2010 Olympics: Is it just me?

[Steve]

Is it just me, or did Vancouver really drop the ball on these olympics? I mean, I don't recall ever seeing so much carnage in one Olympic Games.

From the sad death of the Georgian athlete on the Luge as he crashed into an unpadded metal pole, to the Slovenian xcountry skiier who slid off of a too sharp turn in the course, sliding off a ledge to drop over 9 feet onto rocks where she suffered 4 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. There was the ski jump in the middle of the downhill course causing multiple serious crashes. Skiiers fallout out on the other courses, multiple crashes in the snowboard cross events. The surface on the long track speed skating rink.... to well, you get the picture.

Am I just paying more attention now? Are the crashes getting more coverage? Or did Vancouver just screw this up? These just seem to be the most treacherous olympics I can recall.

 

[crushing]

The agony of defeat always gets sensational coverage. I don't know if the number of those moments is up this Olympics.

I thought the thread title was going to be about how NBC has made the Olympics difficult to watch the few minutes of actual sporting between the hours of commercials and heartwarming background stories.

 

[Xue Sheng]

It's not just you

And now.... a bobsled death

 

[crushing]

It's not just you

And now.... a bobsled death

That was a nasty accident, but it didn't result in a death. It seems like a bobsled or two turn over every winter olympics. Because of the luge death, I think the media is paying closer attention and sensationalizing each accident. Especially those that happen on what they are calling the "Death Track".

 

[terryl965]

No this seems to be a bad Olympics, the woman Ic e Hockey team did a wild celebration that will certainly have some ill feeling towards them as well.

 

[Steve]

The agony of defeat always gets sensational coverage. I don't know if the number of those moments is up this Olympics.

I thought the thread title was going to be about how NBC has made the Olympics difficult to watch the few minutes of actual sporting between the hours of commercials and heartwarming background stories.

While better then in the past, they are definitely difficult to watch. The only thing that saves the NBC coverage for me is the online content. The canadian coverage is much better, if only because they show events live.

That was a nasty accident, but it didn't result in a death. It seems like a bobsled or two turn over every winter olympics. Because of the luge death, I think the media is paying closer attention and sensationalizing each accident. Especially those that happen on what they are calling the "Death Track".

Maybe so, crushing. In this case, I'm not all that surprised. Bobsled crashes aren't uncommon.

It's things like athletes falling off of 3 meter high ledges onto rocks, athletes hitting unpadded metal beams or downhill skiiers being launched at the bottom of their run that really stand out. I mean, these venues have all been modified after these things happened. They shaved down the jump on the slalom/super G and downhill course, added a wall and padded the beams on the and nets on the cross country course.

As I said, I'm not sure whether it's that these are some truly ill designed venues or if it's just that the media is highlighting the crashes more. I can't find any objective stats to tell.

 

[Gordon Nore]

No this seems to be a bad Olympics, the woman Ic e Hockey team did a wild celebration that will certainly have some ill feeling towards them as well.

I saw some of the photos of their after-party this morning on TV. A spokesman said the dressing room celebration spilled back out onto the ice. Some of the women had cans of Molson's Canadian, one was chomping a cigar, and another was shown sitting on the Zamboni. The Canadian Olympic Committee issued an apology.

I'm sure this has happened before. My questions would be...

• Were the players vulgar or abusive in any way?
• Did they disrupt work at the venue or create a safety risk?
• Did they damage any property?

If the answers to the above are, "No," then I would call this a fart in a windstorm. Yesterday someone was criticizing the women for playing too well and beating their opponents too soundly.

 

[zDom]

I have fond memories of watching the Olympics as a kid but I've been boycotting watching ANY Olympics for some time now due to as mentioned above, HOURS of commercials and "heartwarming" background stories and commentary, and extensive coverage of SOME sports while barely mentioning others (those others being the ones I'm actually interested in!)

Pft. I've got better things to do with my time.

 

[crushing]

I saw some of the photos of their after-party this morning on TV. A spokesman said the dressing room celebration spilled back out onto the ice. Some of the women had cans of Molson's Canadian, one was chomping a cigar, and another was shown sitting on the Zamboni. The Canadian Olympic Committee issued an apology.

I'm sure this has happened before. My questions would be...

• Were the players vulgar or abusive in any way?
• Did they disrupt work at the venue or create a safety risk?
• Did they damage any property?

If the answers to the above are, "No," then I would call this a fart in a windstorm. Yesterday someone was criticizing the women for playing too well and beating their opponents too soundly.

I agree. Heck, I'd even cut the underage drinker some slack.

 

[blindsage]

multiple crashes in the snowboard cross events.

All the others may be exceptional, but methink this is par for the course in this event. At least every time I've watched.

 

[CoryKS]

I saw some of the photos of their after-party this morning on TV. A spokesman said the dressing room celebration spilled back out onto the ice. Some of the women had cans of Molson's Canadian, one was chomping a cigar, and another was shown sitting on the Zamboni. The Canadian Olympic Committee issued an apology.

I'm sure this has happened before. My questions would be...

• Were the players vulgar or abusive in any way?
• Did they disrupt work at the venue or create a safety risk?
• Did they damage any property?

If the answers to the above are, "No," then I would call this a fart in a windstorm. Yesterday someone was criticizing the women for playing too well and beating their opponents too soundly.

How did they word the apology? "We're sorry our women are awesome and probably a lot of fun to party with"?

 

[Carol]

[yt]D7UKllR0Edo[/yt]

 

[Nomad]

The luge/bobsled track was designed to be the fastest and most challenging track in the world when it was built, and has certainly lived up to that. Add to that people in competition trying to push every last tenth of a second out of their equipment, combined with the relative inexperience of some of the athletes (including the Georgian luger who tragically lost his life) and it's not surprising that there is a higher accident rate than at other venues.

Unfortunately, when you're talking about sports where people are travelling in excess of 80-90 mph and have very little protective equipment, the injuries can be severe or even fatal quite easily. This is not news to the athletes, who presumably understand the risks involved in their own sport. Keep in mind that operator error has played a big part in all of these accidents.

The hockey team celebrating after working hard for 4 years, then going through a rigorous round robin schedule and finally ending up on top of the world... give me a break. I think they've earned a moment or two.

To me, the bigger issues have been the lack of snow earlier in the competition (which is admittedly difficult to control), the fiasco with the ice surface at the speed skating arena (which I believe only happened once, but it was once too many) and first and foremost, the awful, pathetic "short-attention-span" theatre presented by NBC's Olympic coverage. It truly is the worst coverage of the Olympics in the world.

 

[crushing]

The hockey team celebrating after working hard for 4 years, then going through a rigorous round robin schedule and finally ending up on top of the world... give me a break. I think they've earned a moment or two.

The Canadian hockey team is sooooo much better than most of the competition that I'm not sure I would call their schedule 'rigorous'.

 

[Nomad]

The Canadian hockey team is sooooo much better than most of the competition that I'm not sure I would call their schedule 'rigorous'.

It is if you compare it to many other sports, that have a half-hour single day competition with 1-3 runs by each competitor to determine the medal.

I think it's clear that they practice and play pretty hard, otherwise the rest of the world would have caught up to them by now.

 

[Ken Morgan]

The luge/bobsled track was designed to be the fastest and most challenging track in the world when it was built, and has certainly lived up to that. Add to that people in competition trying to push every last tenth of a second out of their equipment, combined with the relative inexperience of some of the athletes (including the Georgian luger who tragically lost his life) and it's not surprising that there is a higher accident rate than at other venues.

Unfortunately, when you're talking about sports where people are travelling in excess of 80-90 mph and have very little protective equipment, the injuries can be severe or even fatal quite easily. This is not news to the athletes, who presumably understand the risks involved in their own sport. Keep in mind that operator error has played a big part in all of these accidents.

The hockey team celebrating after working hard for 4 years, then going through a rigorous round robin schedule and finally ending up on top of the world... give me a break. I think they've earned a moment or two.

To me, the bigger issues have been the lack of snow earlier in the competition (which is admittedly difficult to control), the fiasco with the ice surface at the speed skating arena (which I believe only happened once, but it was once too many) and first and foremost, the awful, pathetic "short-attention-span" theatre presented by NBC's Olympic coverage. It truly is the worst coverage of the Olympics in the world.

Apparently the track was designed and approved by the international luge/bobsled commission, or who ever it is. The IOC and the Canadian organizers had little to no say on the design of the track.

The girls partied? So what. I don’t care where you’re from, if you win a medal in the Olympics, as long as you don’t rub it in the faces of those you beat, you should have the right to party when the ceremonies over.

I really don’t see this Olympics as being any different from any of the others I’ve watched. Some great parts, some OK parts and some ****** parts. An event of this side and scope, will never be perfect. If everything went right and perfect, the media would have no stories to broadcast.

Carol, Carol, Carol…what are you doing? You’re Canadian remember?

 

[Omar B]

Winter Olympics? So don't care.

 

[Carol]

Carol, Carol, Carol…what are you doing? You’re Canadian remember?

We Canadians are tough enough to take a joke, eh?

In all seriousness, I don't have any issue at all with the Canadian women enjoying some Molsons and a smoke on the ice. They won the Olympics fergawdsakes and they won it in a sport that has had scuttlebutt about being dropped from the Olympics.

I also don't think Canada is dropping the ball on the Olympics. Winter sports can be deadly, but the only reason why you are hearing about the accidents is because of the media spotlight.

This month there were 2 skiers that died at Sunday River in Maine, 2 others died in Bulgaria, a teen died on a mountain in California, and a former X games skier died at Squaw Valley after rehabbing himself from an accident that nearly killed him the first time.

I don't think its Canada. I think its because going high speeds down an incline can sometimes have unplanned results.

 

[Steve]

We Canadians are tough enough to take a joke, eh?

In all seriousness, I don't have any issue at all with the Canadian women enjoying some Molsons and a smoke on the ice. They won the Olympics fergawdsakes and they won it in a sport that has had scuttlebutt about being dropped from the Olympics.

If I'm being honest, there's something very sexy about a good looking, elite level, female athlete enjoying a beer and a cigar after kicking some ***. But maybe that's just me. I've always been attracted to women who might just kick my ***.

 

[Ken Morgan]

If I'm being honest, there's something very sexy about a good looking, elite level, female athlete enjoying a beer and a cigar after kicking some ***. But maybe that's just me. I've always been attracted to women who might just kick my ***.

Agreed. Confidence in a women is so very sexy.