Vancouver Olympics Games thread

No they're not.
 
Canada - Sweden womens hockey
13 - 1

What a farce. Anyway, curling rules.
 
These Vancouver Olympics are setting a new standard for fail. The sliding track. Inadequate off track protection for the athletes. Placing the public cauldron in a fenced off, secure area. The weather delays (not their fault of course). Equipment failures. Being forced to cancel tickets to some events for "safety issues." Inadequate practice time for everyone NOT wearing the Maple Leaf. Inadequate conditions for some events.

They had 7 fucking years to put these Games together. They're making it look like they put this together in 6 weeks. What a joke.
 
A light in the darkness is the french snowboard team who ride with outrrrrrrrageous french mustaches!
 
desertgeek said:
These Vancouver Olympics are setting a new standard for fail. The sliding track. Inadequate off track protection for the athletes. Placing the public cauldron in a fenced off, secure area. The weather delays (not their fault of course). Equipment failures. Being forced to cancel tickets to some events for "safety issues." Inadequate practice time for everyone NOT wearing the Maple Leaf. Inadequate conditions for some events.

They had 7 fucking years to put these Games together. They're making it look like they put this together in 6 weeks. What a joke.
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The only people who can control the weather are the Chinese (at least that's what they want you to think). Oooohhhh yyeeeaaaahhh it's totally VANOC's fault that there's shitty weather and El Nino. Inadequate practice time? Oh so you mean we should have shared the facilities with the whole world for the last couple years? Fuck off. Everyone has their own facilities, these are Canada's facilities, where the Canadian teams practice. The world cup went to Vancouver/Whistler last year. Every country does the same thing because the host country's athletes need to practice just as much as every other country's athletes who all hog their facilities. We're only getting shit for everything because everyone thinks that because we're Canada you can just shit all over us and we'll say thank you. Well fuck you.
 
USA really cleaned up today. Jesus. And Shaun White is untouchable, this was the first time I've seen him in action.

Also, WTF is the point of doubles luge? It's pretty gay. :blink:
 
Truth be told, there have been lots of technical problems, but I wonder how much of that is an attempt to be "green". Take the Olympias, bought because they were "green", but utter, utter shit.

I say this because I think London's trying for green cred as well, and that could be a complete disaster if their environmentally friendly options turn out as reliable and useful as crap like the Olympias.
 
I've always wondered, and I've only spoken to an olympic gold medalist once, and I wasn't thinking about it then...but I've always wondered about silver and bronze medalists...

So, you give your life to a sport, and get to the olympics. You give the performance of your life, and win a silver or bronze.

a) Do you thrill at the victory and celebrate the accomplishment?
b) Damnit...someone beat you.

In short, did you feel like you won the silver, or lost the gold?

I've always wondered...

Lastly, I've always loved watching Alphine skiing and Super G...because I always loved trying to go as fast as possible the few times I've been skiing...the regular slalom doesn't appeal to me as much.
 
To the above question ^

I feel like it really depends on what your expectations were going into the event (ie. your world ranking). If someone came 1st in the worlds that year you'd think they were clearly aiming for Gold. Now lets say it's your first Olympics and you're the underdog who wins Silver, you're probably ecstatic.

Also: For events that come down to 2 finalists (ice hockey) I suppose a team would "lose Gold", but they could also "win Bronze"

just my two pennies...
 
I think that it mostly sucks at the time, but when time goes by you appreciate it more.
 
Doubles luge really is hilarious to watch...it's like 2 gay lugers were caught in the act on the track and just lied and said they were inventing a new sport.
 
I just read a thing on ctvolympics.ca talking about how bronze medalists are almost always ecstatic whereas silver medalists usually feel pretty crappy. The bronze medalist beat the rest of the field and got a medal, so they're happy - the alternative would be not getting a medal so getting that medal is awesome. The silver medalist lost out on the gold and thinks "aww man if only I had..." and feels crappy, even though they performed great. Come on, though, even if you come in 40th you're at the fricking olympics!
 
Ramseus said:
The only people who can control the weather are the Chinese (at least that's what they want you to think). Oooohhhh yyeeeaaaahhh it's totally VANOC's fault that there's shitty weather and El Nino. Inadequate practice time? Oh so you mean we should have shared the facilities with the whole world for the last couple years? Fuck off. Everyone has their own facilities, these are Canada's facilities, where the Canadian teams practice. The world cup went to Vancouver/Whistler last year. Every country does the same thing because the host country's athletes need to practice just as much as every other country's athletes who all hog their facilities. We're only getting shit for everything because everyone thinks that because we're Canada you can just shit all over us and we'll say thank you. Well fuck you.
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First, did you not read the part where I said the weather wasn't their fault!?

Secondly, I noticed that you didn't even touch on everything else I said because you know I'm right.

Third, everyone has been saying that some of the courses are the toughest ever to be in the Olympics. Hell, the IOC has already told the next winter games host not to dare create a sliding track that tough. The Olympics are opened up to everyone, including those who might not be at an elite level. When you have inexperienced competitors competiting on tracks that difficult, you are going to create problems. So what stopped VANOC from opening up the venues for practice 3-4 days earlier?

And as for your last line, considering the shit I've heard from a lot of Canadians over the last year about my hockey team, your country deserves to be shit on. And you sound exactly like a lot of those jackasses.
 
Canuck said:
To the above question ^

I feel like it really depends on what your expectations were going into the event (ie. your world ranking). If someone came 1st in the worlds that year you'd think they were clearly aiming for Gold. Now lets say it's your first Olympics and you're the underdog who wins Silver, you're probably ecstatic.

Also: For events that come down to 2 finalists (ice hockey) I suppose a team would "lose Gold", but they could also "win Bronze"

just my two pennies...
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Exactly. And it depends on the competiton too. The silver medalists behind Shawn White or Lindsay Vonn are probably thinking "well, I got beat by the best. What are you going to do?"

In head-to-head events like hockey, getting silver would be a major disapointment. The only teams who win their last game are the gold and bronze medal winners. The silver medalists lost. Simple as that.
 
desertgeek said:
Exactly. And it depends on the competiton too. The silver medalists behind Shawn White or Lindsay Vonn are probably thinking "well, I got beat by the best. What are you going to do?"
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I can tell that the silver medalist behind Shawn White was really happy for his medal. Especially since he was 4th after the first round.
 
Isn't there a German speed skater who has come in 4th place at the last 15 major events she has participated in? Screw the bitter taste of silver, try 4th place 15 times over.
 
i would imagine that the only time it might be bitter is if the gold was essentially yours and then through a mistake it gets blown out the window (only have to look at Lindsey Jacobellis from the 2006 games, her showboating cost her the Gold medal at the worst possible moment).
Although it could be as Jerry Seinfeld puts it "The Olympics is really my favorite sporting event. Although, I think I have a problem with that silver medal. Because when you think about it,you win the gold - you feel good, you win the bronze - you think, "Well, at least I got something". But when you win that silver it's like, "Congratulations, you *almost* won. Of all the losers *you* came in first of that group. You're the number one *loser*. No one lost ahead of you!"
 
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