Winter Olympics Thread: Vancouver 2010

[ArkieDukie]

Plushenko is a major league poor sport, and he acted the same way when he lost in the 2002 Olympics. Anyone catch his drill at the medal ceremony? He stepped up onto the gold medalist's position before taking his rightful place in the silver medalist's position. He and his coach have made numerous comments to the press about how Plushenko was cheated out of the gold medal because he landed a quad and Lysacek didn't. Sorry, but he's a one-trick pony. The rest of Evan's program was much better. His spins were perfectly centered (didn't move across the ice); Plushenko moved a foot or so across the ice. That's a knock on GOE. Evan did a combo at the END of his program that counted almost as much as the one that Plushenko did at the beginning of his program. Aside from the quad, Evan's program was technically more difficult and was executed much better. IMHO Plushenko should've been in 3rd after the short. Personally, I would've had Takahashi in first.

As to why Patrick Chan was in first after he fell, I haven't looked at the protocols so I can't say. I was a bit surprised as well. My best guess is that he actually completed revolution on the quad before he fell. If that's the case, he got the points for the quad and then was knocked on GOE for the fall. The rest of his program was pretty good iirc. There are varying degrees of difficulty on the various spins and footwork sequences, just like there are for jumps. So, a well-performed program with easy jumps, spins, and footwork can score fewer points than a technically difficult program where the skater falls.

[colchar]

So he is the second person in CTN history to have earned that post? Oh well, at least I was first! Then again, I can't remember what I did to earn it.

The Beatles

That was it!

[wilson]

So he is the second person in CTN history to have earned that post? Oh well, at least I was first! Then again, I can't remember what I did to earn it.

No, you were far from the first person to earn it; it's an ignominy I dispense regularly. You just made the single post in CTN history that was most worthy of it.

[colchar]

So he is the second person in CTN history to have earned that post? Oh well, at least I was first! Then again, I can't remember what I did to earn it.

No, you were far from the first person to earn it; it's an ignominy I dispense regularly. You just made the single post in CTN history that was most worthy of it.

Fuck, and here I thought I was the first person here to be so honoured.

[rockymtn devil]

Let the controversy begin:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancou ... &type=lgns
Elvis Stojko thinks Plushenko was robbed of a gold.

Maybe it IS time for figure skating to go on hiatus (and watch the Olympics ratings drop).

I don't know... I thought Lysacek was robbed in the prelim, and Elvis thinks Plushenko was robbed in the long program.

Here's a novel idea: give them a third round where they have to trace figures in the ice, and whoever gets the figures closest to the ideal shape wins the competition. Yeah, and make it worth like 50% or more of their score. ;)

Nope. Not going back to the future.

Figure skating is a pathetic joke but they will never drop it because of ratings.

This so-called sport is seriously seriously flawed. Dick Pound complained right before the Olympics about how terrible their scoring still is. Until they fix it, their competitions have no legitimacy. Heck, I remember reading somewhere about a month before the Olympics that they already know the order of finish for the ice dance competition (I wish I could remember where I read that so that I could provide a link and, more importantly, see if the order they mentioned turns out to be correct).

Take the men's program last night as an example - the Canadian kid (I don't give a rat's ass about figure skating so I can't recall his name) fell at least once (he might have fallen twice - I didn't pay enough attention to the highlight to remember) yet he was in first place after his routine! How the fuck can that be justified?!?!?!?

As I said, figure skating is a pathetic joke. It should be dropped until it is fixed but they will never ever drop it because of the TV ratings it generates.

Here's my issue with figure skating (and, please, feel free point out why I'm wrong because, quite frankly, I know little about the sport): Most of the skaters fall.

This is the Olympics. It's a dozen or so of the world's best who have spent the past four years dedicating their life to these routines. IMO, more of them should be able to land the jumps/tricks. For the record, I don't doubt the extreme difficulty or athleticism in these tricks. But, four years of training for one event should eliminate a lot of the mistakes (falls happen, but when most of them fall, it's a trend).

Don't even get me going gymnastics in the summer games. Any sport which has to a have rule barring the most talented athletes because the best athletes in the world in that sport are pre-pubescent girls needs to be reevaluated. Rant over.

[gadzooks]

Here's my issue with figure skating (and, please, feel free point out why I'm wrong because, quite frankly, I know little about the sport): Most of the skaters fall.

This is the Olympics. It's a dozen or so of the world's best who have spent the past four years dedicating their life to these routines. IMO, more of them should be able to land the jumps/tricks. For the record, I don't doubt the extreme difficulty or athleticism in these tricks. But, four years of training for one event should eliminate a lot of the mistakes (falls happen, but when most of them fall, it's a trend).

So many of them seem to succumb to nerves, and it's kind of weird, because they've all been doing these same routines, competing against the same people, but for some reason, the Olympics gets them all in a tizzy. I think the atmosphere is probably very different from other events, because there's a lot more media; I don't think there's nearly the number of reporters sticking microphones in their faces at even the World Championships, but that's something they should all be aware of and prepare for. I dunno.

As an aside, for everyone's entertainment, I present the following:

[wilson]

The cross-country ski pursuit is pretty goofy looking. Something about all of those dudes bunched together, going through the strange motions of the cross-country skier just makes me giggle.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The cross-country ski pursuit is pretty goofy looking.

I thought the announcer was going to tear his vocal chords out at the finish.

[wilson]

Riveting CURLING ACTION this evening, with the U.S. women picking up a narrow victory over Great Britain in the eleventh end (overtime).

[Lavabe]

2-man bobsled on right now.

[wilson]

2-man bobsled on right now.

Finally. I've always really liked bobsled. If I'm not mistaken, it's the last sport to make its 2010 debut.

[Lavabe]

2-man bobsled on right now.

Finally. I've always really liked bobsled. If I'm not mistaken, it's the last sport to make its 2010 debut.

No Jamaican team this year.

[wilson]

2-man bobsled on right now.

Finally. I've always really liked bobsled. If I'm not mistaken, it's the last sport to make its 2010 debut.

No Jamaican team this year.

Right...they failed to qualify. Didn't qualify for Turin, either.

[colchar]

Riveting CURLING ACTION this evening, with the U.S. women picking up a narrow victory over Great Britain in the eleventh end (overtime).

Yeah the Brits (Scots actually) really threw that one away late in the game.

[colchar]

If I'm not mistaken, it's the last sport to make its 2010 debut.

I think you're right on that.

[wilson]

Here goes Shani...

[wilson]

Here goes Shani...

A little short. Still a commendable silver-medal performance though, and yet another tally on the U.S. sheet.

[Rolvix]

Apollo is kind of awesome. Did anyone see him just go from fourth to first in 3 laps? Some impressive moves

[wilson]

Apollo is kind of awesome. Did anyone see him just go from fourth to first in 3 laps? Some impressive moves

Yeah, that was sick. USA 2-man bobsled followed up with a great second run to knock the Canadians out of the lead, but they've just been overtaken by the damned Russkies.
I can't deny that I'm really loving how the U.S. is kicking serious overall ass in Vancouver.

[Rolvix]

Apollo is kind of awesome. Did anyone see him just go from fourth to first in 3 laps? Some impressive moves

Yeah, that was sick. USA 2-man bobsled followed up with a great second run to knock the Canadians out of the lead, but they've just been overtaken by the damned Russkies.
I can't deny that I'm really loving how the U.S. is kicking serious overall ass in Vancouver.

Achtüng!

Here comes the two German teams...

Meh.

Back to skating.