Torino Olympics

[Curiosity]

Canada has huge win over Italy in women's hockey today. Score: 16-0

I watched as much of it as I could - didn't find the match until half way through. Still the women's team took a cakewalk on it... wow what a great team - like they are all wired together.

Caroline Ouellette and Hayley Wickenheiser were outstanding.

 

[Jersay]

I actually feel sad for italy. They had kids against veterans in the hockey.

Couldn't they have allowed one goal at least, come on 16-0 is kind of sick.

 

[Curiosity]

Jersay

You are quite right of course, but in the heat of the game, I think the angst to win - won. It is the Olympics after all. These people train for years to be where they are. Should they start getting "touchy feeling" for a losing team? Sorry but it isn't the place. They played well, used great gamesmanship, hurt nobody, and won. Couldn't have asked for more.

And the Italian team? Often the best learning occurs from loss. If they are meant to be a team - working together - they will only win through losing - making the decision to continue playing even in the pain of being defeated.

The Italians knew they had a neophyte team. That is a good thing because they have time on their side. These women/girls can play together for a long time if they really want to win and learn from their mistakes. That is what good teams do...they stick together in spite of the losses.

 

[Curiosity]

Michelle Kwan

I have watched this woman since she was sent to the Olympics as a young teenager to be a substitute in case Tonya Harding was ruled unfit to skate in the competition. She was untested then, but she has risen through the Olympic movement as a testament to the purity of the games.

She has won many medals and honors, and the last Olympics four years ago were to be her last time. She said something which will remain with me forever - that she would not be able to perform her best for her country and that is what the Olympics are all about.

Was she just saying the lines? With her history of keeping her amateur status pristine....when she could be a millionaire.....have traded the Olympic flame for the fame and fortune....she chose to represent the country once more....She chose not to run into the professional world as most of the skaters do as soon as a medal is won, but to stay competitive as an amateur athlete.

Thank you for all the wonderful performances Michelle...you are an Olympic Champion, a World Champion and a US Champion....and your work is done.

 

[annabattler]

The days of amateur skaters NOT being millionaires is long past.
Michelle Kwan has been a millionaire for some time now,as was Elvis Stojko(as an amateur),and many other skaters.
Their endorsements for various products is their way of earning big bucks...plus,many skating invitationals paid out big bucks to the winners.

 

[Curiosity]

www.nytimes (Reuters)

By REUTERS
Published: February 12, 2006
Filed at 4:52 a.m. ET
TURIN (Reuters) - American Michelle Kwan pulled out of the Winter Olympics on Sunday after suffering a groin injury during practice.

Kwan, a five-times world champion, sustained a groin strain on Saturday at the Palaghiaccio practice ice rink in Turin, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) said.

``Taking myself off the team is the most difficult decision I've ever had to make but it's the right decision,'' Kwan said in a statement.

``This injury prevents me from skating my best and I've said all along that if I couldn't skate to the level that I expected from myself I'd withdraw from the team.''

Her withdrawal will now allow Emily Hughes, sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, to participate in the women's competition which begins on February 21.

Hughes finished third at last month's U.S. nationals but was controversially left out of the Olympic team when Kwan successfully received a medical waiver to participate at the Games despite missing the nationals with a previous groin injury.

``The USOC submitted a Late Athlete Replacement Form to the Torino Olympic Organising Committee (TOROC), submitting Emily Hughes as a replacement athlete in the ladies figure skating competition,'' the federation said in a statement.

SEVERE GROIN STRAIN

``The USOC expects to receive an answer from TOROC this week. Hughes will be traveling to Turin shortly.''

Kwan was evaluated by a U.S. team doctor Jim Moeller at 0115 GMT on Sunday in the athletes' village and she was diagnosed with a severe groin strain, which she sustained while landing a triple flip jump.

``This injury limits her function, making it impossible for her to jump, land and skate effectively and without risk of serious injury,'' Moeller said in a statement.

He added that the injury was unrelated to the 25-year-old's previous problems and that she was expected to make a full recovery.

``The Olympics is the greatest sporting event in the world and what's most important is that the United States fields the strongest team possible,'' said Kwan, who was seen to struggle during a training session on Saturday before announcing her withdrawal.

``As much as I'd love to represent the United States in Torino, I would never stand in the way of that.''

Kwan won a silver at the 1998 Olympics and earned a bronze four years later at Salt Lake City.

 

[Curiosity]

Re: RE: Torino Olympics

The days of amateur skaters NOT being millionaires is long past.
Michelle Kwan has been a millionaire for some time now,as was Elvis Stojko(as an amateur),and many other skaters.
Their endorsements for various products is their way of earning big bucks...plus,many skating invitationals paid out big bucks to the winners.

Anna - you are quite right - but it hasn't always been so...

Michelle Kwan started skating twenty years ago - her father quit his job to coach her - they could not afford a coach, much less costumes and rink time. The cost of grooming a skater are huge and this family had very little to begin with. They moved to Lake Arrowhead for her training and that alone was a huge expense living in that resort. The family stayed together with a strain on their financial needs. She attended her first Olympics as a stand-in in 1994.

If the ISU rules have lightened up in the past ten years I believe Kwan has put in her "amateur" time. Most of the Olympic skaters from the U.S. turn professional after their one and only Olympic skate (Yamaguchi, Kerrigan, Lipinski, even Harding). When the rules were loosened so that professionals could regain amateur status, Kwan still did not take advantage of that rule which has since been discarded, but chose to go to UCLA instead and remain an amateur.

If she has received money in the recent years, she has made her bones for it, in preserving the concept of amateur sport.

If you think some of the NHL and NBA players who join the Olympics are in the same status financially as Michelle....you would be wrong.

I don't know about Elvis' financial situation, but he was another skater who preserved the integrity of amateur sport regardless of what you believe. Try pricing coaches and travel expenses some day, let alone all the costumes necessary.

There are very few "real amateurs" left these days and I will always consider Kwan and Stojko to be two amateurs in their sport.

 

[Curiosity]

Oooooops Jersay

Canada Women's Hockey is now beating Germany 9-0.....

Should we feel sorry for them too?

Whatta team!!!

 

[Jersay]

I thought that was America beating Germany.

With Russia, that Canada beat 12-0, I feel sorry for them as well. There should be teams that can play together on the same level and that is it.

Because in Men's hockey, you got talent in all teams and some of the unknown teams could upset the big ones. But in Women's Hockey their are only a few teams that are real good. So it should be those good team, and every few years, all women hockey teams should be reviewed, and teams that have gotten better should be added.