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.