XXI Winter Olympics

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The official thread for the three of us who manage to watch this. 

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Watching the opening ceremonies and the march of the nations.  What did I miss?  Why did North Korea march in at the end of the C's?    

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Here's a link to the story of the luger who died today, Nodar Kumaritashvili: Georgian Luger Dies In Olympics Training Crash

A men's Olympic luger from the Republic of Georgia died Friday in a "horrific" crash on a track that is the world's fastest and has raised safety concerns among competitors.

Nodar Kumaritashvili was in the final turn of the track, going nearly 90 mph, when he flipped off his sled, over the wall and into a steel post outside the track, NPR's Howard Berkes reported.

"He was immediately attended to by emergency crews who tried to revive him at the scene, performing CPR and mouth-to-mouth," Berkes said. "He was rushed to the hospital and he was later pronounced dead."

The death of the 21-year-old luger left Olympic officials "in deep mourning" and "heartbroken beyond words."

[Story continues at link above...]

Nodar Kumaritashvili luge crash video online, with difficulty

You can watch the accident at the following link.  It's very short, him going down the luge and getting his body thrown around.  I wonder how it happened. 
Video Shows Death of Olympic Luger on Historic Track

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - "It's a very rare situation," three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said, clearly shaken after seeing Kumaritashvili tended to furiously by medical workers.

Shortly before the accident, Hackl said he didn't believe the Whistler track was unsafe.

"People have the opinion it is dangerous but the track crew does the best it can and they are working hard to make sure the track is in good shape and everyone is safe," he said. "My opinion is that it's not any more dangerous than anywhere else."

VANOC officials said the investigation was taking place to "ensure a safe field of play."

"As athletes, we know that the international federation, the IOC and VANOC have no higher priority than ensuring our safety, on and off the field of play," said British luger A.J. Rosen, who dislocated his hip in a crash at the Whistler track last fall. "I know they are looking into this and, should it be deemed necessary for them to introduce additional measures, they will do so."

This was Kumaritashvili's second crash during training for the games, the first coming Wednesday in the opening session. He also failed to finish his second of six practice runs.

His last recorded speed Friday was 89.4 mph, measured near the last curve. He was on a higher path - line, they call it in luge - down the final turns of the track than most sliders prefer, and the combination of speed and gravitational pull was too much for his 176-pound body to control.

Sliding diagonally, Kumaritashvili smashed into a corner entering the final straightaway feet-first. He was knocked off his sled and sailed in the other direction, coming to rest on a metal walkway after his upper body smashed into the post. The first rescue worker just happened to be nearby and was at his side within three seconds.

"His competitive spirit and dedication to sports excellence will be remembered and honored during the games," Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper said.

This would have been Kumaritashvili's first Olympics. He competed competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.

Earlier in the day, gold-medal favorite Armin Zoeggeler of Italy crashed, losing control of his sled on Curve 11. Zoeggeler came off his sled and held it with his left arm to keep it from smashing atop his body. He slid on his back down several curves before coming to a stop and walking away.

Training days in Whistler have been crash-filled. A Romanian woman was knocked unconscious and at least four Americans - Chris Mazdzer on Wednesday, Megan Sweeney on Thursday and both Tony Benshoof and Bengt Walden on Friday in the same training session where Zoeggeler wrecked - have had serious trouble just getting down the track.

"RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili," American skeleton athlete Kyle Tress, who did not qualify for the Olympic team, wrote on his Twitter feed. "Let's never forget how dangerous these sports can be."

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Man, Nelly Furtado has a heck of a badonkadonk in that blue dress.  I can't find a picture.  Boo-hoo.

[Fiero]

I'll probably only pay attention to the hockey this year.

And oh my god I love Nelly Furtado's body.

[B E C K]

I am now a fan.  Too bad there's no Facebook button for that.

Oh yeah, and they missed the boat here.  Donald Sutherland's doing the narration and he's as fun to listen to as watching paint dry.  They should've gone with William Shatner.  The possibilities would have been endless!

EDIT: Oh well, this will have to do.  I feel closer to her ass already.

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Torch wardrobe malfunction.

[Karmarose]

I nearly forgot about it, but I turned the tv on just in time to watch the Parade of Nations and most of the end. Very beautiful. :3 Now I wait to watch the curling events.

[Derrick]

Curling kicks ass.

[Fiero]

Yeah, I don't care about the curling but I'll watch it if it's on.

[Derrick]

It's the best sport @ the olympics.

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I still don't know what that is.  I haven't been watching much of the Olympics but apparently I missed sumthin' cool.  Bolding mine and whatever:

Lee Jung-su of South Korea won the gold medal Saturday night in the Olympic short-track 1,500-meter speedskating final and Apolo Anton Ohno took silver to equal Bonnie Blair as the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian.
 
Lee looked to be leading a Korean sweep of the medal podium until two of his teammates, Sung Si-bak and Lee Ho-suk, crashed into one another on the final turn, allowing Ohno to go from fourth position to the silver medal.
 
Ohno has now won six medals in three Olympics, the most of any short track skater.

[Rama]

I don't usually watch the Olympics. Check the news from time to time to see the medal count, but that's about it.

[B E C K]

I'll be on the look out for the figure skating long programs, but that will probably be all I see of the Olympics.  Depends how bored I am or if I actually land regular employment while they're on.

[The D]

I watch the female figure skating, which is a bit strange for a guy to watch, but I watch it for the women.

It's like the Gymnastics for the Summer Olympics, but while Gymnastics is filled with nothing but jailbait, at least with figure skating, your career doesn't end when you're 18. Last winter olympics, they had some hot ass asian, french, and even a hot russian chick, all in their 20s.

I also like watching bobsledding (cool runnings might have something to do with this, has Jamaica EVER won?), snowboarding, and some of the skiing, like salom, the extreme skiing (with the jumps and backflips and pipes), and moguls, and crap.

[Fiero]

So apparently the Candian and Us Women's Hockey teams are raping everyone else. Canada beat Slovakia 18-0 and Switzerland 10-1, and US beat China 12-1. I had no idea Women's Hockey was so high scoring.

[The D]

China has a woman's hockey team?

Actually... that should be: There's such a thing as woman's hockey?!

[Fiero]

I have no problem with their being women's hockey.

[B E C K]

I watch the female figure skating, which is a bit strange for a guy to watch, but I watch it for the women.

It's not strange for a perv like you.  Just sayin'.

I also like watching bobsledding (cool runnings might have something to do with this, has Jamaica EVER won?)

No, they didn't win.  They didn't even qualify for this one or Turin.

Waited forever for the freakin' men's snowboard cross.  I already knew the results, but I wanted to watch it on TV and it JUST came out right now even though it was done around 5 in the afternoon.  Balls.  The stupid Olympic coverage stopped at at 4:00.  Judge Judy?  Bah.  Too bad Holland failed to medal.

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Speed skater Nagashima's suit makes him look like a Watchmen reject. 

[Sam]

I love the Olympics.  My TV probably isn't moving off of NBC until it's done.  My favorite part of the opening ceremonies was the video projection stuff on the fllor, starting with the shockwaves being sent out as that guy hit the ground with his staff and culminating with the ice breaking up and the orcas coming through.

One of the speakers, I didn't catch who it was, had SUCH a Canadian accent.  It made me giggle.  After that, when Gretzki and the others were standing there, waiting for the hydraulics to kick in, all I could hear in my head was "Hey buddy, could ya get that couldron up out of the floor?  This torch is getting heavy, eh."

Moguls hurt my knees to watch.

Short track skating is awesome.  It and snowboard cross are these intense, quick, barely contained bouts of chaos.  The Koreans taking each other out was pretty exciting because it happened in the last turn.  A similar thing almost happened in one of the snowboard cross heats, where two french dudes collided and almost wiped out, but both somehow managed to hang on and finish the race.

The guys in the biathalon work their ASS off.  I can't imagine how difficult it must be to cross country ski that hard, and then have to calm yourself enough to hit a tiny little target with your shots.  Just about every one of them had froth coming out of their mouths by the time they crossed the finish line.

Our first ever medal in nordic combined was exciting, especially since we almost got gold.  Dude was leading almost the entire race, then a japanese racer jumped ahead, but the pack overtook him again with the U.S. in front, and then some french guy slipped ahead in the last couple meters.

Similar thing happened in the ladies 1500 speed skating.  In the last pair, a Canadian and a German, the announcers were talking up the canadian, talking about how she had what it took to get on the podium.  RIGHT after one of the announcers mentioned how the German had fallen off the pace, somewhere in the last lap, and had no chance to come back, she kicked on the afterburners.  It's like she heard the announcer and thought "Well fuck you too, guy.  Watch this."  Ended up overtaking the Candian for the silver.

The mountain was finally in good enough condition for the downhill, which is always fun.  Bode Miller kinda seems like a dick, but it was still fun watching him get the bronze.

About the only thing I don't give a shit about is figure skating.  For everything else I'll likely be glued to the set.

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Too bad for the snowboarding chick getting DQed.  That blew.  At the least the Canadians managed another gold out of it.

Merla is glued to the set for the figure skating.  I generally don't like watching until the final long programs since that's when they get teh medals.

[Fiero]

I actually watched the womens Finland vs China. It was a bit slow, but it seemed this was more because of Olympic rules than bad teams. They were pretty even. 2-1 Finland.

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How dare they play Barenaked Ladies.

[Fiero]

Also some chick that was commentating said, "continuing to continue working." /facepalm

[Derrick]

Norway is awful at hockey, that is all.

[Faye Valentine]

Snowboard sucks. That chick lost probably cause she wasn't high enough.

Ice skating ftw

[Rama]

Norway is awful at hockey, that is all.

Maybe they'll do better in the "Row your long boats ashore to rape and pillage" events.

[Fiero]

Snowboard sucks. That chick lost probably cause she wasn't high enough.

Ice skating ftw

Well you don't really get points for getting more air, unless you pull of some spectacular tricks in that airspace, oh you meant high.

[Faye Valentine]

Snowboard sucks. That chick lost probably cause she wasn't high enough.

Ice skating ftw

Well you don't really get points for getting more air, unless you pull of some spectacular tricks in that airspace, oh you meant high.

I meant high as in "wanna get high" (in towelie's voice)