Winter Olympics 2014 - Sochi, Russia

[Gymfan15]

I feel like I've been a real slacker in my self-appointed job as official NWeb Olympics Skating Correspondent! I've been busy with work and stuff over the week, and was all ready to update you the other day, but last night's competition sucked so much that I couldn't really muster up the energy.

So let's just start from where I left off...where was I...

Oh yeah! Team event.

- As expected, Russia won the gold in the inaugural Olympic Team Event, with Canada taking silver and USA taking bronze by a decent margin. I say expected because the medalists were all but guaranteed by the end of the second day of competition, and in fact because of how the math worked, was actually officially decided before the second-to-last segment of competition was even over.
I suppose this was to be expected since this was the first time they had ever run this competition in this format (we've had a World Team Trophy contested the last few years, but it has a different format and allowance of skaters). All in all, the right teams won, but I can't blame anyone if they were scratching their heads a bit at some of the individual results because a lot of those scores were WAAAAAAAAAY outta line with what they ought to be, lol. Thankfully it looks like the scoring has calmed down for the individual events, but it was definitely a hot mess in the team event.
Either way, I was just happy to see the USA team get on the podium, and my favorite Jason Brown become an Olympic Medalist (!!!!!!!!!!!!). Such a thrill. If the team event sticks around, this will really encourage the USA to develop their weaker disciplines so they can become more competitive with deeper countries such as Russia and Canada.

Pairs - Pretty good competition! Some great programs skated by a lot of people, including the USA's Castelli and Shnapir who finished in 9th place, a really awesome result for them. Volosozhar and Trankov of Russia skated really well to win the gold medal, while their teammates Stolbova and Klimov surprised everyone by taking silver. In a huge disappointment for them, Savchenko and Szolkowy couldn't manage to challenge for the gold medal and had to settle for bronze after a few mistakes. They are four-time World Champions and have been favorites to win the gold in the last TWO Olympics, but great programs by other teams and mistakes by them have always left them in bronze medal position. Such a disappointment for them, but they will always be known as one of the best pairs teams of all time.

Mens - Oy vey. Where do we start! Well, on the bright side, the short program segment was really good! Lots of great skates by pretty much everyone, with a stunning ELEVEN people virtually tied for third after it was all done and dusted, which (theoretically ) meant an epic battle for bronze. There was drama, of course. Plushenko withdrew right after his warmup because of injury and Jeremy Abbott of the USA had a NASTY fall during his program that had him lying on the ice for a solid twenty seconds. Hanyu Yuzuru of Japan skated a world record short program to firmly put himself in the drivers seat for gold, while Patrick Chan of Canada managed to skate nearly clean himself to keep himself up in contention. My favorite skater Jason Brown had an AMAZING short program which put him in the final group and with a shot at bronze. That just blew my mind because I didn't think there was ANY way he was going to be even close, but he was.

The long program, well...let's just say that's one of the worst free skates I've EVER seen. Sitting through three hours of that was agony; it was like Plushenko cursed the ice or the medal or something. Nobody wanted it! What was supposed to be an epic battle for bronze ended up fizzing out, with exactly one person (Denis Ten) skated well enough to put himself above the rest. Even his skate wasn't so great that by the time Jason Brown took the ice, all he had to do was go clean and sell his program and he would have won the bronze. Olympic nerves got to him though, and he had a lot of trouble with his jumps. He still finished in the top ten, though, which is AMAZING for him. This kid is going to have a very, very amazing career; mark my words!

And as far as the gold medal went, ugh. Hanyu and Chan pretty much played hot potato with it; with neither guy skating well. It turned out to be a battle of who sucked less. Hanyu nailed a lot of his big jumps but was a mess everywhere else, and Chan literally had that gold medal handed it to him, but himself could not keep the mistakes away, and made ONE mistake too many.

All in all, a super disappointing end to the men's event; definitely not what anyone wanted. Hopefully ice dance and ladies will pick us back up, because it was going so well up to this point, lol.

The short dance portion of ice dance starts tomorrow, with the USA's Meryl Davis and Charlie White being the heavy favorite for gold, with the defending Olympic Champions Virtue and Moir trying to win back to back gold medals. It should be a good competition with the potential for a lot of really amazing performances.

Till next time! May your quads be rotated and your River be Dancing!

[Varnafinde]

Varn, was that a not-so-subtle dig at NBC's notorious tape delay?

Not at all - I didn't know about that delay.
It was more that if you're not all that interested in sports, and you switch on to listen to or watch your favorite program, they are not playing it this week, or they have moved out of prime time, and what you get instead is the Olympics.

I watched some ski jumping last weekend - nothing since then. The newspapers (and their net versions, which I read) say that lots of the Norwegian skiers aren't doing as well as expected.

[fantasia]

All in all, a super disappointing end to the men's event; definitely not what anyone wanted. Hopefully ice dance and ladies will pick us back up, because it was going so well up to this point, lol.

And? I was on cloud nine and I don't even follow the skating except during the Olympics. Today's ice dancing was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! I cannot wait to see tomorrow's performance. Obviously I want White and Davis to win overall, but I'm cheering for everybody. Tonight's competitors definitely made up for the guys the other night (which was extremely depressing).

[EtJ]

So....have to boast because I am at work and Facebook is blocked (but not NarniaWeb? Hmmm, nobody tell the front office!). Really haven't been all that interested in the Winter Olympics but I found out today that Susan Dunklee, who has been making Olympic history in skiing this week, is a relative of mine. Her grandfather is my grandmother's uncle.

Distant, I guess. Never met, but I'm feeling pretty cool right now.

[stargazer]

That is pretty cool, EtJ!

Congrats to Team Canada; the women's hockey team won the gold in overtime vs. the US, and the men just beat the US to advance to the gold medal game. The US will play for bronze.

[Puddleglum]

Since the games are on the other side of the world it makes viewing the events a challenge.
I have never been a big hockey fan, but since our fellows were in the running for Gold I figured I could tolerate it for awhile. I was watching the game on one channel until there was a commercial. I then switched to a local channel to check on the weather report. They were discussing the Olympics of course, and decided to announce that our men had lost to Canada.
I don't think I will be watching hockey again any time soon.

[stargazer]

Those Canadian men went on to win their gold as well. Congrats to our neighbors to the north.

The Sochi games have passed into history. I liked watching the closing ceremonies last evening, but was a bit disappointed that the network didn't show us the Greek anthem and flag-raising. It's thanks to the ancient Greeks, after all, that we have the Olympics.

Speaking of anthems, I really enjoyed the performance of the Russian anthem by the Children's Choir of Russia (who were appropriately garbed in coats of white, blue, and red).

The Russian gold medalists brought the flag into the arena and stood in front of the kids during the anthem. I couldn't help noticing that skater Adelina Sotnikova seemed genuinely thrilled to sing (unlike others present who seemed to be simply going through the motions).

The South Koreans, who will host the next Winter Games in 2018, also tied cute kids to their anthem, bringing out a young boy and girl in traditional clothing. Very nice.

An amusing moment came when the dancers on the stadium floor formed Olympic rings, with one failing to form as a nod to a high-tech glitch in the opening ceremony. (Vancouver did something similar in 2010, when one of the torch arms failed to rise in the opening ceremony and was revisited in the closing).

[Pattertwigs Pal]

I enjoy watching the Olympics, but at times I get frustrated with the media coverage. I understand replaying mistakes once in case people missed it the first time. But is it really necessary to show things like falls again and again? I feel so bad for the athletes. They have to feel bad enough that they fall and then it is shown again and again. Jeremy Abbott seemed to handle his fall very well. I really liked how he handled the press. Sometimes it seems like we were eavesdropping on private conversations. No questions were asked, and it didn't seem like the people who were talking were aware they were being recorded. I felt so bad for Bode Miller. He had just won a medal and the person interviewing him brought up twice that Bode's brother had died within the last year. The poor guy ended up crying so hard he couldn't speak. Of course the camera was kept on him for a while. I suppose some people like watching people suffer but I don't.

Figure skating is probably my favorite winter event to watch.

[daughter of the King]

I had great fun watching the figure skating, snowboarding, and hockey events, but now on to my other favorites! The Paralympics begins March 7. Events include para-alpine skiing in three categories: sitting, standing, and visually impaired; sledge hockey; and the new para-snowboarding, just to name a few.

Unfortunately for those of us who live in the US, the vast majority of events will only be available for viewing on TV on NBCSN, which is only available with some cable packages. However, all events will be available for viewing via livestream on the International Paralympic Committee's youtube channel. After the live events are over, video on demand will be made available, although I'm still trying to figure out how easy the access will be.

[Puddleglum]

Kicking myself. Had the week off, and totally forgot to watch the Paralympics most of the week
Just caught the snowboarding yesterday, with the American men's sweep of medals Couldn't find the channel for the sledge Hockey until the awards ceremony , but at least our guys won gold watched some of the highlightes that were shown of the game. I thought some of the checking in regular hockey was brutal, these guys look like they are playing demolition derby
Now I have to go hunting through the web sites to see if I can get any of the results of the rest of the games.

[daughter of the King]

I thought some of the checking in regular hockey was brutal, these guys look like they are playing demolition derby

I was actually really surprised at how few penalties were called during the game. Every other game of sledge hockey I've seen was even more brutal. It was extremely exciting even though it was less violent than usual. I admit to cheering loudly when the US scored the only goal in the whole game.

Video replays are available on http://www.teamusa.org/ They cut a bit off the non-US athletes on the races I watched, but the highlights and finals are all there.