Vancouver Olympics Games thread

I'm just happy that CTV snagged Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrian Williams from CBC to cover the games. I hope he's immortal because I seriously can't imagine the Olympics without him.
 
RIP. Terrible freak accident and a real shame :(

Could barely stand NBC tonight. Talking over everything, and did they really tape delay it two hours for an audience two hours south of Vancouver?
 
What a terrible way to start things off with, RIP Nodar :( Was cool how they dedicated the whole opening ceremony to him though.

I agree about NBC, it seemed like they had to talk over everything. Then again, Matt Lauer pisses me off no matter what he's doing.

Tom Brokaw's little thing about Canada was pretty awesome though.
 
Oh come on you people, there is no way that anyone could have possibly anticipated that a slider would fly out of the track. There was no reason make the walls super tall there because it was a completely freak accident. He hit the top wall and came crashing down into the inside wall and somehow flew out of the track, that's never happened before, how the hell could anyone have anticipated that it could happen? Hindsight is a fucking asshole that doesn't know what he's talking about.

Luge riders have been thrown out of the track before, it's nothing new and will continue to happen. What is important is to make sure that the rider does not hit a sudden stop when that happens, as such criticism against the track design in this case is is justified as it failed in that aspect. It's the fastest track ever and some riders think it's too fast, considering the Olympics is a competition in which newbies are also allowed to participate.

The Canadian Press said:
During track testing, a number of bobsledders including Canadian Olympic medal winner Pierre Lueders, crashed. Many were tossed out at the track?s signature turn, Corner 13, which has been dubbed ?50-50? by American bobsledder Steve Holcomb, reflecting the odds of getting through it right-side up.

An hour before Kumaritashvili died, 50-50 chewed up Italian luge legend Armin Zoeggeler.

The reigning Olympic champion, essentially the Wayne Gretzky of the sport and the favourite to repeat in Vancouver, spun out of control heading into 50-50. His sled came out from under him and hit him in the head and he tumbled down the icy course.

He was OK and walked away, but after his final run refused to talk to reporters about what happened.

A day earlier, Romanian racer Violeta Stramaturaru crashed in the same spot, was knocked unconscious and had to be airlifted to hospital.
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/red...ge_track_has_history_of_crashes_84291192.html

Anyways I hope that they resolve the safety concerns swiftly. I saw the opening ceremony now and it was perhaps a little indian-ish for my taste since I lack the context of their history and relation with Canada. Overall I felt that they should have practiced a bit more so that everything worked, put against the backdrop of the Beijing olympics which was executed with military precision it felt a bit confused ;)

Now let's enjoy the games!
 
Nope, Americans still won't watch curling. Trust me. :D


I happen to think that is a cool sport, and a bit tricky to be good at!
 
Watched the opening ceremonies at a bar downtown. Maybe it's cuz I'm a girl or something, or just really patriotic, but I got teary at some points during the ceremony. I teared up when the georgians came out. Whole bar exploded with cheers.

Loved how Terry Fox's mom carried the olympic flag too. The great one carrying the torch and then lighting the big flame was awesome. Gonna go check that out on monday since I have to celebrate the lunar new year with my parents.

I think the party downtown was bigger than anything I've seen here in Vancouver. Drunken crowd surfing is fun, but painful. I'm guessing but maybe over 250 thousand people were around. Everybody gathered at the corner of robson street and granville and just partied. Chants of 'go canada go!' were being repeated for hours. I took pictures, but only with my blackberry for fear of losing my good camera.

I got home about 3 hours ago smelling like beer and rum cuz someone was spraying alcohol all over the crowd and I had my hair soaked. I was also completely tanked. Good times. My head now hurts like hell as I type this on my phone, and I have lost my voice from screaming.

I'll post pictures later. if I survive this hangover. Too many shots of bear fuckers. (Shots consisting of whiskey, 151, and tequila).
 
On the crash: I saw the pics. I've seen some video. That scared the shit out of me. The curve he came out of has already been called a "50-50" curve by an American sledder. 50-50 for the odds of making it out of that curve. But now, it's a widowmaker.

On the ceremony: good, solid ceremony. But all anyone will talk about is the luger and the torch fail with one of the pillars not working. And for me, it was cool to see 2 of the final torchbearers have direct ties to my hometown's sports teams (though they are looked at differently) and a third have an indirect tie (the speedskater, Lemay Doan, is related by marriage to my hockey team's captain, Shane Doan).

Oh, and Men's Downhill has already been postponed.
 
oddly enough the whole torch pillar thing reminded me a lot of Superman and the forming of his Fortress of Solitude in the first Superman movie.
Felt sorry for Doan, having to stand there waving the torch while the other 3 got to light the pillars. Could have been really embarassing but not her fault.
Thought the ceremony was good, not as great and breath-taking as the Beijing games ceremony but it'd be unfair to compare the two. I could have sworn that Bryan Adams Lipsynching was off although i didn't honestly mind too much since most of my attention was on Nelly Furtado.
Shame about the Downhill being postponed. Means i'll probably have to wait until a bit later tonight to see any actual events taking place (The Downhill was scheduled for 5:30pm and most likely the next event to air will be the icehockey at around 8pm)
 
Oh poopy, most of the events that Canada could medal in today look like they're going to be postponed.
 
just been on the BBC news that there was emergency resuscitation given to a Luge Competitor. Georgia's Nodar Kumaritashvili after he suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash.

Very sad news, my thoughts are with his family, friends and compatriots. :(

Also, saw highlights of the opening ceremony which I enjoyed despite the tragic circumstances, especially warm welcome & cheers for the Georgian Team. I suspect that they will be adopted by the Canadian crowds whenever they appear at this Olympiad.

First gold medal of the Vancouver games went to Switzerland in the Men?s Ski Jumping on the normal hill and was won by Simon Ammann, with Poland (Malysz) with the silver medal and Austria (Schlierenzauer) in bronze medal places.

:)

BBC Sport ? Vancouver Olympics ?Men's Ski Jump (normal hill)
 
for those in the UK, those delightful folks at the BBC have provided us with guides on each sport and some introduced by some british athletes taking part in the events (such as Shelley Rudman introducing a guide on the Skeleton event, Chemmy Alcott on a guide to Downhill Skiing, Eve Newhead on Curling and the British Men's Team on Bobsleigh).
The site is at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/vancouver_2010/sport_guides/default.stm
Videos are included on each guide page and while they probably aren't available to all. if they show up on youtube i'll point them out.
Certainly a good way of getting to know how the sports work, especially some that i'm seeing for the first time.
 
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^ Ski Cross is a new event at the Winter Olympics this time.

BBC Sport Website said:
Ski cross, based on the motor cycling sport of motocross, is new to the Winter Olympics for the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Alpine and Nordic skiing disciplines are all about who can get from start to finish as quickly as possible.

For freestyle skiers, competitions normally involve jumps and tricks instead - but ski cross combines the two.

It does not involve jumps and moves to the extent you would expect in other freestyle events but, since it takes place over the same artificial turns, bumps, slopes and ridges, it falls into the same category.

This discipline is also unusual as it allows skiers to go head to head, with up to four heading down the course at the same time - making for exciting racing.


I recently saw Graham Bell of the BBC doing a feature on this Ski Cross It looks totally insane having four skiers race, therefore should be fun to watch. :lol:

BBC Sport Vancouver Games - Ski Cross Summary
 
Men's ski cross on the 21st, women's on the 23rd. I can't wait for it, it's going to be awesome. Actually, every freestyle event is awesome, too bad I'm not going to be home later tonight to watch the ladies moguls live. Go Jenn Heil!
 
Men's ski cross on the 21st, women's on the 23rd. I can't wait for it, it's going to be awesome. Actually, every freestyle event is awesome, too bad I'm not going to be home later tonight to watch the ladies moguls live. Go Jenn Heil!

Is moguls still on? There was doubt before, and then I had to get groceries so I'm behind the times.

If they are on, here's hoping Heil is going to be the first gold on Canadian soil.
 
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Excited to actually get to watch some of the Games tonight, because I've been out all day.
 
Is moguls still on? There was doubt before, and then I had to get groceries so I'm behind the times.

If they are on, here's hoping Heil is going to be the first gold on Canadian soil.

The qualifiers start in like ten minutes. The men's downhill, however, is rescheduled for monday.
 
yup, already got it lined up on the BBC digital channel. looks to be interesting.
 
It was very sad to hear about the death of the young luger. I'm watching the men's luge now...the amount of courage you would need to tackle one of those tracks is just immense.

ETA: Hoorah! Just watched 15-year-old Australian Britteny Cox on the moguls. Now that's a good excuse for missing school! Great job.
 
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