Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Off Topic => Sports Arena => Topic started by: Comrade Blitz on December 05, 2017, 12:14:35 PM
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65 days to go.
The World Cup Biathlon season started this past week and there appear to be loads of Russians now on the (South) Korean biathlon team.
There's more as well:
"Don't be surprised when a blond haired, blue-eyed Westerner races for South Korea at the upcoming Winter Olympics."
http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Sports/view?articleId=143973 (http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Sports/view?articleId=143973)
Let the shite begin!
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Russia banned.
Quite like the Winter Olympics, hopefully some of the better events will be at the weekend as the timezone isn't great for us.
Intend to watch the skellington and curling in the hope of seeing some British medallists and the bobsleigh, ski cross and snowboard cross and speedskating for general interest (not sure if we are likely to win medals in any of this). Won't be watching the ice skating as it is shite.
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Russia banned.
Quite like the Winter Olympics, hopefully some of the better events will be at the weekend as the timezone isn't great for us.
Intend to watch the skellington and curling in the hope of seeing some British medallists and the bobsleigh, ski cross and snowboard cross and speedskating for general interest (not sure if we are likely to win medals in any of this). Won't be watching the ice skating as it is shite.
Speedskating (women) is one of our better medal chances with Elise Christie, she'll be very disappointed if she's not in the mix for a medal I'd think.
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Surprisingly, Putin will not block eligible athletes competing under the Olympic flag
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Russia banned.
Quite like the Winter Olympics, hopefully some of the better events will be at the weekend as the timezone isn't great for us.
Intend to watch the skellington and curling in the hope of seeing some British medallists and the bobsleigh, ski cross and snowboard cross and speedskating for general interest (not sure if we are likely to win medals in any of this). Won't be watching the ice skating as it is shite.
I'll watch the hurtlingdownandaroundiceandsnow events and the hockey but will avoid the ice skating (non-speed variety). As I've covered before, I don't think that such events should be in the main Olympics. There should be a separate Competitive Arts Olympics for that kind on thing.
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Russia banned.
Quite like the Winter Olympics, hopefully some of the better events will be at the weekend as the timezone isn't great for us.
Intend to watch the skellington and curling in the hope of seeing some British medallists and the bobsleigh, ski cross and snowboard cross and speedskating for general interest (not sure if we are likely to win medals in any of this). Won't be watching the ice skating as it is shite.
Speedskating (women) is one of our better medal chances with Elise Christie, she'll be very disappointed if she's not in the mix for a medal I'd think.
Ah, I'd forgotten about her. I don't know much about the sport but she seemed to be very harshly treated last time, was getting disqualified for nothing in every event she entered.
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Won't be watching the ice skating as it is shite.
but will avoid the ice skating (non-speed variety). As I've covered before, I don't think that such events should be in the main Olympics. There should be a separate Competitive Arts Olympics for that kind on thing.
Absolutely. Any "sport" that requires judges casting scores to determine the winner can fuck off. I think I read something once where someone said that the Olympic motto should be "Faster, Further, More"
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Won't be watching the ice skating as it is shite.
but will avoid the ice skating (non-speed variety). As I've covered before, I don't think that such events should be in the main Olympics. There should be a separate Competitive Arts Olympics for that kind on thing.
Absolutely. Any "sport" that requires judges casting scores to determine the winner can fuck off. I think I read something once where someone said that the Olympic motto should be "Faster, Further, More"
Boxing?
I completely disagree with the idea of removing them though, what would actually happen is that whatever event they shifted to would be viewed as lesser and people who have worked for years to get their chance would end up competing in an event that no one cared much about not get the chance to have their big stage. To personalise it a little, the 2016 olympics would've been a lesser event for the exclusion of the truly exceptional Simone Biles who, in my opinion, was the biggest highlight of the entire thing. Likewise Max Whitlock was one of the great successes of British sport last year and his absence would also have been detrimental for me.
I think keeping events like that in the games but moving towards ever more transparent judging is the right approach and that's exactly how it's been over the last decade or so.
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Transparent judging? Bullshit.
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In today's news:
"Russia ban adds to South Korea's Winter Olympics woes"
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/06/sport/south-korea-olympics-russia-intl/index.html (http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/06/sport/south-korea-olympics-russia-intl/index.html)
"British Olympians back IOC’s decision to ban Russia from Pyeongchang 2018"
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/06/british-olympians-back-ioc-decision-russia-winter-olympics (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/06/british-olympians-back-ioc-decision-russia-winter-olympics)
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Transparent judging? Bullshit.
I said moving towards, which is undeniably true if you compare the 2016 olympics to, for example, Barcelona. You also didn't answer me on whether you included Boxing, what about the various wrestling and martial arts competitions, they're all judged (with criteria to look for) so do they go as well?
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Transparent judging? Bullshit.
I said moving towards, which is undeniably true if you compare the 2016 olympics to, for example, Barcelona. You also didn't answer me on whether you included Boxing, what about the various wrestling and martial arts competitions, they're all judged (with criteria to look for) so do they go as well?
They are all summer sports. We'll have to discuss this in the Tokyo 2020 thread when it comes on board. This is a Winter Olympics thread for Winter Olympics people.
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Transparent judging? Bullshit.
I said moving towards, which is undeniably true if you compare the 2016 olympics to, for example, Barcelona. You also didn't answer me on whether you included Boxing, what about the various wrestling and martial arts competitions, they're all judged (with criteria to look for) so do they go as well?
They are all summer sports. We'll have to discuss this in the Tokyo 2020 thread when it comes on board. This is a Winter Olympics thread for Winter Olympics people.
ok you said any sport and are now changing stance but that's ok. Ski-jump?
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Russia banned.
Quite like the Winter Olympics, hopefully some of the better events will be at the weekend as the timezone isn't great for us.
Intend to watch the skellington and curling in the hope of seeing some British medallists and the bobsleigh, ski cross and snowboard cross and speedskating for general interest (not sure if we are likely to win medals in any of this). Won't be watching the ice skating as it is shite.
Speedskating (women) is one of our better medal chances with Elise Christie, she'll be very disappointed if she's not in the mix for a medal I'd think.
Ah, I'd forgotten about her. I don't know much about the sport but she seemed to be very harshly treated last time, was getting disqualified for nothing in every event she entered.
They like their speed skating in The Netherlands. Their sportsperson of the year has been a speedskater 18 times since 1959 for the blokes, and 8 times for the women. (Not all the same person, obvs!)
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Ski jumping and boxing/martial arts are the two main problems in my "Competitive Arts Olympics" plan. I think that I did an event by event analysis on here for Summer 2012 or maybe even 2008
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Ski jumping and boxing/martial arts are the two main problems in my "Competitive Arts Olympics" plan. I think that I did an event by event analysis on here for Summer 2012 or maybe even 2008
Yep, that's why I mentioned them because what most people mean when they say things like gymnastics/figure skating/diving shouldn't be in is that they're not 'real' sports because they're judged but I don't know anyone who would say that boxing and ski-jumping aren't real sports. As I said though, fundamentally I think people like Whitlock and Biles provide a huge amount of entertainment at the olympics an I'd hate for them to be marginalised into an event that only gets covered by eurosport and is 7-8 pages in from the back of the newspapers which is what I think would happen if it was split as you suggest.
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Why biathlon is awesome: Dorothea Wierer (ITA)
(http://thumb.ibb.co/kU2VAR/DQq_Ei8t_UMAAd_My_Y.jpg) (http://ibb.co/kU2VAR)
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Why biathlon is awesome (2) : Anais Chevlaier (FRA):
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"50 days till the Winter Olympics, 5 nagging questions for host South Korea"
"Then again, biathlon, curling and cross-country skiing have been an acquired taste for almost everyone outside of the Great Frozen North of Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. It’s one reason why IOC officials started loading up the flagging Winter Olympics with X Games events two decades ago."
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/21/50-days-till-the-winter-olympics-5-nagging-questions-for-host-south-korea/ (https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/21/50-days-till-the-winter-olympics-5-nagging-questions-for-host-south-korea/)
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Sounds like North Korea will be there. Looking forward to some of the events but worried many of the highlights will be on at a stupid time.
They really need to stop giving major sporting events to nations in silly timezones, it's already ruined cricket.
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I heard an advert on NBC the other day which stated that all of the events will be shown live "for the first time ever".
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I heard an advert on NBC the other day which stated that all of the events will be shown live "for the first time ever".
Is Bob Costas hosting or has he packed in covering the Olympics now.
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I heard an advert on NBC the other day which stated that all of the events will be shown live "for the first time ever".
Is Bob Costas hosting or has he packed in covering the Olympics now.
Don't see anything on the NBC Olympics page...sorry
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"Norway's biathlon star Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who has won the most medals in the history of Winter Olympics, has been omitted from the team for next month's Games in Pyeongchang."
https://www.thelocal.no/20180115/norways-winter-olympics-superstar-bjrndalen-not-picked-for-pyeongchang
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"Frosty reception for South Korea's Winter Olympics detente with North"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/19/frosty-reception-for-south-koreas-winter-olympics-detente-with-north
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"Record-setting speedskater among Russians banned by IOC from PyeongChang Olympics"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/01/23/record-setting-speedskater-among-russians-banned-by-ioc-from-pyeongchang-olympics/?utm_term=.20a306ed57cc
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I heard an advert on NBC the other day which stated that all of the events will be shown live "for the first time ever".
Is Bob Costas hosting or has he packed in covering the Olympics now.
yes he is.
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Yesterday evening I watched a re-run of the Downhill practice session.
What has become of me......
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I'm a little torn on skiing because I love the idea of cross country skiing and biathlon, the people in those events are superfit but the events themselves get really dull to watch. Alpine skiing is simpler, I find that universally dull other than the ski jump.
I love the skeleton, luge and bobsleigh, most of the speedskating is great fun and ice hockey is watchable. After that I tend to watch stuff if it's on but don't really seek it out.
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I take far more interest in the Winter Olympics (apart from actively avoiding the dancing in skates lark) than the Summer games.
I'll even watch the Curling. Having played for an hour in Wengen ten years ago, I consider myself something of an expert ;)
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I like the winter Olympics, quite a few years ago (17) I went to selection for the GB skeleton team but wasn't quick enough. I know it doesn't look it but it's quite a technical sport from the design of the sled to the body positions to steer before and on the bends.
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Graham Bell on the Downhill course
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/42990103
Looks very flat in places
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Yeah, nothing too hair-raising in that. Even Lindsay Vonn might make it down without breaking something.
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It's the first time that I've seen a downhill course and thought that I'd be able to ski it (under normal snow conditions that is, rather than iced-up racing conditions).
In fact, in normal snow, I think you'd have to pole some of it
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The bit in the opening ceremony with the drones was incredible.
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I like most of the Winter sports, all good fun.
That British lass who fractured her wrist on the first day of practice and then crashed and needed a scan the next day made me think ‘maybe she should give up snowboarding’.
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Watching the men's luge at the moment, plenty making mistakes at turn 3-4 and losing speed.
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Watching the men's luge at the moment, plenty making mistakes at turn 3-4 and losing speed.
Luge is feet first and Skeleton is head? Both a bit bonkers and look like good fun.
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Watching the men's luge at the moment, plenty making mistakes at turn 3-4 and losing speed.
Luge is feet first and Skeleton is head? Both a bit bonkers and look like good fun.
That's correct, definitely great fun but I prefer skeleton. Luge is madder, when I was training at Igls track in Innsbruck I watched the luge coach explaining to his sportsmen and woman to stand at turn 8 and to watch what height he comes around as you get various pressure waves and that they should be aiming to copy what he did. Well I was pissing myself when he came to the turn almost backwards and crashed into the wall of ice. I didn't see him again for a few months as he was in hospital with three broken vertebrae's.
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Can people please stop spelling skellington incorrectly? FFS.
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Can people please stop spelling skellington incorrectly? FFS.
Looks like you have just spelt skeleton wrong. FFS
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Just Mr T tweeting about Curling
(http://thumb.ibb.co/kkde5n/59445_DAA_8_A48_423_E_9_D08_08_A57_A99_EA87.png) (http://ibb.co/kkde5n)
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Figure skating is well down my list, but when you're watching a beautiful young girl with her knickers up the crack of her arse, things change.
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Glad that the Downhill was postponed rather than run from a lower start point.
That course is flat enough as it is without starting only part way up
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Shout out for Andrew Musgrave, 7th in the skiathlon is a fucking brilliant performance, that he fell away on the last lap really shouldn't diminish the effort required for a Brit to reach that standard in cross-country skiing. The best thing is, apparently he's better on the 15km freestyle so, if he can recover in time, it would be amazing to see him challenging for a medal in that. Oh and a massive congratulations to the guy that won it as well, fell and lost about 35 seconds whilst still in sight of the start line and managed to fight his way back superbly.
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Noticed that the snowboard cross is being held at stupid o'clock in the morning. Bastards 😡
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Shout out for Andrew Musgrave, 7th in the skiathlon is a fucking brilliant performance, that he fell away on the last lap really shouldn't diminish the effort required for a Brit to reach that standard in cross-country skiing. The best thing is, apparently he's better on the 15km freestyle so, if he can recover in time, it would be amazing to see him challenging for a medal in that. Oh and a massive congratulations to the guy that won it as well, fell and lost about 35 seconds whilst still in sight of the start line and managed to fight his way back superbly.
Yes monumental effort from Simen Hegstad Krueger to win after his start.
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Shout out for Andrew Musgrave, 7th in the skiathlon is a fucking brilliant performance, that he fell away on the last lap really shouldn't diminish the effort required for a Brit to reach that standard in cross-country skiing. The best thing is, apparently he's better on the 15km freestyle so, if he can recover in time, it would be amazing to see him challenging for a medal in that. Oh and a massive congratulations to the guy that won it as well, fell and lost about 35 seconds whilst still in sight of the start line and managed to fight his way back superbly.
Yes monumental effort from Simen Hegstad Krueger to win after his start.
It was great to watch for the last couple of laps, the fitness levels are extraordinary.
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Felt sorry for the snowboarders who had to compete in those strong winds, plenty of crashes due to the gusts. Years of training down the drain for most.
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The Australian TV bloke on the biathlon is dreadful. Why didn't they just hire the Eurovision sport folks who do the IBU TV coverage?
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Poor Elise. Have to feel her best chance of an Olympic medal has gone now.
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Yeah feel for her, but the commentators are saying that the 1000m and 1500m are her more favourable events, so there is still hope for her. 1500m next for her on Saturday.
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Ah, I thought that was her best event. Hopefully she gets a medal after so many disasters.
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The Australian TV bloke on the biathlon is dreadful. Why didn't they just hire the Eurovision sport folks who do the IBU TV coverage?
It's not Dirk Nannes is it ?
I've not sure if he's just covering the games for Aussie TV or doing general work
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There’s got to be something wrong with a Downhill course that requires skiers to run out of the starting gate
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Enjoying being able to watch curling when I wake up then catch a game through the day.
I might go with the Swedes for the men's. The Canadians don't make many mistakes but Niklas Edin makes for ballsier decisions. GB to be in bronze medal game with the Swiss.
Could be any one from Canada, Switzerland, Sweden and GB for the medals in the women. Koreans could be a sneaky punt after beating the Canadians.
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Poor Elise. Have to feel her best chance of an Olympic medal has gone now.
Listening to her on the radio and reading what she said after the even, I've taken an immediate dislike to Elise.
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Snowboarding X.
Fecking hell !!!
Brilliant.
That’s all I have to say on the matter.
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Snowboard Cross and Ski Cross are the two most exciting events. Finally they have proper races at the Winters.
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There’s got to be something wrong with a Downhill course that requires skiers to run out of the starting gate
The nursery slope I was on last month was steeper than that!
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Well done to Dom Parsons on getting a bronze in men's skeleton.
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How come we are so good at skellington? Anyway, well done Dom Parsons. Ladies' skellington starts later and we have two medal prospects, I believe.
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How come we are so good at skellington? Anyway, well done Dom Parsons. Ladies' skellington starts later and we have two medal prospects, I believe.
It's because of 2 things:
1. 90% of the practice can be done without going on an actual 'run' with a huge amount of the training being focused on the start so you work on short sprints and then the entry phase of getting onto the board. After that you can only really work on balance and technique without being on the actual course you'll be racing on. As it's so easy to spot flaws 1-2 runs (in Germany for us usually) can give them a month or more of training focus and technical work. That means we can train in the UK, which is rare for winter olympic sports. Unsurprisingly the other events where we do ok (curling and speed skating currently) are indoors which again, means we can practice year round from the UK.
2. A lot of the equipment and back office support can be easily adapted from track cycling, the helmets, boards and suits are all manufactured by the same company and they share a lot of resources on top of that.
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Snowboarding X.
Fecking hell !!!
Brilliant.
That’s all I have to say on the matter.
I've spent all week trying to get my kids to watch something from it and that's the first event that they actually enjoyed, the semi-final where the french guy limped over in a distant 3rd (before winning the final) was the best, the kids were going crazy when the 3 of them got taken out on the corner.
As I said to my wife, the best events are where people compete against each other rather than a clock or a scoreboard and in the Winters there just aren't enough sports like that, which is why it has such a small following compared to the Summers.
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Ski X is even better because it has more arms and legs all over the place
Watched some of the Women's Slalom this morning. Great effort by Katharina Gallhuber to win bronze
(https://images.kurier.at/46-106993537.jpg/620x340/311.067.892)
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Half-Brummie Isabel Atkin claims our second bronze, in the slopestyle skiing.
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Haven’t seen any Bobsleigh yet and that’s the best event.
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Haven’t seen any Bobsleigh yet and that’s the best event.
I think that the bobsleigh comes after the tea-tray stuff is all finished. I think that it's to do with the track getting cut up
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Christie out again.
She must have broken an awful lot of mirrors.
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WORLD SKELLINGTON CHAMPIONS!!!
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First and Third, pretty good going :)
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Christie out again.
She must have broken an awful lot of mirrors.
She definitely must have. And she's having bad luck at the Olympics.
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WORLD SKELLINGTON CHAMPIONS!!!
Julian Cope has already released the celebratory album
(http://thumb.ibb.co/cdGEVn/024_A0_E48_2_E7_B_4_A85_8530_3_E3_A59_B7_DC19.png) (http://ibb.co/cdGEVn)
how to upload image on internet (http://imgbb.com/)
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One sport that should be added for the next WO is downhill ice-skating/cross (currently marketed as 'Crashed Ice' on TV)
Properly mental
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Two Man Bob was superb.
Germany and Canadia tie for gold. Latvia only five hundredths behind
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Great performance from Janet Jackson in the ice skating.
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Is the British lass going for gold in the falling over and crying today?
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Is the British lass going for gold in the falling over and crying today?
One radio interview and I took an instant dislike to her
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Is the British lass going for gold in the falling over and crying today?
She's due on shortly. Only the heats today. If she stays on her feet, avoids getting penalised and finishes in the top two, she'll be back for the Semis and potentially the Final on Thursday.
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Not sure if this is despicable or genius
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-olympics/winter-olympics-2018-pyeongchang-elizabeth-swaney-ski-halfpipe-video-average-a8218991.html
I thought that after the Mike the Plasterer debacle of the 1980s, the IOC had clamped down on qualifying.
This skier and those two in the Cross Country skiing, show that they have not.
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Elise 😢
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Not sure if this is despicable or genius
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-olympics/winter-olympics-2018-pyeongchang-elizabeth-swaney-ski-halfpipe-video-average-a8218991.html
I thought that after the Mike the Plasterer debacle of the 1980s, the IOC had clamped down on qualifying.
This skier and those two in the Cross Country skiing, show that they have not.
Have just seen a video and it's hilarious. She doesn't even make it to the top of the half pipe, let alone try a trick of any sort. I can confidently say I was more adventurous than that on the nursery slopes on my first ever skiing trip last month.
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Elise 😢
well put by someone tweeting to the Beeb
I'm hoping now we can focus on the other amazing athletes in the Olympics. All this focus on Elise Christie who has essentially fallen at every hurdle . Understand that the country wants her to do well, but enough is enough.
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I feel sorry for her. Don't think she did much wrong then. Anyway, who else are we supposed to focus on? They've shown just about every second featuring a British competitor with a chance of a medal.
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I think the skating relay just demonstrated the lunacy that is short track though:
Bronze medal goes to a country who weren't even racing in the final who went faster than the country that did win the gold!
:D :D
Don't get this sort of stuff in the summer olympics!
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Is Elise Christie genuinely so unlucky as to fail at six consecutive Olympic events or is she just a bit crap?
I know nothing about speed skating but six in a row seems like almost lottery-winning levels of unlikeliness.
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Is Elise Christie genuinely so unlucky as to fail at six consecutive Olympic events or is she just a bit crap?
I know nothing about speed skating but six in a row seems like almost lottery-winning levels of unlikeliness.
She must be some good as she is world champion in at least one distance it's just that there is only widescale TV coverage every four years so we only see the failures.
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Is Elise Christie genuinely so unlucky as to fail at six consecutive Olympic events or is she just a bit crap?
I know nothing about speed skating but six in a row seems like almost lottery-winning levels of unlikeliness.
She must be some good as she is world champion in at least one distance it's just that there is only widescale TV coverage every four years so we only see the failures.
Check her wikipedia page, 2017 world champion overall and in 1000 and 1500, 10x euro gold medalist. She went into this as a medal favourite in all 3 distances.
Could be bad luck but i suspect that the pressure of being all over the press as our big hope gets to her.
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Short track speed skating. What a sack of shit. Training for years in a sport that is so precarious with a trip or fall ever imminent.
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German biathlon fans trolling the IG pages of the Italian team members after the mixed relay. Vaffanculo.
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Genuine question, yet again borne out of my complete lack of knowledge about any event in the Winter Olympics, but why aren't curling teams mixed-sex?
Is there any kind of physiological difference why men competing against women would be unfair in a sport that seems to be more about skill than strength?
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Genuine question, yet again borne out of my complete lack of knowledge about any event in the Winter Olympics, but why aren't curling teams mixed-sex?
Is there any kind of physiological difference why men competing against women would be unfair in a sport that seems to be more about skill than strength?
There are mixed doubles but no mixed quads. Though you might be able to argue that the Norway (men's) skip could possibly throw a stone faster down the sheet than one of the smaller Japanese women, for example, on a take out?
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That's pretty much it at elite/national level, club level it's all fairly mixed. Some clubs are still quite men only/women only but they are few and fair between in these enlightened times. It's all down to strength but not necessarily in the speed of the stone although that is part of it.
Most of the stone speed is generated by the legs and as you can see from cycling/sprinting/weightlifting women can be fairly hefty in that regard too. Some people will give it a shove to generate extra speed but that's at the expense of accuracy so at the elite level it's all about the leg drive.
The extra strength comes in the upper body strength required to sweep the stone. That's where the men have a massive advantage. There was a rule change a couple of years ago because the brush technology (don't laugh) was causing an unfair advantage however this was exploited more by the elite men than the elite women.
Don't get me wrong the elite women sweep a lot better than probably 99% of male curlers but they're not as powerful as the elite men.
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The BBC and Clare Balding could have saved vast quantities of cash and time, by summing up the Team GB Winter Olympics in advance: Crashed. Crushed. Crocked.
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How on earth did a shower like Germany end up in the Ice Hockey gold match?
Canada has probably declared 4 years of national mourning.
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How on earth did a shower like Germany end up in the Ice Hockey gold match?
Canada has probably declared 4 years of national mourning.
No NHL players
Still, given that the German squad are all home based, that's a good win
Germany no play the Russians (shh...don't let on Russia has a team at the Olympics) in the final
KHL players are playing, so the Russians were probably favourites all along
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Was FIFA hired as a consultant for the women's curling event? Japan & Korea in the semi-finals? Korea in the final?
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The BBC and Clare Balding could have saved vast quantities of cash and time, by summing up the Team GB Winter Olympics in advance: Crashed. Crushed. Crocked.
Or, to offer an alternative view, our most successful winters ever despite missing medals in 3-4 events where we had a real chance.
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I am a little in love with the skip of the Japanese women’s curling team.
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Fucked that up
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Based on my extensive experience of having had a go at curling for an hour a decade ago....that last shot by Muirhead was rubbish
Also, I agree about the Japanese skip
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Didn't mind the last shot. No point playing a safe shot for one, we would have lost in extra time with them having the hammer anyway. Worth gambling on getting a jammy two. The damage was done on the end (I forget which) when we missed an easy shot and let them steal.
Plus one for the Japanese skip love-in, though I'd be more than happy to console Eve or Anna, in the spirit of patriotism, obviously.
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Good result for a small country like Scotland to come fourth in the Olympics...
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I'd be more than happy to console Eve or Anna, in the spirit of patriotism, obviously.
100% this!
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Congrats to Team Hasselborg
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We're watching that BBC review right now where they're showing how we won our medals, and my other half pointed out that if it were a Norwegian or German version, it would be on for about seventeen hours.
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When all is said and done, as a nation that can't function when there is anything more than a few millimetres of snow or the temperature hovers around freezing for more that a couple of nights, to win five medals at the Winter Olympics is nothing short of miraculous.
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There's a debate being had regarding Britain's attitude towards sporting success - do we overfund sports that we have a chance at winning a medal in, or should we spend it more equitably? I recall the hand-wringing when GB only won one gold in Atlanta '96, so it's difficult to work out what the nation wants. My attitude is that we could do both - more facilities and coaches and an elite sports programme - but that won't happen.
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I have no problem with funding based on the chances of medal success, after all the individuals/teams have to have the raw material in terms of physical attributes and talent in the first instance and the money just gives them the best possible chance of achieving their potential. Also pound-for-pound Olympic success produces a national feel-good factor that very little else is capable of. However, funding of grass-roots facilities and coaching is vital in so many ways other than just keeping the conveyor belt of elite talent churning. A culture of an active lifestyle has so many benefits for all generations, regardless of ability. Opportunities also need to be offered to as many young people as possible. We quite rightly have a very high international reputation in many sports, but in reality the net cast for participation in most of these is very narrow. How many children in your typical state high school get the opportunity to demonstrate that they might have a talent for, say, rowing?
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Saw very little of the games apart from the ice hockey. The final between Germany and Russia, sorry OAR, was tremendous.
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I have no problem with funding based on the chances of medal success, after all the individuals/teams have to have the raw material in terms of physical attributes and talent in the first instance and the money just gives them the best possible chance of achieving their potential. Also pound-for-pound Olympic success produces a national feel-good factor that very little else is capable of. However, funding of grass-roots facilities and coaching is vital in so many ways other than just keeping the conveyor belt of elite talent churning. A culture of an active lifestyle has so many benefits for all generations, regardless of ability. Opportunities also need to be offered to as many young people as possible. We quite rightly have a very high international reputation in many sports, but in reality the net cast for participation in most of these is very narrow. How many children in your typical state high school get the opportunity to demonstrate that they might have a talent for, say, rowing?
What seems to happen in a lot of cases is that kids who show a talent in a given sport get “tapped up” by certain private schools. Millfield being a case in point for rugby, for example.
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When all is said and done, as a nation that can't function when there is anything more than a few millimetres of snow or the temperature hovers around freezing for more that a couple of nights, to win five medals at the Winter Olympics is nothing short of miraculous.
Aren't there any Austrians, Norwegians, Germans etc with a GB parent/grandparent who are not quite good enough for those teams?