Olympic Opines

Ski Jumping - Team Event:

• Not much different from the individual events. They just add all the scores together.
• Americans did not make it into the finals.
• Tried to figure out why there are little plants all over the place peeking out of the snow. Maybe it is to measure distance but it's kind of odd.
• It's nice to see countries do well that you normally don't hear about at the Summer Olympics. Such as Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Freestyle Skiing - Men's Aerials Qualifications:

• This is like ski jumping meets diving. Crazy acrobatics! Like go up a ski jump to launch yourself high enough to do 2-3 flips with 2-3 twists then landing upright.
• A couple of Americans made it into the finals.

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Free Dance:

• Wow, the teams were on top of their game! Lots of best scores for the season and jobs well done. I enjoyed this final dance a lot.
• The top four teams were from three different countries but all train together in the USA. Well kind of, the Canadian team trains with one American team and the Russian team trains with the other American team. So odd how sports work these days with where they train, live and who they compete for.
• The Canadians so badly wanted to win a gold at a home Olympics, well, they have 5 now! And that's half of their total medals so far.
• The standings did not change from the previous round of dances so the gold went to Canada, silver to the US National Champions, and bronze to Russia. The other American teams remained in 4th and 11th.
• This is sort of related but the 2011 US Figure Skating National Championships will be in Greensboro, NC. I want to go to at least a couple events since I did not go when I was a poor college student living in Atlanta a few years back.

Alpine Skiing - Men's Giant Slalom:

• No American medals this time but still fun to watch. Bode got off course so DNF'd. I think the physical intensity from competing in a number of events already finally caught up with him.

Nordic Combined - Men's 4x5km Team:

• A sport that I know the U.S. won it's first ever medal in a week ago in the individual version but that is about it.
• Apparently, this is the first time the U.S. has had a competitive team and was actually in contention for the gold but ultimately finished with a silver!
• I'm surprised but the cross country skiing portion is kinda fun to watch! It's kinda like cross country running but on skies in snow. Beautiful scenery!

Bobsledding - Women's Two Man (Heats 1 & 2 of 4):

• Once again the Germans were being touted as the country most likely to dominate. Also, competitive teams from Canada and the U.S.
• One U.S. team won the silver medal in the 2006 Olympics and is hoping to improve to gold. However, it's the U.S. team #2 that is in silver medal position after two heats while the prior silver medalist is several positions back.

Long Track Speed Skating - Men's 10,000m:

• The longest distance for long track and the speed skating loving country of the Netherlands was hoping for a repeat gold. However, something unusual happened. The lead skater headed for his repeat gold was well ahead of everyone when his coach told him to go the wrong direction! Since two skaters are on the track at a time they alternate between the inner and outer lanes. The skater was going the right direction when his coach pointed to him to get in the other lane which he does at the last second then gets DSQ'd! He was very frustrated and rightly so!

Freestyle Skiing - Women's Ski Cross:

• This was the last race of the cross events and Canada gets yet ANOTHER gold! They now have more golds than their other medals combined.
• No Americans made it to the final races.
• I'm glad these events were added to the Olympics because they're fun to watch.

Figure Skating - Women's Short Program:

• THE event of the Winter Olympics. I had mixed feelings coming into this event which has always been my favorite. Not really sure why but maybe because the Americans do not have much hope for a medal and I'm not that familiar with the top skaters.
• Really enjoyed that the majority of the skaters had clean programs and turned in personal bests.
• Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. was the first of the likely top skaters to go. Her score put her into first place and would actually hold for quite a while ultimately landing her in a very respectable 6th place going into the long program. Her spins caused enough force to make her finish with a nosebleed!
• The other American and current U.S. champion Rachael Flatt finished in 5th. So impressed that even though the U.S. only qualified two skaters instead of the usual three, they still finish both skaters in the top 6 after the short program.
• Joannie Rochette of Canada made me cry! Her mother unexpectedly passed away just two days prior to this event. She skated with so much heart and emotion. I'm not sure she was focusing too much on turning in a competitive performance so it was so so neat to see the Canadians support for her and for her to perform so well. She is definitely a skater that would have been competing for a medal before this sad circumstance so it was great to see her still do her best!
• The Japanese probably have the strongest team of skaters in the world and finished 2nd, 4th, and 11th. Including one woman who is the only female competing a triple axel AND does it in combination with another jump!
• South Korean Kim Yu-Na is the closest to a figure skating prodigy I've ever seen. Great talent! She's a huge celebrity in her country, so much so, that she now trains in Canada to get away from the media and pressure. If she does as well in the long program as she did in the short, she definitely deserves to win the gold.

Olympic Opines

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Compulsory Dance:

• Don't believe I've ever watched the compulsory dance but every team did the exact same dance of tango romantica. A bit redundant but definitely a good way to equally compare the teams. This was the first of three dances each team will perform.
• Americans got off to a great start placing 3rd, 4th, and 14th so there is definitely a possibility of at least one medal!
• Dancing with the Stars has made me appreciate ice dancing so much more than I ever have in the past.

Alpine Skiing - Men's Super G:

• Go Bode! Americans are really starting to dominate the skiing medals picking up 2 more (silver and bronze).
• The more I watch the skiing events, the more I like them. Wouldn't consider myself a huge fan by any means just yet but I have a healthy respect for their speed and skills.

Skeleton - Women's:

• Not sure why you would ever do this sport but it's the opposite of luge (laying on the sled with feet first) with head first while laying on your stomach. Oh and your hands are behind you not in front of your head so my protective instincts would be going crazy!
• An American finished 4th, the worst possible place to finish in my opinion since it's so close to a medal.

Ski Jumping - Men's:

• This sport looks like more fun to do than to watch. Would love to have that feeling of flying! Not so sure about the speed and heights...

Alpine Skiing - Women's Super G:

• Lindsey and Julia are back! Probably other Americans competing too but they aren't getting the same media attention so I forget about them.
• Julia went first and made an unfortunate mistake veering almost off course so lost time and finished 9th.
• The early competitors were at a disadvantage due to the course being mostly shaded so it's hard to see the texture and other changes in the snow. I can definitely understand this from my minimal experience, it really can make a big difference especially the faster you are going.
• Lindsey had a great run. Not much emphasis on her shin anymore but I still imagine she's in pain from it. She earned a bronze to go with her gold. I think overall she has to be happy with the outcome of this Olympics especially after not knowing if she would even be able to compete when the Olympics started.

Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 1000m:

• Glad the judges watch closely the actions of the athletes and disqualify or qualify to the next round athletes as necessary according to what happens. I don't always agree but it's such a volatile sport as Apolo Ohno has mentioned. Guess you have to take the good with the bad. Don't think JR Celski should have been DSQ'd in the quarterfinals but oh well.
• Apolo Ohno is so intense to watch because he likes to start in the back of the pack and move up near the end and then really make big moves at what seems like the last possible seconds. I don't bite my nails but I might start before the Olympics are over!! A bronze medal for his effort. Think he could have won and I think he thought the same if it weren't for the nudge by a Canadian that made him slip. But, a medal is better than no medal!
• When the final race started with the 2 Canadians out front, Apolo in the middle, and the 2 South Koreans in the back, I predicted it would finish the complete opposite and I was right! Maybe I should be betting on these races. ;-)

Long Track Speed Skating - Men's 1500m:

• The leg muscles on these athletes are giant!!
• I think this sport is most similar to the longer distance track events and short track speed skating is similar to the sprint track events in the Summer Olympics.
• Go USA for getting another medal!

Figure Skating - Ice Dancing Original Dance:

• This dance was to be a country or folk dance. Quite a variety danced including Jewish, Moldovian, Aboriginal, and Indian. It was amusing to see not just an American team do a country dance but also a British and French team as well.
• USA continues to have strong performances. Placing after this dance is 2nd (moved up one), 4th (stayed the same), and 11th (moved up 3).
• Think the original dance might be my favorite of the 3 dances each team performs. They seem more lively, energetic, and entertaining.

Alpine Skiing - Men's Super Combined:

• Bode Miller finally gets gold. Nice way to work up to it: first event - bronze, second event - silver, third event - gold! He's also got 2 more races yet!
• I'm still not sure what I find so engaging about the skiing but each race I watch I like it more and more. I'd never want to ski that fast because it looks so insane not to mention painful when you wipeout!

Freestyle Skiing - Men's Skicross:

• This sport made it's Olympic debut on the same course as snowboardcross.
• I was expecting to be as intrigued by this as I am with the snowboarders but I wasn't. Not sure if it is because there were no Americans in the final races or the race just seemed more close and aggressive with the snowboarders than it did with the skiers. I still liked it, just wasn't as enthralled.

Long Track Speed Skating - Women's 1000m:

• Similar thoughts on this as to the men's 1500m above but no American medal at this event.

Bobsledding - Men's Two-Man:

• The bobsleds look huge on the track after watching luge and skeleton.
• The Germans are awesome in any sport on this track. They are dominating it kinda like the Americans are dominating the alpine skiing events.

Olympic Opines

Alpine Skiing - Women's Super Combined:

• A definition since I didn't know what this was at first. Super Combined is one run downhill and one run slalom with the times added together to determine the winner.
• The 2 American medalists from the downhill, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, were back to try for a second medal.
• Lindsey rocked the downhill again and Julia was also in medal contention again. Go USA!
• Unfortunately, Lindsey caught her ski tip on a slalom pole and wiped out.
• Julia was able to ski a clean slalom and won her second medal AND became the most decorated U.S. female alpine skier ever!

Snowboarding - Women's Half Pipe:

• After watching the men, I felt like this event would not be as exciting since the women do not perform skills as difficult as the men but I was pleasantly surprised.
• Even though they did not medal, the Chinese were unexpectedly good. Perhaps this is due to the face the Chinese generally do well at acrobatics.
• Thought it was cool that an Australian got the gold and she deserved it!
• There were a LOT of falls, more than I would expect at the Olympics. But, pressure did work for one American, Hannah Teter. In an interview, she said she fell on all her practice runs. However, she stayed upright for both her competition runs and won the silver!
• The U.S. got silver and bronze. Silver went to the 2006 Olympic champion and bronze to the 2002 Olympic champion!

Figure Skating - Men's Long Program:

• Glad to see the U.S. National Champ redeem himself a bit. Had a shaky start but got better as his program went along and was able to move himself from 15th after the short program to 9th.
• Florent Amodio (Brazilian born French skater) is just really unique and fun and entertaining to watch, I'm looking forward to seeing him skate in the future and hope he continues to improve.
• USA and Japan are definitely the best in the world right now. All 3 skaters from both countries finished in the top 10 and 1 from each medaled! And all of this included a meltdown, a few falls, and a skate lace coming undone in the middle of a program!
• The Russian jumping bean did his thing and jumped but had several shaky landings that I think cost him the gold. I hate to say I'm glad he didn't win but really his overall program just did not have the same artistic, quality, and "it" factor that I think a winner should possess. I have read some interesting interviews from him and his coach about the progress of figure skating and I just don't agree with them. Figure skating is about more than just jumping.
• I'd heard that Johnny Weir said he knew he couldn't win because he didn't have enough points in his program but I almost wish he could have medaled because he did so awesomely well.
• Evan Lysacek! If the Olympics ended now, I'd be happy! I've had my Olympic moment where everything happened like I'd hoped it would. It was so awesome to see hard work pay off and everything come together when it counted. Yay Evan and go USA!

Olympic Opines

I'm really enjoying these Olympic Games more than any others in the past. I feel like I know more about the various sports at this point in my life but also, I'm learning a lot about the others I didn't which makes them more interesting to watch.

Snowboarding - Women's Snowboard Cross:

• I wonder what it is like to have so much media attention centered on a "small" mistake you made four years ago. A lot can change in four years including your competitors abilities so why are you expected to win the gold and anything else is considered a failure? Gotta say I love the way Lindsey Jacobellis handled the media with a true laid back snowboarder attitude! The silver she got in Torino was NOT a failure and a 5th place finish in Vancouver is not either. I would have loved to see her win, like the media, but that's the nature of the sport and competing in the Olympics period is an accomplishment! I'm definitely a Lindsey fan.
• Yay for Canada getting their second gold at a home Olympics, maybe now they'll stop talking about how it's never been done before. It's only a few days in so maybe they can make up for others they never earned in the past.
• I used to think if I ever got to compete in the Olympics, I would want to do figure skating or gymnastics. Now that I know how hard those sports are and my own physical limitations/capabilities, I think it would be fun to be a snowboardcrosser...is that a word?!?

Figure Skating - Men's Short Program:

• Definitely one of my top most anticipated Olympic events. For the first time, I'm more excited for the men's and ice dance over women's and pairs. I'm sure this largely has to do with the talents of the U.S. athletes but I'm finding it's also because I enjoy those performances more.
• The men seem to have less falls (especially on quads) these days and are more artistic and entertaining to watch than they used to be. Quads are cool but when there are so many falls attempting them, they are not so cool to watch.
• There were so many champions (National, Olympic, World, European, etc) competing, it was hard to guess who might come out on top. But, I knew it would come down to whoever could stay on their feet and skate clean with very minimal mistakes.
• Thoughts on stand out athlete performances: I'm not a big fan of the skating style and look of the last Olympic champ from Russia, Evgeny Plushenko but the dude can skate, or at least, jump well. The Japanese men have a unique presentation I like and serious talent. The Brazilian born French skater (can't remember his name now) is still an up and comer but really enjoyed his unusual skating style. I was disappointed the super talented U.S. champ Jeremy Abbott wasn't able to skate a clean program (no falls but popped jumps) but I very much enjoy following his positive outlook on twitter. American Johnny Weir never fails to entertain and was glad he skated so well! Perhaps my favorite skater, Evan Lysacek, lived the Olympic short program I'm sure any athlete dreams and hopes to have. So fun and exciting to watch hard work pay off like that. Keeping my fingers crossed for him in the long program!

Short & Long Track Speed Skating - Men's Long 1000m Finals, Men's Short 1000m Qualifications, Men's Short 5000m Relay Qualifications:

• Another repeat Olympic gold medalist and another American gold in the men's long track 1000m. Yay!
• Apolo Ohno was back to qualify for the 1000m (and 5000m relay). He's so fun to watch because he's so good at the sport. But, I get so nervous watching because I so want him to do well haha! Bronze medalist in the 1500m from a few days ago and fellow American JR Celski also qualified.
• The relay looked a bit like mass confusion at first but was intriguing to watch. Each athlete of the three person teams go a lap and a half before switching off. So, there is a continuous chaotic motion as teammates try to keep pace to be ready for the switch.
• South Koreans are definitely strong speed skating competitors. There were 4 countries attempting to qualify for 2 spots in the relay. One country wiped out and took another country down with it effectively taking them both out of the competition. So, the U.S. and South Korea qualified without a problem and with less pressure. However, speed skating has a ton of rules that attempt to make it as fair as possible I imagine and probably to prevent it from becoming a demolition derby so the country that got taken down by no fault of its own received an advance and qualified as well.
• Looking forward to seeing the final for the relay event, well, the 1000m too.

Alpine Skiing - Women's Downhill:

• Lindsey Vonn FTW! So much hype and talk of her injury leading up to this event it was again so fun to see someone live up to their potential and accomplish their goal. So impressed by what she went through and was able to do.
• Major props to fellow American Julia Mancuso for claiming silver. Go USA!
• It's scary when skiers crash going around 70mph down an icy course! Thankfully none were seriously injured.
• What I've learned about following a racing line in motorsports has a very interesting parallel in several winter sports including downhill and snowboardcross. Apexing is important but not done as often as you would think.

Snowboarding - Men's Half Pipe:

• Shaun White...he has some serious skills!! It's one thing to win by putting the competition to shame but to do it so obviously even to inexperienced viewers is really amazing! He does crazy hard tricks and makes them look easy but what I liked best was the massive height he is able to achieve. Oh and it's really crazy that Red Bull has built him his own private half pipe to train on!
• Another double medal event for the U.S. and not who I expected to get the second medal but it was well deserved! The U.S. is definitely the best country in this event but it's good to see other countries do well too.
• I had high hopes for former Dancing with the Stars competitor, Louie Vito, earning a medal but it wasn't meant to be but 5th is nothing to be ashamed of for sure! I thought he did a great job but wasn't scored as high as I thought he should be but what do I know about scoring in snowboard half pipe!

Olympic Opines

Hello blog, nice to see you again!

I was trying to briefly share my 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics thoughts so far on facebook but I exceeded the character limit. So, I will post my less than brief thoughts here where I can type lots and keep a journal of the happenings. I'm not much of a sports fan EXCEPT for the Olympics, they are my Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series, Stanley Cup, etc.

Opening Ceremonies:

• Before the ceremonies, it was shocking and sad to hear about the death of the Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritisvili. I unintentionally watched the video of his fatal crash. While I feel the loss of control was the athlete's "fault", I do think there was a design flaw in not protecting the large concrete and/or steel beams that ultimately caused the fatal impact.
• In the aftermath of Nodar's death on the morning of the Opening Ceremonies, I was glad to see the Georgian team decided to march in, after hinting they may withdraw, and carry on in their teammates memory. The IOC appropriately dedicated the Opening Ceremonies to him and lowered the flags to half mast. The Georgians were so somber marching in but the standing ovation by the crowd brought tears to my eyes. The one minute of silence in a large packed stadium was enough to give you chills. Very appropriate tributes to the memory of this athlete and the spirit of the Olympic Games.
• I loved how the Opening Ceremony began with a video of a snowboarder dropping in at the top of a mountain then making his way down. He boarded through a maple leaf made from people standing with torches that lit up as he passed by them. Finally, inside the stadium, he snowboarded down a hill and jumped through the middle of the Olympic rings. Now that's an entrance!
• Interesting factoids...this Winter Olympics has 82 countries represented versus the 200+ in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Also, there are around 2600 athletes versus 11,000!
• The Jamaican bobsled team did not qualify to the 2010 Olympic Games! A well known oddity for a Caribbean country.
• A surprising number of athletes represent a different country then where they were born, currently live, train, and other "unusual" situations. Examples include an Austrailian skier that was born and raised in Vancouver. An American ice dancer that was born and raised in Canada. But, most unusual is probably a figure skater that renounced her Japanese citizenship to gain Russian citizenship!
• I totally called who would light the Olympic torch -- Wayne Gretzky!
• The mechanical failure of 20% of the Olympic torch was interesting, makes me more curious what goes on behind the scenes especially in those type of situations that are on such an international stage.

Short Track Speed Skating - Men's 1500m:

• I'm a fan of Apolo Ohno but that's about where my knowledge of speed skating ends! So, I was pleasantly surprised how much fun it is to watch. Reminds me a bit of track events but on ice and more intense.
• The finals consisted of 7 athletes of which 3 were South Koreans and 2 were Americans that could potentially team up with fellow countrymen to hold off the competitors. This looked to be the case with the Koreans about to go 1-2-3 on the podium before 2 of them took each other out, giving the Americans a 2-3 finish and Apolo a tied record for most decorated Winter Olympian with Bonnie Blair, another speed skater! I highly recommend finding this race and watching it.
• The backstory given on athletes before a race does so much in drawing you in and making you care. American JR Celski's bloody injury at the Olympic Trials was intense to see but I'm sure it made winning the Olympic bronze medal all the more special to him!

Freestyle Skiing - Ladies' Moguls:

• My knowledge of freestyle skiing was doing lots of skiing down a hill and off a ramp to do lots of flips and twists before landing. My knowledge of moguls was a bumpy hill and a place to be avoided especially when you're on a snowboard after I experienced a painful face plant near Lake Tahoe a few years back. So, what is freestyle moguls?! Well, I learned it was bumps, a ramp to do a trick, more bumps, another ramp, and a final patch of bumps that is scored based on speed, technique, and tricks.
• This was more fun to watch than expected. Think human pogo sticks on steroids with a few flips and twists thrown in.
• The U.S. got its first gold of the Olympics in this event courtesy of Hannah Kearney. Her hair was too cute, it was braided then the tips tucked into her helmet to look like pigtails.
• This event was another 2 medal event for the U.S. with Shannon Bahrke claiming the bronze. She has pink highlights in her hair and a really fun personality to watch.
• Felt bad for the Canadian silver medalist because she won the gold at the 2006 Olympics and Canada has never won an Olympic gold on home soil so she had a lot of pressure.

Freestyle Skiing - Men's Moguls:

• Similar to the women's but faster and trickier.
• Canada earned their first Olympic gold medal at a home Olympics.
• The Australian silver medalist and 2006 gold medalist was actually born in Vancouver!
• Another U.S. medal - bronze!

Figure Skating - Pairs Short Program:

• I feel like of the 4 figure skating events, this one had the weakest U.S. field. However, I was very pleased to see both sets do a personal best job! 10th and 14th of about 20 couples.
• The Chinese are so good and so great to watch. Definitely routing for Shen & Zhou to win. At age 31 and 35, it's amazing how well they're still competing after 18 years and have such great artistry and synchronization on the ice.
• Saw some interesting costumes -- a Ukrainian woman in a body suit and a German couple with clown makeup!

Long Track Speed Skating:

• Way less exciting than short track. Only two are racing at a time with specified lanes kinda like track events.
• The track is HUGE, they must build special rinks. Short track is done on the same rink as figure skating.
• Very cool when an athlete wins the first gold medal ever at an Olympics for their country (Czech Republic)!

Snowboarding - Men's Snowboard Cross:

• This is probably one of my favorite events to watch after figure skating. It's actually quite similar to motocross or even speed skating with 4 boarders racing on a course at a time.
• In 2006 was the first time this event was in an Olympics.
• Seth Wescott, a NC native and gold medalist in 2006 repeated as winner!! He had a rough start but squeaked by in the end by about a half a snowboard length. I think it's pretty awesome he's doing what he loves and is intending to compete again in 2014 at the age of 37. "Old" by most Olympian standards.

Figure Skating - Pairs Long Program:

• Again the Americans are not competitive at the medal level but gave really great personal performances.
• Shen & Zhou were able to hang on to the lead and finally after 4 Olympic Games and 2 Olympic bronze medals to win the gold and deservedly so. They also ended the Russian/Soviet domination of the Pairs Olympic gold medal since 1964!
• The 3 Chinese couples finished 2-3-4 in 2006 and finished 1-2-5 in 2010. Same 3 couples, 4 years between Olympic competitions, so impressive to do that well!

Other Notes:

• U.S. alpine ski star, Lindsey Vonn, severely bruised her shin a couple weeks before the start of the Olympics and it had been very sketchy whether she'd even be able to even compete. But, some extremely lucky bad weather caused her events to be postponed and now it looks like she'll be able to compete! Go USA!
• Currently, Switzerland has the most golds -- 3. Also, those are the only 3 medals they have earned so far. I wonder if their motto is "Go Gold or Go Home". ;-)

Wow that was a lot! I plan for there to be more as the Olympics progress.