OT: Sochi 2014 Olympics - General Discussion - All Non-Hockey Olympic Talk Here

[SilverSeven]

Haha, is that a little US hatred? I always thought he seemed like a nice enough guy, but I'm on the outside of that sport, maybe you know better.

The snow looked just awful during the half pipe final, so I can believe what you say about the IOC trying to save money.

Edit - Tsubota (CAN) had an epic crash in the freestyle ski, she broke her jaw. I heard there were complaints (even by White funny enough) about that course, but while the women were doing their runs, it looked like they all barely had enough speed to clear the high landing areas and were all coming dangerously close to casing the big jumps. Tsubota cased it HARD.

No, Shaun White is pretty universally disliked by his peers.

Guy is an arrogant *******.

 

[Ice-Tray]

I think if it was just the course being poorly constructed, the competitors could handle it, but then you add the weather of the one place in Russia that actually doesn't get snow naturally, well, you get these terrible conditions.

I never understood why the last two Winter Olympics were in the only places in their host countries that don't get snow. Vancouver in Canada, and now Sochi in Russia.

Some of the best skiing and snow conditions on the planet are up at Whistler, that's why. had to be a twin town venue though since Whistler is too small to house the rest of the events.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Some of the best skiing and snow conditions on the planet are up at Whistler, that's why. had to be a twin town venue though since Whistler is too small to house the rest of the events.

Well, 2018's Olympics are in Pyeongchang, which according to my Wikipedia search is actually a ski resort town. So that takes care of the no-snow problem. The only thing is, the town itself is under 50,000 people, so I'm interested in what size of the Olympic Stadium will end up being. It it's 50k, I figure it will become fairly useless after the Games end.

 

[Very Stable Genius]

Well, 2018's Olympics are in Pyeongchang, which according to my Wikipedia search is actually a ski resort town. So that takes care of the no-snow problem. The only thing is, the town itself is under 50,000 people, so I'm interested in what size of the Olympic Stadium will end up being. It it's 50k, I figure it will become fairly useless after the Games end.

Well Albertville is just a ski resort and they already hosted the games in 1992.

 

[DrEasy]

Lillehammer has only 26,000 people.

 

[Ice-Tray]

Well, 2018's Olympics are in Pyeongchang, which according to my Wikipedia search is actually a ski resort town. So that takes care of the no-snow problem. The only thing is, the town itself is under 50,000 people, so I'm interested in what size of the Olympic Stadium will end up being. It it's 50k, I figure it will become fairly useless after the Games end.

It will be interesting to see for sure. The Olympic Committee tends to require sustainability to be a key component to all construction, but perhaps they'll create temporary structures that can be rendered into biscuits afterwards. Feed the village for years to come!

 

[Back in Black]

HOCKEY RULES!

 

[MakeOttawaGreatAgain]

I think if it was just the course being poorly constructed, the competitors could handle it, but then you add the weather of the one place in Russia that actually doesn't get snow naturally, well, you get these terrible conditions.

I never understood why the last two Winter Olympics were in the only places in their host countries that don't get snow. Vancouver in Canada, and now Sochi in Russia.

To be fair though, the 5-10 years leading up to the 2010 Olympics got great snow in North/West Vancouver. I would have at least a few snow days a year, once I even had a snow week. You can laugh at the Vancouver reactions to snow stereotypes or whatever, but up here in Lynn Valley (so, pretty much right between all the peaks in the mountains, people would park there cars to go to work, and when they got off they're cars disappeared under the snow. I realize it's like that all the time on the east coast... but the climate in Vanouver has really changed... we barely even get the same amount of rain as we used to. Has rained like twice in the last 2 weeks, and September to November was beautiful outside.

 

[BonkTastic]

Well, 2018's Olympics are in Pyeongchang, which according to my Wikipedia search is actually a ski resort town. So that takes care of the no-snow problem. The only thing is, the town itself is under 50,000 people, so I'm interested in what size of the Olympic Stadium will end up being. It it's 50k, I figure it will become fairly useless after the Games end.

They're installing a 250km/hr train system between seoul and Pyeongchang, which will make trips between the two cities possible in under an hour.

Well Albertville is just a ski resort and they already hosted the games in 1992.

Albertville is less than 150 km from Lyon (pop: 2.2 million), 80 km from Grenoble (pop: 700,000), and 90 km away from Geneva (pop: 500,000)

Lillehammer has only 26,000 people.

Lillehammer is ~180 km from Oslo, and is (apparently) a major "winter sports" getaway for Norwegians. It's like the "Whistler" of Norway?





These places aren't just smack dab in the middle of nowhere... they all have cities with large population bases (and infrastructure) to draw on and support it. As a comparison, Whistler is 125 km away from Vancouver. 180 km to Oslo, 150 km to Lyon (and less to Grenoble and Geneva), and ~50 minutes to Seoul doesn't seem like a stretch at all when you consider this.

 

[SilverSeven]

They're installing a 250km/hr train system between seoul and Pyeongchang, which will make trips between the two cities possible in under an hour.

So less time then it takes me to get home from a Sens game

 

[BonkTastic]

So less time then it takes me to get home from a Sens game

Ottawa can't get their act together and make decisions about a 25 km/hr train, let alone a 250 km/hr one.

 

[Inf4mous0ne]

Anyone watching the Women's luge doubles?

 

[Back in Black]

Anyone watching the Women's luge doubles?

No but Hockey has started!

What a go Karlsson!

 

[BonkTastic]

Canadian women squeak by against Japan, goes to 6-0!


(^ Curling, obviously ^)

 

[MakeOttawaGreatAgain]

Wow, Poland now tied for third in gold medals... Stoch first ever Polak to win two golds in one Olympics... First time Poland has ever won more than one... and there's still 2 more they have a good chance for.

More golds won in 4 hours than Poland has won total before Sochi

 

[Back in Black]

Hockey's back, Tomorrow...

GO CANADA GO!

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Hockey's back, Tomorrow...

GO CANADA GO!

Hockey was here this morning, and in a massivly entertaining way!

But this is the non-hockey thread. Therefore:

Go Holland, you speedskating devils you.

I was also pretty bummed about waking up this morning hearing Hamelin crashed and was out of the 1000m.

 

[DrEasy]

Isn't that Spezza in the middle? Who said he couldn't skate?

 

[littleD]

Too bad the judging in the short dance was rigged. Baring a few major mistakes from the Americans, Canada's ice dance pair of Virtue and Moir should be bringing back a silver medal from the Olympics.

Set a WR score today during the free dance.

 

[MainDotC]

They're installing a 250km/hr train system between seoul and Pyeongchang, which will make trips between the two cities possible in under an hour.



Albertville is less than 150 km from Lyon (pop: 2.2 million), 80 km from Grenoble (pop: 700,000), and 90 km away from Geneva (pop: 500,000)



Lillehammer is ~180 km from Oslo, and is (apparently) a major "winter sports" getaway for Norwegians. It's like the "Whistler" of Norway?





These places aren't just smack dab in the middle of nowhere... they all have cities with large population bases (and infrastructure) to draw on and support it. As a comparison, Whistler is 125 km away from Vancouver. 180 km to Oslo, 150 km to Lyon (and less to Grenoble and Geneva), and ~50 minutes to Seoul doesn't seem like a stretch at all when you consider this.

How about "Squaw Valley, CA" (1960). Out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[YNWA14]

Too bad the judging in the short dance was rigged. Baring a few major mistakes from the Americans, Canada's ice dance pair of Virtue and Moir should be bringing back a silver medal from the Olympics.

Set a WR score today during the free dance.

The whole thing was rigged. Even the inventor of the step move in the short program said that Virtue and Moir did it better than the Americans (obviously there are other factors, but that was where the Canadians were deducted).

There was an article that the judges had already agreed to prop up the Americans in turn for helping the Russians get gold in the team event. Is it true? With figure skating's history it wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Too bad the judging in the short dance was rigged. Baring a few major mistakes from the Americans, Canada's ice dance pair of Virtue and Moir should be bringing back a silver medal from the Olympics.

Set a WR score today during the free dance.

This is how Canadians react when they know they just got ****ed over after the performance of their lives:

 

[YNWA14]

I like how Moir's expression is just like..."Well...what can ya do?"

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

I like how Moir's expression is just like..."Well...what can ya do?"

I read an article where right before the scores came out, Moir said to Virtue something to the effect of no matter what the scores are we know we skated like we could and performed like we did in practice.

They knew this was coming.

 

[saskriders]

How about "Squaw Valley, CA" (1960). Out in the middle of nowhere.

That was 54 years ago. Things change