Winter Olympics 2010 Thread

[E-man]

http://www.nbcolympics.com/

[WestCoast]

February 13, 2010
Athlete killed on Olympics course
By Robin Scott-Elliot, Sports News Correspondent


Georgian luge competitor collides with unpadded steel column after leaving track on notorious final bend

Just hours before last night's opening ceremony began in Vancouver, the Winter Olympics was dealt a devastating blow when a Georgian athlete was killed during a luge training run at the controversial Whistler Sliding Center.

Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, lost control of his sled and was thrown off the track into an unpadded steel pole near the finish line. He was given emergency resuscitation treatment before being airlifted to hospital where he later died.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said that the death "clearly casts a shadow over these games." Ahead of the opening ceremony no announcement had been made as to whether the events at the Sliding Center would go ahead as scheduled. The luge men's singles is due to begin tonight. Training was suspended after the incident and representatives from the competing nations were last night meeting to decide what course of action to take. Britain has one athlete, Adam Rosen, due to take part.

Irakly Japaridze, the head of the Georgian Olympic delegation, said: "We are all in deep shock, we don't know what to do. We don't know whether to take part in the opening ceremony or even the Olympic Games themselves."

The local organising committee released a statement saying that an investigation was under way to "ensure a safe field of play." But they will come in for heavy criticism.

The Sliding Center already had a notorious reputation for speed. It is the fastest track in the world with competitors reaching up to 90mph. The 16th and final bend, where the accident happened, had been identified as a particular worry. The amount of practice time given over to competitors ahead of the Games has also caused concern among some National Olympic Committees. The host nation's athletes have been given preference.

The track is due to host the bobsleigh and skeleton as well, events in which Britain has strong medal contenders in the world champion bobsleighers, Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke, and Shelley Rudman and her partner Kristan Bromley in the skeleton.

Fears of the prospect of serious injury had been raised before yesterday's fatality. After his first training run, Rosen, who dislocated his hip on the same course in October, said: "You have to be very exact on certain parts of the track otherwise they could be disastrous." British skeleton's performance director, Andi Schmid, had expressed prescient concern before the Games. He said: "We need to be careful so that these sports stay great action sports and don't become dangerous killer sports."

On Thursday a female Romanian competitor had been knocked unconscious, and yesterday Armin Zoeggeler of Italy, the men's favourite, was fortunate to walk away without serious injury after he came off his sled. Hannah Campbell-Pegg, an Australian luger, said: "I think they are pushing it too much. To what extent are we just lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."

Ahead of the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki, a British luger, and a 19-year-old Australian died after accidents in training. A minute's silence was held at the opening ceremony, but the Games went ahead as planned.

To add to the organisers' problems the torch relay had to be diverted in its closing stages to avoid protests in a neighbourhood of Vancouver. The weather is also a growing issue and last night the women's super-combined ski race, due to take place tomorrow, had to be postponed. Tonight's men's downhill, one of the Game's blue-riband events, may also have to be delayed.

Independent News and Media Limited

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/athlete-killed-on-olympics-course-1898140.html

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[pecan]

I saw a tape replay of the incident .. so sorry for the athlete, his family and teammate. Tragic, so tragic

He flew into that steel column at full speed

 

[Dutty]

I saw a tape replay of the incident .. so sorry for the athlete, his family and teammate. Tragic, so tragic

He flew into that steel column at full speed

 

For real, from the time he hit and stop yuh could tell was instant death

VANOC tryin to cover dey ass by sayin de man inexperienced , put plenty lugers complain bout dat track
I surprised to see big steel posts eh wrapped wit no kinda padding

[FF]

I saw a tape replay of the incident .. so sorry for the athlete, his family and teammate. Tragic, so tragic

He flew into that steel column at full speed

 

For real, from the time he hit and stop yuh could tell was instant death

VANOC tryin to cover dey ass by sayin de man inexperienced , put plenty lugers complain bout dat track
I surprised to see big steel posts eh wrapped wit no kinda padding

padding wasn't helping dey with that speed he was going

[pecan]

I saw a tape replay of the incident .. so sorry for the athlete, his family and teammate. Tragic, so tragic

He flew into that steel column at full speed

 

For real, from the time he hit and stop yuh could tell was instant death

VANOC tryin to cover dey ass by sayin de man inexperienced , put plenty lugers complain bout dat track
I surprised to see big steel posts eh wrapped wit no kinda padding

padding wasn't helping dey with that speed he was going

143 km/hr. back and head smashing into the column and come to a full stop.  No padding would work

From 143km/hr to 0 km/hour is less than a second - no padding would save you -

[Deeks]

Condolences to the family. RIP.

[weary1969]

Bilodeau brings home Canada's first gold

Vancouver-born Australian Begg-Smith takes silver, American Wilson bronze
WEST VANCOUVER (AP) -- O Canada!

They will sing it loud and proud, thanks to the unlikely upset pulled by Alexandre Bilodeau, who won the men's moguls Sunday night to become the first Canadian to win Olympic gold inside the country's borders.

Showing all the speed and daring a skier needs to make some history, Bilodeau blazed through the slushy moguls, tore down the course in 23.17 seconds and posted a score of 26.75. That was .17 points better than defending champion Dale Begg-Smith, a Vancouver native who now competes for Australia.

Bryon Wilson of Butte, Mont., finished third. When the final skier, Guilbaut Colas of France, had his sixth-place score flashed on the board, the Canadian crowd went crazy.

"I don't think I really realize it," Bilodeau said. "It's too good to be true."

It has been nearly 34 years since the cauldron was first lit for the Summer Games in Montreal, and 22 since the last Canadian games in Calgary.

And now, the land of the Maple Leaf has its moment.

It's a moment that will be played and replayed for the next two weeks and beyond -- one to be celebrated again come Monday, when Bilodeau receives that Olympic gold in a ceremony down in Vancouver and that song -- yes, 'O Canada,' will be piped into the medals plaza for everyone to hear.

The victory came about 24 hours later than many people thought it might -- on the very same moguls course where favorite Jennifer Heil, a Canadian, settled for silver Saturday night. That disappointment is history, and suddenly, Canada looks like the threat it hoped it would be at these Olympics.

The country started a program called "Own the Podium," and poured $110 million into it, with the goal of winning the medal count here at the Vancouver Games. Canada's first gold brings the medal count up to three -- still only half of what the leader, the United States, has won. But there's a lot of time left.

On a night made for raucous celebration, there was a poignant scene, as well -- the one of Bilodeau's brother, Frederic, who suffers from cerebral palsy, cheering in a wheelchair near the bottom of the course behind the fence.

The same fence Bilodeau crashed into at the bottom, after he sped through the final bumps to finish a run that teetered precariously between control and chaos. He stayed up when it counted, though, and in the end, it was his risk-taking that made a difference.

He and Wilson were the only two men in the finals who dared try a back flip with two twists on the top jump. Begg-Smith has been dominating for years with less-difficult jumps; though he executed them cleanly, he lost because he was more than a half-second slower.

As usual, Begg-Smith kept a mysterious air about him afterward.

His Aussie handlers called the media in early so their star could answer questions quickly, and alone, on the podium. But Begg-Smith stood in the back corner, fiddling with his cell phone, waiting for members of the Aussie media -- the only ones he'll talk to -- to get to the tent.

An odd scene for the man who disowned his home country and moved to Australia because it fit in better with his business schedule. He reportedly owns an internet company and is a multimillionaire, which allows him to ski on the side.

That story turned out to be secondary -- as was the nice one Wilson has to tell.

He wasn't even a member of America's "A'' team to start this season, but earned a start in two World Cup events when a teammate got hurt and finished second in both.

That gave him an Olympic spot, and he took advantage by winning bronze.

"A year ago, I would've been just happy to make the Olympics, that was my first goal," Wilson said. "When I got down to the bottom, I saw the score, I hoped it would hold out and it did. And it was pretty amazing."

Bilodeau pretty much had a stranglehold on amazing on this night, though, one in which Canadian fans came to Cypress expecting an erstwhile countryman to win and ended up seeing the real thing.

A student of the Olympics, Bilodeau knows sometimes all it takes is one nice surprise to get the ball rolling.

"There are so many good goals to come," he said. "Canada is so strong right now. I'll be in the stands cheering them on. I'll have to try to keep a bit of my voice for them."

For that song at the medals ceremony, too.


 

[E-man]

other spills and crashes:
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/sports/sports-olympics/olympics-weird-photos/#sldr

[weary1969]

other spills and crashes:
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/sports/sports-olympics/olympics-weird-photos/#sldr

D peeps say d plaid eh get injured

[rotatopoti3]

Russian fella get thief

[Bitter]

Russian fella get thief

Once yuh in an event that have judging, then anything could happen. So he ent get tief, The judges didn't award him a score that would give him the gold.

As far as I'm concerned, all them events with judging is s***. I know there is skill and athleticism involved, but when you stat talking about if you keep your knees together in moguls, or if you looking graceful in skating, then at the top levels, the results are subjective and arbitrary.

[Zeppo]

U.S. stuns Canada with Olympic hockey win

The Americans didn’t believe in miracles. They just believed.

And they pulled off the biggest Olympic hockey upset since the Miracle on Ice, stunning Canada 5-3 on Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals of an already mixed-up tournament.

Brian Rafalski scored two goals, Ryan Miller held off a flurry of shots and the Americans quieted a raucous, pro-Canada crowd that came to cheer its dream team, only to see it upstaged by a bunch of unproven kids.

One day short of the 30th anniversary of the country’s greatest hockey victory—the unfathomable win over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid—these underrated Americans were faster, more disciplined and more determined than Canada’s collection of all-stars.

(continue)

[weary1969]

U.S. stuns Canada with Olympic hockey win

The Americans didn’t believe in miracles. They just believed.

And they pulled off the biggest Olympic hockey upset since the Miracle on Ice, stunning Canada 5-3 on Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals of an already mixed-up tournament.

Brian Rafalski scored two goals, Ryan Miller held off a flurry of shots and the Americans quieted a raucous, pro-Canada crowd that came to cheer its dream team, only to see it upstaged by a bunch of unproven kids.

One day short of the 30th anniversary of the country’s greatest hockey victory—the unfathomable win over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid—these underrated Americans were faster, more disciplined and more determined than Canada’s collection of all-stars.

(continue)

ZEPPO YUH HAPPY

[E-man]

That Russian figure skater went and awarded himself a platinum medal   


http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/blogs/postblog/2010/02/russian-skater-plushenko-awards-himself-platinum-medal.html

[weary1969]

That Russian figure skater went and awarded himself a platinum medal   


http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/blogs/postblog/2010/02/russian-skater-plushenko-awards-himself-platinum-medal.html

  nah man d best 4 a while 

[pecan]

This story making the rounds in Canada.  Written by Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY  (a Brit) writing fro Online Pravda.  Man on drugs .... lol



Vancouver: Mutton Dressed as Lamb
Front page / Sport / Games
19.02.2010    Source: Pravda.Ru    
Increase font size
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Pages: 1

We all knew it weeks before the game started, with accusations about doping being levelled at Russian athletes, and we all saw it on day one of the games, with the death of a Georgian athlete on a corner which miraculously was elevated the following day. Vancouver is not fit to hold the Winter Olympics.
   

Far from being a question of sour grapes, Russian commentators were already expressing their reservations as to the integrity of the Vancouver Lobby being able to host the Olympic Games weeks before the start. After all the IOC was starting to fire off in all directions before the first aircraft arrived.

We already have the case of a Russian skier being hounded to produce a urine sample after qualifying for a race, and if she had given the sample, she would not have had the possibility of entering the following round. Natalya Korosteleva was asked to provide a urine sample during a half-hour pause between the quarter-finals and semi-finals of a skiing event. “This seems against all the rules,” she stated, as she refused to have the sample taken, alleging that if she did, she would not have had time to continue in the next phase. Why her?

We all know Canada has problems with the future lines drawn on Arctic maps and we all know Canada lives in the shadow of its larger neighbour to the south. The abject cruelty shown by Canadian soldiers in international conflicts is scantily referred to, as indeed is the utter incapacity of this county to host a major international event, due to its inferiority complex, born of a trauma being the skinny and weakling bro to a beefy United States and a colonial outpost to the United Kingdom, whose Queen smiles happily from Canadian postage stamps.

Maybe it is this which makes the Canadians so…retentive, or cowardly. So it is not exactly a huge surprise to have international skating experts from the four corners of the Earth criticising the decision to award the Men’s figure skating Gold medal to the US athlete Evan Lysacekv over the reigning Olympic Champion Evgeny Plushenko, whose superior performance was inexplicably ignored.

As Plushenko explains, “I did a great short program but did not get the marks I deserved. When I asked why, they told me I was skating early and they had to retain top marks for the last group…Then in the free program, I was the last to skate, did everything clean and still didn’t get the marks”.

Everybody who knows anything about Olympic skating, Winter Olympic sports and international politics will infer from the pitiful and dangerous conditions provided by the Canadian authorities, which already caused one death, that Vancouver is mutton dressed as lamb. Take off the outer veneer and the stench is horrific.

It is a surprise that any Russian athlete would wish to remain in that sort of environment for a second longer.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

[pecan]

Another article by Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

Should not be in this thread but ....   pretty funny writing ... at least I am assuming he is a humourist .. right?


Racial Hatred in Russia: Putting Things into Perspective
Front page / Russia / History, traditions
25.02.2010    Source: Pravda.Ru    


In the United States of America, there are some 7,000 racial hate incidents a year. In the Russian Federation, in 2009, there were 71 such incidents with foreigners, down from 110 in 2008. Yet why is the international press full of stories about racial hate crimes in Russia and silent about everywhere else?
   
   
As usual, Russia is the victim of a slagging campaign by those who wish to gain a reputation by making derogatory comments in the “bought ‘n’ biased” western media, which likes to sell cosy packages of half-truths to its readers and viewers. In this case, the topic once again is racial hate crime.


The Russian authorities are as clear in divulging the facts and figures as they are in stating categorically that the Government is cracking down hard on what amount to be a handful of thugs, and nothing more or less than that.


In 2008, there were 110 recorded racial crime incidents and this figure decreased to 71 in 2009. In 2010, there have been 15 such attacks so far, resulting in six deaths and 15 injuries. In 2008, the number of deaths in the same period was 16, with 36 injured and in 2009, 26 and 48.


The facts are these and they are crystalline, for all to see. Nobody with a brain in Russia supports the extremist groups which perpetrate these crimes, and anyway, what is Russia but a wonderful mix of peoples and cultures and languages and cuisines?


The Russian Federation is composed of no less than 160 different ethnic groups who speak around 100 different languages. Therefore being Russian and racist are two opposites, which makes no sense… and for this reason the criticism in the international media should be made more responsibly.


Let us take for example the JoongAng Daily of the Republic of Korea, with its outrageous editorial from February 24, claiming that “foreigners who aren’t Caucasian gamble their lives” in Russia whose streets “are roaming with bands of ultra right nationalist groups” before using that idiotic phrase “the collapse of the Soviet Union”.


Let us get one thing straight, once and for all: the Soviet Union did not “collapse” any more than it “lost” the Cold War. It simply dissolved voluntarily as catered for under the Soviet Constitution and morphed into something else, a Commonwealth of Independent States. No big deal. As for the Cold War, nobody can win or lose something that does not exist.


As regards the JoongAng Daily, lamentable as it is that four Korean students have been murdered this year alone, it is a gross exaggeration to claim that “15 per cent of the young Russian population supports the extremist nationalistic movement”.


It depends on who you ask. Ask someone with a brain, and the answer will be no, of course not. Ask some half-wit with nothing else to do, and anything is possible.


The streets of Russia are as safe, if not more so, than those in most countries. And as in most countries, the authorities are composed by professionals who are doing their job, and well. Racial hate crime in Russia is a fraction of what it is in the United States of America, but of course nobody is going to speak about that.


Then for those who report with such bias and venom against Russia, please don’t call yourselves journalists and for those who print such stories, don’t call yourselves newspapers. Call yourselves guttersnipes writing for the gutter press.


Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY
PRAVDA.Ru

[Bitter]

I look at pravda.ru as a humor site, much like the onion. Them men does write any and everything.

On the other hand, the Olympic ice hockey tournament is the best you will ever see, every 4 years. The only thing that would make this one better is if the ice were the international standard and not the smaller nhl ice.

Canada winning at home also makes it much more exciting.

[Dutty]

Dat fellah does write with acerbic fingers oui....is he name confusin mih but seems like he is ah a hard core russian




...on a separate note I was readin de lil 17 year old figure skatin yankee gyirl...competin in de olympics of all things,, but beatin book backstage because she have a calculus exam the followin week

some people does really make the rest of the population look like underachievers oui


...oh and I feel Johnny Weir should get the role of the human torch for the next fantastic four movie

[Bitter]

So various commentators in the US spend the last week ridiculing Canada's "Own the Podium" program. And true, they have 37 medals.  But the improvement in the medal count for Canada shouldn't be discounted and in truth they have the most Golds.

Personally I dislike the Medal count, since there are only 3-4 countries with the resources to compete in every event. The Olympics are about athletic excellence and there are so many stories of people you never heard of achieving a personal or national best.

To each his own I suppose. Some people back a team/athlete because they love the sport or the team. Some people back a team/athlete because they win.

These Winter Olympics have been fun though, despite NBC's coverage.

[pecan]

Men's Ice Hockey

Canada 3
USA 2

One of the best ice hockey games I have ever seen in my 38 years in Canada

Canada ended up with 14 golds, a new record for the most golds medals won by any country in a winter olympics

Was a good setta games despite what the Brits had to say.

[pecan]

Dat fellah does write with acerbic fingers oui....is he name confusin mih but seems like he is ah a hard core russian




...on a separate note I was readin de lil 17 year old figure skatin yankee gyirl...competin in de olympics of all things,, but beatin book backstage because she have a calculus exam the followin week

some people does really make the rest of the population look like underachievers oui


...oh and I feel Johnny Weir should get the role of the human torch for the next fantastic four movie

why? the rose wreath round his head and the black and pink outfit?

[Bitter]

Men's Ice Hockey

Canada 3
USA 2

One of the best ice hockey games I have ever seen in my 38 years in Canada

Canada ended up with 14 golds, a new record for the most golds medals won by any country in a winter olympics

Was a good setta games despite what the Brits had to say.

I'll say it was good in an Everton-Liverpool sort of way, Not a Barca - Real Madrid. Canada was the better team both times they played.  The only thing keeping the US in this tournament was the goalie. Of course, that is how hockey does always go. Hasek take the Czech Republic to a gold on bad mind alone.

[E-man]

Dat fellah does write with acerbic fingers oui....is he name confusin mih but seems like he is ah a hard core russian




...on a separate note I was readin de lil 17 year old figure skatin yankee gyirl...competin in de olympics of all things,, but beatin book backstage because she have a calculus exam the followin week

some people does really make the rest of the population look like underachievers oui


...oh and I feel Johnny Weir should get the role of the human torch for the next fantastic four movie

why? the rose wreath round his head and the black and pink outfit?

The pink shoulder tassel was it! - yeah, baby

So various commentators in the US spend the last week ridiculing Canada's "Own the Podium" program. And true, they have 37 medals.  But the improvement in the medal count for Canada shouldn't be discounted and in truth they have the most Golds.

Personally I dislike the Medal count, since there are only 3-4 countries with the resources to compete in every event. The Olympics are about athletic excellence and there are so many stories of people you never heard of achieving a personal or national best.

It would make more sense to have a medals/athlete number.
Still Germany rules the Winter games so no complaints from me 

[Deeks]

They should have 2 medal counts. One for most medals overall  and one for most golds. That should make everybody happy.

[ann3boys]

congrats to Canada for a great show...first time I watched the winter games and it was quite interesting..except for the curling..ugh! it was the most boring...for me anyway - I understand other people were riveted..
anyway next on the agenda is the world cup so..

[weary1969]

They should have 2 medal counts. One for most medals overall  and one for most golds. That should make everybody happy.

LOUD steupsssss. Is gold medals dat does count so USA change d rules.

[pecan]

The pink shoulder tassel was it! - yeah, baby



It would make more sense to have a medals/athlete number.
Still Germany rules the Winter games so no complaints from me 

thanks e-mam -- I get flash reference lol lol

how about gold count on a population basis?  Germany eh go win that one ..lol

[daryn]

Medvedev Fumes Over Russian Team’s Showing
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ, NY Times
Published: March 1, 2010

MOSCOW—The Olympic flame in Vancouver had barely been doused before President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, angered over his country’s disappointing performance at the Winter Games, began calling for athletic officials’ heads.
Multimedia

“Those who are responsible for training for the Olympics must take responsibility,” Mr. Medvedev, who canceled his scheduled trip to the closing ceremonies, said in Moscow on Monday. “They must have the courage to submit their resignation,” he said. “And if they do not have this resolve, we will help them.”

Such language from the typically measured Mr. Medvedev underscores the extent of the frustration here with the nation’s athletics just four years before Russia hosts the next Winter Olympics in the resort town of Sochi.

Russia is pumping billions of dollars into preparations for the 2014 Winter Games, which officials have promoted as a symbol of Russia’s return to primacy on the world stage. But, the prospect of Russian athletes fumbling on home turf appears to have rattled many here.

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin said last week that Russia’s performance at the Olympics should prompt “serious critical analysis.”

“This critical analysis should be directed at rectifying the situation and creating the necessary conditions for the preparation and successful performance of our team in the Sochi Olympics in 2014,” he said. Russian athletes took home just three gold medals from Vancouver, compared with eight in the last Winter games in Torino, Italy.

Russia came in a disappointing sixth place in the overall medal count with 15, trailing far behind its former cold war athletic rival, the United States, which led with 37, and just ahead of South Korea.

For Russians used to seeing their athletes dominate international competitions, the last two weeks have been agonizing. Russian figure skaters fell, bobsledders flipped and, in a final embarrassment, Russia’s much-vaunted hockey team was smacked by Canada 7-3, and did not even make the medal round.

“Let’s put up a bunch of guillotines and gallows,” Vyacheslav A. Bykov, the team’s coach said, responding to a reporter’s suggestion last week that the hockey team might not have seriously prepared. “We have 35 people on the hockey team. Let’s go to Red Square and dispatch with them all,” he said.

It was unclear which athletic officials Mr. Medvedev would like to see eliminated. Less than a week into the Games, politicians and the media were already calling for the resignations of Vitaly Mutko, the sports minister, and Leonid Tyagachyov, the head of Russia’s Olympic Committee.

On Monday, Gennady Shvets, the spokesman for the Russian Olympic Committee, denied the committee was responsible, blaming Russia’s poor showing in Vancouver instead on the disintegration of Russia’s athletic infrastructure that began after the Soviet collapse.

“If we make a list of all those who should be held responsible, then it would be half the population of the country because, unfortunately, many took part in the destruction of athletics or passively looked on,” he said on Russian radio. “In the 1990s everything was destroyed. When stadiums were turned into markets and pools into VIP saunas, athletics collapsed.”

Though the government has channeled sizeable funds into athletic development in recent years — $47 million in the last two years for the Winter Olympics alone, according to figures from the Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Ministry and cited by The Moscow Times — many athletes must still train abroad and use inferior equipment. Athletes have complained that a luge and bobsled facility that opened outside Moscow in 2008 still has operational problems.

Mr. Medvedev acknowledged the continuing troubles on Monday, telling lawmakers that the days of relying on once impressive Soviet athletic infrastructure were over.

“We have already lost the Soviet school,” he said. “We should idealize it, but it’s gone, and we have not yet created our own school.”