Winter Olympics

[montsnmags]

Joni Mitchell happening in an inevitable way I wish Bryan Adams hadn't. Beautiful.

[montsnmags]

TRON-scaters FTW!

[montsnmags]

Who's the bear poet?

[montsnmags]

Oh, look, Channel 9 screwed up the start & finish times of the broadcast so that we got half an hour of rugby at the start and missed the last half hour of the ceremony. There's a shock. Jerks.

[ravenne]

Yay! First medal for Germany (biathlon).

[Javed]

Originally Posted by ravenne

Yay! First medal for Germany (biathlon).

Congratulations!

Medal results so far:
..........................G.S.B.T
United States ... 1 1 2 4
Korea Korea ..... 1 1 0 2
Netherlands ..... 1 0 0 1
Slovakia......... .. 1 0 0 1
Switzerland ...... 1 0 0 1
Canada............. 0 1 0 1
Germany............ 0 1 0 1
Poland .............. 0 1 0 1
Austria...............0 0 1 1
France............... 0 0 1 1
Russia................0 0 1 1

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Do love the Winter Olympics though - always tremendous to watch great sportsmen and women at their peak. Have to say that the GB team probably won't win much though - they never do; apparently we're aiming to equal or beat our best ever performance at the Winter Olympics. That's 3 medals (not Golds, just medals). That's about the same as the number the USA, Germany and Norway will win in the first 20 minutes or so of the competition.

On the basis that the UK does extremely well in the summer games in the sports that you can do sitting down (eg cycling and rowing) we really should do well at things like bob-sleigh, don't you think?

[HarryT]

That "mogul" is a bit of an oddball sport, isn't it? Basically skiing down a very bumpy hill! Anyone know if it's been in the Olympics long? I don't recall ever having seen it before.

[HarryT]

Why is there no women's ski-jump in the Olympics? You may have wondered, as I did. Interesting article on the subject here.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That "mogul" is a bit of an oddball sport, isn't it? Basically skiing down a very bumpy hill! Anyone know if it's been in the Olympics long? I don't recall ever having seen it before.

According to Wikipedia, in the Olympics since 1992.
For what it's worth, although the mogul slope for the sport is built, that "very bumpy hill" can be a natural development of a well-skied slope. A lot of the harder ("black diamond") runs on Australian ski slopes at least are steep mogul fields (I'm remembering Funnelweb at Thredbo, and Olympic at Perisher) though mogul fields, as mentioned, can be a natural development in lots of places on the hill. They're a bugger for beginner skiers, seeing as they are forever upending your balance or directing you ways you aren't ready for, and may the snow gods help you if you fall and get a slide going on a steep one. There can be a world of pain and disorientation coming to you.
I hate mogul fields, and I don't know how those folks who ski straight down them so well don't have silly-putty for knee joints...or maybe they do.
Cheers,
Marc

[HarryT]

Thanks, Marc, that's interesting!

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

According to Wikipedia, in the Olympics since 1992.
For what it's worth, although the mogul slope for the sport is built, that "very bumpy hill" can be a natural development of a well-skied slope. A lot of the harder ("black diamond") runs on Australian ski slopes at least are steep mogul fields (I'm remembering Funnelweb at Thredbo, and Olympic at Perisher) though mogul fields, as mentioned, can be a natural development in lots of places on the hill. They're a bugger for beginner skiers, seeing as they are forever upending your balance or directing you ways you aren't ready for, and may the snow gods help you if you fall and get a slide going on a steep one. There can be a world of pain and disorientation coming to you.
I hate mogul fields, and I don't know how those folks who ski straight down them so well don't have silly-putty for knee joints...or maybe they do.
Cheers,
Marc

Yes, moguls are part of Freestyle skiing which included Aerials and ski ballet. Moguls and Aerials were demonstration sports in the 1988 Calgary Olympics and were added in the next winter Olympics. I haven't seen ski ballet in awhile. I'm not sure if they're still competing.



I used to love mogul skiing but I had to give it up in my early 30's because of my knees.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

I'm sitting here watching the opening ceremonies, watching the nations parade.

I always get a thrill seeing these wonderful young athletes representing their countries.

Tonight, I was touched and saddened by Georgia's representatives.

I thought they showed wonderful courage by marching...but I could see the pain and grief in their faces.

This time, for the first time, as each country passed, I thought of my friends here on MR. I was so proud for all the countries.

Ravenne and others from Germany

Vcat and her father and so many others from Canada.

France.

England.

Ireland.

All of them.

Made it kinda special.

!!!! Ahem !!!!

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

!!!! Ahem !!!!

Oh sweet baby Jesus on a cracker.

I fixed it!!

Karma to you for my inexcusable absent mindedness.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

!!!! Ahem !!!!

Ah yes, there ain't an 'England' team at the Olympics, it should be 'Great Britain' instead (altho 'United Kingdom' may be more accurate).

But the configurations of our various nations are confusing; so I'm not surprised that people from other parts of the world are unaware of the nuances, I barely understand them myself.