posted
Poor Jacobellis...she tried to hotdog that last jump and it cost her the gold. That would be harsh -- not only to mess up so spectacularly, but to have it pointed out to you over and over again in replay after replay. Hopefully she learned her lesson, and will be back in four years to get her gold.
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posted
I don't really think she cares that much to be honest. Most of the snowboarders have a more free spirited attitude, and medals, no matter the color, aren't as big a deal as the game itself.
When asked about what she did, she kinda shrugged and said "oh well." She still got the silver, she's still the best, the color of the medal doesn't matter to her.
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Olympic Report for yesterday and update for today:
Sorry I didn't get to it last night, I had a lot going on and fell asleep before I got a chance to post it.
So, what happened yesterday?
The US picked up a silver medal in the women's boardercross snowboarding event. It could/should have been a gold, but Jacobellis tried to get a little fancy on her last jump at the end and fell, which game the Swiss rider enough time to sneak past her for the gold. Ironically, the Swiss rider who ended up with the gold is the girlfriend of American gold medalist Seth Wescott in the same event.
America missed any medals in the men's figure skating event. But in many ways it doesn't matter, that sport is a little screwy in the scoring department these days.
Other than that it was a bit of a letdown for America yesterday. Sweden beat America in the semifinal hockey game and they will play Canada in the gold medal match, as the USA will play Finland in the bronze medal match. The expected result is Canada, Sweden and the US on the medal podium.
Lyndsay Kildow is out of the combined Women's downhill after another fall, and the downhill portion of the event was cancelled due to weather. And as of midday today, the medals were handed out with no Americans on the podium.
The US men also failed to take a medal in the men's Super G.
Today starts the 2 man Bobsled run.
The US Men hockey play Slovakia, who previously defeated Russia.
Later today will be the Men's 1500M and women's 1000M in short track. And the men's 1000M in long track.
Apolo Anton Ohno is going for a gold in short track, while in long track, the US men are currently one, two, and six. With gold favorite Chad Hedrick in sixth, Shani Davis in first, and Joey Cheek in second.
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posted
Quick update. The Swiss upset the Canadians in men's hockey.
Shani Davis and Joey Cheek took first and second in the 1,000M men's long track speed skating.
Slovakia beat the USA in Men's hockey as well.
South Korea ruled in the women's 1500M short track, and the second run of the 1000M short track for men was cancelled. At the moment Apolo Anton Ohno is poised to take the bronze medal in that event, and Rusty Smith appears to be shut out.
I'll go ahead and do the lookout report for tomorrow's Olympic events as well:
Tomorrow Women's super G, with the same Americans as the previous two events, again the headline American is Lyndsey Kildow followed by Julia Mancuso. Kristen Clark also had a strong world cup showing. Julia Mancuso won the bronze at this event at the World Championships last year.
Tomorrow is also the third and fourth run of the two man bobsled. America has a slight chance of a bronze with Todd Hays and Pavle Jovanovic, but it'll depend on some slipups from better competitors.
The ice dancing original skate is tomorrow, with the Americans best hopes of it's first medal in this sport ever in sixth place.
The qualification round for Women's Aerials is tomorrow, with two American women competing. Emily Cook is the only real chance of a medal. She was a medal contender in 2002, but broke both her feet two weeks just before the SLC games.
Sweden plays the United States in men's prelim hockey. Nothing is really certain in this field anymore with so many upsets, but after the USA losing what should have been some easy games, and Sweden's brutal loss to Russia, either team could lose or win this game.
Finally, in Sunday's feature event speed skating long track the women will race for the 1000M medal. Chris Witty and Jennifer Rodriguez both medaled at this event in 2002, gold and bronze respectively. But Chris Witty has age working against her, and there's strong competition in the field. Should be an exciting matchup.
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: I don't really think she cares that much to be honest. Most of the snowboarders have a more free spirited attitude, and medals, no matter the color, aren't as big a deal as the game itself.
When asked about what she did, she kinda shrugged and said "oh well." She still got the silver, she's still the best, the color of the medal doesn't matter to her.
I don't believe that. Her 'free-spirited' attitude doesn't renig the tremendous work she's done in order to compete at that level. And while she might have put on a good face for the interview, after the race she was crying her eyes out.
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posted
She should have been crying, she deserved to lose that gold and I'm glad she didn't get it.
This is the Olympics, not the X Games, and even if you are way in front you show some respect not only to your opponents but also to the venue and to the traditions of the games by not showboating.
What is with the attitudes on the American team this year? I'm positively ashamed by many of them.
Shani Davis is the worst. I could understand not wanting to race the team pursuit, but I cannot forgive the comment he made. He bascially said no one ever helped him get to where he was and he was skating for himself, no one else.
Excuse me? You are skating for the United States of America. And when you're at the level of international competition, you can't say no one helped you get there. Who paid for the uniform he's wearing, the skates, his travel, his lodging? The US Olympic Team. And who pays for that? We do - the people of the United States. How can he afford to train and travel the World Cup Circuit? Because of sponsors that make their money off of US consumers and TV ratings, again paid for by advertising revenues because of US consumers.
He was sent there to represent the USA and chose instead to selfishly represent himself and snub his teammates and every American. It's despicable. I never, ever rooted against an American as much as I did against him. And then when he won, he was downright ugly with the reporter interviewing him. What a terrible representative of our country. I hope he wins nothing else, and I hope his attitude costs him dearly. If I were a sponsor I'd drop him immediately. In fact, I think I'll try to find out who his sponsors are and write them to suggest they do just that.
When he has no sponsorship support, let's see how far he can really go "by himself."
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That's funny, Belle, because he was very gracious to the Canadian reporter, thanking the staff at the rink he trains at in Calgary, giving huge credit to Jeremy Wotherspoon for being one of the best in the world, and he knew if he could keep pace with him and then outsprint him at the finish he'd have a good chance to win, etc. etc.
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Then his anger is specifically directed at the US, that's pretty obvious. I already knew he trained in Canada, maybe he considers himself more Canadian.
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Then let him race for Canada. I too am disgusted by his attitude. Chad Hedrick held his tongue rather well when they asked him about Shani. I think he has every right to be upset about his attitude.
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Considering the hard time the American press gave Shani Davis over the past few days, I can't really blame him for not being enthusiastic in his interview. When people jump over and dissect everything you say, you tend not to say much after a while.
Am I the only one who thought Chad Hedrick was a bit if a whiner? He complains about Davis, the press picks up on it and runs with it, then he complains that the press is paying more attention to that than to his gold medal.
Besides, the American press always does that, pays more attnetion to the "favorites" in a given race. That's why we hear more about Jacobellis losing the gold than we do about... what was her name? The woman who won the gold? All I know is she's Seth Wescott's girlfriend .
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Well, Jacobellis was the American, and the expected winner, after all. AND made a big mistake. And the winner basically lucked out in winning a gold, after everyone else fell down. I would expect the American commentators to be focusing far more on Jacobellis for all those reasons.
Don't commentators always focus more on the their home country athletes, if possible?
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posted
I wouldn't know personally, since I've only seen our US coverage. My siblings live in Vermont, and they usually watch the olympics on the Canadian stations and say the coverage is much more even-handed. Less annoying too, not so much blather.
I guess I personally enjoy watching good athletes no matter where they come from.
I do see your point about Jacobellis, though.
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quote:"On my website, there are a lot of derogatory remarks in the comments, wishing me to break my leg and fall down, using the N word, a lot of ignorance out there. But things happen to a lot of people. I'm one of a kind, the only black speedskater. We don't know what it's like to be a white guy in the NBA, or running the 200 meters in track and field. We just have to adjust."
This was Davis' best chance at an individual gold medal, and if he felt as if he couldn't be as competitive if he raced the relay, so be it. I'm not ecstatic about his decision, but I understand it. It would be a different issue entirely if the relay came after 1,000.
The guy has been in his own head for the last decade without his friends and most of his family understanding why he is doing what he is doing. One of the reasons he is as good as he is is because he is his own man. He isn't perfectly gracious or nice, but in his defense, he has spent the better part of his youth becoming one of the fastest men in the world, and he feels as if he has done it on his own, well, at least done it without the due support of his country.
I'm going to give him a moral pass on these Olympics and seen how he conducts himself in the next few years, as he gets his head together.
To be honest, this gold medal is probably going to change his future life and also throw his past into perspective. I think that jeopardizing his chance at it by racing the relay would have been noble, but I understand his decision. He went there to do a job. I'm sure he has been saying "No" to distractions for years, it's just too bad that the team relay became yet another distraction.
posted
Canadian coverage is NOT more even handed. It's all about Canada. They cut out most of the heats of the snowboarding and speedskating that don't have Canadians in them. Which isn't to say American coverage is much better, it's not a whole lot better, but just that the Canadians aren't exactly doing impartial coverage. Same for luge and skeleton and any other sport, they focus on the Canadians. During all those falls in women's downhill, they only mainly showed coverage of the fallen Canadian skier, and barely mentioned Lyndsey Kildow and the Frenchwoman, even though their falls were a hundred times worse than the Canadian's.
Of course, to be fair, the coverage on American TV didn't even mention the fallen Canadian.
Home countries focus on their own atheletes, that's just how it is.
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Sweden rocked the US, which still stands a decent chance of advancing to the quarterfinals, but I don't really see where they have much hope to advance from there.
The original dance portion of the ice dance is ongoing at the moment. America has a chance at a medal here, as there's only about a point separating first place from sixth place Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto.
Women's aerials have been postponed until tuesday due to weather, but the men will still face off tomorrow in the event.
The medals have been awarded for the women's 1000M, and can be found here but I don't know them yet, and want to watch when I get home from work tonight, so, I won't spoil anyone on that one .
I'll finish the report tonight with the result of the upcoming men's curling match against Britain and give the report for tomorrow, which is full of alpine, bobsled, aerials and women's hockey medals.
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quote: Am I the only one who thought Chad Hedrick was a bit if a whiner? He complains about Davis, the press picks up on it and runs with it, then he complains that the press is paying more attention to that than to his gold medal.
They both strike me as immature and petty and in need of some serious diplomacy training. But being an olympian doesn't automatically make you a people person.
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It's definately very clear who they want to win, but my impression is they do a better job of at least showing what other countries are doing.
I think this is partly made easier by having less local athletes to cover (this is less pronouced in the winter), so we have to give more coverage to other countries to fill time.
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Tanith Belbin is seriously gorgeous. So many of the ice dancing women have slicked back hair and extremely heavy makeup, and Tanith manages to be even more beautiful by looking more natural.
Those two, Tanith and Ben, really exemplified Olympic spirit. In the Kiss and Cry, before their marks came in, Tanith just grins and says "No matter what, that sure was fun!"
I love watching those two. I hope they do well tonight. Even if they don't win gold, if they skate well, I think they will both be happy.
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Well they got the silver. Congratulations, Tanith and Ben. Best medal for an American ice dance team ever and the first medal in 30 years.
Plus, they are a very young team, and have the potential to attend at least two more Olympics. I think they'll be a favorite for gold in Vancouver if they stay together and stay healthy.
Wasn't she wonderful afterwards? Not only gracious about winning and thrilled to be there but expressing her concern for the injured dancer. She also admitted she made mistakes but didn't have regrets, saying she was glad they were able to hold it together and she never expected to come to the Olympics and skate three perfect programs.
One of our newest citizens, and a heckuva representative for the US.
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Silver in ice dancing, ending a 30 year drought. Bronze for the women in ice hockey. We are now tied for most medals in winter games ever, and there is still a week to go.
Women's bobsledding could be a medal mine, with two American teams in contention for medals, with the final two runs to be tomorrow.
The US is set to play Canada the day after tomorrow in the curling semifinals.
Four US men qualified for the men's aerial finals which will take place on Thursday.
Tomorrow
Women's bobsled ends. Women's figure skating begins with the short program. Sasha Cohen is the US favorite for a medal. US men play Russia in hockey. Tomorrow's Feature Event is the men's 1500M speedskating event. Chad Hedrick, Joey Cheek, Derek Parra, and Shani Davis, gold medalists all of them, and all but Derek Parra are gold medalists in Turin. Should be a VERY exciting match.
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It's definately very clear who they want to win, but my impression is they do a better job of at least showing what other countries are doing.
I think this is partly made easier by having less local athletes to cover (this is less pronouced in the winter), so we have to give more coverage to other countries to fill time.
I agree and disagree with that. When they are showing events, they do more or less the same job that US television does at showing the same amount of athelets, actually, US television probably even shows more. Trust me, I've been watching a LOT of CBET and NBC lately. The only plus I give to Canada is they show a much wider variety of events. More hockey and curling for them. Whereas other events with less Canadian players and popularity only get highlights, or they do half coverage and cut a lot of people out.
It's a trade off. But it's not better or worse.
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posted
Alright then; I haven't really watched much NBC this year. All the complaints turned up by googling seem to be about past summer games, so maybe it just a wider coverage in summer because of how much we suck phenomenon. Like this.
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Spoiler loaded Olympic report, so, if you plan to watch it tonight, skip what you're about to hear.
Women's two person bobsled saw a silver medal for US women Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming. Vonetta Flowers and Jean Prahm were close by, but not good enough for a medal.
Silver and Bronze for the men in the 1500M speedskating race, for Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick respectively.
Hockey is more or less over for the day. The US limps into the quarterfinals where they will lose to Finland, ahem, I mean PLAY Finland. I really hope that American NHL players aren't allowed to play in four years, and we go back to amateurs.
Still to come today is the women's short program for figure skating. Kimmie Meisner of the US is in second place right now, and Emily Hughes is in fourth, but Sasha Cohen is still to come. Irina Slutskaya, the favorite for the gold, is in the lead, and is the first skater to crack 60 points thus far. But she pulled out of one of her jumps early, and that opens the door for Sasha or some other skater to take advantage. Especially for Sasha who has a fantastic spiral. I'm also happy to report that Sasha is only four months younger than me, and it is thus entirely appropriate for me to ogle her during her performance. I mean, geez, she'd model hot.
Tomorrow is the women's 1500M in speedskating. For the women's and men's aerials, only one American qualified for the final round, Jeret Peterson, the top US men's aerialist. He'll compete for gold on Thursday.
Also tomorrow is women's slalom.
Tomorrow's Feature Event is the semifinals in men's curling, where they will play Canada. Who will most likely win after beating us today 6-3. The US men are guaranteed a spot in the medal round, and tomorrow will decide if they play for gold or bronze. If I had to take a shot at guessing how it all plays out, I'd say Canada beats America tomorrow, and Finland takes out Britain, and if we do lose to Canada, that's the best situation for us. The bronze medal match against Britain then would be a good matchup, and I think the US would edge them.
Men's snowboarding Super G is also tomorrow, and whereas the US snowboarding team has thus far cleaned up in the medals, they aren't expected to fair nearly as well in the Super G. For the men, this is a Swiss dominated event. They hold the top four positions on the world cup tour, and if you go down the list, they hold six of the top nine positions on the world cup tour. Only one US man has a chance at a medal, and that's a slim chance at that for Tyler Jewell.
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If the US doesn't send NHL'ers, would that mean our amateurs would be playing Finnish and Russian and Canadian NHL players, or do you want to not have the pros altogether?
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Did anyone else watch the 4 x 10km relay in cross country skiing. (ski-ing?) I was hooked into it by the documentary they did on the 1994 race in Lillehammer where Italy beat Norway by .1 of a second. Norway has won the last two with Italy less than .5 seconds behind both times. I was all fired up to see what would happen this time. Italy was so inspiring. Not only did they cream Norway (it just isn't their year in cross country), but they created such a huge gap! It was fun to watch even though it wasn't close, and I found myself cheering mightily for the home team. I'm so glad they won, Italy has done a wonderful job as Olympic host this time around.
Ice dancing has been fun to watch too. I especially enjoyed the glare of death from Barbara Italian Lady when her partner dropped her. Her drama queen act went on so long that it ceased to be amusing and I just wanted her to get the heck off the ice. What a lame display of petty childishness. I'm so proud of Tanith and Ben. They just look bright-eyed and bushy tailed all the time and aside from their dynamite skating, their expression is better than anyone's. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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Blayne Bradley
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posted
Every time we win/lose the stanly cup there's a riot, if we win we riot, if we lose we riot.
Non NHLers from the US, NHLers from other countries can play if they want. The problem is it doesn't really matter, American NHL players are a relative minority compared to all the foreign players anyway, but that's not the point. They have two weeks to practice together then it's off to play as a team against teams that have for the most part been practicing together for longer. They need to put together a team that plays together for more than a week and a half or whatever.
I've always said, the Pistons would beat everyone if we played in the Olympics, but taking an All Star team over there lost in the last summer Olympics because the team doesn't have enough time together to form a team atmosphere.
The Miracle on Ice victory was against a lot of Russians who would have been in the NHL if Russians had been playing here back then, and who by the way beat the crap out of the NHL all stars in the same year, so it's not unreasonable to think we could win by doing the same thing agaon.
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I don't think it would be that simple. Look at a team like Finland...they have a ton of NHL players (17 on the final roster) so they dealt with the same issues. They just worked through them. Canada has too, in the past, as has the US. I feel like Team USA is just at an odd spot, with moldy old vets and some young guns. We need more young talent so we can put Chelios and the like out to pasture.
I view the Miracle on Ice as a singular event, requiring singular players and coaches and a good bit of luck...heck, why else do they call it a miracle? Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Might as well try it in four years, otherwise our NHLers will just get mopped up again.
Nothing to be lost in trying. Have them play the NHLers and see what happens.
You're right though, the coaching was a huge part of the Miracle on ice, and it was the fact that that team worked TOGETHER as a single unit for MANY weeks before facing the Russians. That makes a big difference.
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I watched the women's figure skating tonight. I'm never disappointed when I watch it, it never fails to entertain me.
Anyway, I've seen Irina Slutskaya skate a few times since the 2002 olympics (and once or twice before that), so no surprise that she was excellent again tonight. I've never seen a performance by her that wasn't flawless (or close to it).
Sasha Cohen was amazing tonight, I thought. I was very impressed. The only other time I'd ever seen her was 2002. A very beautiful girl too.
I was also really impressed by the tiny little Japanese girl. I thought she deserved a better score than what she got, but I'm not qualified to make that sort of decision . Her timing with her music was impeccable, but I'm not sure how much that counts for.
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Sasha's performance I thought was better than Irina's because it was better choreographed and her showmanship is better. I really think they shouldn't be as close in the scores as they are.
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I agree, Belle. As much as I like Irina Slutskaya, I thought Sasha Cohen was considerably better tonight.
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I thought there was just something special about Slutskaya's performance tonight. I have never seen her skate before (this is the first year I have ever watched the Olympics) but I was thoroughly impressed with how much I liked her show. I also have to give her credit for defying the norms by wearing pants instead of a skirt.
Yes, Cohen gave a flawless and what appeared to be an effortless program, I don't deny that. I'm just of the opinion that Slutskaya had some amazing spark and performed with passion that really appealed to me.
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Xav, I have to agree with you about the last Japanese girl to skate. I thought she deserved better scores.
Sasha Cohen was magnificent.
I was surprised to see Slutskaya in a body suit, she has never done that before. I didn't think it was that flattering a style on her. The last skater I recall wearing a body suit was Debi Thomas (can't remember what year that was).
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I forgot to mention how much I love Emily Hughes. I am the newest member of her fanclub. I saw one of her other performances and along with tonight's, she is now my favorite skater. That girl loves to skate and she makes sure the entire audience knows it. She makes me happy when I watch her perform.
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quote: I was surprised to see Slutskaya in a body suit, she has never done that before. I didn't think it was that flattering a style on her. The last skater I recall wearing a body suit was Debi Thomas (can't remember what year that was).
Apparently this was changed by the International Skating Union sometime within the last year.
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The lady skaters can wear pants now, Ela. I guess that means trousers or tights. Men have to wear pants, not tights. That hasn't changed.
I found several sites on the internet saying they made the old rule after Katarina Witt wore a skimpy outfit in 1988. It was the Katarina Rule.
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So, we (Australia) qualified first in the women's aerial! Two in the top 12 isn't bad. It would be great if we could get the gold again.
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quote:Originally posted by Theaca: The lady skaters can wear pants now, Ela. I guess that means trousers or tights. Men have to wear pants, not tights. That hasn't changed.
I found several sites on the internet saying they made the old rule after Katarina Witt wore a skimpy outfit in 1988. It was the Katarina Rule.
I had no idea that there was any change in rules. I seem to remember some woman skater, I think Debi Thomas, wearing a body suit similar to Slutskaya's at the Olympics, but that would have been the same year as the Witt incident you mention.
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Well, I'm glad you all remember seeing someone in a bodysuit in the Olympics before because I do too... When they mentioned the rule change allowing them I was confused.
IIRC, Suraya Bonali wore them. I think she was French.
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