The OFFICIAL 2014 Winter Olympics Thread

[Tender Branson]

5-10 minutes and we'll know who won the 1st round of the Ski Jump ...

[Tender Branson]

Ughh ... only 5th after the first jump.

[Platypus]

Shaun White isn't looking the goods.

[Tender Branson]

I have to say the Austrians are fumbling quite a few chances recently ...

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Re: Men's curling...

Without having to go on a Google chase, does anyone know what happened to the old curling team from Vancouver? I'm not really up on any of the athletes or anything, but the calibre of the previous team doesn't even seem to compare to the one we've got in Sochi. Did they fail to qualify? Did they retire? I would've thought for sure we could count on a curling gold, but I'm not too optimistic now.

[MaxQue]

Re: Men's curling...

Without having to go on a Google chase, does anyone know what happened to the old curling team from Vancouver? I'm not really up on any of the athletes or anything, but the calibre of the previous team doesn't even seem to compare to the one we've got in Sochi. Did they fail to qualify? Did they retire? I would've thought for sure we could count on a curling gold, but I'm not too optimistic now.

A member of the team left and they lost in the semi-finals of the Canadian olympic selection tournament.

[MaxQue]

I have to say the Austrians are fumbling quite a few chances recently ...

At least, alpine skiing is better for you than in Whistler 2010.

[Tender Branson]

Ughh ... only 5th after the first jump.

From 5th place to Silver Medal in the 2nd ...

(Only 0.8 points behind the German Vogt)

Man that suxx.

[Hatman 🍁]

Apparently, acrobatic skiing is the new Canadian national sport, we won 6 of our 9 medals there (2 in men's moguls, 2 in women's moguls and 2 in women's slopestyle). (The three others are figure skating, speed staking and snowboard).

The fans that did show up to the curling events aren't very knowledgeable. Cheering for bad shots that "look good" by the Russian team. When the men's team lost, you could almost hear the collective "wait... is the game over.... why are they shaking hands... did we win or lose?" Of course, even in Vancouver the fans weren't knowledgeable. 

Quebec TV noticed that, but said it was worst in Torino (people booed when people "missed" the last shot in order to draw and not give the last stone to the opposing them there).

You mean when a team throws their last rock through to maintain last rock advantage if the most they could get is 1 point? I can see why a n00b wouldn't understand that. But I remember from the Torino games that the Italians loved the curling, because it reminded them of Bocce.

Anyways, who's doing the Quebec curling coverage? Guy Hemmings? He's awesome!

Yes, I'm meaning that, Herbie. I understand it's confusing (myself being a confused person at first). But, like in Torino, the crowd knowledge will be much better deeper in the event.

And, yes, it's Guy Hemmings. He is barely known in Quebec, so, I'm very surprised you know him. It's his former curling career? He is retired now, he is a full time teacher, apparently.

Radio-Canada is having duet covarage (CBC probably do the same). Guy Hemmings is the analyst, Justine Boutet is the host (the one doing more general comment). She is a former tennis university player, but is now a sports journalist (and the one usually covering curling news).

How do I know Guy Hemmings? Well, he made it to back to back Brier finals in the late 1990s, around when I first started watching curling religiously. Oh, and there's the fact that I head the Curling Wikiproject on Wikipedia, etc, etc. I also remember curling on the sheet next to him in a tournament a few years back. Sad to hear that he's retired.

Re: Men's curling...

Without having to go on a Google chase, does anyone know what happened to the old curling team from Vancouver? I'm not really up on any of the athletes or anything, but the calibre of the previous team doesn't even seem to compare to the one we've got in Sochi. Did they fail to qualify? Did they retire? I would've thought for sure we could count on a curling gold, but I'm not too optimistic now.

Kevin Martin (the skip.. er captain from 2010) is getting old, and with John Morris leaving the team, they haven't played as well. The current team got really hot at the Olympic Trials, and won, but they aren't a very experienced team, and that's showing. In terms of their World Curling Tour ranking, I don't think they're even in the top 5 in the country, so it's going to be tough for them to win. They can't afford to lose many more games, and they still have to play Norway, which will be tough. Great Britian could give them a challenge as well.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Damnit NBC, you keep showing commercials building up women's ski jumping, and then fail to show it in Primetime!?!  I wish I could watch it online, but the plug-in on the NBC website isn't compatible with my 6 yr old operating system. 

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Are CBC's protections such that you can't access their content from the US? The CBC coverage on the website is nothing short of perfect.

[Platypus]

The IOC is pretty strict about international access to Olympics footage. for example, the ABC can show highlights of the Olympics if the broadcaster (Ten) agrees to release them for a news broadcast, but if that broadcast is available on the Australia Network overseas, it's not useable, and if it's live streamed in a way that is accessible overseas, they can't use it.

[Anna Komnene]

Slovenia's Tina Maze and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin tied for Gold in the Women's Downhill!  Lara Gut finished 0.10 seconds later for Bronze (too bad they can't just give her the Silver )  I like this pic of Tina and Dominique getting ready to share the podium.



In more somber news, Alexandra Coletti from Monaco had a bad crash and had to be airlifted away in a helicopter.  She sounded like she was in a lot of pain.  Hopefully her injury isn't too bad.

[Hatman 🍁]

Are CBC's protections such that you can't access their content from the US? The CBC coverage on the website is nothing short of perfect.

I agree; you can pull up stats, lineups etc in realtime as an overlay of the video.

[Platypus]

Torah Bright had a pretty good day so far, going into the final in good form. I think the general feeling is Gold would be nice but a medal of any colour is required.

[Tender Branson]

Canada defeated the US in Women's Ice Hockey today by 3-2:

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/ice-hockey-women-s-prelim-round-group-a-06

[Hatman 🍁]

Canadian men's curling team beats Russia. Looked pretty good. Hopefully they have their kinks out of their systems.

They were pretty pumped when they scored 4 points in one end. Perhaps they're overloaded with testosterone? They're quite "pumped" for a curling team. I'm not used to seeing so much emotion in a match.

[Tender Branson]

The 4th Silver Medal today.

The 3rd behind some German ...

[Platypus]

We have a medal! Either silver or Bronze to Torah Bright

[Platypus]

Silver! Lovely

[ZuWo]

Canadian men's curling team beats Russia. Looked pretty good. Hopefully they have their kinks out of their systems.

They were pretty pumped when they scored 4 points in one end. Perhaps they're overloaded with testosterone? They're quite "pumped" for a curling team. I'm not used to seeing so much emotion in a match.

Meanwhile, the Swiss men have lost their third game, which is bad. On the plus side their remaining games are against weaker teams (except Norway) so there is a chance they will be able to run the table.

The Swiss women will face Sweden and Canada tomorrow and there are rumors that they are going to change their line-up. This may seem odd since they won their first three games but with the exception of Mirjam Ott none of the other players have played very well yet.

[MaxQue]

Wierdly, a Canadian speed staker (Gilmore Junio) withdrew to allow the more experienced and in form substitute (Denny Morrison) to run instead.

Morrison won silver in an upset (which makes it a good move, since Junio wasn't going to do it at all) and is campaigning for Junio to be the flag-bearer at the closing to underline his selflessness, team spirit and sacrifice.

Nonetheless, it's making a great story for news.

[Hatman 🍁]

I wasn't expecting much from our long track speedskaters this year, as they've had a terrible season. Good to see that we won at least one medal

Canadian men's curling team beats Russia. Looked pretty good. Hopefully they have their kinks out of their systems.

They were pretty pumped when they scored 4 points in one end. Perhaps they're overloaded with testosterone? They're quite "pumped" for a curling team. I'm not used to seeing so much emotion in a match.

Meanwhile, the Swiss men have lost their third game, which is bad. On the plus side their remaining games are against weaker teams (except Norway) so there is a chance they will be able to run the table.

The Swiss women will face Sweden and Canada tomorrow and there are rumors that they are going to change their line-up. This may seem odd since they won their first three games but with the exception of Mirjam Ott none of the other players have played very well yet.

Well, if your skip makes all her shots, it doesn't matter how badly the rest of the team plays. Of course, it does affect how hard her shots will be.

[ZuWo]

What a horrible way to lose a game. The Swiss men's curling team leads Russia 6 to 4 and has the hammer. Russia lie three but all of these rocks are in the twelve-foot circle in the back of the house. Skip Sven Michel has an easy open draw to win the game but manages to come up heavy, which allows Russia to steal 3 for the win ...  

[Hatman 🍁]

What a horrible way to lose a game. The Swiss men's curling team leads Russia 6 to 4 and has the hammer. Russia lie three but all of these rocks are in the twelve-foot circle in the back of the house. Skip Sven Michel has an easy open draw to win the game but manages to come up heavy, which allows Russia to steal 3 for the win ... 

That place must've gone wild.

Meanwhile, the Canadian team ekes out a win against lowly Denmark. Yikes!