Winter Olympics: Search and Destroy

I'm also warming up to curling, of all "sports" - there's some intagible beauty about the entire curling process that gets me right here. (No, here.)

And of course from my hockey bitching elsewhere, it's pretty clear I have a special place in my heart for hockey. Unfortunately I became really ill yesterday and slept throught most of the hockey on the CBC. D'oh! Bronchitis suX0r.

Plus our bloody flatmate spent the ENTIRE weekend slumped in the sofa watching it so no-one else could get into the front room without being bored to death.

I'm gutted that I fell asleep due to beer during the final of the two man bob, that looked excellent.

I've missed too much of the hockey though, disappointingly.

I've been watching it as I can throughout, with the eternal proviso that one's own music should be played as the audio feed rather than the NBC wibble. So the ice dancing then.

But then, I think she'd have left the arena smiling, regardless....

I'm already dodging the Kwan fans in the room, but I couldn't help giggling when she fell. (My skewed sense of humour, don't you know;>?) She was entirely too complacent, to suit me.

Sarah Hughes was amazing. I haven't seen anything like that in years. Sasha Cohen... HAW HAW!

Ms. Cohen comes from Laguna Niguel around here, and the impression of her is not much different from that of many people who grew up there -- the potential (if, certainly, not always the reality) of being a little miss priss. In comparison, Sarah H. seemed so cool -- smart, friendly, relaxed, and as Dan said, having fun.

What Ned said about Cohen sounds pretty credible from here....looking at her pinched priss face I was just imagining what a spoiled little ballbuster she must be....utter absence of tits......those bizarre identically-sized Dolphin teeth that make her look even bitchier.......I'd still do her though....that one kicked-out glide move only she can do had my jaw dropping....but I'd mistreat her....two weeks into it I'd take her to the surgeon for implants but convince homeboy to not implant implants but instead, "whatever you got in your glove compartment, duke.....yes, even those week-old Wendy's fries"

So how about the bitching.....the Koreans are overreacting but Ohno (his face still annoys me DEEPLY) made too big a deal and they do have a bit of a case....I like South Koreans....they're rugged folks and the chicks are milky.....Korean-american indie kids are insecure insufferable cunts though.....the Russian whining about the ladies skate is ridiculous.....I hate Russians too.

The way the medal count works is so unfair and retarded because some sports like distance-ski jumping have so many bloody near-identical sub-events and 300000 medals while the best most-watched/anticipated sports are just simple three-medal one-shot male event + fem. event deals (skating, hockey, freestyle skiing).

I hope none of you saw Bill Maher on Leno last night.....what a stacked card, let me tell you....the biggest pseud on TV with the most unfunny cunt on earth.....Bill said some shit so ignorant it somehow eclipses his "overweight people are just lazy and why should I pay health taxes because they're pigs?!" P.I. show and rap music comments....he says something like "I don't watch the Winter games....they're not sports...they're GRAVITY!!! You sit on a sled.." All the while with that huge triangular nose and those smirky incredulous "I mean COME ON!" facial gestures that must mean this guy actually thinks he's being cleverfresh...... everyday I cry a 40oz of tears trying to understand how people can think this man is exceptionally intelligent or witty....my theory is that Bill is the mascot for midbrow pseuds all over the USA that aren't outright morons but have just the right amount of totally cursory knowledge about shit in general to think they can stop right the fuck there.

no winter Olympics thread?

the UK women's short course speed skater's Olympics lasted one corner...

Doing very light watching myself at this point, but caught a few things here and there.

I'm recording both bbc channels overnight, like 16 hours total, and then fast forwarding through the 90% i don't care about. but either it's hard or i'm stupid but i keep watching things on the wrong order - the edited highlights before the live footage (it's hard, there are multiple multiple-hour shows, with no contents listed, the pvr groups them per channel and orders the groups by the start time of the most recent)

women's snowboard slope style results were read out on the radio news before i could watch them, which was annoying. especially as it came down to the very last run.

All these incredible athletes are the best in the world at their respective sports. I wish them all the best and hope they have a fantastic Olympics experience they'll always remember fondly. May those of you who are fans enjoy the games from home, too. I have no particular interest in these sports, but at least they're better than watching NASCAR.

Italian curling team pretty awesome so far

Anyone who's watching, can you keep an eye out for athletes from Francophone countries doing cool stuff? Looking for things I can tell my class about the games.

i'm only watching the extreme sports parts of this and whilst the french aren't featuring much there are plenty of french-canadian names.

4th in women's snowboard slope style
https://olympics.com/beijing-2022/olympic-games/en/results/snowboard/athlete-profile-n1045849-laurie-blouin.htm

Max Parrot (of Bromont, Que) won the men's (controversially). Sébastien Toutant from L'Assomption, Que., finished in ninth place.

In men's downhill skiing 41-year-old Johan Clarey (from France) won his first Olympic silver medal today and became the oldest Alpine skier to win a medal.

Man, that short track speed skating move with the lap marker, damn.

the relay of that just looks like chaos

super bad luck for yuzuru hanyu, who will likely not make the podium in the men's figure skating after missing his first jump in the short program today despite an otherwise flawless routine - apparently, there was a hole in the ice that prevented him from taking off for the jump properly. really unfortunate.

nathan chen for the gold probably - goes into the final with a record-breaking skate, though I thought he was overscored :/

some more figure skating drama: the medal ceremony for the team event, which was supposed to have been held yesterday, has been postponed over an unspecified "legal issue" involving multiple skaters. it sounds major - possibly a doping or judging issue?

The Russian Olympic Committee won the gold, silver for US and bronze for Japan. Canada was fourth and could be upgraded if there are any changes to the official results.

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/33249419/team-figure-skating-medal-ceremony-beijing-olympics-delayed-legal-issue

Frrnch rider was 2nd in women's ski big air yesterday, which would make a good maths lesson if nothing else (1620 is 4.5 full rotations...)

Ok so this figure skating medal drama is just absolutely bananas: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1119043/valieva-legal-problem-beijing-2022

The exact nature of Valieva’s problem is unclear, although there have been widespread claims that the drug involved was not performance-enhancing, but recreational.

There is also a dispute over whether the substance was taken in or out of competition.

The situation is complicated even further because, under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code, Valieva is a "Protected Person".

That means as "an athlete who at the time of the anti-doping rule violation: has not reached the age of sixteen" Valieva cannot officially be identified if she is guilty of an anti-doping violation.

Meanwhile Russian media has been reporting that the banned substance was weed, which if true, makes this whole thing even more incredible.

men's snowboard cross was fun, especially when it was close. the small final with the first-person camera, i can see them doing that again.

Ah! Thanks for pointing this thread out, mostly so that I can post this weird wtf moment:

https://streamable.com/uytw1a

Totally blown how Canada haven't run away with this

And now a 4 min power play for the US. Oh dear..

Overtime..

Eileen Gu wins gold in the women's halfpipe earlier this am. JD Vance the other day grumbled loudly that she was skating for China and not US

That kid ain't celebrini now

US win. The worst team but Canadians had many more opportunities to win it before overtime.

The US goalie was incredible tho'

lol @ Gretzky being booed

What a moment with the Gaudreau sweater on the ice. This country is fucked up but that was beautiful.

Ok with Hughes praising the US hockey brotherhood after, but his other love the US comments not so good at this time

seen on bsky

I listened to an interview with Alysa Liu yesterday and I can see that the interviewers are unsettled by her and do not know what to do with her responses.
She challenges so much of what USians are taught about competition and frankly about how to live a life.

"I don't care about medals."
"I just skate because I like to skate."
"I take breaks and I enjoy my life."
"My friends and family are the most important parts of my life."
"I don't define success as winning."

She really is the coolest. I listened to a longish podcast interview she did before the games where at one point she was like "It's all about the skate not the medal, plus I'm also a fan of skating, so I love when someone else skates really well and wins" and I detected no lie

Jack Hughes seems like one of the good ones tbh: https://www.vogue.com/article/meet-team-usa-hockey-stars-and-brothers-jack-and-quinn-hughes

spoken out in favour of keeping Pride nights and rainbow tape

Men's speed skating mass start final, absolutely bizarre. They just handed the gold over with no contest.

my sister was a nationally-ranked figure skater from 1991-1996. i spent so many childhood mornings bored shitless in an otherwise empty rink while my sister salchowed lutzly around the ice before school. every evening for years we had to watch vhs tapes of competitors' performances. i hated the fucking sport, and i genuinely didn't see any beauty at all.

so imagine my surprise at turning on the tv and loving this year's performances. did i age, or did skating get kind of interesting?

you aged (and spent 30 years away from empty rinks)

I grew up in a skating house - my mom skated most of her life and often went to the nationals, my sister has been to the nationals the last several years - and all I have to say is "THAT'S WHAT I'M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT"

Cool article: What’s it like being your nation’s only Olympian? Multiple jobs, passport issues and vodka

i enjoyed that story, the inter-reliance of those singular teams

I think skating was also just really interesting this year. It had a whole dramatic arc to it, and a very distinctive set of characters, both likable and unlikable (otm to Hunt3r upthread who said Ilia Malinin is Zoolander), and the ending was really dramatically satisfying. (And just a little bittersweet, because I was actually rooting for Team Japan: they're so wonderful and Kaori Sakamoto and Yuma Kagiyama are such beautiful, expressive skaters, I wished they could have gotten to do their routines perfectly.)

not having any undernourished/over-trained russian skaters in top contention helped

I was also rooting for Kaori, such a gorgeous and consistently good skater, but really happy for Liu as well.

yeah there's no other way to say it, getting the russians out has made the women's competition infinitely better.

Mone Chiba is another one who didn’t seem to know (or care) it was a competition, she looked like she was having an absolute blast and her freeskate was like figureskating: the disco remix. afterwards she was like, ‘yeah, i lost a lot of points of on those incomplete rotations i guess, i’m still really happy tho!’ 🙂☀️🌈🦋

There was one Russian competing who was trained by the same evil coach who trained Kamila Valieva and the other recent Russian skaters, and who had a quad in her routine that she wasn't able to do. I felt bad for her, but it was also a relief to see her end up nowhere near the podium.

I dunno, maybe it was bad to exploit teenagers as national status symbols.

The radio had a piece on yesterday explaining how Australia got good at freestyle skiing and the answer is this place in Brisbane that got built in 2020.

https://sleemansports.com.au/facilities/brisbane-aquatic-centre/geoff-henke-olympic-winter-training-centre#accordion-a4ab3c43a6-item-f1d8815bc3

Previously athletes use to have to jump into a couple of muddy ponds in Victoria

https://www.snow.org.au/disciplines/water-jump/

https://www.freeski1.com/water-ramp-jumping

i dint realize that til this edition spain had only one winter games gold in 1972 wth spain?

Well, there was the ex-German Johann Mühlegg, who won three races in the 2002 Salt Lake City games, but who was immediately caught doping and disqualified.

And it appears Franco-era Spain may not have been so concerned about its Olympic profile in general; between 1928 and 1980 they won zero Summer olympic gold medals.

good for them

The USA women's hockey team have turned down President Trump's offer to join their male counterparts at the State of the Union on Tuesday night.

Both gold medal-winning teams have been invited to the event by the President after their stunning triumphs at the Winter Olympics but it now appears that only the men will be there.

The women's team won their gold before the men but Trump only extended his invitation when the men beat Canada 2-1 in overtime on Sunday, saying he'd be impeached if he didn't include the women's team too.

I can't think of anything more boring that sitting through Fidel Asstro's three hour blather

flava flav has invited the women's team to party with him in vegas; probably a much better time

Jack Hughes seems like one of the good ones tbh

think again

'Yeah, we're excited. Everything is so political. We're athletes.

'We're so proud to represent the US and when you get the chance to go to White House and meet the President, we're proud to be Americans and that's so patriotic.

'No matter what your views are, we're super excited to go to the White House tomorrow and be a part of that.'

You're so excited to go hang out with a pedophile rapist? What the fuck is wrong with these people?

"Everything is so political" is he's right, everything is so political, that's why people are pissed.

Also, I love pulling the "we're just athletes!" card in reference to...*checks notes* the Olympics

Nothing says "apolitical" than going to the *checks notes* White House

I guess they're so excited to eat reheated McDonald's they can look past the whole pedophile rapist thing, and the abducting and murdering of people by secret police because they "look foreign"

These players are utter trash and an embarrassment to our nation and to hockey. Sad!

And deciding to go to the White House after hearing Trump’s dismissive comments about the women’s team ( who have now decided not to go )

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:r6saz35hwwh2n4vrcuv3ylfe/bafkreidro7x7s4xry25cdxlg5bttuscb76g7dfoe7tt2tclc2bt36ywboa@jpeg

The NHL deserves to have China take away the Stanley Cup

Seeing Minnesota and Michigan aren’t part of that data set, the NHL number samples 5 players maybe?

lol right

Twenty members of the team made the trip to the White House, with Brock Nelson, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Oettinger, Jake Guentzel and Kyle Connor absent, per NBC News.

At least 5 didn't go

Supposedly 4 of the 5 men's players who didn't go were from Minnesota.

wow I fuckin bet, good for them

Been a Brock Nelson fan for awhile. His uncle and grandfather also won gold for the U.S. in hockey, which feels rather improbable

https://www.si.com/onsi/breakaway/colorado-avalanche/usa-brock-nelson-continues-family-legacy-olympic-gold-medal

So here Amy Goodman's talking to Jules Boykoff, who's written six books about the Olympics (says it's always been political, but Trump adds his own flava):

JULES bOYKOFF: But there’s also President Donald Trump who has politicized the games. After all, he punched down on Olympian Hunter Hess who just was explaining in a pretty nuanced way how he felt like he had mixed feelings about participating in these Olympics at this particular moment. Trump called him “a real loser,” unleashing a torrent of hate at Mr. Hess who said this was the most difficult period of his life. So the Trump administration has showed everybody—

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to play Hunter in his own words, the 27-year-old USA freestyle skier speaking at a news conference at the Olympics.

HUNTER HESS: I think it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren’t. I think for me, it’s more I am representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. I just think if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S. So yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that supported me getting here.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Hunter Hess. Jules Boykoff, continue.

JULES BOYKOFF: That is significant for a number of reasons. One, when President Trump took to Truth Social to slam Hunter Hess as “a real loser,” he also mangled that very nuanced message that you just played for us. In the process, he unleashed a torrent of hate. The MAGA army has come after Hunter Hess really hard. Second, I don’t know how any of this fits with the Olympic spirit. I think it’s not too much to say that President Trump wouldn’t recognize the Olympic spirit if it came up and kissed him on the cankle. Third, the International Olympic Committee has been utterly silent when it comes to defending Mr. Hess. They just sat around and let him float in the wind.

Fortunately, numerous Olympians from around the world spoke up in defense of Mr. Hess. You’ve got Eileen Gu, the great freestyle skier who represents China, who said that he absolutely has the right to speak out. So did Chloe Kim, the superstar snowboarder from the United States who said the same thing. You’ve got a cross-country skier who even went as far as to say what Trump said was childish.

And it’s not just athletes who are defending Hess. Some of them have actually gone on the attack. You’ve got Kelly Pannek, who is a gold medal winner with the U.S. women’s hockey team, who explained how she was proud to be from Minnesota where people were taking to the streets to fight back against ICE and that she drew inspiration from them. You’ve got another curler from Minnesota, a guy named Rich Ruohonen, who said—he’s also a lawyer and he said what’s happening on the streets of Minnesota is disgusting and illegal and there is no gray area about it. So it has been a really interesting moment to have these athletes speaking out, and it’s a tribute to the social movements on the streets.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to the U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn, the first openly LGBTQ+ athlete to compete in women’s singles figure skating at the Winter Olympics.

AMBER GLENN: It has been a hard time for the community overall in this administration. It isn’t the first time that we’ve had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights. And now especially, it is not just affecting the queer community but many other communities. I think that we are able to support each other in a way that we didn’t have to before, and because of that it has made us a lot stronger.

cool:

Flavor Flav was quick to offer an alternative. "If the USA Women's Hockey Team wants a real celebration and invite… I'll host them in Las Vegas," the rapper wrote on his official Instagram channel. "Do some nice dinners and shows and good times. I'm sure I can get a hotel and airline to help me out here and celebrate these women for real for real."

In recent years, Flav has fashioned himself as an enthusiastic proponent of the Olympics, acting as an official "hype man" for this year's bobsled and skeleton teams. He also sponsored the U.S. water polo teams at the Paris Olympics in 2024, in part after learning how little women athletes earn.

"I actually love this for Flavor Flav," says Frankie de la Cretaz, an independent journalist who writes the queer-oriented Out of Your League newsletter. "For him, this really started when he got behind the women's water polo team during the Summer Olympics. And to be clear, the U.S. is one of the only countries that does not federally fund their elite Olympic and national team athletes. Many of them are funding themselves through sponsorships.

De la Cretaz likened the effort to crowd funding, and added that women athletes tend to be far more under-resourced than men.

Flav's public stand in support of the female hockey players is quite a turn, De la Cretaz added, for a celebrity who once referred to twin female contestants on his VHS reality show Flavor of Love as "Thing One" and "Thing Two." Over the past few years, Flav has supported female athletes consistently, they said, and not just during the high-wattage events of the Olympics. "He never does it in a way that feels demeaning or performative. And I have nothing but respect, actually, for the way he's shown up for women athletes."

states’ rights ftw

Incredible:

https://bsky.app/profile/brysonm.bsky.social/post/3mglouaijlc23

Nice.

Shooters shoot