The Winter Olympics have concluded. As always, they did not disappoint, especially for those of us who are fans of all sports, no matter how obscure. After all, how often do we get to see things like cross-country skiing, bobsled and Nordic combined?

Still, for me at least, the Olympics offer story lines that go beyond skates and skis. They offer a glimpse at larger themes of dealing with disappointment, working hard to achieve goals and how to be a good teammate or competitor.

Who wasn’t disappointed for Lindsay Vonn, whose dream of winning another Olympic medal after retiring was shattered 13 seconds into her first race? For those of us of a certain age, Vonn offered a glimmer of hope that age is just a number. Then tragedy struck, and now we anxiously await how all those surgeries to put her leg back together will turn out.

Then there were figure skater Ilia Malinin’s uncharacteristic mistakes in his free skate, ruining his chances of any medal despite being the presumptive favorite for gold. Yet, he showed grace and sportsmanship that people far older than he can’t manage to muster. He’s not only a great skater, but his parents did a good job of helping him become a good human, something far more important.

For a while there, it seemed skiing powerhouse Mikaela Shiffrin was going to leave these Games without a medal. For some reason, the Olympics have been a source of disappointment for her. Yet she came through it and struck gold in her final race. Sweet relief!

That skier Nick Goepper managed to walk away from his spectacular crash in the freeski halfpipe final might just be a miracle. In his final run, knowing that he would need to do something special for a shot at a gold medal, Goepper went for a massive trick at the very end of his run. Instead of landing in the halfpipe, he hit the lip and then bounced to the bottom. Somehow, though, he didn’t do much more than bruise himself. In a social media post afterward, he said he didn’t regret going for it, since a gold medal was his goal. Sometimes you win a gold medal, and sometimes you bounce.

Other stories resonated with me as well: The Norwegian cross-country skier, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who won six gold medals. That’s impressive enough, but what I found heartwarming is his relationship with his grandfather, who serves as his coach and mentor.

Speed skater Jordan Stoltz, who was trying for four gold medals, can still be proud of his Olympics. He finished with two gold medals and a silver. Even in that last race – the mass start final – he wound up fourth. That’s amazing in my book. … The women’s bobsled program had a fabulous Olympics. … Chloe Kim’s return to compete in snowboard halfpipe was remarkable; winning a silver was just icing on the cake. … Alysa Liu’s ability to skate with freedom and joy on the world’s most intense stage. No wonder she was rewarded with a gold medal.

Finally, there’s the U.S. men’s hockey team. Their gold medal was the first one for the United States since 1980’s “Miracle on Ice.” Back then, the Soviet Union had a lock on the men’s hockey gold medal. These days, it’s Canada. However, USA Hockey has been coming on for years.

They’ve finally broken through, and the victory is sweet.

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One more thing: Last week, I shared my anxiety about an upcoming mammogram. Happily, I can report that no cancer was found. However, it was a bit of an ordeal to get there.

Since I have the double whammy of dense breast tissue and a lot of calcifications (which usually are benign but can be a marker for cancer), I often must have additional imaging. That happened again this time. Then I had to undergo an ultrasound because something didn’t look right on my images.

The last time I had an ultrasound like that was back in 2019, when the ultrasound was done to confirm that I had a malignant tumor. That wasn’t the case this time, but it still was hard to deal with the emotions the procedure dredged up.

The good news is that I’m done with diagnostic mammograms and can return to screening ones. However, I will need to have an MRI in August just to make sure nothing slips by.

Despite the drama, I’m happy with the thoroughness of the radiology folks and relieved that I’m in the clear. Cancer never stops being scary, but we can live with it if we continue to be vigilant.

• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.