Olympics

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rstrong
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Re: Olympics

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O Really wrote:
Mon Feb 19, 2018 7:21 pm
Entertaining and heart-warming story though it may be, did the Jamaican bobsled team really belong there?
That was the same Olympics that featured Eddie the Eagle.
Having not made the grade as a downhill skier, he decided to switch to ski jumping as there were no other British ski jumpers with whom to compete for a place.

Edwards began jumping under the eye of John Viscome and Chuck Berghorn in Lake Placid, New York, using Berghorn's equipment, although he had to wear six pairs of socks to make the boots fit. He was disadvantaged by his weight—at about 82 kg (181 lb), more than 9 kg (20 lb) heavier than the next heaviest competitor—and by his lack of financial support for training—and by being totally self-funded. Another problem was that he was very nearsighted, wearing thick glasses under his goggles, which would mist up at altitude.
[...]
He first represented Great Britain at the 1987 World Championships in Oberstdorf in Bavaria, West Germany and was ranked 55th in the world. This performance qualified him as the sole British applicant, for the 1988 Winter Olympics ski jumping competition.
Edwards was the best ski jumper, albeit the only, in the United Kingdom, holding the British record of 73.5 m in one of his Calgary jumps in 1988.
This led to The Eddie "The Eagle" Rule:
In 1990, shortly after the Olympics finished, the entry requirements were strengthened in order to make it nearly impossible for anyone to follow his example: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted what became known as the Eddie the Eagle Rule, which requires Olympic hopefuls to compete in international events and be placed in the top 30% or the top 50 competitors, whichever is fewer.
However unqualified Swaney may be, she must have overcome The Eddie "The Eagle" Rule.

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Re: Olympics

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rstrong wrote:
Tue Feb 20, 2018 10:26 am
In 1990, shortly after the Olympics finished, the entry requirements were strengthened in order to make it nearly impossible for anyone to follow his example: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted what became known as the Eddie the Eagle Rule, which requires Olympic hopefuls to compete in international events and be placed in the top 30% or the top 50 competitors, whichever is fewer.
However unqualified Swaney may be, she must have overcome The Eddie "The Eagle" Rule.
The article describes the applicable rule somewhat differently, but it may just be a matter of practical interpretation.
Bad American skier games the system to make Olympics

... As Jason Blevins of the Denver Post explains, the international field for ladies’ halfpipe is not exceedingly deep. Qualifying for the Olympics involves recording a certain number of top-30 finishes in qualifying events and many of these events don’t even feature 30 people.

So Swaney burned up the globe, attending qualifiers in places like China, South Korea, Italy, Canada and New Zealand. After initially representing Venezuela in these events, Swaney claimed Hungarian ties through her grandparents. And thanks to a system of quotas, she eventually qualified for the Olympics, despite never attempting a single trick above the deck. Her best finish was 13th out of 15 competitors in China when most of the good freestyle skiers were competing at the same time in the United States.

“She would compete in them consistently over the last couple years and sometimes girls would crash so she would not end up dead last,” FIS judge Steele Spence told the Denver Post....
Fwiw, the Jamaican 4-man bobsled team has finished as high as 14th out of 30.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_n ... ics_record
http://www.todor66.com/olim/1994w/Bobsleigh_Fours.html
Dot be da trufe, mon.


ORIGINAL Jamaican Bobsled Song

The Bobsled Song - Jamaica Bobsled Team Sochi 2014
(the IOC won't let me play it here)
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Re: Olympics

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O Really wrote:
Thu Feb 15, 2018 5:46 pm
Well, you'd probably look at it different from your perspective as a medical person, but as a garden variety fan of athletic mahem, I think several others have fallen recently in crashes more worthy of "terrifying." Not to say he wasn't injured or that it wasn't painful, but I think Shaun White's faceplant on the edge of the pipe was worse, and I still say Lindsay's are more cringeworthy. Wasn't just a "broken arm" BTW. That one was her humerus, but it was the femur break that was worse than awful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU0kJ4wpjGA

My comment was actually more about respect for Lindsay than anything negative about the snowboarder. It wasn't him that wrote the headline, anyway.
Hey! She never broke her femur. Was watching a rehash of her crashes and noticed the absence. As your own vid's text says, "tore two knee ligaments".
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Re: Olympics

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Sorry - that was Picabo Street's femur I was thinking about. :oops:
I remember seeing a vid a while ago about her rehabbing it and seeing the long scar about a foot long. And her massive quads.

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Re: Olympics

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O Really wrote:
Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:57 pm
Sorry - that was Picabo Street's femur I was thinking about. :oops: ....
That was 20 years ago, old man, Von was 13. :P

U.S. - Canada women's speed skating team pursuit for bronze is a fun one to watch.
Spoiler:
U.S. ahead by 3 seconds with 2-3 laps to go, wins by less than half a second.
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Re: Olympics

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Oh dear. This is all going horribly for Canada. At this rate Trump will announce that he's pulling the US out of NAFTA the moment the final medal count is in. :(

Norway is holding their breath. Will he consider Norwegians to be winners and tweet an "I Told You So" about wanting them as immigrants? Or will unleash a "fake news" / "voter fraud" tweet storm? Given their response, probably the latter.

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Re: Olympics

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rstrong wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:53 pm
Oh dear. This is all going horribly for Canada. At this rate Trump will announce that he's pulling the US out of NAFTA the moment the final medal count is in. :( ...
It is so very Canadian of you to be concerned with our feelings about your kicking our asses. :D

At least we climbed back barely ahead of France, I was preparing to eat 'Freedom Fries' again.
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Re: Olympics

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Vrede too wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:26 pm
O Really wrote:
Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:57 pm
Sorry - that was Picabo Street's femur I was thinking about. :oops: ....
That was 20 years ago, old man, Von was 13. :P
Injury was 20 years ago, but I saw the vid more recently than that. You know all these skiers look alike anyway. :lol:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/bond-be ... abo-street

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Re: Olympics

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Vrede too wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:05 pm
rstrong wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:53 pm
Oh dear. This is all going horribly for Canada. At this rate Trump will announce that he's pulling the US out of NAFTA the moment the final medal count is in. :( ...
It is so very Canadian of you to be concerned with our feelings about your kicking our asses. :D ...
All is forgiven.

We bomb the Czech Republic on behalf of the men's team next week. Good luck vs. Germany.

Really forgiven.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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1312. ETTD.

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Re: Olympics

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Vrede too wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:05 pm
rstrong wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:53 pm
Oh dear. This is all going horribly for Canada. At this rate Trump will announce that he's pulling the US out of NAFTA the moment the final medal count is in. :( ...
All is forgiven.

We bomb the Czech Republic on behalf of the men's team next week. Good luck vs. Germany.

Really forgiven.
Thanks!
Latest Trump Tweet:
- On behalf of an entire Nation, CONGRATULATIONS to the U.S. Women's Hockey Team on winning the GOLD! #GoTeamUSA…
We dodged a bullet there.

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Re: Olympics

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(sigh) Back about 10 or so years ago, the international skating rules changed to, among other things, encourage more complexity. US organizations were slow to adapt, letting skaters win championships at junior levels without the skills needed for top international competition. Russians, Canadians, and Japanese, among others, adapted years ago. So part of the official rules are that jumps completed in the last half of the program get a 10% bonus over whatever their score for the jump would otherwise be. Russians, among others, started adapting their programs to try to collect on the bonus scoring.

15-year old magnificent Russian skater Zagitova does that and turns in a great performance. In contrast, most if not all the US skaters either fell or fell out of movements or stumbled during their program. So Zagitova wins the gold. Headline? "How Alina Zagitova gamed the system en route to 'Russia's' first gold medal"

Bastards.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/alina-zagi ... 24878.html

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Re: Olympics

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Yep. I disagree with calling it "gaming the system" since 2nd half jumps are harder, and the strategic advantage was over another brilliant Russian skater, anyhow. Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond wasn't that close. I didn't follow it much other than to watch the medal contenders last night, but my impression is that the US skaters underperformed regardless of strategic choices. The worst Russian, Maria SOTSKOVA, and worst Japanese did better than the #9 best American.

Interesting, not that I understand the scoring - Russia's Alina ZAGITOVA and Yevgenia MEDVEDEVA got the exact same Free Skate Score. That's gotta be rare. Alina ZAGITOVA won by her Short Program margin.
http://results.nbcolympics.com/figure-s ... te/1793590
For some reason Yevgenia MEDVEDEVA got the higher Free Skate rank, no clue what's up with that.

Fwiw, Canada won figure skating, the only team with 2 golds and the only team with 4 medals. In other words, its bedazzled skaters are kicking its hockey players butts.
https://sports.yahoo.com/look-figure-sk ... --spt.html
US got 2 figure skating bronze.
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Re: Olympics

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O Really wrote:
Sat Feb 24, 2018 10:20 am
Gotta love Scott Moir ...
https://twitter.com/_/status/966532992540667904
Doesn't work for me. :(
"The media could not be played."

Canadian Olympian arrested after alleged drunken car theft in PyeongChang

... Duncan and the others stole the car after a night of drinking. The car had been left running. The group was tracked down approximately an hour after the theft, after driving to the Olympic village....
Amateurs. Canada failed to medal in the car theft competition. An American would have stripped it of all valuables, picked up some hookers, crashed into several other vehicles and left it burning to hide the evidence.
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Re: Olympics

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O Really wrote:
Sat Feb 24, 2018 10:54 am
Try this one... https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sc ... 55731abae9
Thanks, this one from it works for me:
https://twitter.com/SensProspects/statu ... 55731abae9

Ice dancers, what can you do?
rstrong wrote:
Sat Feb 24, 2018 11:10 am
Freestyle skiers. What can you do.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: Olympics

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rstrong wrote:
Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:53 pm
Oh dear. This is all going horribly for Canada. At this rate Trump will announce that he's pulling the US out of NAFTA the moment the final medal count is in. :(

Norway is holding their breath. Will he consider Norwegians to be winners and tweet an "I Told You So" about wanting them as immigrants? Or will unleash a "fake news" / "voter fraud" tweet storm? Given their response, probably the latter.
Congrats. We'll be seizing the Yukon now and renaming it 'Palin'. Those Norwegian oil fields - ours. POSPOTUS has also said about Germany, "Mr. Putin, rebuild that wall!"

4th Winter games in a row that the US has won 9 gold, weird. It got 10 in 2002. Our overall medal count has declined since 2010.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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1312. ETTD.

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Re: Olympics

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We beat our own record for medals. But then there were 16 more medal events on the docket in Pyeongchang than in Vancouver, and the Russians were largely missing.

We're telling Trump that Vermont is Canada. This after consulting with the US military. They look forward to reporting to Trump that "Canada" has been conquered and assimilated. Watch for a military victory parade.

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Re: Olympics

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Boatrocker wrote:
Fri Aug 19, 2016 9:19 am
Not to defend stupid, probably drunken and almost assuredly arrogant, cocky young men perpetuating the Ugly American stereotype abroad, but . . . if Rio is so rightfully concerned about its image, and so incensed that their police are intentionally portrayed as criminals with badges & guns, what's with this Okay-You-Can-Go-If-You-Pay-Us-$11,000 bullshit? No trial, no charges, just what appears to be a bribe.
rstrong wrote:
Fri Aug 19, 2016 2:03 pm
Q: What did Lochte say after his teammates told the police what really happened?
A: "...and I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you medaling kids!"
O Really wrote:
Thu Sep 22, 2016 11:10 am
Oh, she'll (Laurie Hernandez) get to the final three, and would be best odds to win. But sometimes at the finals, things turn out differently and the "best" dancer might not win. Lochte isn't very good, and may not have much of a following left, but he's not as bad as (Rick) Perry. But yeah, he'll be gone soon. I thought (was afraid that) the "little person" would be a novelty like dwarf-tossing, but she's actually pretty good. Particularly considering her awkward conformation and the fact she had a baby back around the first of August.
Opps, he did it again.

Social media post leads U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to suspend Ryan Lochte for 14 months
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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