2018 Winter Olympics

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Post by Catspaw »

It was great to chat on the Olympic chat channel last night as we watched ladies ski halfpipe and ice dancing. I was so thrilled to watch Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir win gold in ice dancing with an incredible performance! :inlove: So awesome!

I am definitely looking forward to the big Canada/US women's hockey game! There's been OT drama the last two Olympics, s we'll see what fun awaits is this year!
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Post by bookworm »

~JCGJ~ wrote:If Chess is an Olympic event (which it is during the Summer Olympics, it's just rarely televised), I'd say Curling has more than earned a spot.
Chess has never been an Olympic event.
~JCGJ~ wrote:And you mentioned Bowling...
That wasn't my analogy it was from someone I heard. And they weren't attempting to compare the sports themselves, as you note there are significant differences, they were just comparing the type of sports they are. That they're less 'invested' events, for lack of a better word. Something certainly with merit for people to compete in at some level, even up to international occasionally, but maybe not something that's necessary to see the absolute best of the best facing off for Olympic medals.

To explore your exploration of the difference from bowling though,
~JCGJ~ wrote:Curling is played with two teams, each trying to best the other, so the positioning of the stones is always changing, and the strategy of where to put them to put your team at the best advantage also must be constantly adapted.
You're absolutely right, the nature of the match and what's required to be successful is very different than bowling. You can substitute bowling for a more similar sport then if you like. Curling is like an on ice version of bocce ball. (I know there are intrinsic differences due to sliding the stones rather than throwing the balls, but I'm speaking only in the sense of the points you brought up, how the direct team vs team play alters the field and strategy on the fly throughout the match.) Use that for the analogy instead then. My point still stands as bocce ball is not an Olympic event.
~JCGJ~ wrote:Also, the science behind how the stones "curl" on the ice isn't completely understood
I'm not disputing that there is much more to the science, strategy, and team aspect behind the sport than most people realize. I know that is definitely the case. But that on its own doesn't make it more or less Olympic worthy. You can say that about something like Ultimate Frisbee too, but that shouldn't be in the Olympics.
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Post by ~JCGJ~ »

Curling also has a very long history (I think it dates back to 16th Century Scotland), much older than hockey, bobsledding, snowboarding, gymnastics (and other un-disputed Olympic events).
I think historical significance is also a factor when deciding whether to include a sport in the Olympics or not.
I personally enjoy watching Curling, and it's never on TV otherwise. I like the chance to watch sports that I otherwise wouldn't know existed (like bobsledding/luge, or even figure-skating, which is rarely televised outside of the Olympics) if these obscure
(but intriguing) sports weren't highlighted for two weeks every couple of years.
Last edited by ~JCGJ~ on Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:45 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Post by bookworm »

Feb 20th broadcast:



First ever women's bobsled team from Jamaica, in a sled named after Usain Bolt. Neat moment.



Insanity in the women's relay! South Korea wins gold in a four team race that had two disqualifications, which meant bronze went to a team that wasn't even in the race! Netherlands got it as the winners of the B Final, the first time ever a team in that race won a medal. To make things even stranger, they had won their race in world record time so if they had actually been in the medal race they would have possibly actually won gold. You just never know what will happen in short track!



Lindsey Vonn becomes the oldest female alpine skier to win a medal and first American with multiple medals in downhill.



The US men lose their first elimination game; Olympics over. It's certainly not an unexpected result, but it's still really disappointing. Thanks NHL. :x The one positive was the breakout of Ryan Donato.



Incredible night in ladies figure skating! It was expected going in that everyone would just be skating for bronze behind a stellar battle between the two top Russians, and all they did was have the first throw down a performance that got the record highest score ever seen for a short program, then the next get one that was even higher!! :thud:
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Post by Catspaw »

Things happen so fast in the Olympics.

Those Russian ladies that bookworm mentioned are soooo talented! :thud: Either one of them easily could have been the winner.

I am so very proud of Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada for her beautiful skate, earning her a bronze. Just watching the team competition last week I figured it would be Russia with gold and silver, so this still sounds pretty good to me!
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Post by bookworm »

Feb 21 broadcast:



What a showing by the American women!

First US women's speed skating medal in 16 years! \:D/

Silver in two woman bobsled!

First ever US cross country gold!! \:D/ \:D/ (The call was great; they might have been more excited than the winners!)

Silver in women's snowboard big air!

Silver in the downhill combined!



And gold is women's hockey!!! Image
The first Olympic game Canada has lost since 1998! Since the very first gold medal match, which the US won. They had gone 24 straight since. That's amazing!


Also, the men took gold and silver in ski halfpipe! \:D/

The medal haul had been pretty sluggish so far, but they're racking them up now!
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Post by Catspaw »

The Olympics are almost over! They go by so quickly. I'm ready for them to be over, honestly. :anxious: I've been getting up early and staying up late some days to watch events live, which is tiring, and I've been very disappointed in Canada's lack of success in curling and hockey specifically, with no medals in men's or women's curling (though we did get the gold in mixed doubles curling), which is very unusual, and a silver in women's hockey and a bronze for the men. Not what I had been hoping for, and yelling at my TV at odd hours is getting to me. ;) A record 29 medals is nice, but still feels like a letdown, which I know is the wrong attitude.

Right now I'm enjoying the figure skating gala, which is always tons of fun! :D
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Post by bookworm »

Catspaw wrote:I've been very disappointed in Canada's lack of success in curling and hockey specifically, with no medals in men's or women's curling (though we did get the gold in mixed doubles curling), which is very unusual, and a silver in women's hockey and a bronze for the men. ... A record 29 medals is nice, but still feels like a letdown, which I know is the wrong attitude.
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(This post is meant to be humorous, not mean. It's just what I thought of reading your post because you were like 'We won the most medals ever, but boo because because we didn't win the one we literally always do. Oh we still got a medal in the event, but it wasn't gold.')
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Post by Catspaw »

bookworm wrote:
Catspaw wrote:I've been very disappointed in Canada's lack of success in curling and hockey specifically, with no medals in men's or women's curling (though we did get the gold in mixed doubles curling), which is very unusual, and a silver in women's hockey and a bronze for the men. ... A record 29 medals is nice, but still feels like a letdown, which I know is the wrong attitude.
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(This post is meant to be humorous, not mean. It's just what I thought of reading your post because you were like 'We won the most medals ever, but boo because because we didn't win the one we literally always do. Oh we still got a medal in the event, but it wasn't gold.')
Yeah, not super classy, but I always feel bad for losing teams who have to stay on the ice to receive medals immediately after a game, not just when it's Canada. If you lose the Stanley Cup finals, you hate it, but nobody expects you to stand around smiling for a long time. Still not a good display of sportsmanship though, which is too bad. I almost didn't post what I did because I don't want to sound all lame and stuff, but that was really how I was feeling, and if I can't be honest with the ToO Olympic fans, who can I be honest with? ;) In women's hockey, it really is just Canada and the US who are serious contenders. The sport has grown a lot, but it still basically comes down you're the winner or the loser in the gold medal match. The format and the level of competition between those two teams makes silver the losing colour, both teams know it, and it was disappointing for Canada this time around. But this too shall pass, as all things do.
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Post by bookworm »

Feb 23rd broadcast:


NBC actually put curling on! :o They replayed some of the US Semifinal.


The US gets both men's and women's silver in the first Olympic snowboarding big air competition!


Alpine team skiing, another new event, was pretty interesting.


Ester Ledecka gets gold in parallel giant slalom, becoming the first woman to win gold in two different sports in a single Winter Games!


Feb 24th and 25th broadcasts:


First ever US curling gold medal! \:D/ They replayed some of the match; very cool! That's twice it's been on regular NBC, that has to be a record.


Another bobsled tie!! This time for silver in four man. Seriously, how is that possible?! The announcers couldn't believe it either, they were like it's ridiculously improbable it happened the first time, how are we seeing another here?


Another new event premiered, mass start speed skating. Not as exciting as they had made it sound it would be, but really interesting to see so many skaters going at once.


The figure skating gala is a weird thing. In a good way, but it is odd if all you usually see is competition skating. The final number, where everybody was out at once, was really neat. So much talent in one place.


In the final event, one of the cross country skiers took the wrong path! She had to go back and lost any chance of a medal, after previously being in good position for silver. I felt so bad for her.


NBC aired two interesting documentaries, Calgary '88 and 1968, showing some historic times in Olympic history.
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