Olympics - All around discussion

[kairparavel]

I don't think Canadian and American players could handle the bigger rink. Their stamina is not exactly equal to that of most Scandinavian and Eastern European players :P. "Big Baby" Crosby's nostril would clog up. Besides team Canada's loss at the last Olympics showed just what advantage the wider European rink gives to Europeans.

So what advantage did the Europeans get in 2002 when Canada beat the US for gold? Hm?

Without looking up individual players, I would boldly state that almost all, if not all, of the North American players have played on international ice, either in the World Under 18s, World Jrs, World Championships that play alongside the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs or the Olympics. And given that many of the European players spend much of their time on the NHL surface playing for their respective NHL teams, I think you give the international surface too much credit, in this instance, with these players. Especially considering time management for marquee players like a Crosby or an Ovechkin who play on a 'smaller rink' professionally, but log moreminutes on the ice in various roles, thereby improving their stamina.

This is not the ice hockey of the 1990's and earlier.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

Watched a bit today, women's curling. Did anyone else catch it? I think curling is cool in general, but the Russian team is HOT.

[Thor85]

Speaking of curling. I heard Norwegian mans team has really COOL trousers. But I never seem to catch them playing on TV. Are they still in the competition?

[williamjm]

Speaking of curling. I heard Norwegian mans team has really COOL trousers. But I never seem to catch them playing on TV. Are they still in the competition?

I think at the moment it is a round-robin format where every team is going to play every other team so they've probably got another 4 or 5 matches to go even if they don't get into the finals.

[The Iceman of the North]

Speaking of curling. I heard Norwegian mans team has really COOL trousers. But I never seem to catch them playing on TV. Are they still in the competition?

They'll stay in the competition until they beat the Canadians on the 27th. Including the ongoing match vs. China, it's seven remaining matches.

[kairparavel]

Norwegian brotherhood of the traveling argyle pants

We'll just see about that Norway/Canada match. Pants or no pants, eh.

[Demonblade]

TSN's just a bunch of heartless pricks. They're interviewing Melissa Hollingsworth (who is a total babe, btw), a Canadian skeleton player who scored 5th and she's in tears explaining how she lost a medal position. Leave her the fuck alone for at least an hour after she lost the goddamn medal so she can gather her thoughts together and accept her loss FFS!

[kairparavel]

So during the men's Super G, while the last skier from Sweden was in his run down the hill and the NBC guy mentions that very few people manage to have such long careers without injury (dude's 40), raise your hand as you counted the seconds until he fell and hurt himself.

*raises hand*

Thankfully, just a concussion.

[Zoë Sumra]

TSN's just a bunch of heartless pricks. They're interviewing Melissa Hollingsworth (who is a total babe, btw), a Canadian skeleton player who scored 5th and she's in tears explaining how she lost a medal position. Leave her the fuck alone for at least an hour after she lost the goddamn medal so she can gather her thoughts together and accept her loss FFS!

Meanwhile the British press is going crazy over the skeleton winner, Amy Williams, getting Great Britain's first Winter Olympic non-team gold since 1980... We need to become better at sport, if only to avoid the overcelebrating we do when we get anything right.

[kairparavel]

That Canada/Denmark ladies' curling match was THRILLING!

If you're into that sort of thing, I mean.

Sadly, if Bernard doesn't get it together, their magical pixie dust is going to run out.

And yay for our gold in skeleton! It's amazing what happens when you arrive on time for your event.

[Shryke]

That Canada/Denmark ladies' curling match was THRILLING!

If you're into that sort of thing, I mean.

Sadly, if Bernard doesn't get it together, their magical pixie dust is going to run out.

Well, I guess thrilling in the sense that Canada played bad enough to almost lose.

[Zoë Sumra]

OK, so Lindsey Vonn is doing so well partly because she's the only woman racing on men's skis. At what point does this stop being an acceptable accommodation to her being so much stronger than the others and become an unfair advantage? Or will we see, in a few years, more and more women skiers deliberately gaining the strength needed to use the (better) men's skis?

[kairparavel]

Well, I guess thrilling in the sense that Canada played bad enough to almost lose.

They totally did but that combined with how sporadically brilliant Dupont from Denmark was made it edge of your seat. Well, like I said, for me. And I do hope this is the last game Bernard's team eeks out. It would be nice for her to start bringing her best game.

OK, so Lindsey Vonn is doing so well partly because she's the only woman racing on men's skis. At what point does this stop being an acceptable accommodation to her being so much stronger than the others and become an unfair advantage? Or will we see, in a few years, more and more women skiers deliberately gaining the strength needed to use the (better) men's skis?

It all depends on what the differences are between men's and women's skis. It might not be significant enough construction wise, to give her an advantage. I don't know. It might just come down to what's more comfortable. For example, I golf with men's clubs, as the shafts are longer than women's clubs. This is a comfort issue with me. I have a cleaner swing and a more comfortable stance and it's improved my length in driving and my fairway shots. Besides club length I can't see any significant difference seeing as you can buy shafts in different materials, weights, flexibility and head size.

And consider the head game - competitors focusing on what's strapped to her feet compared to what they need to do when going down the hill.

[Green Apple Fossoway]

OK, so Lindsey Vonn is doing so well partly because she's the only woman racing on men's skis. At what point does this stop being an acceptable accommodation to her being so much stronger than the others and become an unfair advantage? Or will we see, in a few years, more and more women skiers deliberately gaining the strength needed to use the (better) men's skis?

A few of the other women have tried to ski with men's skiis, but they were all either not strong enough to control them or just not comfortable enough to compete in them.

[kairparavel]

The advantages that Vonn can gain from men's skis can also be quickly be negated by disadvantages she also gains. Maybe she gets more stability from them, but they're also stiffer which could make problems for her.

Personally, in this day and age of technology, sporting equipment should be unisex. You should be able to get the specific combination of attributes you want and go with it, as long as each attribute falls within the rules of the sport. Men's skis are longer, women's skis are lighter etc but at high level of competition you want equipment that suits your frame and build AND the conditions. If you use different wax depending on how the snow conditions are, why not use different skis? That way everyone has the same pool to draw from and you take out the almost irrelevant gender designation.

Of course, this system would lean more towards the elite participant compared to the beginner or casual participant.

[Spring Bass]

I thought it mentioned during the women's downhill that the main advantage of using men's skis for women was that they were longer and better for dealing with rougher terrain, like that on the course. That may not necessarily apply for all such races.

[aeu]

That Canada/Denmark ladies' curling match was THRILLING!

If you're into that sort of thing, I mean.

Sadly, if Bernard doesn't get it together, their magical pixie dust is going to run out.

I know absolutely nothing about curling but I bumped into this while zapping last night and couldn't turn it off. I need to get the schedule for women's curling now.

And the DuPont sisters were very...um...intriguing.

[The Dude]

The advantages that Vonn can gain from men's skis can also be quickly be negated by disadvantages she also gains. Maybe she gets more stability from them, but they're also stiffer which could make problems for her.

Personally, in this day and age of technology, sporting equipment should be unisex. You should be able to get the specific combination of attributes you want and go with it, as long as each attribute falls within the rules of the sport. Men's skis are longer, women's skis are lighter etc but at high level of competition you want equipment that suits your frame and build AND the conditions. If you use different wax depending on how the snow conditions are, why not use different skis? That way everyone has the same pool to draw from and you take out the almost irrelevant gender designation.

Of course, this system would lean more towards the elite participant compared to the beginner or casual participant.

Yea, did she use the same skis for the slalom? It may be a reason she has so much trouble with that event.

Everyone's skis or board are of course different based on their weight. Everyone has an optimal design and length for each different situation. They should be able to use whatever they want within some sort of regulations.

Also, are there any major differences between mens and womens skis besides length and width?

[Ran]

If you use different wax depending on how the snow conditions are, why not use different skis?

I've read that Lindsay Voon has about 100 pairs of skis, and that she'll switch skis if conditions are changing. Her husband is, apparently, a bit of a gear-head when it comes to finding just the right skis for a particular course on a particular day. So, I think it likely many skiers do have several sets of skis on hand.

[lacuna]

Fuck, Norway just lost to Switzerland in ice hockey after some terrible calls by the referees. I don't really follow hockey much, but that was intense. It ended 4-4, lost in sudden death.