Olympics! Vancouver, BC, Canada

[Termite]

The defending gold medalist was also thrown but he escaped with "minor injuries", to qute Yahoo! Sports...

Discontinue it? Eh. At least postpone it until they can put padding up on the pillars. >_> It's not rocket science to think someone may get tossed, so why not pad them in the first place?

[Catspaw]

I just saw some luge on TV, so they are still doing it. Apparently the men are starting from the women's luge start, which means they have less time to build up speed, plus they've made some alterations so that this stuff can't happen again. Luge is a pretty crazy sport, and apparently this is a challenging course. It is the Olympics, after all. Obviously the death is tragic, but somebody getting thrown off with minor injuries is probably the kind of thing that has happened before and will happen again. When you throw yourself down a downhill ice course and go that fast, you know you're taking at least a minor risk to get injured.

And the first gold medal goes to Switzerland for some kind of ski jumping! Talk about another crazy sport - those guys go far!

[Termite]

Speaking of the luge, a German guy flipped off his sled then for about 100 yards battled himself back onto it. O.O It was amazing, to say the least. Absolutely amazing. He still made pretty good time, too though. Besides that, my dad was telling me about a sport they had for a couple of Games that involved straight down-hill-g-as-fast-as-you-can thing that resulted in one guy being nearly obliterated. Thankfully, they cut it right after that.

Anyone else watch the short-track? Grr, I could've shot Ohno. >_> I can not believe he almost missed out on a medal, and then only did manage to get it cause the Koreans crashed. If I could've, I probably would've thrown a skate at him then. But it's awesome that the 18 year old guy got bronze. I'm happy for him. The interview with the two of them was funny... Out of curiosty, did anyone else see Apollo flip off the crowd?

And the women's moguls were EPIC. (haha, you Canadians, haha. ) WE WOOON!!!! Too bad for the one American who bombed out. She did that one jump so beautifully. Ah well. The price of competition, occasionally.

And I'm really really REALLY excited and hyped up, in case you didn't notice. *screech* USA BABY!!!

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

Wow Termite... lol.

I missed Apolo's run, but screamed when I heard he won Silver. USA has like... 4 medals total. (One gold, one silver, 2 bronze)

I'm just anxious to see Bode Miller... he did bad in Europe this past weekend (like... last Sunday), so I'm waiting to see what he's got in store.

Vancouver is just... I love the place to death, but they are having one thing after another make it one Olympics. Its raining/snowing, there is fog which causes problems, Cypress Mountain looks bare, even with the snow they hauled there... The luge is getting bad marks, even though I watched a few men run down it last night at like... 11:45 PM (I love watching it in real time... but, seriously, almost MIDNIGHT?) and they were reaching 90 mph. Impressive, even though I bet the only thing running through their heads is the tragedy of the Georgian guy...

I stayed up for the opening ceremony. Watched it from 9:05 PM until about midnight. I just wanted to watch the cauldron get lighted. Took forever. And then the malfunction... lol. My family and I were laughing SO HARD! Wayne looked scared... lol. I heard on an interview later that they had headsets and everyone was calm and cool, and told the four touch bearers what was going on.

Though, what was your guys opinion on the opera singer? It made everyone in my house cringe... and the party that brought in the Olympic flag... they all looked pained!

I'm in love... lol, maybe not, but its been exciting. Can't wait for the next... oh, 14 days!

[Termite]

I can't help it! It's sooo epic!

And both the Americans bombed out in the men's moguls. Aaww.... Both of them got disqualified. They were both gonna finish the race in about 20-22 seconds flat, and swerved off course. One on the ground, and one from the air. *sighs* Well, the two ice dancing couples did well for it being both their Olympic debuts.

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

You must have seen it already... Sadly, I'm in PT, so I haven't seen that yet. Its been taped... because once again, we have to adjust to EST... oh shoot me. I should just be in Vancouver. This ain't fair.

Darn it... The men bombed out? NO! Meh... USA has... 5 medals? 2 silver, one gold, and 2 bronze.

Ice skating. Later tonight... I will have to watch. If its not at midnight... lol. We get that lately.

Ouch... its kinda warm up there. Oh their having bad luck...

[31899]

The biathlon was fun. (Two of my favourite things, shooting and croaa country skiing.)

So far Canada has 1, 1, 1.

31899

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

Yeah, Canada won that gold in men's moguls. Dad's looking at it on msn. Canada, oh Canada... lol.

[Termite]

Haha... I lied, though... An American got bronze in the moguls. Byron Wilson, or something like that. I forgot about him.

[Catspaw]

I was happy to see Bryon (?) Wilson win bronze, since they were saying that he was filling in for somebody who was sick or injured or whatever for the qualifiers and it was amazing that he was even there because he wasn't on anybody's medal radars, and he got a bronze!

I watched the moguls for all the Canadian talent, of course, and was thrilled to watch Alexandre Bilodeau win gold!!! (Plus the other Canadians got 5th, 6th and 11th, I think.) I have now seen that clip about seven times, since it keeps getting replayed! Even before the event I saw a special feature with Alexandre talking about how inspiring his brother is to him. His older brother Frederic has cerebral palsy, and Alexandre gave up hockey when he was younger in favour of skiiing because it was something he could do with his older brother, unlike hockey. It was awesome to see his family cheering him on and seeing how his brother was so inspirational to him in not having other people define your limits and to live every day with enthusiasm! For any other Canadians out there, I hope you also got to see that Difference Makers segment on CTV - they reaired it after Alexandre won gold (of course!) and just a few minutes ago Brian Williams was interviewing the whole family. I love stories like that, and I love seeing Canada win gold!

Also fun today - seeing Canada win bronze in the 3000m speed skating by 0.06 seconds! It was sooo close, and it was awesome to see Kristina Groves win! We also had a 5th and 14th place finish for that race.

I can't wait to watch more awesome Olympic coverage tomorrow! I love the Olympics!

[Laura Ingalls]

I was glad that the Canadian won gold in moguls, since the American was already out of contention. I didn't want the last French skier to win - I'm still wondering exactly why he placed as low as sixth. Everyone was holding their breath, thinking he might get the gold - and then...6th? Oh well, whatever, I'm glad.

With the pairs skating last night, I could NOT believe those pairs that fell/had obvious bobbles placed above the US and Canadian teams. Even the announcers seemed stunned.
The Chinese favorites were really good....it should be an exciting long program tonight!

[Termite]

Apparently the skier said he was going to do something other than he did, which is big deduction.

And the judges rigged it.

[Catspaw]

Yeah, the jumps the last guy did had a lower level of difficulty, which means a lower potential for points.

If the judges rigged it, that Australian guy shouldn't have won silver! Dale Baegg-Smith or something like that. Seriously, on American stations were they talking about him? He was born in Canada and moved to Australia when he was 14 to continue with this sport and currently is a millionaire from a "controversial" website - I don't know if they didn't want to say what it was on air or if people really don't know. He's been turning down interviews, even before the race, with non-Australian press sources, and they showed a clip of him getting a gold jersey indicating his number one status in the world and he just yawned. Even with the silver medal and tons of cheering as they did the flower ceremony etc. he offered one small smile to the crowd and stood like the most bored guy on the planet. Seriously, there has to be something wrong with a guy who has no emotion about being at the top of the world in his sport or winning Olympic silver! Very odd.

[Termite]

It was a site advertizing spam, I believe. Or something like that. Yes, they had a whole segment on him. The only reason he moved to Australia was because the Canadian team didn't want him working on a website with the moguls. If you ask me, he made a smart move. He may be arrogant, but he is arrogant and rich, so. =P But anyway, he's not the worst. There is a skier who was in the 10k this morning that apparently made the king of Norway wait 15 minutes before he (the skier) got to meet him (the king). When it was mentioned to him that the king was waiting, his response was "No, the king is right here." I mean, that makes you go . Haha.

And what I meant was the judges rigged the ice skating.

[Catspaw]

My question would be if they were against any kind of website or other job, or his particular website. I read a newspaper article today saying that an Australian paper said that it was an adware and spyware site - similar to what you were saying about advertising spam, Termite. That's hardly something that I would want encourage or expect the government to encourage, especially when it was being done by a 14-year-old. He's rich. How nice for him to profit from everybody else's pain and annoyance. I didn't hear about the skier who made the king of Norway wait - that is a rather egotistical statement!

Does this look like 2002 to you? I hope we won't have any judging issues in figure skating this Olympics! I'm cheering for the Chinese couple to win gold, but I would love it if a Canadian team squeezed their way intro bronze from their current places of 6th and 7th.

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

Chinese couple won... this coming from the girl who is only watching it happen now, even if its all over NBC Olympic coverage online... lol.

I kinda love how Bode Miller won Bronze... Gold would have been preferred, but still, a medal rocks! Switzerland dude, Norway dude, and then Miller... ah... The poor Canadian who kinda crashed out... ouch. I hate when they bomb out. It looks rough, it must hurt... and they lost, major

Now... Wednesday I'm anxious for. Shaun White!!!!

I totally missed everything you guys are talking about... lol. I feel out of it.

They sent Nodar Kumaritashvili's body back to his parents in the Republic of Georgia. :/ I feel bad... somehow, the warning signs should have been noticed before someone died.

Catspaw, you live in Canada. What's it like finally winning gold on home turf? (I was pretty excited... and I don't live there! lol)

[Termite]

And Wednesday is more Ohno!!

DID ANYONE ELSE WATCH THE SNOWCROSS BOARDING FOR MEN'S??!! SETH WESCOTT WAS IN FOURTH AND CAME BACK FROM LAST PLACE TO WIN THE GOLD BY HALF A BOARD!!!! Hee-hee, my throat was hurting earlier from screaming.

And I'm really glad the Zhangs got gold. But the judging... *shakes head* Pitiful. Ah well; they won, and it's all over till next year. But her reaction was so funny! It took them hearing the announcer say that they were currently in first; then she screamed and started crying! I was happy for them.

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

I didn't watch the Seth Wescott thing... but I heard he won. I was excited. Wow... we have talented athletes! More Ohno? OH SWEET! DIDN'T KNOW THAT! Thanks.

[Laura Ingalls]

I loved the pairs free skate last night! I was so happy that the Chinese team won gold, and the other Chinese team was wonderful as well for silver. They both deserve their medals.

[Termite]

I didn't watch the Seth Wescott thing... but I heard he won. I was excited. Wow... we have talented athletes! More Ohno? OH SWEET! DIDN'T KNOW THAT! Thanks.

Ohno is actually in two more events aside from this one Wednesday. he did the 1500, but then he's also doing the 1000, 500, and a relay. I'm EXCITED!!