The opening ceremony Friday morning officially kicked off the Winter Games with the symbolic lighting of the cauldron at Beijing’s National Stadium. Members of Team USA took their excitement of marching for their country and quest for gold onto social media.
Fans were loving the behind-the-scenes pictures and videos from their favorite Olympians. Here are some of the best behind-the-scenes posts on Instagram and Twitter:
Figure Skating
Kaitlin Hawayek, an ice dancer, was one of the members of Team USA that recorded a video of herself and the team walking around Beijing’s National Stadium.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
In the one-minute video on Instagram, Hawayek captioned the post: “BEST. NIGHT. OF. MY. LIFE. @beijing2022 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸.”
Jason Brown had some fun posting a trio of personality pics to his Twitter account.
He captioned the post: “Opening Ceremonies Sparkles #WinterOlympics #Beijing2022 #TeamUSA”
Ice Hockey
Megan Bozek, an Olympic silver-medalist at 2014 Sochi, captured a picture of Team USA at the Opening Ceremony Friday morning.
Alongside a photo Bozek took to Twitter, she wrote: “No words to describe this moment Flag of United States #Beijing2022WinterOlympics #TeamUSA”
Hilary Knight also posted a picture to Twitter from the Opening Ceremony, featuring Megan Keller, Nicole Hensley and Alex Cavallini.
She captioned the post “Cool kids in the back #teamusa.”
Alpine Skiing
Nina O’Brien, who specializes in giant slalom and slalom, posted a photo of herself inside of the National Stadium.
On the Instagram post, she captioned the photo: “What a feeling!!!! I won’t forget this one @teamusa ❤️🤍💙”
Jaelin Kauf waved for the camera in a video posted to her Instagram page from the Opening Ceremony. The second frame of her post featured a selfie with members of Team USA.
She captioned the Instagram post: “Verified Let the games begin🇺🇸 Such a very special night with very special people!! So honored to be a part of this team and be able to represent @teamusa at my second Olympics❤️🤍💙 #beijing2022 #TeamUSA”
Curling
John Shuster, one of Team USA’s flag bearers, took a personal approach when posting his Instagram photo from the Opening Ceremony.
In an iconic photo of him carrying the American flag surrounded by Team USA, he captioned the post: “Marrying my incredible wife, becoming a father, winning Gold in 2018…. and now today. #olympics #winterolympics #beijing2022 #teamusa #openingceremony #usacurling #teamshuster”
