Winter Olympics - Torino 2006

[Renate]

I didn't know where exactly to put this thread, but decided to post it here.

Are you guys following it? Which sports? What countries are you rooting for? Which sportsmen or women?

I've been paying attention to skating and snowboarding mostly. I must say that I'm majorly rooting for the Netherlands this time, even though I live in Belgium. The Netherlands just have awsome ice skaters.

Yesterday I've been watching the Ice skating 5000 m for Men. The top 3 is the following:
1. Chad Hedrick (USA)
2. Sven Kramer (Netherlands)
3. Enrico Fabris (Italy)

Right now the women are skating, but I'm not really following that. XD I guess I'm a real men's woman. For pretty obvious reasons.
I'm especially hoping that Sven Kramer will win some more medals. He's my favourite because he's only 19 years old, has a world record on his name, and really friendly. I'm also a fan of Fabris because he's so good-natured. He was so happy with his third spot!

Another sport I'll be avidly following is the snowboarding. I've been glued to the telly this afternoon to watch the Men's Snowboarding Halfpipe, and these are the results:
1. Shaun White (USA)
2. Danny Kass (USA)
3. Markku Koski (Finland)

I'm majorly obsessing over it right now, because it was wonderful to see. Especially Shaun White is a miracle man. How he does his tricks and snowboards! It's like it's so simple to do, and I know it's not!

[Retribution]

[size=1]I haven't watched the Olympics since Nagano... that was a while ago too. '98, right?

The only thing I have heard about and care for is that Michelle Kwan has dropped out due to a strained groin. I feel extremely sad for her -- it's terrible that she had to drop out, as this was the last Olympics she would [plausibly] compete in. She had never won a Gold medal -- only a Silver and Bronze, and so this year, her final year, she was hoping for Gold. Instead, she decided she "respects the Olympic games too much to compete [in her current condition]."[/size]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]I think the last time I saw any of the Winter Olympics was when Torvill & Dean used to compete. Wow I miss those guys, talk about awesome skating.[/SIZE]

[KKC]

[size=1]I watched a little bit of sking last night, but I wasn't really paying attention to the people or who was winning (I just like to watch them go fast and do flips.)

I have a question about Great Britain. Did Athletes of Scotland go in with GB or are there no athletes from Scotland. I was puzzled. [/size]

[Albert Flasher]

[FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=Sienna]WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Jen Hiel wins gold for Canada in the moguls!

Me, I'm rooting for Canada... I love following the olympics. The opening ceremony was amazing.

I'm most excited about the mens hockey tournament and the womens hockey tournament (We beat Italy 16-0... jeez).

Go Canada! :animesmil [/COLOR][/FONT]

[Retribution]

[size=1]Everyone knows that the true blue [b]United States of America[/b] is going to come out on top with the most gold medals this year. Bow down to our superior skillz!1 But really, I'm hoping we don't suffer a shameful defeat in hockey or snowboarding -- those are the two best Winter Olympic sports, so losing those would really suck.

So every other nation should basically lay down and die or something, 'cause America's gonna win.
[cue America F**k Yeah][/size]

[Ezekiel]

[SIZE=1][QUOTE=KKC][size=1]
I have a question about Great Britain. Did Athletes of Scotland go in with GB or are there no athletes from Scotland. I was puzzled. [/size][/QUOTE]

They went in with GB =) Our best chance at a top ten skier was from Scotland, and I do believe two of our best Figure Skaters are from Scotland (the brother and sister).

I'm really interested in the speed skating, actually, and watched the men?s 1500 while eating dinner. Anyone who's on my MSN contacts list knows I'm rooting for Korea because...[STRIKE]I saw this really hot guy as their athletes came in[/STRIKE] it's a very cool country. >_>

I watched the snowboarding highlights earlier as well, and man, that Shaun White is bloody impressive. I'm so glad he got gold.[/SIZE]

[celestialcharm]

[COLOR=DarkOrchid][QUOTE=Ziggy Stardust][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=Sienna]WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Jen Hiel wins gold for Canada in the moguls!

Me, I'm rooting for Canada... I love following the olympics. The opening ceremony was amazing.

I'm most excited about the mens hockey tournament and the womens hockey tournament (We beat Italy 16-0... jeez).

Go Canada! :animesmil [/COLOR][/FONT][/QUOTE]
[COLOR=White]
Go[/COLOR] [COLOR=Red]CANADA [/COLOR] [COLOR=White]GO[/COLOR]!

That was so wonderful. The only thing that got me angry was how they said, 'And from the United States of America Jen Hiel' or at least something like that. The olympics are always screwing Canada over.

[quote name='Retribution'] I'm hoping we don't suffer a shameful defeat in hockey[/quote]

Come on! We all know Canada will win in hockey! I better knock on wood...

[quote name='Retribution']So every other nation should basically lay down and die or something, 'cause America's gonna win.[/quote]

Guess what, Canada got a gold medal before America :p

Anyhoo, in the Men's Speed Skating this morning, a guy from France fell! It happened so fast! If that was me, I'd get so pissed of because of how long, and how much training it took to get into the olympics. I think it was my cousin's fault he fell, our convo went like this:

Her Sister: [COLOR=DarkOrchid]Do you think they could fall?[/COLOR]

Me: [B]No! You know how much practice it took to get this far?! So, they wouldn't fall. Plus, aren't they supossed to be professionals? [/B]
Cousin: [B]But, what about figure skating. They fall all the time.[/B]

Me: [B]Hmm true...[/B]

Then the scene where the french guy hit the black marker on the ice as he tried to go in front of somebody came on.

We didn't even see it happen! The channel put it in slow motion at the end. The poor guy slide into the wall!

Edit: I'm rooting for Canada, unless the person sucks, obscure countries (what sport is the guy from Kenya in?) and people who seem nice. Also, I'm going to try and watch as many sports as I can. Except curling... [/COLOR]

[Albert Flasher]

[FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=Sienna]Ugh, I'm really pissed... there was a Canadian speed-skater today in one of the events, he was competeing againts 2 Koreans, 2 Chinamen, and an Italian. He was in 2nd up until the final two laps, where he was passed by the 2nd Korean. Ok, the Koreans ARE the best in the world at this sport, Bronze is fine. Than the Chinamen make their move, and as they pass him, they PUSH him way off balance, and he ends up back in 5th. They CHEATED and knocked him way back to the 5th. The thing that gets me is that they weren't disqualified, it wasn't even reviewed... poor Matt :(

Oh well, Go Canada Go![/COLOR][/FONT]

[Retribution]

[quote name='Ezekiel][SIZE=1']I watched the snowboarding highlights earlier as well, and man, that Shaun White is bloody impressive. I'm so glad he got gold.[/SIZE][/quote]
[size=1]And he's [b]American[/b], baby!

It's hilarious -- I was reading an article in the Post about him today. When asked what he wanted to accomplish in Torino, he answered "I'm just here for the babes." I'm assuming he was joking, but I still found it hilarious.

But really -- I think for a long, long while, America has always ended up with the most gold medals after everything was said and done. I might be wrong, but I doubt it.
[B]
EDIT:[/B] Uh-oh, folks. I'm back with proof! [url=http://simon.forsyth.net/olympics.html][b][clicky][/url][/b], but Germany did in fact have the most medals in Nagano.[/size]

[bellpickle]

[quote name='Retribution][size=1']It's hilarious -- I was reading an article in the Post about him today. When asked what he wanted to accomplish in Torino, he answered "I'm just here for the babes."[/size][/quote]
[SIZE=1]They addressed that during his post-competition interview on NBC, and they talked for a good while on how his medal might act as a babe magnet. XD[/SIZE]

[Retribution]

[size=1]The sad thing, or perhaps the hilarious thing about this is I can actually see him doing something like persuading his parents to take him to Venice for "cultural enrichment *coughandthechixorzcough*."

But the Olympic games only last a few weeks -- he doesn't have much time to work with.[/size]

[IceRose]

I'm rooting for Russia :catgirl: Mostly now that Yevgeny Plushenko is back to competing in the men's free skate. In the ladies division I'm rooting for Irina Slutzkaya also from Russia, she is currently the world champion. In the ice dancing I'm rooting for China's Zhang's, the are amongst the best in twist lifts I have seen since the first time I was interested in figure skating.

[Renate]

[QUOTE]I watched the snowboarding highlights earlier as well, and man, that Shaun White is bloody impressive. I'm so glad he got gold.[/QUOTE]
Warning, Shaun obsessed one speaking currently, but I so must agree with this. He sticks out head and shoulders compared to the other men there. Watching him snowboard is an own personal heaven for the eye. Just wow.

[QUOTE]Ok, the Koreans ARE the best in the world at this sport (speed skating)[/QUOTE]
Are you kidding? There are so much other great nations in this sport! I'm thinking about USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan,...

[QUOTE]It's hilarious -- I was reading an article in the Post about him today. When asked what he wanted to accomplish in Torino, he answered "I'm just here for the babes." I'm assuming he was joking, but I still found it hilarious.
/
They addressed that during his post-competition interview on NBC, and they talked for a good while on how his medal might act as a babe magnet. XD[/QUOTE]
I wish I were there to be one of those babes! XDDD He loves the attention of them imo though. From what I heard he has girl troubles. O.o Nothing you'd expect from him.


Female half-pipe snowboarding:
1. Hannah Teter (USA)
2. Gretchen Bleiler (USA)
3. Kjersti Buaas (Norway)

It's almost exactly the same as yesterday with the men! O.o I only got to see highlights of this by coincidence (A Dutch girl was in the finals as well, that's why they showed it). Gretchen was really amazing to watch. But I only saw Hannah's last try, which I didn't find so amazing. So I didn't get to see her greatness.

Female speed-skating 3000 m's:
1. Irene Wüst (Netherlands)
2. Renate Groenewold (Netherlands)
3. Cindy Klassen (Canada)

Major WOOT here. As a personal fan of the Dutch skating team, I'm really glad to see this result.

[Albert Flasher]

[QUOTE=Renate]

Are you kidding? There are so much other great nations in this sport! I'm thinking about USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan,...

[/QUOTE][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=Sienna]

In this particular event, the Koreans have won the last few olympics and almost every world championship... I don't remember which one, the 300 m or somthing.

Just for the record, the US athlete who won the speed-skating long-track 5000 M thingie, he lives and trains in Calgary, so HA![/COLOR][/FONT]

[eleanor]

[color=darkslateblue] WOO SHAUN WHITE! I love snowboarding, so obviously I am obliged to love this guy. Amazing runs by him in the finals... just seems like a very talented guy. I saw some videos of his skateboarding, and while I'm not really a fan of skateboarding, it was still incredibly impressive. Anywho. Shaun White is my hero. I don't know about any other gals but I'd probably be willing to marry him just because.

I was dissapointed when Ohno screwed up in the 1500 M short track, because I was hoping there would be another final match between Ohno and Ahn Hyun-Soo, considering Ohno's rivalry with Kim Dong-Sung from the 2002 Winter Olympics. Oh well. I am very happy that two South Koreans won first and second place in the 1500 M. :] I think Asians in general are good at this sport because of their usual small frame.

(And just as a note, the rivalry thing that followed was incredibly dumb and immature at most. Koreans suck sometimes... except with the deal with Paul Hamm. He's a jackass.)

I was also disappointed when Michelle Kwan dropped out... it's really a pity that one of the most talented figure skaters in the world cannot win the gold medal in Olympics now.

And I can't get the point across enough: SHAUN WHITE SHAUN WHITE SHUAN WHITE OMG. [/color]

[Retribution]

[quote name='Lunox][color=darkslateblue']I was also disappointed when Michelle Kwan dropped out... it's really a pity that one of the most talented figure skaters in the world cannot win the gold medal in Olympics now.[/color][/quote]
[size=1]Eh, after hearing my dad's spin on the story, I don't feel nearly as much sympathy as before. Apparently, she wasn't even first in the qualifying round for the Olympics -- she got 2nd place to some other woman, and they were like "But she's Kwan, sooooo she's in. Srry!1" Now that Kwan's dropped out, they called her back up and were like "omfg get on a plane right now and get over here plzzkthxbai"

I'd rather have the better competitor earn their place in the Olympics.[/size]

[Renate]

[QUOTE=Lunox][color=darkslateblue] WOO SHAUN WHITE! I love snowboarding, so obviously I am obliged to love this guy. Amazing runs by him in the finals... just seems like a very talented guy. I saw some videos of his skateboarding, and while I'm not really a fan of skateboarding, it was still incredibly impressive. Anywho. Shaun White is my hero. I don't know about any other gals but I'd probably be willing to marry him just because.

And I can't get the point across enough: SHAUN WHITE SHAUN WHITE SHUAN WHITE OMG. [/color][/QUOTE]
x3 Can I love you? I'm loving you! Finally as big a Shaun fan as I am! I must say I don't really care about his skateboarding, I'm only interested in his snowboarding. XD He makes me want to be a snowboard champion myself! Plus, he's superfunny!


[QUOTE]In this particular event, the Koreans have won the last few olympics and almost every world championship... I don't remember which one, the 300 m or somthing.[/QUOTE]
I think it's the 500 m. ^^ And you're right there, but I was talking about the longer distances mostly. 1500, 3000 and 5000 m.

[eleanor]

[quote name='Renate']x3 Can I love you? I'm loving you! Finally as big a Shaun fan as I am! I must say I don't really care about his skateboarding, I'm only interested in his snowboarding. XD He makes me want to be a snowboard champion myself! Plus, he's superfunny! [/quote]

[color=darkslateblue] :] We will be Shaun White loving buddies. After watching the olympics this year I've really been wanting to learn freestyle snowboarding. Right now I've only done freeride (basically carving down mountain trails), but I think learning snowboard half-pipe would be amazing. I'm actually looking into this summer snowboarding camp so I can learn...

Sorry this post was incredibly OT. v_v[/color]

[kingN]

i'm going for the USA hockey team, thats about it.

[Albert Flasher]

[COLOR=Sienna]Woo, two huge days for Canada and we're tied for 2nd with 11 medals! GO CANADA!

Plus, the US' womens team lost to Sweden, so we're guaranteed a gold there... and the gold in the mens... and we've got a lot more medals coming... [/COLOR]
[COLOR=White]
GO[/COLOR] [COLOR=Red]CANADA[/COLOR] [COLOR=White]GO![/COLOR]

[celestialcharm]

[COLOR=DarkOrchid]I never saw the clip, but did anyone see the women's snowboard cross? My sister said that she laughed...

Here's how Wikipedia described it:

[QUOTE]Tanja Frieden of Switzerland takes the gold in women's snowboarding cross after [B]Lindsey Jacobellis of USA falls on the second to last jump while performing an unneccesary and difficult method grab to give up the largest lead of the entire tournament. Jacobellis settles for silver, while Canada's Dominique Maltais takes bronze. [/B] [/QUOTE]

I'm sorry, but that's just funny! :haha: [/COLOR]

[Petie]

[font=Verdana][color=blue]Actually, to make matters worse, the grab she tried is not a difficult grab in terms of snowboarding. It was unnecessary and she was trying to show off (which is really part of the sport, though in this case it should have been avoided) and unfortunately, that cost her the gold. It was just a risk she didn't need to take.[/color][/font]

[Renate]

I got to see that part on tv as well. It was really awful, she could've won easily if she didn't make that stupid jump! O.o And it was stupid to do. The cross isn't like the half-pipe where you have to peform the best and most beautiful tricks...

[Retribution]

[size=1]So, eh, how 'bout that United States of America in first place relative to Gold Medal counts? I told you all that we'd clean up this year -- just wait til it's all said and done.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Winter_Olympics_medal_count][b]Proof[/b][/url] for ye of little faith.[/size]