Olympic chat

[spaminator]

Doctored photo of Dufour-Lapointe sisters sparks political controversy
PMO: Minister 'disrespecting them'
QMI Agency
First posted: Thursday, February 13, 2014 02:30 PM EST | Updated: Thursday, February 13, 2014 05:37 PM EST
OTTAWA - A doctored photo of Olympic freestyle ski medalists Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe has sparked a chilly response from the Prime Minister’s Office.


The photo, making the rounds on social media, appears to show the sisters wearing blue mittens featuring Quebec's fleur-de-lys.


The photo is in fact a fake -- the original shot has the Sochi moguls medalists wearing their official red and white Canadian Olympic gloves.


On Tuesday, Parti Quebecois minister Pierre Duchesne was among those who tweeted the Quebec-centric version of the photo, calling it “superb.”


By Wednesday he had apparently realized it was a fake, tweeting “The perils of "Photoshop" ... I’m a victim of it myself. .”
The smiling sisters are still wearing blue mittens on Duchesne's timeline, however, and the PMO lambasted him in an email to QMI Agency.


PMO press secretary Carl Vallee said Duchesne is “using (the sisters’) image for political purposes” and “disrespecting them.”


“It seems that the Minister Duchesne lives in a dream world,” Vallee wrote.


“As the Prime Minister has said, we are proud of our athletes - from Quebec and other parts of the country - and how they represent Canada on the international stage. This is what the Prime Minister told the Dufour-Lapointe sisters when he called them to congratulate them for their exceptional performance.”


Valee added: “Moreover, I wonder: did the Minister request permission from the Dufour-Lapointe sisters before posting images that do not represent reality?”


In an email to QMI, Canadian Olympic Committee executive director Ray Lalonde said he would not comment on the situation.


- with files from Dominique La Haye
Doctored photo (right) and real photo (left). (Twitter/Canadian Olympic Foundation)

Doctored photo of Dufour-Lapointe sisters sparks political controversy | Athletes | Sochi 2014 | Toronto Sun

 

[Mowich]

After a poor start in Men's Curling, Team Canada has now won three in a row sealing their last win over Team Norway with a solid 9 to 3 win. The Jacobs rink struggled in the first end then steadily improved throughout the next eight and had the game well in hand after Brad made a wonderful take-out shot to score 4 points and lead Thomas Ulsrud's rink 7 to 3 in the sixth. Hands were shaken and the 10th end left unplayed when Brad had another beautiful take-out to score 3 in the 9th.

Jennifer Jones has had a perfect preliminary round winning all of her 5 games.

 

[EagleSmack]

 

[Blackleaf]

The unluckiest Winter Olympian at Sochi 2014 has got to be Great Britain's Elise Christie.

Just two days ago she was penalised in the short track 500m final, in which she had finished second, after knocking over an Italian and a South Korean skater. She was demoted to eighth and denied the silver medal, which went to the Italian.

Today poor Elise was penalised AGAIN in the qualifying heats of the 1,500m.

In the final straight at the Iceberg on the Olympic Park, the 23-year-old Scot moved inside and with a burst of speed passed Arianna Fontana, the Italian she had collided with in the 500m race.

She finished first but was deemed not to have crossed the official line marked in the ice and was forced out of the event. She was wide by a mere 1cm.

Team GB decided not to appeal against the decision having looked at the race footage.

The 23 year old is also having her Twitter account deleted after being the victim of cyberbullying.

Confusion as Christie disqualified again


15 February 2014

Sochi 2014: Elise Christie out of 1500m after penalty

By Anna Thompson
BBC Sport in Sochi

Britain's Elise Christie was penalised for the second time at the Sochi Olympics and forced out of the short track 1500m in the qualifying heats.

She finished first but was deemed not to have crossed the official line marked in the ice. She was wide by a 1cm.

It came two days after she was penalised in the 500m final, in which she had finished second.

"I didn't expect it," Christie said. "When my name didn't come up on the screen. I was just really confused."

Christie's main event is the 1000m, with the heats on Tuesday and the final on Friday.

The 23-year-old said she had been the victim of cyber bullying since the incident on Thursday and a decision was taken to delete her Twitter account.

An emotional Christie told BBC Sport: "I have found it hard, but it is not always about medals. I have to keep pushing through."

Elise Christie was deemed not to have crossed the official line marked in the ice - she was wide by 1cm.</SPAN>


In the final straight at the Iceberg on the Olympic Park, the 23-year-old moved inside and with a burst of speed passed Arianna Fontana, the Italian she had collided with in the 500m race.

But she was slightly wide of the official line and Team GB decided not to appeal against the decision having looked at the race footage.

Her coach, Nicky Gooch, who won Britain's only short track Olympic medal in the 500m in 1994, said: "To the letter of the law it's probably right but she's clearly qualified through that race but the rules say you can't be inside the line."

Performance director Stuart Horsepool said the sport was unpredictable but the team were hoping their luck would change.

"We are talking about the smallest margin ever. There is nothing we can do. She was trying to win the race, she was lunging for the line," he said.

"She was making sure she was safe and she went what we are talking millimetres. These things happen in sport and there is no accounting for it.

"Luck doesn't even come into it. We have to pick ourselves up and come back on Tuesday and hopefully we can have good luck instead of all this horrendous back luck."

Christie's main event is the 1000m and she is considered a strong medal contender after becoming the first British woman to win a medal at the World Championships and she was the overall World Cup winner in 2013.

"I'm looking forward to getting back out there for the 1000m but it's been a hard few days and I'm struggling to bounce back. I'm just going to try my best," she added.

MORE SOCHI 2014 NEWS

Austria's Anna Fenninger wins gold in a dramatic super-G race while Britain's Chemmy Alcott comes 23rd

GB's women curlers beat South Korea 10-8 in the first of their two matches on day eight at the Winter Olympics


BBC Sport - Sochi 2014: Elise Christie out of 1500m after penalty

But some good news for Great Britain, though.

Last night Lizzie Yarnold won a deserved gold after dominating the women's skeleton from start to finish.

Yarnold, 25, produced a solid final run to finish 0.97 seconds ahead (a fairly large distance for such a speedy sport) of Noelle Pikus-Pace of United States on a difficult track, and the only one in the world to have uphill slopes.

Britain claimed the skeleton title for the second successive Winter Olympics after Amy Williams won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Her gold caused wild celebration amongst her fans, known as the Yarnie Army. During the flower ceremony after the race, she was seen holding a Valentine's Day Card for her boyfriend James.

The sport, which takes extreme bravery to slide down a slope on a tea tray at 80mph, is dominated by Britain, a country which has just one such slope, at Loughborough University in Leicestershire.

Yarnold's success means British Skeleton maintained its proud tradition of securing a medal in each of the six Olympic Games the sport has featured in, dating back to 1928.

It is only the TENTH Winter Olympics gold medal that Great Britain has ever won, and the first gold in successive Winter Olympics for Great Britain since Torvil and Dean in 1984 (Yarnold's gold coming 30 years to the day after Torvil and Dean's great sporting moment).

GB's Yarnold storms to skeleton gold

14 February 2014

Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold for Great Britain

By Nick Hope BBC Olympic sports reporter in Sochi

Lizzy Yarnold won Great Britain's first gold medal of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics after dominating the women's skeleton from start to finish.

Yarnold, 25, produced a solid final run to finish 0.97 seconds ahead of Noelle Pikus-Pace of United States.

Britain claimed the skeleton title for the second successive Winter Olympics after Amy Williams won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

It is Britain's second medal in Sochi and 10th gold in Winter Games history.

Britain's reigning world champion Shelley Rudman, who won silver at the 2006 Olympics, finished 16th.

Yarnold led after every round of the competition and held a 0.44 second advantage after the first two runs on Thursday.

She extended that to 0.78 secs after setting a new track record in Friday's third run before finishing in a total of three minutes, 52.89 seconds, ahead of Pikus-Pace and bronze medallist Elena Nikitina of Russia.

"It is a little crazy but I love it - I'm in control"

Lizzy Yarnold holds a Valentine's card for her boyfriend James after winning gold Photo: PA

"I'm just so chuffed I'm Olympic champion," Yarnold told BBC Sport.

"My fourth run I was totally relaxed and enjoyed it. It was a bit of a messy one but I'm just so thrilled I got myself here after five years hard work.

"As an athlete you do so much hard work, but it's worth it for days like this."

Yarnold negotiates free rent with the BBC's Amy Williams, who won gold for Britain in the same event at the 2010 Winter Olympics

UK Sport set Team GB the challenge of securing three medals in Sochi, whilst predicting they could claim up to seven.

After Jenny Jones won snowboard slopestyle bronze on Sunday, Great Britain is now edging closer to their minimum target.

Yarnold's success means British Skeleton maintained its proud tradition of securing a medal in each of the six Olympic Games the sport has featured in, dating back to 1928.

She grew up in Kent and competed in heptathlon events as a child, having been inspired to take up the sport by watching Denise Lewis win Olympic gold at the Sydney 2000 Games.

Yarnold took up skeleton in 2008 after being recruited through UK Sport-backed talented identification programme 'Girls4Gold'.

Last month she won the overall Skeleton World Cup title after setting a British record of seven podium finishes in a season.

Her medal will be presented at a ceremony at the Olympic Park at 16:30 GMT on Saturday.

Pikus-Pace, 31, who was fourth at the Vancouver Games and now plans to retire from the sport, revealed that she suffered a black-out on the course last Wednesday.

The mother-of-two lost consciousness and had to go for an MRI scan last Friday, missing several training sessions in the process.

"I couldn't hear or see when I got to the bottom and it was a bit scary," she said. "But I don't want to take anything away from Lizzy's win. I was fine today and she was brilliant."

Watch the video here: Play media

Yarnold 'so chuffed' with Olympic gold

Britain's Winter Olympic gold medallists

1924: Men (curling)
1936: Men (ice hockey)
1952: Jeannette Altwegg (figure skating)
1964: Tony Nash & Robin Dixon (two-man bobsleigh)
1976: John Curry (figure skating)
1980: Robin Cousins (figure skating)
1984: Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean (figure skating)
2002: Women (curling)
2010: Amy Williams (skeleton)
2014: Lizzy Yarnold (skeleton)
* Madge Syers won figure skating gold at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London


Analysis

Amy Williams
2010 Olympic skeleton champion

"Lizzy Yarnold is unique. She has something different within her psychologically. Within five years of starting she has become an Olympic champion, and that is pretty much unheard of in any sport.

"She experienced intensive teaching in the first year, doing hundreds of run with great equipment and coaching. You have to be taught how to slide, then you are developed from there as quickly as possible into a champion."


BBC Sport - Lizzy Yarnold wins Sochi 2014 gold for Great Britain















The skeleton is yet ANOTHER sport invented by the British.

But why does a country lacking in Alpine landscapes dominate the sport?

The BBC's Rob Hodgetts finds out...

Lizzy Yarnold: Why do Britain do so well at skeleton?

By Rob Hodgetts
BBC Sport in Sochi

Lizzy Yarnold's gold medal in Sochi has cemented Britain's status as the dominant power in world skeleton.

British sliders have won medals at all six Olympics in which the sport has featured, and in Yarnold and Amy Williams, Team GB can boast back-to-back Olympic champions.

Yarnold is also the World Cup champion and team-mate Shelley Rudman the reigning world champion. Rudman's Olympic silver medal at Turin in 2006 and Alex Coomber's breakthrough bronze in 2002 add to the medal haul, plus world championship and World Cup titles for Kristan Bromley in the men's event.

So just how does Britain, without its own track, rule the skeleton scene?
The history

The sport evolved in the Swiss resort of St Moritz in the late 19th century when wealthy British tourists took to cavorting around town on sleds, looking apparently, like skeletons. The sport featured in the 1928 and 1948 Olympics, with Britain bagging bronze both times, before sitting out the next 54 years. It was reinstated for Salt Lake City in 2002, when a 29-year-old female Royal Air Force officer named Coomber kick-started a rich heritage.

Play media

Team GB's history of skeleton success


"Prior to 2000, skeleton was a sport done by the Army, Navy and Air Force for recreation, and that was probably the only route into the sport," explained British Skeleton's first performance director Simon Timson, who is now performance director at UK Sport.

"Somebody asked BAE Systems to build a sled and they assigned a PhD student to it. He was called Kristan Bromley. None of the soldiers would try Kristan's sled, so the only way he could test it was to ride it himself, so that's how he got into the sport.

"Kristan produced a bullet of a sled in the late 1990s and that led to him and Alex Coomber becoming overall World Cup champions in 1999. The sport gained Olympic status later that year and UK Sport invested National Lottery funds.

"We really got through to 2002 on Kristan producing the world's best sled, and the pure luck that probably the most natural slider ever to do the sport, Alex Coomber, had fallen into it through the RAF. Alex's bronze medal secured the funding and then we began to really systematise the sport.

"We put a very simple plan in place: to identify athletes with the potential to be the fastest starters in the world, put them on the ice every day - because there used to be a big sliding deficit to the other nations - employ the world's best coaches, and put them on cutting-edge equipment. Really for the last 14 years, all the sport has done is ruthlessly and relentlessly pursue that formula."
Why skeleton and not luge?

Simon Timson: "If you live in Koenigsee in deepest Bavaria, your Wednesday afternoon PE lesson from age six is luge. It's a finer, more difficult skill to master and takes a lot longer. You can't actually start bobsleigh or skeleton until you are 16, legally.

"So even if we don't start athletes like Amy Williams until they are 19 or 20, we don't have that same deficit in practice to make up that we have in luge, because realistically, how many British six-year-olds are going to be on a luge track every week?"

BBC Sport - Lizzy Yarnold: Why do Britain do so well at skeleton?

 

[El Barto]

Is there such thing as a bore? :roll:

 

[Sal]

The unluckiest Winter Olympian at Sochi 2014 has got to be Great Britain's Elise Christie.

yeah I always feel so bad for the kids when they think they have won and then get stripped that has got to feel totally demoralizing....totally...heartbreaking for them

 

[Mowich]

USA vs Russia Men's Hockey about to get underway in a few minutes. Almost looking forward to this as much as Canada vs Finland.

GO TEAM USA - GO!

Ooops............it appears that I will be watching the Swiss play the Czechs......darn it - must have missed the USA game or it is on later. Sheesh

 

[coldstream]

That Short Track Speed Skating seems like such a roll of the dice. There is apparently some kind of strategy and skill behind the dumb luck that it appears to be.. but there's just a thread of random chaos the weaves its way through the competition.. and did in Charles Hamelin, its champion of the Vancouver games, in the 1000M.

I have to say the disappointment of the Games for me so far was the Silver in Men's Figure Skating. You can't take anything away from Patrick Chan, 3 time World Champion, who with Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu buried the rest of the field, both with flawed Free Skates.

It's just that Canada has had 14 World Championships in Men's Figure Skating over the last 52 years (more than any other nation).. and has NEVER won an Olympic Gold. You start to feel snake bit. But Congrats to Patrick for representing the country with such distinction.

I watched Canada squeak by the British Curling team last night. Canada pumps heavy iron to train for the Olympics.. which makes it look like they should be competing in the 4 Man Bobsled rather than Curling.. but its seems to have worked so far.. taking out the highly skilled British (all Scots) at their own game.. and apparently with their own (Ailsa Craig) rocks.

 

[cj44]

Chan is the most phenomenal skater I have ever witnessed. He is the one the world will remember. Outstanding!

 

[Mowich]

TJ Oshie rocks. The wonderkid of shoot-outs. The US team is lucky to have such a consistent OT scorer on their team. He was mesmerizing to watch out there. I had to laugh when Glenn Healy beaked off about giving the kid a delay of play call. I only got to see the highlights of the game - really wish I had caught the entire spectacle as it sure seemed to live up to all the hype.

Big Congrats to the US for the win. Heard that the Russian coaches refused to stick around and shake hands after the game - their Olympic spirit needs a bit of tweaking - then too, they might be thinking about life in the Gulag after losing to the US in front of Putin.

Nice win guys.

 

[JLM]

TJ Oshie rocks. The wonderkid of shoot-outs. The US team is lucky to have such a consistent OT scorer on their team. He was mesmerizing to watch out there. I had to laugh when Glenn Healy beaked off about giving the kid a delay of play call. I only got to see the highlights of the game - really wish I had caught the entire spectacle as it sure seemed to live up to all the hype.

Big Congrats to the US for the win. Heard that the Russian coaches refused to stick around and shake hands after the game - their Olympic spirit needs a bit of tweaking - then too, they might be thinking about life in the Gulag after losing to the US in front of Putin.

Nice win guys.

Isn't it proper etiquette when you are not rooting for your home country you are supposed to root for the host? -

 

[Mowich]

That Short Track Speed Skating seems like such a roll of the dice. There is apparently some kind of strategy and skill behind the dumb luck that it appears to be.. but there's just a thread of random chaos the weaves its way through the competition.. and did in Charles Hamelin, its champion of the Vancouver games, in the 1000M.

I have to say the disappointment of the Games for me so far was the Silver in Men's Figure Skating. You can't take anything away from Patrick Chan, 3 time World Champion, who with Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu buried the rest of the field, both with flawed Free Skates.

It's just that Canada has had 14 World Championships in Men's Figure Skating over the last 52 years (more than any other nation).. and has NEVER won an Olympic Gold. You start to feel snake bit. But Congrats to Patrick for representing the country with such distinction.

I watched Canada squeak by the British Curling team last night. Canada pumps heavy iron to train for the Olympics.. which makes it look like they should be competing in the 4 Man Bobsled rather than Curling.. but its seems to have worked so far.. taking out the highly skilled British (all Scots) at their own game.. and apparently with their own (Ailsa Craig) rocks.

You really struck a chord with your remark about Canada being snake bit when it comes to Olympic Gold as my thoughts had been of the same nature. I knew as soon as Pat two-footed his triple - one of his notoriously difficult jumps that the Gold was gone and his next mistake only cemented my feelings. Patrick is a spellbinding skater and when he is on - he is golden as he was for most if not all of 2013. I had high hopes for him coming into the Olympics but also had some trepidation. I am very proud that he brought home the Silver medal for Canada. Yuzuru, if he can remain healthy will be the person to beat in the World's - he is that good. I am really looking forward to seeing him in the future.

Since Brad Jacobs and crew brought a new level of fitness to curling, many of the younger and some of the slightly older teams have stepped up their fitness levels too. Curling is an exacting sport and one that involves intense physical exertion on the part of the sweepers most especially. The higher your fitness level the better able you are to carry a rock from hog line to hog line. I love curling. It involves both skill and strategy along with an ability to read the ice well and use the sweepers to their best advantage and also the knowledge of how rocks react with different weights.

Jennifer Jones won a tight game against Japan yesterday - those Japanese ladies can make some outstanding shots and their skip is slouch at strategy herself.

The Team Canada rink of Jennifer Jones and ladies wrapped up the round robin portion of ladies Olympic curling today with a perfect record winning all her matches. Brad Jacobs prevailed over Davie Murdoch of GB chalking up another one on the win side. He now sits 5 and 2.

 

[Mowich]

Canada vs Finland Men's Hockey underway now early in the first period. This is the first really big test for our guys - let's hope they have found the magic formula. Go, Canada Go! :canada:

 

[petros]

Looking good so far.

 

[Mowich]

Looking good so far.

Drew Doughty just got us our first PP goal of the tournament to give our guys a 1 - 0 lead in the 1rst. Rock on Canada :canada: Oooh and Chris Kunitz just missed one by a whisker - nice catch by Rask, darn it.

Isn't it proper etiquette when you are not rooting for your home country you are supposed to root for the host? -

Funny that you mention that, JLM as I have cheered the Russian Olympians on in many of the events. I was really truly happy for the Russian pair who won Gold in figure skating. But when it comes to hockey - Men's hockey - I always tend to cheer for the US team expect, of course, when they play our guys. The same does not apply to women's hockey as I have no love for the US Women's Team though I give them their due as great hockey players.

 

[Sal]

Drew Doughty just got us our first PP goal of the tournament to give our guys a 1 - 0 lead in the 1rst. Rock on Canada :canada: Oooh and Chris Kunitz just missed one by a whisker - nice catch by Rask, darn it.



Funny that you mention that, JLM as I have cheered the Russian Olympians on in many of the events. I was really truly happy for the Russian pair who won Gold in figure skating. But when it comes to hockey - Men's hockey - I always tend to cheer for the US team expect, of course, when they play our guys. The same does not apply to women's hockey as I have no love for the US Women's Team though I give them their due as great hockey players.

agree 100%... in hockey if it isn't us, it has to be the States...

other than that, I'm just happy for which ever kid wins (other than Canada of course) and heart broken for whoever loses...they are just kids putting in a Herculean effort...and the difference in time is micro-mili seconds.

 

[Kreskin]

Canada-China mens curling was the best yet.

 

[Blackleaf]

I was watching the FA Cup match between Everton and Swansea City on ITV1 earlier on. At half time I switched over to BBC2 and saw Russia vs Slovakia in the Winter Olympics ice hockey. A strange game that ice hockey.

 

[Mowich]

agree 100%... in hockey if it isn't us, it has to be the States...

other than that, I'm just happy for which ever kid wins (other than Canada of course) and heart broken for whoever loses...they are just kids putting in a Herculean effort...and the difference in time is micro-mili seconds.

1/100ths of a second - or as the Shick? razor commercial emphasizes - a hair. Losing as much as 10 points because you can't land a jump. Then there is the fact that the weather has played a role in many of the the events. This was very evident yesterday in the Men's and Ladies aerial event. I lost track of how many times a new record was set simply because the wind changed and gave loft to the skiers. I can't imagine how hard that must be to contend with when you have given your best effort. I have so much admiration for all these athletes of every nation.

The bottom line though is.....................GO, CANADA! :canada:

Canada-China mens curling was the best yet.

Missed that match, Kreskin............who won????

 

[Kreskin]

Canada won. Amazing game. Canada was behind 6-3, then scored 2, stole 1 then stole 2. China got 2 in the tenth then Canada put one on the dot to win in 11. It had to be an exact draw to the button and it was.