ and Brock went again and had a mid-run drift that slowed them down significantly. They crossed the line with 8:18 on the stopwatch. Brock immediately said, “Horrible.”
Chase and Zanye were next up to go down the frosted hill. They had a very smooth ride and swiftly crossed the gates easily. “That’s a good time right there.” Mr. Pearson said.
Ben and Grady went up after the two and started off with an interesting start. Mr. Pearson counted down from 3 and then the siren didn’t go off. Ben and Grady crashed and then Mr. Pearson explained that the run didn’t count. This led to the group climbing back up the icy hill and getting ready for their makeup run.
Nick and Owen followed Ben and Grady and had a very smooth ride. Their time ended up being 7:50.
Ben and Grady then did their makeup run. Their sled barely slipped through the last gate. They ended up with the time of 7:43.
The last run was Tarkwin and Alivia. They slid down the hill fast and bumpy. It was so bumpy that Alivia almost fell out of the sled. Their time was 7:63.
The results were: DJ and Brock in 5th. Chase a Zanye in 4th. Nick and Owen in 3rd. Ben and Grady in 2nd. Lastly, Tarkwin and Alivia took the gold medal in 1st place.
Interviews:
Ben R before the game: “We’re gonna win!”
Jake before the game: “It’s going to be very entertaining. Good luck to Ben and Grady.”
Mrs. Kearns: “Australia is going to win all the way mate. We come from a land down under.”
Mr. Pearson: “It is a tough course today. Hard to steer. It’s gonna go to the people that control the sled the best.”
Mrs. Robinson: “I think it depends on how everyone does with the steering. It is an icy course. It looks like the doubles are going to go a lot faster than the singles did.”
Mrs. Byard: “Well, obviously I think that Africa has a very strong shot. Ben is very experienced and will guide Grady to the gold.”
Dedham News
The News, Brought to you by Ashlyn Dearborn
Dedham Double Luge
Dedham Winter Olympics has just started, some events have already passed, such as Biathlon, Nordic Skiing, both long and short distance snowshoe, as well as both double and single Luge.
Dedham Double Luge was played when 2 Dedham students got into a special Luge sled, started at the very tippy-top of the hill, and went down full force. At the bottom of the hill the sled must’ve passed through two gates made of cones. For each gate the sled missed, there was a 5 second penalty. Each team got 2 runs, the judges taking the best out of the 2. There was 1 team of 2 for each continent, Brock Bates and DJ Stohr for team Europe, Ben Robinson and Grady Douglass for team Africa, Tarkwin Currie and Alivia McGarvey for team Asia, Zayen Gilley and Chase Morrill for team Americas, and last but certainly not least, Nicklaus Wardwell and Owen Robinson for team Australia/Oceana. Many people thought Africa was going to win with the high of 3 votes, The Americas got 2 votes, Australia/Oceana got 2, Asia also got 2, and Europe got 1.
Kieston’s vote was clear after she said “You're either bad, or your Africa.” Abby seemed to agree adding, “Grady and Ben are like the dream team, they know how to fly.” Hailee Dearborn didn’t seem to know what she thought, saying “My bets on Africa, no, Americas, no, Antarctica '' It was an exciting, fun match to watch, with Asia beating the odds and winning by 18 hundriths of a second. In there was a tie between Africa and Australia/Oceana for second with 7.18 seconds, this was broken by the judges combining both of their runs. The final results, Nicklaus Wardwell and Owen Robinson took home bronze for Australia/Oceana, Ben Robinson and Grady Douglass took silver for Africa, and finally Tarkwin Currie and Alivia McGarvey took home the gold for Asia. Great performance by all teams.