Olympic chat

Cannuck

Time Out
Feb 2, 2006
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I am always a bit saddened that while we come out in the millions to support our 'healthy' Olympians, our Paralympians who deserve our attention and support equally as much, if not a bit more are left to compete in relative obscurity. It doesn't help that the networks don't find it profitable enough to cover them on equal terms limiting are access to events and results.

I'm sorry, they don't. They deserve a chance to play and compete against each other, that is all. My support and attention will come if and when it interests me....like sledge hockey

Sad that the CBC had to lie to people about Backstrom flunking a drug test.

BBC Sport - Sochi 2014: Nicklas Backstrom & Johannes Duerr test positive

'Migraine headache' my bunghole!

The CBC reported what the Swedes told them. By the time the game was over, CBC had the truth and reported it. They didn't lie. You claiming they lied is a lie. It's sad that you had to lie about the CBC.
 
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JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Before our Olympic Chat topic sinks out of sight.......as it will, I would like to remind folks that the next phase of the Sochi Olympics is set to get underway March 7 to the 17th giving us another chance to cheer on Team Canada in the Paralympics.

I am always a bit saddened that while we come out in the millions to support our 'healthy' Olympians, our Paralympians who deserve our attention and support equally as much, if not a bit more are left to compete in relative obscurity.

Actually these people are more amazing in many ways than the healthy athletes! Kind of reminds me of the case of the one armed man who couldn't get a job and the boss told him he couldn't hired him because he was handicapped. The guy responds "I'm not handicapped, you're handicapped". The boss asks how that could be? Applicant says let's see you tie your shoes with one hand. He got the job! Many things would change if we just boycotted any organization that didn't support the special Olympics!
 

L Gilbert

Winterized
Nov 30, 2006
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the-brights.net
[FONT=&quot]NBC did a wonderful story on the young woman who was sitting beside Putin during the opening ceremonies. I really hadn’t given her a thought but was quite touched when I heard her story.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Four years ago she was an Olympic Bobsledder when she crashed in a training run. Before they were able to get her off the track another sled came down and smashed into her. She was severely injured and for awhile not expected to live. Today she walks on crippled legs and will never compete again. She is however a shining example of the will to overcome adversity in the face of all odds. Nicely done NBC and apologies to the young Russian woman as I didn’t get her name.[/FONT]
Awesome young lady's name is Irina Skvortsova
 

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
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It was a great Olympics.. despite all the dire warnings of terrorism and monumental bungling.. everything went off like (minutely off kilter) clockwork.

Great venues, sporting competition, friendly atmosphere despite all the security. I really liked the classical themes of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, which reverses some of the tendency to debauches.. especially in the Closing Ceremonies.. in recent Olympics (including our own).

Officially Canada came in 3rd behind Russia and Norway and ahead of the U.S. using Gold Medals as measure (which i think is fair). But Norway took that count almost exclusively from one sport, Nordic Skiing. There were some controversies..but no gripes.. and all of the big countries wanted that Men's Hockey Gold as the crown jewel in their medal tally. It was a great Olympics for Canada after the disappointments of London.

If i had to design a poster of the Canadian experience at Sochi.. i'd put Coach Babcock front and centre as a man of great skill, patience, class and character in the hottest seat in Canada.

Well done to ALL our Canadian athletes.. good hunting to our Para-Olympians.
 
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Icarus27k

Council Member
Apr 4, 2010
1,508
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At the end of the 2010 Olympics, Team USA had 9 gold, 15 silver, 13 bronze and was in third place using the "gold medals first" ranking.

In 2014, 9 gold, 7 silver, 12 bronze and in fourth place.

A little bit worse, but nothing too dramatic.
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
44,168
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At the end of the 2010 Olympics, Team USA had 9 gold, 15 silver, 13 bronze and was in third place using the "gold medals first" ranking.

In 2014, 9 gold, 7 silver, 12 bronze and in fourth place.

A little bit worse, but nothing too dramatic.

There is no official winner but the Olympics are well aware that people count the medals. Some say the medals should be weighted others say total medal count should be the way you determine the winner. Either way the Olympic Committee does not recognize an official winner.
 

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
5,160
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There is no official winner but the Olympics are well aware that people count the medals. Some say the medals should be weighted others say total medal count should be the way you determine the winner. Either way the Olympic Committee does not recognize an official winner.

But everyone else.. especially the U.S. media are still counting. ;)
 

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
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And me too. I am not saying there isn't a medal count going on.

I'm sure you're looking to rub some salt...Sorry to disappoint. ;)

It wasn't my intent .. just a statement of fact. And everyone knows it's the Summer Olympics that rivets the American attention.. and we always get trounced there.. at least by the Gold Medal standard.

I get the impression U.S. Broadcasters.. and the public.. view the Winter Olympics as a bit of an exotic oddity.. which requires reams of explanation and profiles of largely unknown athletes and sports.

I'm not sure the Winter Games would get the attention they do, without the IOCs demand for package broadcasting bids for Winter and Summer Games together.
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
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It wasn't my intent .. just a statement of fact. And everyone knows it's the Summer Olympics that rivets the American attention.. and we always get trounced there.. at least by the Gold Medal standard. I get the impression U.S. Broadcasters.. and the public.. view the Winter Olympics as a bit of an exotic oddity.. which requires reams of explanation and profiles of largely unknown athletes and sports. :)

The summer Olympic events are simply more popular in the US as has shown.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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The summer Olympic events are simply more popular in the US as has shown.


 

Mowich

Hall of Fame Member
Dec 25, 2005
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Sarah Burke’s ashes spread in Sochi halfpipe
PHOTO: AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File2010 file photo of Canadian skier Sarah Burke, who died in a training accident in 2012. Olympic athletes in Sochi have been banned from wearing helmet stickers remembering her.

Feb 22, 2014 - 8:09 AM EST
Last Updated: Feb 22, 2014 - 8:36 AM EST

SOCHI, Russia — Trennon Paynter called it a “stealth mission.”

After training had begun for the Olympic women’s halfpipe, but before the competition, the Canadian freestyle ski coach waited for quiet moment, hiked a little ways down the course, and removed a cylindrical container from its tooled leather case.

In it were the ashes of Sarah Burke, the Canadian pioneer who led the effort to get the women’s X-Games sport into the Olympics but who died in a January 2012 training accident before she could see her dream realized.

Paynter spread some of her ashes on the halfpipe course, unbeknownst to Olympic officials, and so — in essence — the entire competition was skied over the remains of the woman whose memory the International Olympic Committee had refused to honour in any official way.

They’ve honoured her now, like it or not.




Slopestyle gold and bronze medallists remember Sarah Burke


“Well, honestly I’ve known for almost a couple of years now that these Games, for us especially as a team, were really going to revolve around Sarah’s memory,” said Paynter.

“Myself and Rory (Bushfield), Sarah’s husband and one of my closest friends, we discussed it a long time ago that we wanted to bring Sarah here and decided we would bring some of her ashes here and spread them around the event, and try to get some in the pipe, if we could pull it off.”

The actual operation, he said, was where the stealth was involved.

“It was, for one, a very sort of private personal moment so we didn’t want to make any noise about it in advance. It’s probably not entirely following all the rules, but it was something we were going to make happen, regardless,” said Paynter. “And I know that we’re certainly not alone (as Canadians) in feeling that the debut of ski halfpipe at the Olympics was so much about Sarah. Every other competitor from every other nation in halfpipe skiing feels the same.”

Burke’s ashes were spread not only on the pipe, but during a team picture at the Olympic rings in the mountain village at Rosa Khutor, and they even got to ski the halfpipe.

“The first day of training. I carried her with me and managed to poach a couple of pipe laps, and I know Sarah wanted to get a couple of hits in the Olympic pipe, so she got those, which felt really nice,” said Paynter.

“And then I just found the quietest moment that I could sneak in there, and it was a beautiful day, and I hiked down the pipe and scattered some and afterward I went to the very top of the mountain on the gondola, the highest point I could find, and scattered some there as well. So I feel kind of good about knowing that Sarah was … she was all over these Olympics, in our hearts and quite literally, too.”

Burke, who lived near Whistler, B.C., died aged 29, nine days after suffering a head injury in a fall in Park City, Utah. A four-time X-Games champion, she likely would have been favoured to win the gold medal in Sochi.

The Canadian Olympic Committee supplied the cylinder in which her ashes were carried to Russia.

“We made a leather carrying case for it, we got her name on it, and a little poem I wrote about Sarah on it, and a bunch of snowflakes, so it was pretty nice,” Paynter said.

Early in the Games, the IOC said it would not allow the competitors to wear stickers or armbands honouring Burke’s memory, but Paynter said “she was honoured here regardless. The sticker thing, for us, was really no big deal at all. We knew the way the protocol worked here, we’ve known for a couple of years that we wouldn’t be wearing stickers here.

“It didn’t take away in the slightest how much we all felt we were honouring Sarah in this event. A sticker’s a little piece of vinyl. What we carry with us from Sarah was probably 10 times more evident here than at events where we do have stickers. This event, I feel, had Sarah at the core of it.”

Anyway, he said, Sarah Burke’s has been a well-travelled soul since she passed away, and may continue to be.

“We scattered some of her ashes earlier at a ceremony (in Whistler), right after she passed away, and Rory has taken some out to Ontario. I scattered a few in Hawaii on a beach over Christmas, so she’s all over the place. She’s adventuring around the world, as she should be,” Paynter said.

Asked if the container was now empty, he said “not entirely. But very close. But it’s not … it feels a little strange talking about it … it wasn’t all of Sarah’s ashes that we brought here. There’s some kind of all around the world, and she’ll be continuing to travel around the world, I think for some time to come.”

ccole@vancouversun.com

Everyone is special. Yawn.

Me, I'm not 'special' but you, Walter........you are very special.......or maybe precious is a better description.

I simply fail to see why both Olympics are not supported equally. Isn't that part of what the Olympic spirit is all about? We have two Team Canada's and as far as I am concerned neither should receive any less attention than the other.

It was a great Olympics.. despite all the dire warnings of terrorism and monumental bungling.. everything went off like (minutely off kilter) clockwork.

Great venues, sporting competition, friendly atmosphere despite all the security. I really liked the classical themes of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, which reverses some of the tendency to debauches.. especially in the Closing Ceremonies.. in recent Olympics (including our own).

Officially Canada came in 3rd behind Russia and Norway and ahead of the U.S. using Gold Medals as measure (which i think is fair). But Norway took that count almost exclusively from one sport, Nordic Skiing. There were some controversies..but no gripes.. and all of the big countries wanted that Men's Hockey Gold as the crown jewel in their medal tally. It was a great Olympics for Canada after the disappointments of London.

If i had to design a poster of the Canadian experience at Sochi.. i'd put Coach Babcock front and centre as a man of great skill, patience, class and character in the hottest seat in Canada.

Well done to ALL our Canadian athletes.. good hunting to our Para-Olympians.

I tried to catch every interview the media had with Mike during the Olympics after I saw an early one where he spoke with such passion and articulation about the team, what the games meant to them and to Canada, and how he was preparing the guys to play. He never failed to deliver great interviews all throughout the tourney. I saw his last one in Sochi where the media asked him to explain the low scoring during the games. To paraphrase Mike who was staring down the journalist, " Is anyone talking about the scoring today?" followed quickly by "Is anyone talking about the Gold Medal? Enough said.".......... and he got up and walked away. Rock on Mike.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Maybe winning the event depends on more things than the # or weight of medals. Take the Canadian guy who gave the "crippled" Russian another ski so he could finish the race- maybe that counts for something, or the guy who gave up his place so the guy from Edmonton could win a Silver. There's too much emphasis today on material sh*t!
 
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Mowich

Hall of Fame Member
Dec 25, 2005
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Maybe winning the event depends on more things than the # or weight of medals. Take the Canadian guy who gave the "crippled" Norwegian another ski so he could finish the race- maybe that counts for something, or the guy who gave up his place so the guy from Edmonton could win a Silver. There's too much emphasis today on material sh*t!

Interesting follow-up to both stories, JLM. Apparently the Canadian coach who gave the Russian competitor the ski is married to a x-country skier who had similar problems and similar help in a past Olympic games. Just paying it forward.

Denny Morrision has a campaighn going to have a specail medal made for Gilmore Junio - the team mate who gave up his spot for Denny. Nice though, Denny.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
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I tried to catch every interview the media had with Mike during the Olympics after I saw an early one where he spoke with such passion and articulation about the team said:
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yep, i heard all of those interviews too, its too bad our canadian coaches etc., have to work so hard at
not only coaching, but winning 'in spite' of the stupid media. they are so shallow thinking, can't see the
true character of a game if it hit them in the face, as they always go for the negative, even when its not
there, which is most of the time. and i also heard our team 1040 call him 'cranky' because he didn't
want to waste his time, explaining facts to the media, and gave them a short straight answer, and left.

the media will always reflect their own stupidity back to the intervewee, and try to make them seem
uncooperative, or cranky, but yet 'they' never have to explain themselves, and talk as though they are always
in the right, and they always have the last say, as those air waves belong to them.

they questioned over and over how team canada wasn't playing very good, because they weren't scoring lots of
goals, but they couldn't see the depth of the team play, the puck possession, and how 'they' controlled the
game.

ok, end of rant
 

Mowich

Hall of Fame Member
Dec 25, 2005
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yep, i heard all of those interviews too, its too bad our canadian coaches etc., have to work so hard at
not only coaching, but winning 'in spite' of the stupid media. they are so shallow thinking, can't see the
true character of a game if it hit them in the face, as they always go for the negative, even when its not
there, which is most of the time. and i also heard our team 1040 call him 'cranky' because he didn't
want to waste his time, explaining facts to the media, and gave them a short straight answer, and left.

the media will always reflect their own stupidity back to the intervewee, and try to make them seem
uncooperative, or cranky, but yet 'they' never have to explain themselves, and talk as though they are always
in the right, and they always have the last say, as those air waves belong to them.

they questioned over and over how team canada wasn't playing very good, because they weren't scoring lots of
goals, but they couldn't see the depth of the team play, the puck possession, and how 'they' controlled the
game.

ok, end of rant

Great rant, talloola and very well said. I think that last interview Mike held with the media was the first time I saw him just a bit peeved and I cheered when he got up and walked away - enough of the stupid senseless questions by numbskull so-called sports journalists who either refused to see or couldn't see the bigger picture. I felt like screaming at the TV set - 'We swept the tourney and won the Gold Medal. Our hockey team is receiving much deserved praise from hockey experts and enthusiasts in every quarter - what the blazes more do you want?"

Good thing it was Mr Babcock handling the interviews as I would have lasted about a minute before completely losing it. LOL!
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
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Great rant, talloola and very well said. I think that last interview Mike held with the media was the first time I saw him just a bit peeved and I cheered when he got up and walked away - enough of the stupid senseless questions by numbskull so-called sports journalists who either refused to see or couldn't see the bigger picture. I felt like screaming at the TV set - 'We swept the tourney and won the Gold Medal. Our hockey team is receiving much deserved praise from hockey experts and enthusiasts in every quarter - what the blazes more do you want?"

Good thing it was Mr Babcock handling the interviews as I would have lasted about a minute before completely losing it. LOL!

yeah, me too, i really get p***sed when i listen to them, so i make sure i don't tune into their stuff
too often, or I begin to lose it too.