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Official XX Olympic Winter Games - Torino 2006 Thread

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belgurdo

Banned
Amir0x said:
my goodness, NBC will not shut up about Michelle Kwan. This is like the tenth feature I've seen on her already. Yes, she will go down as one of the world's greatest... yes, it's a shame she didn't win Gold... but fuck, cover something else. Like the injury that just occured with the US Women's Downhill ski team!

Yeah, I'd rather hear about Grandma Luge (who has a far more interesting life story)
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
Better than the coverage we get over here in Australia. Atm we're onto the ski jumping, and it's all edited. Show a few good jumps, chuck in some crappy ones and a crash or two. Move on to next event that has been edited. Repeat process.
 

belgurdo

Banned
speedpop said:
Better than the coverage we get over here in Australia. Atm we're onto the ski jumping, and it's all edited. Show a few good jumps, chuck in some crappy ones and a crash or two. Move on to next event that has been edited. Repeat process.

Do they sell tapes covering all the events uncut? I've always wondered this since 1996, when NBC pretty much stopped covering the games and gave us 24 hours a day of "OMG THERE MIGHT BE BOMBS ON THE ATHLETIC TRACK/WILL WE EVAR HAVE ANOTHER OLYMPICS?"
 

Piper Az

Member
Teddman said:
And that short track skating competition IS a crapshoot. All of the athletes in the B final had better times than those in the A final, and Ohno had a half-second faster time than the Gold medalist? Ridiculous. Either put'em on a straight track or just let them skate roller derby style, no disqualifications.

Obviously, you don't know the rules at all. Pre-final qualification rounds only require athletes to be in the top 2 to get to the final. So, it's not essential for them to get the best time overall, and it doesn't indicate that the athletes in group B were better than those in group A. While anything could have happened in the final (if Ohno have made it that far), the fact that Ohno had a half-second faster time the gold medalist doesn't mean that he was the fastest skater. The pace of group B was just faster than group A during the semi-finals. Stop reading dumb ESPN commentaries.
 
all japan has gotten was snowboarding. and when the event ended, they REPLAYED THE DAMN THING AGAIN. this time, focusing on hte japanese athletes, all of whom resoundingly sucked.
 

Amir0x

Banned
I just watch US Women's team play Curling... and I dunno, it's sort of relaxing. Not very fun to watch, but mesmerizing in a way. I get the rules now so it's like... hm. Will watch it again tonight to decide if I like this sport or not.

Also, some of the chicks of the US Curling team are hot.
 

Peru

Member
Amir0x said:
I just watch US Women's team play Curling... and I dunno, it's sort of relaxing. Not very fun to watch, but mesmerizing in a way. I get the rules now so it's like... hm. Will watch it again tonight to decide if I like this sport or not.

Also, some of the chicks of the US Curling team are hot.

You should be sure to watch your US mens curling team.. I'm thinking they've got a good chance at reaching all the way to the top.


Thanks for the site with live streaming coverage of all the sports! Don't understand dutch but when I have to catch something and it's not broadcasted here it's practical.
 

Amir0x

Banned
Peru said:
You should be sure to watch your US mens curling team.. I'm thinking they've got a good chance at reaching all the way to the top.

yeah, that's my plan. Schedule for 5:00pm(EST) on CNBC.
 
Did anyone see the Men's Downhill yesterday? It was really exciting - hardly any competitor had a mistake-free run, with quite a few landing on one ski after seconds of air time, or others flailing around madly in the air before miraculously regaining composure on landing. Add in their top speeds, which are around 125km/h, and you've got a really exciting event.
 

dem

Member
Has Jeremy Wotherspoon choked yet?



edit:

Wotherspoon got 8th??? god damn.. does anyone choke like this guy?
 

SantaC

Member
OpinionatedCyborg said:
Did anyone see the Men's Downhill yesterday? It was really exciting - hardly any competitor had a mistake-free run, with quite a few landing on one ski after seconds of air time, or others flailing around madly in the air before miraculously regaining composure on landing. Add in their top speeds, which are around 125km/h, and you've got a really exciting event.

yeah i saw it.
 

Shinobi

Member
I think Jeremy's strongest event is the 1000 metres, but didn't look impressive in his two sprints...he was trailing badly in the second one coming out of the final turn.





OpinionatedCyborg said:
Did anyone see the Men's Downhill yesterday? It was really exciting - hardly any competitor had a mistake-free run, with quite a few landing on one ski after seconds of air time, or others flailing around madly in the air before miraculously regaining composure on landing. Add in their top speeds, which are around 125km/h, and you've got a really exciting event.

Downhill skiing is the human sprint version of world rallying (or, vice versa)...it's just awesome to watch.
 
My summary of the Olympics so far:

Actually enjoyed the Pairs Figure Skating, the German team that is in 7 place had a cool program with great music and the female skater was pretty hot.

Luge- very entertaining
Downhill- WOW! Words can not describe.
Half Pipe- All the 1080's, massive air, great stuff
Speed Skating- Has always been a favorite of mine, hope Shani Davis tears it up in his upcoming events.
Short Track- Also a fav. It's so damn entertaining. That little Korean guy is so smooth, the way he comes from dead last to first in like 1 second is mind blowing. Feel bad for Ohno.
Ski Jumping- Good stuff, would love to try it one day.

So far I would have to say this has been the best first few days of the Winter Olympics I have ever seen. To bad I'm not seeing them live. Damn you NBC!.
 

krzy123

Member
I thought the french guy in the downhill had a mistake free run, he pretty much destroyed the others in terms of downhill skiiing times. (the simulcast job they did on the differences between that first jump w/ the Austrian was cool too)
 
The curling game between Finland and USA that just finished was pretty exciting. I really like that game, too bad we don't get to see it on TV very often.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
The women's luge was scary. I think the commentator said it yesterday...it's nice that all these countries are sending people, but it is still a danger risk. You can't just have anybody racing at 85 mph down a track because of national pride or something.
 

Stuggernaut

Grandma's Chippy
Anyone read the American women's hockey team members comments? Where theyare mad at Canada for running up the scores on other teams?

Wierd.
 
Mr Pockets said:
Anyone read the American women's hockey team members comments? Where theyare mad at Canada for running up the scores on other teams?

Wierd.

I can see their point. Canada is flat out embarassing the rest of the world in women's hockey. There is absolutely no need to see a 16-0 final score when it is obvious that their opponents can barely move the puck down the ice. It's not like they're in jeopardy of losing with a 6-0 lead. Sometimes it's good to be a polite winner.
 
distantmantra said:
I can see their point. Canada is flat out embarassing the rest of the world in women's hockey. There is absolutely no need to see a 16-0 final score when it is obvious that their opponents can barely move the puck down the ice. It's not like they're in jeopardy of losing with a 6-0 lead. Sometimes it's good to be a polite winner.


Goals scored is a tiebreaker
 

Stuggernaut

Grandma's Chippy
pfffft.....screw that.

I like domination.

Make them regret they ever tried to play you.

:lol

Seriously though....they just need to get better. US team dominates as well...just not as well ;)
 

calder

Member
It's funny because the US was clearly trying to run up the score in their games too but have had (relative) trouble scoring. They outshot Germany 60-10 and Switzerland 56-9... yeah, that's "sportsmanship" there. ;) The US players (and I'd love a link to the quotes in question) are just upset that the lack of any credible competition to the NA teams is easily apparent to anyone who sees the final scores - it makes the whole event look as half-baked as it actually is.

And it's the format that has goal differential determine last change in the finals that's mostly to blame. If Canada throws out 5 defence for a late PP to avoid running up the score do you think that's any less embarrassing for the other team? Fact is the Womens hockey is a joke except for 2 teams and the whether canada wins by 6 or 16 it doesn't change the fact that more than half the teams competing don't belong there.
 

Drey1082

Member
calder said:
It's funny because the US was clearly trying to run up the score in their games too but have had (relative) trouble scoring. They outshot Germany 60-10 and Switzerland 56-9... yeah, that's "sportsmanship" there. ;) The US players (and I'd love a link to the quotes in question) are just upset that the lack of any credible competition to the NA teams is easily apparent to anyone who sees the final scores - it makes the whole event look as half-baked as it actually is.

And it's the format that has goal differential determine last change in the finals that's mostly to blame. If Canada throws out 5 defence for a late PP to avoid running up the score do you think that's any less embarrassing for the other team? Fact is the Womens hockey is a joke except for 2 teams and the whether canada wins by 6 or 16 it doesn't change the fact that more than half the teams competing don't belong there.

Agreed. I watched the Swiss, USA game, and the only reason the USA didn't score 10+ was the fact that the goalkeeper for switzerland was amazing.
 

dem

Member
Ive decided curling cant be a real sport.

Canada seems to be the only country that gives a shit about it... and yet we're not really any better than the other countries.
 

Kifimbo

Member
dem said:
Ive decided curling cant be a real sport.

Canada seems to be the only country that gives a shit about it... and yet we're not really any better than the other countries.

Ugh, you're wrong. Very wrong. Canada has about 10 teams that could win in the Olympics, it's never the same team from one Olympic to another (or World Championship). Other countries, like Norway and Germany, almost always send the same team, they seems to lack depth.

Curling rocks.
 

dem

Member
Kifimbo said:
Ugh, you're wrong. Very wrong. Canada has about 10 teams that could win in the Olympics, it's never the same team from one Olympic to another (or World Championship). Other countries, like Norway and Germany, almost always send the same team, they seems to lack depth.

Curling rocks.

But how come our best are hardly any better than theirs?

Wheres our Wayne Gretzky of curling?? :p
 

Peru

Member
You can see the difference, but you're wrong about Canada being so superior. A lot of great curling teams have come along the latest years. As for "depth", that's not true, we send the same team because it's a winning team, it's a gold-contending team.

Curling is great. Precision play together with the deep forward-thinking strategy.
 
Whoa, I just caught the Pairs Figure Skating final, and I'm really impressed with the chick in the Chinese pair who fell really hard in a failed quadruple throw something-or-other, took 2 minutes to regain composure, then came back and performed very well. They were awarded with the silver medal.
 

Kifimbo

Member
Peru said:
You can see the difference, but you're wrong about Canada being so superior. A lot of great curling teams have come along the latest years. As for "depth", that's not true, we send the same team because it's a winning team, it's a gold-contending team.

Salt Lake 2002

Gold for women
Silver for men, and they lost in the last end because Martin missed a draw by an inch.


Nagano 1998

Gold for women
Silver for men

No curling before


World Men's Curling Championship

Canada won 3 times in the last 4 years, 6 times in the last 10 years.


World Men's Curling Championship

Canada won 3 times in the last 6 years, 5 times in the last 10 years.


I'm not saying there aren't any good team elsewhere, but nodoby beats Canada's results.
 
OpinionatedCyborg said:
Whoa, I just caught the Pairs Figure Skating final, and I'm really impressed with the chick in the Chinese pair who fell really hard in a failed quadruple throw something-or-other, took 2 minutes to regain composure, then came back and performed very well. They were awarded with the silver medal.

How did they win a medal after falling?
 
sportzhead said:
How did they win a medal after falling?
I'm not an expert on the rules, but the colour commentators said that after a fall, the competitors have 2 minutes to decide whether they want to continue their routine or quit. I'm not sure if this rule only applies to really dangerous, injury-threatening falls, but what happened here was that after she fell and landed awfully, her partner went over and told the judges they would like to continue. Then, after a couple minutes of talking to the doctor and her straining to regain her composure, they went back out on the ice, their music was started at the exact spot they left off (the music quit immediately after the fall -- that's how bad it looked) and when they heard the part in the music where their next jump was, they executed it. They received a 1 point deduction, and the jump they missed wasn't judged fully, but everything else was well-executed, so their technical marks and overall program marks were very good. It might've helped a bit that they were in second place going into the long program.

So yeah, just an amazing comeback. Each time the replay of the 90lb Chinese skater, landing awkwardly on her legs and smashing her knees into the ice, was played, you could hear the wind being sucked out of the crowd.

EDIT: http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/OlympicGames/news/news_eng160962.html
 
Well a throw quad is just such an insane move to try i'm sure they got marks for effort lol

I refuse to watch figure skating, so I will watch a clip of the quad throw
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
What was most interesting is that despite the deduction, the commentators called Clark's run the best run ever-- history setting, etc. etc.-- and she still took fourth.
 

achilles

Member
my choice of coverage:

eurosport.com said:
22:42 NOW THE CHINESE SECOND-PLACE TEAM COMING INTO THIS ZHANG AND ZHANG: And Dan and Hao are off for the quad-throw..... DAN FALLS HARD!!!! AND SHE LOOKS HURT!!! NIGHTMARE STRIKES FOR THE CHINESE PAIR AS THEY TRY TO GO ON!!!!! SHE LOOKS IN SHOCK!!!!!! HAO IS SIGNIFYING THEY WANT TO CONTINUE, BUT DAN LOOKS BAD!!!

...

22:44 THEY NAIL THE DOUBLE-AXEL-TRIPLE-TOE-LOOP-SIDE-BY-SIDE: Unreal performance!!!!! Dazzling!!!!

...

22:53 TECHNICAL: 66.19 POINTS COMPONENTS: 59.82 -1 125.01 TOTAL OVERALL 189.73 POINTS!!!!!! THEY GET THE SILVER!!!!!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!! HOW DID THEY DO IT???????? The judges may have been a bit generous, but what a story...... Second on the free skate.

:lol
 
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