Veronica

iced coffeeholic & dog lover 🌞

[Kai🫐🌻🫧 @kairo7news]

They called him Backpack because his mama carried him around because he had an injured leg 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 I LOVE YOU BACKPACK 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[𝓑ᥫ᭡ @quesadaaa_]

The audacity of chasing her in front of the cops… This is what I mean when I say some men are absolutely certain they’ll get away with assaulting a woman.

[Daily Loud @DailyLoud]

WOW: Tulsa, Oklahoma reveals the state’s first-ever musical road on historic Route 66, and when you cruise across the Southwest Boulevard Bridge at exactly 35 mph, your tires play Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” through the pavement.

[Pop Crave @PopCrave]

Lily Allen wore a dress at her ‘West End Girl’ tour made of receipts showing things her ex David Harbour bought for other women.

[GreenGay 💚 @GreenGayYT]

EXCUSE ME?!?!! 😭

[ଳ Izumi ꕤ 泉🪼🌌 @HoshiZeri]

The little monkey, punch is so CUTE BUT HE MAKES ME SAD

[Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 @cmclymer]

It annoys me that so many people are under the impression that this guy, Steven Bradbury, is some subpar goober who lucked his way into gold.

That could not be further from the truth.

This is one of the most satisfying victories in the history of the Olympics if you know the full backstory.

This medal final was during his fourth Olympics, in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Earlier in his career, he was among the best athletes in the world in this specific event, the 1000 meter short-track men's speed skate.

But despite his talent, he just had some of the shittiest luck in the sport. We're talking a decade of shit luck.

In the '94 Winter Olympics, he was considered the odds-on favorite to take gold, but he fell in his heat after getting illegally pushed by an opponent (who was later disqualified). He didn't get a re-do. That was it. He got shoved by some asshole, and his Olympics was over.

Then in the '98 Winter Olympics, he was a favorite to at least medal in the same event but got caught up in a collision that wasn't his fault and failed to advance.

In 1994, he got his thigh sliced open by a competitor's skate during a race, which required 111 stitches and 18 months of recovery time.

In 2000, he broke his neck during training because a skater in front of him fell and tripped him up. That required a bunch of screws and plates being inserted into his skull and back and chest.

And doctors told him that he should stop skating. But he didn't wanna give up. It meant too much to him.

So, there he was in Salt Lake City in 2002, past his prime, a walking erector set, going up against opponents who were faster and younger and in their prime.

He manages to win his heat and advance to the quarterfinal but then has the shit luck (yet again) of having to go up against the best two athletes in the quarterfinal and only the top two advance.

He finishes third and thinks: "Damn, I gave it my best shot." But then, the second place finisher is disqualified, so Bradbury gets to advance to the semifinal.

Now, at this point, he's thinking: Well, shit, I'm not as fast as these younger guys, and I got a bad habit of getting taken out by crashes that aren't my fault.

So, he consults with the Australian national coach, Ann Zhang, and they decide that he should hang back from the pack and hope the pack crashes.

That is a perfectly valid strategy. If you crash, you lose, but speed skaters risk crashing to gain an advantage in order to win.

It may not feel exciting, but it is a valid strategy and just as risky: avoid crashes entirely and hope that pays off.

It paid off in the semifinal: the pack, including the defending Olympic champion, jostled too much and crashed. Bradbury wins and advances.

So, he's improbably in the final and takes the same approach, and it works: the entire pack jostles too much and crashes, and Bradbury's risk of hanging back pays off.

This victory was not some un-athletic schlub lucking his way into gold.

It was a journeyman athlete who never gave up and played smart after a career of shitty luck and finally got his due after it being snatched away from him so many times.

Hands down, one of my favorite Olympics stories.

[Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 @jacksonhinkle]

🚨🇺🇸🇨🇳 BREAKING: China’s all-female SWAT team beat the US all-male squad by 16 seconds at the UAE challenge, carrying a 120-kg tire.

[Nichole @nickyyknowsball]

I love that the backflip doesn’t even count for any points Ilia Malinin just does it for the love of the game

[beej.⭐️ #elrielendgame @godskiler]

ele sussurrando "room 1221" pro bad bunny nessa hora certeza

[omeo 𖤐 @ihyomeo]

they’re walking like they know they got that shit on

[The Olympic Games™ @Olympics]

Our pookies have arrived at the cottage. 🥺❤️

@milanocortina26 #Olympics #HeatedRivalry #HudsonWilliams #ConnorStorrie

[ana🌴 @shanesfreckle]

the way he took her drink and kept it close to him !!! oh that's a man

[stephanie @Stephabues]

THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THING IVE SEEN TODAY LIKE WDYM THE BACKUP GOALIE’S PHYSICALLY HIDING FROM THE GAME AFTER WATCHING THEIR MAIN GOALIE LET 7 GOALS IN 😭😭😭😭😭

[annie @fayrchilds]

him and winona ryder are genuinely too good for stranger things its embarrassing

[Dexerto @Dexerto]

Champion LEGO builder Joss Ivanwood made a Demogorgon from the Orchid set

[ElBuni @therealbuni]

En Las Vegas hicieron un show con drones donde se abria el cielo y salía el vecna ese de stranger things

[Veronica @veronicarein1]

Do you remember when you joined X? I do! #MyXAnniversary

[𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐂𝐇 @HaychThe1st]

Apparently no one got the reference

[Rxsh @ihyRxsh]

this photograph gives the impression the bear hired the photographer