2022 Winter Olympics
2022 Winter Olympics
Unless there is a last minute change they start in four weeks! A very unusual situation, being only six months removed from the Summer Games after those were delayed a year due to covid.
Beijing will become the first city in the world to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Previous cities which have hosted multiple Games have always been for the same season.
Summer 2020 (Tokyo), Winter 2018 (PyeongChang), Summer 2016 (Rio), Winter 2014 (Sochi),
Summer 2012 (London), Winter 2010 (Vancouver), Summer 2008 (Beijing), Winter 2006 (Turin)
This is an odd year. Usually I'm really excited for the winter Olympics but this year everything seems up in the air and concerning. I was happy that NHLers were going to the Olympics again and now they aren't.
The U.S. is staging a diplomatic boycott of these Games and will not send any political representatives. The athletes will still compete.
Australia, Britain, and Canada quickly joined the boycott and other countries are considering. Japan will also not send an official government delegation, but instead send officials from last year's Tokyo games, in a move to align themselves with the U.S. while avoiding affronting China with an official boycott as they are an important trade partner.
Australia, Britain, and Canada quickly joined the boycott and other countries are considering. Japan will also not send an official government delegation, but instead send officials from last year's Tokyo games, in a move to align themselves with the U.S. while avoiding affronting China with an official boycott as they are an important trade partner.
The human rights situation in China is certainly contributing to my lackluster feelings towards the Olympics this year. Hosting the Olympics is so expensive that few countries are real options these days, but it just doesn't feel great thinking that China is using this to look good when there are a lot of issues they refuse to even come close to addressing, not to mention admitting. I don't think the diplomatic boycotts really make a difference but I guess it looks like countries are doing something that way.
I'm glad it is only a diplomatic boycott and the athletes will still attend. If a country feels the need to make a political statement around the Games it should be made on the governmental side of the event. Having a total boycott is just political posturing that serves no actual purpose. It has no meaningful impact in the long run on anything related to the issue it was done over, the only effect it has is robbing your own citizens of the chance to realize the goal they have dedicated their entire lives to training for.
I have a relative who was going to compete at the 1980 Olympics until they were boycotted. That decision remains a source of disappointment and frustration in the family to this day.
I have a relative who was going to compete at the 1980 Olympics until they were boycotted. That decision remains a source of disappointment and frustration in the family to this day.
How interesting to have a personal connection to the 1980 boycott. That certainly would add the personal angle to things. I'm not saying that I think there should be a full athlete boycott or anything, just that I do find the human rights angle thought-provoking. I don't think China has changed a ton since they were awarded the games. The time to send the message is before the games are awarded - but I do understand that financial pressures make that easier said than done.
The Games are underway!
Once again it caught me by surprise that some events start before the opening ceremony, even though we just did this only six months ago.
American viewers, this webpage has a great broadcast schedule which I've used for the past several Olympics. It clearly breaks down what event will be airing at what time across all the various channels doing coverage. When there's a last minute schedule change they're good about updating it, and I like how it shows which events are going to be live and which are taped.
I've set up an Olympics channel in the Chatroom. With people in different time zones and watching different networks there will be potential issues with spoilers and everyone won't all be seeing the same things, but I figured I might as well make a channel available just in case anyone wants to try using it. If no one does that's fine, the real discussion will be here in the thread as always, but if anyone is interested you can join #Olympics for some real time, if not live, discussion of the events.
Once again it caught me by surprise that some events start before the opening ceremony, even though we just did this only six months ago.
American viewers, this webpage has a great broadcast schedule which I've used for the past several Olympics. It clearly breaks down what event will be airing at what time across all the various channels doing coverage. When there's a last minute schedule change they're good about updating it, and I like how it shows which events are going to be live and which are taped.
I've set up an Olympics channel in the Chatroom. With people in different time zones and watching different networks there will be potential issues with spoilers and everyone won't all be seeing the same things, but I figured I might as well make a channel available just in case anyone wants to try using it. If no one does that's fine, the real discussion will be here in the thread as always, but if anyone is interested you can join #Olympics for some real time, if not live, discussion of the events.
You probably won't see much of me in the chat, but I will be watching some events when I can. The time zone is definitely a challenge and once some more interesting stuff starts I'll have to start making decisions about staying up late and getting up early to see stuff live.
Some happenings of note already from the pre-ceremony events:
A terrible loss of a top star player for the US women's hockey team in their very first game as Brianna Decker was stretchered off after an awful injury. She's out for the tournament, a major blow to their quest for repeat gold.
Nathan Chen had the second highest short program score ever recorded and Hubbell and Donohue got a new personal best in the rythym dance to put the US on top of the team figure skating event! It's expected to be a tight competition between the US and Russia so finishing first in both of those parts is huge! It will be really exciting to see how things play out when the women take the ice tomorrow!
And, we've already had a fun viewing party in the Chatroom watching that live figure skating!
Figure Skating Team Event (Men’s Short Program) / Women’s Moguls Qualifying / Figure Skating Team Event (Rhythm Dance)
A terrible loss of a top star player for the US women's hockey team in their very first game as Brianna Decker was stretchered off after an awful injury. She's out for the tournament, a major blow to their quest for repeat gold.
Nathan Chen had the second highest short program score ever recorded and Hubbell and Donohue got a new personal best in the rythym dance to put the US on top of the team figure skating event! It's expected to be a tight competition between the US and Russia so finishing first in both of those parts is huge! It will be really exciting to see how things play out when the women take the ice tomorrow!
And, we've already had a fun viewing party in the Chatroom watching that live figure skating!
Figure Skating Team Event (Men’s Short Program) / Women’s Moguls Qualifying / Figure Skating Team Event (Rhythm Dance)
It's never good to see a serious injury like that. It seems like she's doing okay - but obviously she won't be playing for a while. She and a few other female players were part of the NHL All-Star event a few years ago and she was awesome!bookworm wrote: ↑Fri Feb 04, 2022 11:12 pm Some happenings of note already from the pre-ceremony events:
A terrible loss of a top star player for the US women's hockey team in their very first game as Brianna Decker was stretchered off after an awful injury. She's out for the tournament, a major blow to their quest for repeat gold.
Of course, as a Canadian hockey fan, I am slightly less broken up about her absence than some but still, you want to see the best players play and have a great competition. I'm cheering for Team Canada and it would be shocking if it didn't come down to Team Canada vs. Team USA for the women's final, even with the Decker injury.
I liked this opening ceremony a lot.
The projection floor was super cool! I also loved the creative uses of lasers and lights. The opening with those glowing willows was stunningly beautiful.
The image of all those different ethnicities in their traditional clothing passing down the Chinese flag was a spectacular visual; it's unfortunate it was troubling propaganda.
Am I the only one who thinks Imagine is overdone? I know it's become considered the unofficial anthem of the Games over the last decade or so, but does it have to be used in seemingly every ceremony? I've personally never really been a fan of the song to begin with, but having it pushed into these shows again and again feels like they're including it out of some weird obligation more than because it actually serves the ceremony they designed. It's also a really strange message to pair with the Olympics if you actually think about it; it literally says "Imagine there's no countries" which is the absolute antithesis of this event.
You know I always pay particular attention to the cauldron, and I'm not a big fan of this one. It's not a cauldron, it's just the torch. The design was neat, I like that it's constructed from those snowflakes representing all the participating countries, but I think more should have been done with the flame.
The projection floor was super cool! I also loved the creative uses of lasers and lights. The opening with those glowing willows was stunningly beautiful.
The image of all those different ethnicities in their traditional clothing passing down the Chinese flag was a spectacular visual; it's unfortunate it was troubling propaganda.
Am I the only one who thinks Imagine is overdone? I know it's become considered the unofficial anthem of the Games over the last decade or so, but does it have to be used in seemingly every ceremony? I've personally never really been a fan of the song to begin with, but having it pushed into these shows again and again feels like they're including it out of some weird obligation more than because it actually serves the ceremony they designed. It's also a really strange message to pair with the Olympics if you actually think about it; it literally says "Imagine there's no countries" which is the absolute antithesis of this event.
You know I always pay particular attention to the cauldron, and I'm not a big fan of this one. It's not a cauldron, it's just the torch. The design was neat, I like that it's constructed from those snowflakes representing all the participating countries, but I think more should have been done with the flame.
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Resident figure skating nerd here to gush about the men's short program tonight!
First of all, some devastating news as Vincent Zhou is withdrawn due to a positive covid test. Really such a shame, as Vincent had a real shot at another medal for team USA. I wish him all the best!
Second shocker was Yuzuru Hanyu singling out the quad salchow at the top of his performance. He is usually such a lovely skater to watch, but I think the big mistake out front put a damper on the rest of the program. He now seems out of medal contention, and I wonder if this will actually encourage him to throw caution to the wind and attempt the quad axel in his free program. I'll be interested to find out!
Hands-down highlight of the night was Nathan Chen's brilliant record-shattering short program. Such a wonderful redemption arc for him!
And Jason Brown, one of my personal favorites skated a fabulous program to end the night. No quads, so he's not really a medal contender here, but always such a pleasure to watch.
First of all, some devastating news as Vincent Zhou is withdrawn due to a positive covid test. Really such a shame, as Vincent had a real shot at another medal for team USA. I wish him all the best!
Second shocker was Yuzuru Hanyu singling out the quad salchow at the top of his performance. He is usually such a lovely skater to watch, but I think the big mistake out front put a damper on the rest of the program. He now seems out of medal contention, and I wonder if this will actually encourage him to throw caution to the wind and attempt the quad axel in his free program. I'll be interested to find out!
Hands-down highlight of the night was Nathan Chen's brilliant record-shattering short program. Such a wonderful redemption arc for him!
And Jason Brown, one of my personal favorites skated a fabulous program to end the night. No quads, so he's not really a medal contender here, but always such a pleasure to watch.
Brownie has a knack
for writing superb haikus
she cannot be stopped
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So Russia is still banned in name and flag here, as in Tokyo. This will be the last Olympics under their World Anti-Doping Agency issued ban since the original sentence was reduced, otherwise I believe it would have lasted for one more.
North Korea is also not here as the IOC suspended them from these Games as punishment for dropping out of the Tokyo Olympics. Though they claim their absence here is a boycott on their part.
The host country gets their first medal, and it's the first ever gold in the short track mixed relay, one of the new events debuting at these Games. They only advanced to the final due to a disqualification in the semifinal moving them up, so they made the most of the second chance.
The Canadian women's hockey team had double digit goals in both of their first two games!
USA makes its first podium with a silver in women's slopestyle.
A 15 year old superstar recorded an astronomical score in the women's short program to move ROC into the lead in the team figure skating event. She then made history in the free skate, becoming the first women ever to land a successful quad in Olympic competition! And she did two!!
There was a shocker on the slopes when Mikaela Shiffrin skied out on her first run in the giant slalom, abruptly ending her attempt at a repeat gold.
ROC takes the team skating gold and US gets the silver, so the expected result in the end despite that first day of events making it look like things might get interesting there. A significant takeaway from the event though was both US ice dance pairs beat the defending champs in their respective programs, so it will be exciting to see how things go there when the individual events begin!
Feb 5 chat log: Figure Skating Team Event (Men's Free Skate)Feb 6 chat log: Giant Slalom / Figure Skating Team Event (Pairs Free Skate, Free Dance, Women's Free Skate) / Slopestyle Final
North Korea is also not here as the IOC suspended them from these Games as punishment for dropping out of the Tokyo Olympics. Though they claim their absence here is a boycott on their part.
The host country gets their first medal, and it's the first ever gold in the short track mixed relay, one of the new events debuting at these Games. They only advanced to the final due to a disqualification in the semifinal moving them up, so they made the most of the second chance.
The Canadian women's hockey team had double digit goals in both of their first two games!
USA makes its first podium with a silver in women's slopestyle.
A 15 year old superstar recorded an astronomical score in the women's short program to move ROC into the lead in the team figure skating event. She then made history in the free skate, becoming the first women ever to land a successful quad in Olympic competition! And she did two!!
There was a shocker on the slopes when Mikaela Shiffrin skied out on her first run in the giant slalom, abruptly ending her attempt at a repeat gold.
ROC takes the team skating gold and US gets the silver, so the expected result in the end despite that first day of events making it look like things might get interesting there. A significant takeaway from the event though was both US ice dance pairs beat the defending champs in their respective programs, so it will be exciting to see how things go there when the individual events begin!
Feb 5 chat log: Figure Skating Team Event (Men's Free Skate)
They also beat the US team last night/this morning (depending on time zones) 4-2. Double digits sounds impressive, but as the women's game in particular is still developing, there are more teams that aren't....amazing. There are more countries with competitive men's teams, but even there some teams are well below any chance of beating the top few teams.
I didn't stay up for the game. I watched the first few minutes and then just decided to go to bed. I've decided I might stay up super late or get up super early if it comes down to a hockey gold medal (men's or women's) but otherwise I just don't think I'll bother. I feel like there are some Olympics that I feel so attached to and others that later I can't remember anything, and to me this is one I'm not that attached to. Lousy time zones, human rights concerns, no NHL players, my favourite figure skaters are retired (I miss Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir so much!), I don't like watching sports once the results have already been determined...it just all combines to me not really being super invested in the events.
So you're saying your team isn't actually as impressive as they appear, they just lucked out in the opponents they drew?
Canada gets their first ever ski jumping medal!
Dutch skater Ireen Wust became the oldest speed skating gold medalist, and she did it in Olympic record time! She is also now the only athlete ever to win individual gold medals in five different Olympic games!
Frenchman Johan Clare became the oldest alpine skiing medalist ever at 41, five years older than previous record holder Bode Miller was.
Another US mishap in the giant slalom, but this one much more serious than Shiffrin's. Nina O’Brien wiped out right at the finish line and took a horrible tumble, breaking her leg in multiple places. This is the worst crash there has been so far, but these two are far from the only ones. There have been what seems to be an unusually high number of mistakes on the hill, I'm wondering if there's something weird about the surface. It's fake snow apparently.
Controversial athlete Eileen Gu wins her expected freeski big air gold for China.
Heartbreak for US figure skater Vincent Zhou, having to withdraw from the Games due to a positive covid test. So unfortunate, he was expected to be a medal contender. I'm glad he at least got that team event medal so he doesn't have to go home empty handed.
Nathan Chen gets redemption from the letdown in PyeongChang in spectacular fashion, taking the short program with a skate that earned the highest score ever recorded!
Feb 7 chat log: Men's Short Program
Dutch skater Ireen Wust became the oldest speed skating gold medalist, and she did it in Olympic record time! She is also now the only athlete ever to win individual gold medals in five different Olympic games!
Frenchman Johan Clare became the oldest alpine skiing medalist ever at 41, five years older than previous record holder Bode Miller was.
Another US mishap in the giant slalom, but this one much more serious than Shiffrin's. Nina O’Brien wiped out right at the finish line and took a horrible tumble, breaking her leg in multiple places. This is the worst crash there has been so far, but these two are far from the only ones. There have been what seems to be an unusually high number of mistakes on the hill, I'm wondering if there's something weird about the surface. It's fake snow apparently.
Controversial athlete Eileen Gu wins her expected freeski big air gold for China.
Heartbreak for US figure skater Vincent Zhou, having to withdraw from the Games due to a positive covid test. So unfortunate, he was expected to be a medal contender. I'm glad he at least got that team event medal so he doesn't have to go home empty handed.
Nathan Chen gets redemption from the letdown in PyeongChang in spectacular fashion, taking the short program with a skate that earned the highest score ever recorded!
Feb 7 chat log: Men's Short Program
This is incredibly impressive! There are a few sports where it's easier to be at the top of your game for a longer period of time, but speed skating isn't usually one of those sports. What amazing dedication she must have. I hadn't heard about this - thanks for sharing, bookworm!
Impressive indeed! Fun fact: she is also the youngest Dutch gold medalist. So she's had quite a career, setting records from beginning to end!Catspaw wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:54 pmThis is incredibly impressive! There are a few sports where it's easier to be at the top of your game for a longer period of time, but speed skating isn't usually one of those sports. What amazing dedication she must have. I hadn't heard about this - thanks for sharing, bookworm!
That's awesome! What a wonderful role model...not to mention a great trivia question.bookworm wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:58 pmImpressive indeed! Fun fact: she is also the youngest Dutch gold medalist. So she's had quite a career, setting records from beginning to end!Catspaw wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 6:54 pmThis is incredibly impressive! There are a few sports where it's easier to be at the top of your game for a longer period of time, but speed skating isn't usually one of those sports. What amazing dedication she must have. I hadn't heard about this - thanks for sharing, bookworm!