Michael Glasder of Team USA soars high and far down the larger of the two jumps at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Stadium. He made this jump during the third heat before the team medal competition.
Detroit Free Press photojournalist Eric Seals, BJ ’93, spent February 2018 in Pyeongchang covering his third Olympics on assignment for USA Today Sports Images. Seals says that covering the Olympics, with its long hours and harsh weather conditions, is an endurance test all its own. “It’s a constant challenge to keep pushing oneself to keep growing, keep being creative through the viewfinder and yet always embrace the moments you’re experiencing and the fun you’re having in those moments.” He says it’s important “to stop every once in a while to take stock, look around at where you are, what you are doing and the total love you still have for this incredible job.”
A competitor takes the iconic turn 14 during the women’s Olympic luge medal round.
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- Beat him by toenail. An amazing finish to the men’s 15 km Olympic mass start at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre. Martin Fourcade, right, of France edges out Simon Schempp of Germany for the gold medal.
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- Silje Norendal of Norway in the women’s snowboarding big air final at the Alpensia Jumping Centre.
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- Team USA curler Becca Hamilton slides a stone down the sheet while brother Matt stands ready to scrub during a mixed-doubles game against Canada.
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- Hege Bokko of Norway skates during the women’s Olympic 1,000-meter race at the Gangneung Ice Arena. She finished 14th out of 31 places.
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- Metro Detroit Olympian Kyle Mack soaks in the moment after winning silver in the men’s big air competition at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre.
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- A pat on the helmet for a job well done. Nick Poloniato, who piloted a Canadian four-man bobsled, gets a tap on the head from teammate Cameron Stones after the fourth heat on the 16-turn course at the Alpensia Sliding Centre.
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- “I had a staredown with a South Korean soldier who was standing guard at a conference room table in the Blue House, also known as Truce Village,” Seals says. On the left is South Korea, and on the right is North Korea. Seals spent three tense minutes technically inside North Korea on Feb. 28, 2018. “The South Koreans and Joint Security Area soldiers — many of whom were American — mean business at the DMZ before you cross over to the North Korean side of the table and are told over and over again, ‘When you arrive at the conference room, do not touch any equipment such as microphones or flags belonging to the communist side. Do not speak with, make any gesture toward or in any way approach or respond to personnel from the other side.’ It was a surreal experience being in this room, which has seen so much history, conflict and tension since the 1950s. I got an incredible history lesson that day.”
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- Seals added his Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic media pins and credentials to a case in his home office, where they join others from Beijing (2008) and Rio (2016). “I actually ran out of room in the case because my pin trading game is always strong,” he says. “This is a nice reminder of great memories, challenges, experiences, feelings and emotions from the three Olympics I’ve shot so far.”
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- One of the Olympic torches along with Seals’ new Missouri School of Journalism baseball hat. “I met a guy boarding the train to Seoul who proudly said he was the only Filipino person to run with the Olympic torch in South Korea,” Seals says. “He was still so excited about the experience.” The lightweight plastic torch does not use flammable liquid.
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