The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Discussion Thread

Got to watch a bit tonight... speed skating, some skiing, and a bit of the luge.

 

Watching the luge is very difficult...one of the sledders had a problem and immediately everyone panicked.

 

And oh, yeah, the riot was fun, too.

 

I sort of feel bad for the two Korean men that wiped out right before the finish line of the 1500 meter speed skating race yesterday. Korea could have had a sweep, but one of them looked like he got greedy, and as a result cost his country two medals.

 

Yeah, what do you think their coaches are saying about that

It feels awkward that that collision was how Ohno got his 6th medal...

 

Sorry, but please don't call that short track idiocy "speed skating", that's an insult to athletes like Sven Kramer. I can't watch the short track, they might as well make roller derby an event.

Quite a bit of discussion about luge on German TV. On the one hand, the track was designed by a German company, they were pretty desperate to deflect blame, as were everyone else involved in running the event. On the other hand, moving the start is a boost to the Germans, who are better starters and benefit fro the flatter start. Loch is leading at the half way point.

And Annie, I watched some of the biathlon yesterday, happy to see Neuner get silver, seemed like a bit of an odd race, though, an underdog won, and that russian who was leading by a huge margin after the standing shooting faded completely at the end.

 

Short Track is the best thing about the Winter Olympics. Are you saying they aren't athletes? I can't imagine the skill it requires to race at high speeds like that while maneuvering around competitors.

 

Woohoo! 18-0 over Slovakia!

 

So do you Canadian's get to see everything live in Canada? Or do you see some events live and then on "tape delay".

 

Nordic combined is pretty interesting. Likewise the biathlon - I've gotten to see a fair amount of those today

 

7 Wisconsin badgers on team USA womens Hockey
3 on Canada.

 

I have an acquaintance who played women's ice hockey at Wisconsin...wonder if she's friend with any of the Olympians.

 

We've got three channels covering the games so I'm pretty sure most if not all are aired live. If not then some would be streamed online I assume.

 

Canada just took their first gold

Exciting finish in the mens' mogul freestyle.

 

If anybody is interested in picking some Olympic events for the Arena Colors game, the selections have just been posted in that thread for the upcoming week.

2008-2009 L.A. Lakers: World Champions!

 

Not saying that, it certainly requires quite a bit of skill and athleticism. I just find the randomness of it, giving all the crashing, to be rather off-putting.

More than anything, though, I hate all the coverage it gets in the US because of Ohno. It's a marginal sport with almost no following outside a handful of countries, yet NBC treats it as if it were one of the centerpieces of the Winter games.

Question about the Georgian luger who died: anyone know if he was a regular on the world cup circuit?

 

FanHouse's Kevin Blackistone just published an article entitled "Winter Olympics or Winter Idiocy." This is one of the things that he says.

Clearly the athletes know the risks that are involved in sporting events. I'm surprised that a fairly mainstream journalist would come out so anti-Winter Olympics.


Edit: spelling

 

Blackistone, I'm disappointed in you.

 

He'd been in it the last 2 years, though given his low standings I dunno if he went in every event or not.