Winter Olympics

A Russian cross-country skier broke his ski during the race, and the Canadian coach gave him his own ski.  Now THAT'S the Olympic spirit!   

I'm what you call an Olympic geek! I watch everything. Especially skiing and figure skating. I'm watching Shaun White right now. I can't believe how high up in the air he goes!!

Snowboarding is exciting!  I wish it had been around when I was a kid.  I went skiing sometimes, but falling was always scary.  The skis would go every which way and it seemed like a really excellent way to break your ankles.  I like the idea of having your feet attached to a single unit.  I wouldn't have done the acrobatic stuff like the Olympic snowboarders do, but snowboarding downhill would have been a blast!

Very disappointed with snowboarding tonight. However, it's hard to do a repeat, let alone a three-peat. I just wish Shaun could have made the podium. Just wasn't his night.

I found out by accident before the halfpipe competition even aired on tv that Shaun didn't win, so I couldn't even watch it. But this morning I've been reading that a lot of his competitors were happy that he didn't win and didn't feel bad for him at all... I don't think that's very good sportsmanship. Of course, the competitors want to win for their country, but I watched the qualifying rounds on tv and Shaun was congratulating a bunch of his rivals that did much worse than him in qualifying, so I wish they could have at least showed him some respect after he didn't even get a medal in the event!

The people that are bad talking Shaun, are the ones that were mad when he pulled out of the freestyle slope....saying someone else could've been in that spot had he not taken it....He had to make a hard decision (after he got there) to pull out because he felt it was dangerous, and it seems he was right; I think 3 people broke bones before the opening ceremony. Since he made that decision, these same people are glad he didn't medal; which is so childish. Shaun has been nothing but kind to everyone around him, even to his 'rivals', as you said.....I'm proud of his accomplishments and am happy that he said he will be back in 4 years for the 2018 Winter Olympics....   

Rhonda wrote:

The people that are bad talking Shaun, are the ones that were mad when he pulled out of the freestyle slope....saying someone else could've been in that spot had he not taken it....He had to make a hard decision (after he got there) to pull out because he felt it was dangerous, and it seems he was right; I think 3 people broke bones before the opening ceremony.  Since he made that decision, these same people are glad he didn't medal; which is so childish.  Shaun has been nothing but kind to everyone around him, even to his 'rivals', as you said.....I'm proud of his accomplishments and am happy that he said he will be back in 4 years for the 2018 Winter Olympics....   

I agree think he did the right thing too.  

I didn't hear Shaun say that he is going to be back for the 2018 Olympics, but I'm glad to hear that! So many people were upset that he did not 3-peat, but do they have any idea how difficult that would be to accomplish? Shaun is a very talented athlete, and I agree with you Rhonda- I'm happy that he has accomplished all that he has

Michiganders Meryl Davis and Charlie White become the first Americans ever to win a gold medal in ice dance!  

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/meryl-davis-and-charlie-white-capture-first-olympic-ice-dance-gold-medal-for-u-s-182444436.html

Way to go USA. We Canadians will settle fir silver.

In every Canadian heart they "Have" Gold.    I think the Canadians were so good. They dance so beautiful. They just have this spark about them.

But Congrats USA.

I stayed up last night to watch Meryl Davis and Charlie White win their gold in ice dancing. It was exciting! They did so well. But Congrats to the Canadien skaters they did very well too    I have heard that Davis and White and the Canadien pair that earned silver medal (sorry I can't remember their names) train together and have the same coach.

I have to say, after watching this last night (my dad recorded it for me, so I wasn't able to view it until then), that I actually thought Virtue & Moir's long program was better.  My adult son happened to be with me at my dad's and was basically 'forced' to watch this, lol, and he said right away that he liked the Canadian team's long program better, and they seemed to have the higher level of difficulty (we thought more innovative lifts). But what do we know?   Both teams skate with extraordinary difficulty and this is ridiculously difficult to choose between and I sure wouldn't want to be judging these two pairs!!  I guess it was the 'buffer' from the short program that got them ahead by just a bit in the end? I won't take anything away from Davis & White---they are incredible and are deserving---but this was extremely tight and I can't help but feel bad for Virtue & Moir.  They're amazing.

Yes, they all train right here in Canton, Michigan (about an hour from me) and their coach is Marina Zueva, former coach of my all-time favorite pair's team, Gordeeva & Grinkov. She has obviously served both teams well!  

I'll tell you what, neither of those pairs' long programs were my favorite---I loved the Russian's Swan Lake!!  I know they don't skate as closely together or with quite the level of difficulty, but I thought their program was the most interesting of all.  And I was SO thrilled for USA's "Chock & Bates", who skated to Les Mis.  Loved that program.

I read an article that said Virtue and Moir were blaming their coach because they did not win gold. They claimed that the coach cared more about helping White and Davis, and it was her fault that Virtue and Moir did not win gold. I think that is so sad and very very poor sportsmanship. You can't always win the medal that you want, especially at the Olympics when the competitors are the best from around the world. ANd it is certainly not the coaches fault if they make mistakes or don't do as well as they have in past skates. I hope that they will be able to settle this issue, because I feel like it doesn't make them look very good.

I think the long programs were pretty much equal, but I did enjoy the Canadians more. I think Davis and White did better in the short program though.

ingallsfan2008 wrote:

I read an article that said Virtue and Moir were blaming their coach because they did not win gold. They claimed that the coach cared more about helping White and Davis, and it was her fault that Virtue and Moir did not win gold. I think that is so sad and very very poor sportsmanship. You can't always win the medal that you want, especially at the Olympics when the competitors are the best from around the world. ANd it is certainly not the coaches fault if they make mistakes or don't do as well as they have in past skates. I hope that they will be able to settle this issue, because I feel like it doesn't make them look very good.

I sure do hope that's just a rumor.  I do know that they're all really great friends and I can't imagine them not being happy for their teammates.  But I have to admit, there are a lot of these coaches that coach other skaters (Brian Orser comes to mind) and you wonder how they can spread themselves all over the place!


I hadn't even read this article when I posted earlier!  Seems lots of people are upset about this!

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/angry-fans--canadian-press-fired-up-over-ice-dance-judging-142853172.html

Lori wrote:

I think the long programs were pretty much equal, but I did enjoy the Canadians more.  I think Davis and White did better in the short program though.

I completely agree Lori. I think people are left with their feelings after the long, and sometimes don't look at the overall picture.  I have to say, there was something very magical about Virtue & Moir during their long...like Krissy was saying, there is a 'spark' about them. I didn't 'feel' Davis & White like I did the Canadians.  Theirs was more passionate and didn't feel like it was just 'going through the motions'.  I kind of felt like Davis and White were 'getting a job done'.  Maybe it's just me.

Yes! I didn't see  any spark between Davis and white. They looked much to serious while dancing. They didn't show much emotion to me.

I think it is with skaters just like it is with actors---either you have chemistry or you don't, and I don't really feel it at all with Davis and White, even though I try, believe me I try! LOL!  And it's just human nature, you want to feel that chemistry between pairs skaters, whether in ice dancing or pairs.  

Usually I think Davis & White do a good job of portraying emotion, but like you Krissy, it felt too serious...too 'business-like' for the Olympics.

Gosh, the men's sure was a disappointment, wasn't it??   I finally got a chance to watch that too and as much as I like the gold medalist, he sure didn't do so hot!  I kind of wish Patrick Chan would have seized that moment to shine...I like both skaters, but Patrick certainly could have won.   SO impressed with Jeremy Abbott though!!  What a fighter!!  After that fall in the very beginning, I would have guessed he'd be out of commission!!  Unbelievable, and hopefully he is a huge inspiration to young skaters.  And I wish Jason Brown could have gotten bronze...that program is so awesome.  Just wasn't his night.  


Looking forward to the women's event!  Who is everyone rooting for?  I'm rooting for Gracie Gold....not a big fan of Ashley's style.  Honestly there are lot of foreign women I love---Katie Osmond of Canada is so awesome, and I LOVE Italy's Carolina Kostner.  Should be a great competition!! 

No disrespect. I do think the Canadians should of gotten Gold. I also think American's should have gotten sliver. I don't think figure skating is always judged fairly to me. I can't help but wonder if figure skating is fixed sometimes. That's the only sport that I really like watching but feel is not judged always fairly. It truly must be hard to be a judge. Yes! That's the word I was meaning. chemistry. But Congrats too them. I think both teams did work really hard and gave it there all. That's all that matters in the end. I really liked the first couple that came out. They were great.  

Team USA & Team Canada are both kicking but and doing great.! Yay for both countries.

A lot of people I heard online said the Olympics shouldn't be hosted in a country like Russia! What do you think?

I'm not sure who I'll be rooting for in the women's program. In the men's, truly I was rooting for the teen Japanese skater. The Russian skater that wound up having to pull out of the competition that was favored to win gold, I thought he was way too full of himself, and I just can not stand any people like that. But the Japanese skater (I don't remember his name) was so impressive during the team program, I wasn't at all surprised that he won an individual gold later on in the competition.

I suppose with the women's figure skating I'll just be cheering for the U.S. skaters in general   It would be nice to see them take home some medals!

sweetkrissy2011 wrote:

No disrespect. I do think the Canadians should of gotten Gold. I also think American's should have gotten sliver. I don't think figure skating is always judged fairly to me. I can't help but wonder if  figure skating is fixed sometimes. That's the only sport that I really like watching but feel is not judged always fairly. It truly must be hard to be a judge.

Especially ice dancing...it's so subjective, you know?  Just the tiniest thing can mark a pair down, whereas look at pairs skating---pretty easy to judge if someone falls during a throw, or a side by side triple loop or something.  With ice dancing so much is based in opinion.  I'm hearing now that whoever invented the 'twizzles' said that he had it designed in a specific way, and the Americans did it the 'right way' in his vision and the Canadians didn't.  Funny, because I thought it looked more complicated and interesting in the Canadian program.  Makes me sad for Davis & White, because there's all this speculation out there now 'if' they should have won, and of course they don't want that cloud hanging over them.  But it really could be something down to the absolute technical wire, that they were chosen above, and it sure does look that way, if it came down to 'how' a twizzle was performed.  To the naked eye they both looked beautiful!

Krissy wrote:

Yes! That's the word I was meaning. chemistry. But Congrats too them. I think both teams did work really hard and gave it there all. That's all that matters in the end. I really liked the first couple that came out. They were great.   Team USA & Team Canada are both kicking but and doing great.! Yay for both countries.

Yes!!  

Krissy wrote:

A lot of people I heard online said the Olympics shouldn't be hosted in a country like Russia! What do you think?

Absolutely not.  I think that's a given....for a number of reasons, they should never have been chosen.  Makes me really question how they 'won out' over other countries bidding for it.  

ingallsfan2008 wrote:

I'm not sure who I'll be rooting for in the women's program. In the men's, truly I was rooting for the teen Japanese skater. The Russian skater that wound up having to pull out of the competition that was favored to win gold, I thought he was way too full of himself, and I just can not stand any people like that. But the Japanese skater (I don't remember his name) was so impressive during the team program, I wasn't at all surprised that he won an individual gold later on in the competition.

I suppose with the women's figure skating I'll just be cheering for the U.S. skaters in general   It would be nice to see them take home some medals!

Same here!  I can't remember his name now either! LOL!  But he actually IS who I was rooting for.  They're both so different in style, and I 'liked' him.  But it's never 'fun' to see an Olympic gold medal go to a person who has had falls throughout their performance, and for that reason I kinda wanted to see Patrick take advantage of that.  I'll tell you what though, he has a bit of the Evgeny Plushenko complex...sounded pretty full of him and defensive of himself after the fact ("You can't take away all my other accomplishments." Really????), and that he likes to think that no one has a quad as good as his. Hmmmmm.  With Evgengy, I've been watching him for so long...watched him grow up (yes, I'm old, lol)  and although he wasn't my favorite Russian (I think Ilia Kulik was the best skater ever), he certainly did have something to gloat about.  But I agree with you, I really do hate it when people 'know' they're fantastic and have no humility about that fact.  Because when it comes down to it, no matter how hard you work and train, you don't get to where you are without being given that gift from God.

Proud of my fellow Canadian ladies as we win 2 gold medals today in Curling and Hockey. Now its the men's turn in each.
Go Canada.

I'M so happy Ladies hockey team won Gold.   Yay to gold in one day. My dad's not sure if the men will be able to win. But you never know. I'm not much of a hockey fan. But The ladies play better then the men. lol

I watched most of the USA vs Canada hockey game today but had to turn the tv off when it went into overtime. Usually I don't like watching the overtimes, or shootouts, they're too nerve- wracking!    I hope the men's hockey gold medal game is on tv.

Today's game was one of the first women's hockey games I've watched, but for me it wasn't as exciting as watching men's games. The fights make it more exciting    and there were no fights in the women's game today. Plus, the announcers today were saying something about checking is not allowed in women's hockey. I'd never heard that before, but it seemed odd, because checking happens so often in men's hockey and they don't get penalized that often for it.