Your Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics anticipation thread!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e3/Sochi_2014_-_Logo.svg/608px-Sochi_2014_-_Logo.svg.png

It's never too early to feel the warmth!

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2012/olympics/2012/writers/sl_price/08/12/2014-sochi-olympics/vladimir-putin-sochi.jpg

The official page is a traet of marketing. The Wikipedia page is a traet of abuse and curiosity.

This section is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this section from a neutral point of view.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Olympic_park_Sotschi_2014_en.svg/800px-Olympic_park_Sotschi_2014_en.svg.png

If they can't write this section from a neutral point of view, we will help them.

on March 2, 2008 there was an unofficial referendum held in Sochi to elect the mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics. 270,000 voters along with their ballots received a coupon with four mascot candidates: Ded Moroz, a snowflake, a polar bear and a dolphin. According to a representative of Sochi city administration, the majority of Sochians voted for the dolphin.

Ded Moroz, BTW:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Ded_Moroz.jpg

I, Santa Pope, hereby declare this to be Olympic grounds!!@!!!

"Santa Pope" = I am almost in tears here.

nothing says winter olympics like a dolphin

http://www.dolphinolympics.net/

Eighteen months y'all.

And the mind games begin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerns_and_controversies_in_the_2014_Winter_Olympics

2014 will be the first year of a Formula One Russian Grand Prix. The proposed circuit runs through and around the Olympic Park. The IOC has cautioned that it has the power to move the race back to 2015 if the races' preparations interrupt the Olympics, as track surfacing will occur during the closing ceremony.

nobody fucks with the circassians

It'll be entertaining.

Hoping that there's enough oligarch capital around in 2014 to up the insanity level on the opening ceremonies.

LOL the talk page on the wiki entry for these games is rather eye opening. Loads of people having at erach other in nasty manner. Use of phrases like "black monkies".

Gonna be a fun runup, I can tell.

also lol @ the "yay showing a good face for Russia this time round" comments when theyve ALREADY banned the Pride Tent thing due to it being "propaganda" wtf.

curliiiiiiing

Expect MASSIVE doping/illegal equipment scandals around the Austrians, who received no medals whatsoever in London and will respond the best way they know how.

The fact part of the complex is built on Circassian burial grounds has caused a few protests in the UK as well. It does raise the prospect of the world's first haunted Olympics, though.

Sochi is kind of a strange place to hold it all round. Should be fun, however.

I have to admit i had never heard of Sochi til this.

Or the Circassian ppl.

So how much of a clusterfuck is this going to turn out to be, at this rate.

us should boycott

we should boycott

http://thedroidyourelookingfor.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/linguo.jpg

lol

summer and winter olympics should each just have 4 cities that they rotate through

I nominate New York, London, Paris and Munich.

oh that'd get me to move

At this point between the IOC and FIFA, I think maybe we should just staty away in droves. Maybe that would show them.

I'm not convinced that any official national boycott would be all that useful. An 'organic' social rejection would be more culturally irrefutable.

Was the US wrong not to boycott the China games?

so the official US delegation to the Games will not include the POTUS or Biden, but some out gay former athletes, as well as glass-closet cases like Brian Boitano and Janet Napolitano. A half-measure very typical of the leader of the Free World Democratic Party.

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2013/12/white-house-announces-sochi-delgation.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/sochi-2014-ioc-jeopardized-safety-of-athletes-and-fans-in-awarding-games-to-putins-russia/2014/01/22/3c5427a8-83aa-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.html

IOC officials have long collaborated with plunderers, and treated human rights abuses as acceptable if it meant good commerce, regardless of the harm: In Beijing, dissidents were arrested and tortured for refusing to support the Games. But the IOC's amoral stupidity and avarice finally may have peaked in Sochi. Activists have been jailed; homeowners evicted without compensation; 25 construction workers have died at stadium sites; illegal dumps of toxic construction waste have ruined local drinking water and caused homes to sink; and Boris Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister, alleges up to $30 billion has been stolen in preparing for the Games. Now we can add $3 billion in security costs to the price of hosting this festival of malevolence and greed.

I liked Dave Zirin's article today in the Nation on all this: http://www.thenation.com/article/178053/lgbt-movement-takes-aim-sochi

How about those disastrous US unfiforms, huh

They're really horrible! May be to discourage people from wearing them outside the Olympic village on security grounds.

I kind of like the ludicrous patterns the Russians are using:

http://i.imgur.com/dazZDQ3.jpg?1

Though I suspect they have been designed so they're difficult to counterfeit.

http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2014/snowboarding/story/_/id/10406292/2014-winter-games-shaun-white-withdraws-olympic-slopestyle

Dead dogs.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2exr0co.png

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/04/journalists-at-sochi-are-live-tweeting-their-hilarious-and-gross-hotel-experiences/

Judged on whether bathroom tap water is drinkable, hotels are free of ongoing construction work and you can flush toilet paper, plenty of Moscow wouldn't be "ready for the games" let alone Sochi. Good case for journalists stopping being such big fucking babies (or sending ones who had been to disadvantaged countries before).

they're less being fucking babies than wondering what $50 billion and seven years of preparation translates to

It doesn't translate to replacing an entire Soviet plumbing system.

Well then perhaps they shouldn't have gone out to host the games, and the IOC shouldn't have given them the honor.

Yes, all major events should clearly be given to countries with the most superior plumbing.

Reports from the athlete village and more importantly arenas and slopes suggest everything that really matters (from a technical standpoint) is in top shape. I mean have at IOC's cowardice and obviously the horrible politics of the government but when I saw moaning about 'put toilet paper in the bin' signs I'd had my fill of 'lol russia' comedy from the brave journalists.

For real, though, these aren't just North American journalists/athletes/etc making complaints. Everybody coming from everywhere expected a certain baseline for quality of living to be established and it appears that it's not even close to being met.

complaining abt trash cans for TP = dud

complaining that only one of the eleven rooms you booked back in May is available = pretty understandable

Lipnitskaia was the most memorable skater of the competition for me, which is why the team competition seems like a bad idea to me.

is she the little 15-year-old russian girl? i was rooting for her, in part b/c i knew she wasn't really threatening carolina or yuna.

yuna kim is a like god. her outfit was great—I loved the way that when she spun the two colors of her suit—green and black IIRC—flashed in alternation. also, for the lack of a better word, her routine had a great through-line to it. what she did at the end was unique and expressive!

i don't have the vocabulary to describe this stuff, but she seemed off the charts great to me save for one minor mistake on a landing.

like a god

Are any of us in a position to make a valid judgement though? Yuna got a higher presentation score, after all.

Robin Cousins was was discussing this on the BBC and said that he thought Kim was a lock for gold, as did Katerina Witt, but they both called it before her routine finished. When he watched the slow motion replay of the whole thing he knew it was going to be much more close. I don't think he agreed with a five point gap but did seem to think that Yuna's presentation was so remarkably smooth that he didn't pick up on the fact it wasn't as technically challenging.

of course i'm no position to make an authoritative judgment!

http://bilder.bild.de/fotos-skaliert/aaa-biathletin_37122889-1392980375-1-34781450/3,w=993,c=0.bild.jpg

yeah sotnikova's program had the higher technical score -- this was discussed even before the programs began as a potential difference-maker -- and she pretty much nailed her routine, save for a slip-up on (i think) that triple flip. yuna as graceful as always but she chose to skate a less challenging program and when you're in a virtual tie after the SP that's the risk you take

lipnitskaia is a fantastic technical skater (especially her spins, my god) and it seems like a foregone conclusion she'll be a world champion soon enough but her programs didn't really engage me -- she's so emotionally distant; there's no feeling in any of her moves, they feel cursory. part of that is being 15 tho obv

Felt sotnikova's steps and basically execution of every element was so much worse, hardly bronze medal stuff, nevermind gold, that the higher difficult was basically irrelevant.

only watched the 3rd but it looked liked canuckleheads deserved it.

USA didn't play with a finals mentality. Their whole game was tentative.

only watched the 3rd but it looked liked canuckleheads deserved it.

― bnw, Friday, February 21, 2014 2:13 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I cant imagine any scenario by which they would deserve it.

two cases of bud lite lime for stephen harper

Hahaha

It was so disappointing that Elise Christie got disqualified in the speed skating for the 3rd time. I can't really work out what she did wrong.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/sports/olympics/from-johnny-weirs-team-a-fresh-voice-for-nbc.html

...makes me wish I had cable.

From Johnny Weir’s Team, a Fresh Voice for NBC

By RICHARD SANDOMIRFEB. 21, 2014

NBC’s deployment of two figure skating announcing teams for the Sochi Games creates an opportunity to compare how each performed at an important moment.

Calling the women’s free skate live Thursday on NBCSN were Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski and Terry Gannon, who have demonstrated the ability to deliver quick, critical analysis. Calling it on NBC in prime time in a recorded package were Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic and Tom Hammond, enthusiasts who are given as much to analysis of triples as they are to flowery praise.

The most important moment Thursday was how each team assessed Kim Yu-na, the defending Olympic champion and final skater of the night, who had been challenged by the Russian Adelina Sotnikova.

Shortly before Kim finished her program, Weir said that she looked “a bit tight,” and when she was done, he said quickly: “On a night when she needed to give more, she didn’t. She gave what she had to.”

As Lipinski watched the replay, she noted that the height of Kim’s jumps and her speed were less than usual, and that Kim had landed six triples to Sotnikova’s seven.

Hamilton noticed a shaky landing by Kim on a triple lutz. But when her skate was over, Hamilton and Bezic filled the Sochi air with superlatives. “She skated incredibly, perfectly,” Hamilton said. Bezic said the performance was “pulled back” from Kim’s free skate four years ago in Vancouver, yet called it “four years better, four years more mature, and spirited, and sensual.”

And even after Hamilton suggested that the scoring system might benefit Sotnikova — that the Russian’s technical elements were so high that Kim needed a “phenomenal artistic score” to win the gold medal — Bezic declared that Kim’s performance “was head and shoulders above anyone else.”

When Kim’s score gave her the silver, Weir was quick to offer needed context, saying of Kim: “On any other night this would be hers, but Adelina Sotnikova made the Olympic moment.”

Lipinski added: “You cannot skate safe in the Olympics.”

Hamilton and Bezic let the score stand on its own, without criticism. “She went up against an artist and threw everything she could at her in the air,” Hamilton said in his praise of Sotnikova.

As their broadcasts ended, neither announcing team raised the possibility of the controversy that has once again engulfed the judging of Olympic figure skating. By Friday morning, 1.7 million people had signed a petition at change.org demanding an investigation into the debated decision to award the gold to Sotnikova. The petition cites some prominent comments on Twitter, including one by Katarina Witt, the last woman to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals. “Shame Gold Medal,” she wrote. “Yuna Kim is a real queen.”

NBC Sports executives will not decide for a while how to use their two announcing teams in four years at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In its first Olympics, the Weir team has earned raves; one friend told me that listening to their preternaturally smart analysis reminded him of hearing John McEnroe analyze tennis on television for the first time. Naturals.

Hard-core fans might want to keep the teams where they are. Weir, Lipinski and Gannon have been terrific, with the energy to call one routine after another for hours; they have also given viewers some real-time narration of skaters’ scores as they are being totaled, which they can see on monitors in front of them.

Maybe the NBCSN cable channel is the best place for them. Maybe the tight structure of the prime-time package, with its long commercials breaks, would make them less effective.

Hamilton, Bezic and Hammond are reliable and usually good (although I could do without Hamilton’s emotional sound effects). But sometimes announcing teams reach a plateau and need a shake-up.

And sometimes viewers like to hear a sport called by new voices who are closer to current athletes and speak to one another as if in a friendly conversation. So it would surprise no one if NBC infused youthful voices in its prime-time figure skating booth in the same way it uses sports like snowboard cross and halfpipe as part of a strategy to reach young viewers.

I love listening to Bezic & Hamilton-- you can almost hear her patting Scott's head when he gets excited.

loooooooooool at this Jr Celski piece on Macklemore

shameful

lol i saw that and the second macklemore showed up i was like that....is not where i thought this piece was going

The final biathlon men's relay essentially turned out to be a duel for top position on the overall medal standings - Russia vs Norway, and Norway's Svendsen, in the lead on the final shooting, collapsed, giving the gold and overall lead to Russia.

Ha! I had Russia at 9/1 to win most gold medals.

GG

Now the FS gala with its wonderful absence of judges.

Finland with easy men's hockey bronze win over US 5 to 0

Both USA teams chokers, men much more so.

http://i.imgur.com/7t0TZd0.jpg

Russia 1-2-3 in the 50km means they can't be caught at the top of the table (and that I win my bet).

Another gold in the four man bob for good measure.

And the sporting events of the 2014 OG are over!

http://i.minus.com/ji8F8Dy0VQClC.jpg

Closing ceremony on in 10 mins

http://i.minus.com/iS3ryuB2Emq4L.gif

Loved the fifth-ring self-parody choreography

GB got their best medal haul since Chamonix 1924. Go GB!

ok - so what the hell is that creepy-ass gif?!

bear say bye to me

the tear appears to be scarring it's face.

I hate when the Olympics are over.

the cross-country "marathon" was pretty exciting. russia sweeps! i feel bad for norwegian dude.

the american guy, who was not remotely expected to metal, did surprisingly well, esp. in the 1st half. interviewed afterward, he had a real good attitude about it too.

what did people think of the french ice dancing couple's dirty dancing moves in the figure skating gala?

Am I wrong or did Adelina get tangled up in her props during the gala?

medal, not metal

French pair (Pechalat / Bourzat) were my favourites!

Also really liked Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. It's a cliche but they do skate with more soul than Davis / White.

yeah the french duo's gala performance was delightfully tacky, esp. when they switched to the remix.

Is that a dancing Dostoevsky in the closing ceremony now?

K-pop now because the next winter Olympics are in South Korea

The crying bear again...

I love listening to Bezic & Hamilton-- you can almost hear her patting Scott's head when he gets excited.

― lauded at conferences of deluded psychopaths (Sparkle Motion), Friday, February 21, 2014 7:37 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

those two are very good imo, they have just the right tone and timing for announcing figure skating -- it sort of reminds me of hearing margaret juntwait announce opera over the radio. but i do prefer weir and tara -- i think the mcenroe comparison is pretty spot-on

preferred finale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV4JNUu02ro

i thought of the leningrad cowboys when NBC briefly featured the Russian Policeman's Choir

remind me what the dia de los muertos imagery is all about

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

http://uploads.neatorama.com/images/posts/271/69/69271/1391788153-0.jpg

wow thats big

just putin being putinesque