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Red, White & Trending: Feb. 3-9

By Jamie MacDonald | Feb. 10, 2017, 7:36 p.m. (ET)

What are Team USA athletes — Olympians, Paralympians and hopefuls — up to when they're not competing? They're training. They're practicing. They're traveling to competitions and meets and games and tournaments. They're relaxing. They're getting engaged and married. They're taking hard-earned vacations. They're coping with the raw emotions that come from losing and winning. And they're sharing. Through the reach of social media, we're able to follow along on their often extraordinary journeys. We'll catch you up each week on what's "Red, White & Trending."


One Year Out

Tick … tock. One year from today and we’ll already have enjoyed the Opening Ceremony at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. And, to mark the occasion, with so many winter athletes who are now inside 12 months of debuting in or returning to the most significant days of their athletic careers, there was a clear theme to their social media imprints this week. We picked out some highlights, including from some New York City adventures during the #1YearOut celebration …

#allstarlineup @todayshow

A photo posted by Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (@jocelyneusa17) on

#IceCube #IceT

A photo posted by Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (@jocelyneusa17) on

@moniquelam7 crushing homers in the @mlbnetwork field

A video posted by Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (@jocelyneusa17) on

A day in the life...🙈🙈🙈 #1yearout #2018

A photo posted by Gracie Gold (@graciegold95) on


He’s Baaaaackkkkkk

One athlete in particular has added reason to celebrate the 365-day countdown: Two-time Olympic bobsled medalist Steve Langton is coming back to make another dream come true.


Inspired Video

For sheer inspiration, there will always be this kind of goodness in the world, thanks in this case to alpine ski racer and Paralympic hopeful Mark Urich …

Got to teach this little guy to ski yesterday! Definitely the youngest amputee skier I've ever seen!

A photo posted by Mark Urich (@onelegged) on

Love this little dude! 5 years old, my same disability, first time on a ski, crushing it!!

A video posted by Mark Urich (@onelegged) on

Few Olympic or Paralympic stories are free of sacrifice and perseverance, but these two Olympians, one married to a fellow BMX racer in Team USA’s Alise Post, are in the midst of working their way back from severe injuries. But, if you watch the videos, you’ll see so many signs for optimism — beginning with two-time Olympic high jumper Jamie Nieto’s.

Meanwhile, two-time Olympian Post (she won silver in Rio) has become an inspiration for her fiancé, Aussie Sam Willoughby, who won silver in London but was partially paralyzed while training in California this past September.


Still Shredding

We should all be so lucky to be ripping it up with our kids …

I got to ski with my mom who still rips it up. Love her, and that she taught me to ski. #momsthatrip #parkcity

A photo posted by Lindsey Van (@lindseyvan12) on


Super Fans

Well, now, that was some kind of Super Bowl finish. And Team USA athletes, many without any particular rooting interest, were glued to a tale-of-two-halves NFL finale that featured a historic late comeback that turned the game into one for the ages. It also, in the eyes of so many of the world’s best athletes, made Tom Brady the Greatest Of All Time, and certainly had them recording the twists and turns through social media. We present a most entertaining and condensed version of the game seen through the eyes of Team USA.

PREGAME

Guess @boomerrphelps is ready for #superbowl !!

A photo posted by Michael Phelps (@m_phelps00) on

GAMETIME

HALFTIME

THE COMEBACK

THE WIN

G.O.A.T. STATUS


Super Shenanigans

No Super Bowl is complete without pomp and circumstance, either, and edition LI was no different in the run-up to “the big game” for 7-foot-1 Shaquille O'Neal, an Olympic basketball gold medalist also known as “The Big Aristotle,” “Big Baryshnikov,” “The Diesel” and a bunch of other nicknames that highlight his size, and the comparatively smaller Olympic gymnastics star, 4-foot-9 Simone Biles.

And yet Biles managed to hobnob with bigger stars, too …


A Matter Of Perspective

While his U.S. teammates are scattered around the globe competing, Olympic alpine skier Steven Nyman, knocked out at Garmisch downhill with a season-ending torn MCL, was rehabbing while time stood still for one of the world’s fastest ski racers.

Not long afterward, he was looking to another point on his horizon.


Mmmm, Pizza

Attention: Internet holiday alert. Team USA can’t always celebrate with pizza, but some are willing to make exceptions.


Final Thought

Rarely can something so concise in its packaging be so freighted with the weight of such devotion …

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Related Athletes

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Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson

Ice Hockey
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Nikko Landeros

Sled Hockey
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Janet Evans

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Steve Langton

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Alise Willoughby

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Michael Phelps

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Steven Nyman

Alpine Skiing
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Monique Lamoureux-Morando

Ice Hockey
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Melissa Stockwell

Triathlon
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Simone Biles

Gymnastics