Olympics - All around discussion

[Lord of Oop North]

Vancouver is not the warmest city to receive the 'honour'. Salt Lake City is warmer on average.

[adamsputnik]

Vancouver is not the warmest city to receive the 'honour'. Salt Lake City is warmer on average.

I suspect they mean "warmer in winter". As you might guess, Salt Lake City is much colder during the winter months.

[Lord of Oop North]

I suspect they mean "warmer in winter". As you might guess, Salt Lake City is much colder during the winter months.

Ah, yes. That would make more sense. But I do think that VANOC just got really unlucky. Ever time I've been skiing in the Vancouver area, the conditions have been great.

[CelticKnight]

Maelle Ricker with the second Gold medal for Canada in snowboard cross!!

Man, what an exciting sport.

[blasted_saber]

I find this article rather interesting. Short excerpt:

What about Sochi in 2014? Its subtropical. Palm trees!

[Aemon Stark]

Ah, yes. That would make more sense. But I do think that VANOC just got really unlucky. Ever time I've been skiing in the Vancouver area, the conditions have been great.

Do you mean the "Vancouver area" as in close to the city rather than Whistler? Because this type of weather is exactly what I've been expecting all along. Halifax is like a colder version of Vancouver in some respects, but apart from a few weeks ago when it was -10 every day, it's been around zero or low single digits lately. And we have almost no snow left at all. On the other hand, we don't have flowers blooming at this time of year.

[Lord of Oop North]

Do you mean the "Vancouver area" as in close to the city rather than Whistler?

Whistler isn't really in the 'Vancouver area', so no, I did not mean Whistler. Although I've been there. I meant Cypress Mountain and Mt. Seymour, which are both definitely in the 'Vancouver area'. I went over the course of a few years, and the conditions were fine on each occasion. They were not the greatest skiing, but they were not terrible, either.

I really don't think it is really reasonable to say that they made a 'big mistake' in locating the games. They invested a lot of money into this, and they (the IOC, VANOC, and plenty of other people) obviously thought that the local ski conditions would be olympic worthy. I suppose that is technically a mistake, but they can't control the weather, and I think that it is unfair to blame them for that.

[Aemon Stark]

I didn't say it was a mistake, but expecting to avoid mild weather and rain in February in Vancouver is like expecting a Toronto summer to be free of 30+ weather. It can happen, but it ain't too likely.

[Bellis]

I was curious and looked up the average February temperatures for Vancouver, Salt Lake, Turin and Sochi on weather.com. Vancouver and Salt Lake City both have average daily highs of 8 Celcius (46F) this month and average lows above freezing. Turin is something like a degree colder. Of course, that's the cities and not the nearby ski resorts which at elevation are likely much colder.

As for the Black Sea resort with the palm trees, well, the Russians better be praying for a record cold winter, day after tomorrow style.

[snake]

Well, rain in Vancouver is no big deal. Rain in the mountains is and it was probably not expected. Still, the remainder of this week is calling for sunshine so things will probably go smoothly from here on.

With regards to the games in Russia. As long as they got a nearby mountain with lots of snow it doesn't matter what the temperatures are in the city itself.

[Spring Bass]

Fun thing, this figure-skating. Johnny Weir turned out to be much weaker in rating than I thought he would be, although he wins the WTF costume award with the Man-Corset.

[The Dude]

Maelle Ricker with the second Gold medal for Canada in snowboard cross!!Man, what an exciting sport.

I maybe biased, but that is one my favorite olympic events :D

I was curious and looked up the average February temperatures for Vancouver, Salt Lake, Turin and Sochi on weather.com. Vancouver and Salt Lake City both have average daily highs of 8 Celcius (46F) this month and average lows above freezing. Turin is something like a degree colder. Of course, that's the cities and not the nearby ski resorts which at elevation are likely much colder. As for the Black Sea resort with the palm trees, well, the Russians better be praying for a record cold winter, day after tomorrow style.

Whistler's lower elevation and proximity to the coast make it wetter (and probably warmer) than the resorts used near SLC. Not sure about Turin.

[Sariel]

For a person most interested in cross country skiing and the biathlon (I'm Norwegian, it's what we do) this years Olympic games must go down in history as one of the most poorly organized of all time. I don't know who's to blame, but the computer system seems to continuously show errors and fail to keep track of different times. They didn't have the time differentials until the third day, which is absurd. Furthermore, they've managed several times to send out athletes in the wrong order, thus being forced to manually add or subtract from their time after they pass the finish line. One they added 40 seconds to, moving him from the 5th place to the 17th or so.

And that's not including the horrible filming that only ever seems to focus on the top three participants of any race. Most countries don't have people in the top 3 yet they would still get to glimpse their own apart from when they cross the finish line.

It's really odd as nothing of this seems to be a problem in the regular world cup races, and they happen every week with much less funding and planning than an Olympic event.

[kairparavel]

I have to say, I'm heavily biased towards the Canadian team (it really goes without saying) and I'm growing tired of hearing about the most discussed shin in North America and Shaun White. Just the way it is.

However, I gotta say, Lindsay Vonn's reaction to her run just got me. The joy, elation and relief were quite palpable and I couldn't help but be happy for her. It was really quite something.

[Week]

Lindsay Vonn wins and I still don't care. So tired of hearing about her for weeks. Maybe we could hear about...cross country skiers? The curling team (which sadly won today)? God, the coverage of the Olympics is just so obnoxious.

I have been trying to watch only hockey (men's and women's...though there is NO parity in women's until the end) and curling. The coverage is much better. Every men's game I end up looking forward to the intermission where Jeremy Roenick will spout out nonsense and then get put in his place by Millbury. Classic.

[Annelise]

However, I gotta say, Lindsay Vonn's reaction to her run just got me. The joy, elation and relief were quite palpable and I couldn't help but be happy for her. It was really quite something.

I haven't seen it but I did see Anja Paerson's crash; holy Christ did she go flying off that last jump. And then the replay of Vonn, watching, saying "Oh my god!"

[Annelise]

I have to say, I'm heavily biased towards the Canadian team (it really goes without saying) and I'm growing tired of hearing about the most discussed shin in North America and Shaun White. Just the way it is.

Yeah, that's the press for you. They're like frantic bulldogs. Suffice it to say, I was happy in more ways than one when the Canadians got their first home gold, haha.

ETA: Shani Davis wins gold - cool. :)

[Brude]

I know this isn't the first time an Olympic venue came close to having no snow for the big event. Way back in 1980 Lake Placid had to go into overdrive with the snow making machines just before the Olympics and there was fear it might be too warm. But it got cold and I don't think there were any problems in the end. I remember other times after that it was a close call as well, but weather worked out in the end.

[Jaime L]

I haven't seen it but I did see Anja Paerson's crash; holy Christ did she go flying off that last jump. And then the replay of Vonn, watching, saying "Oh my god!"

That Women's downhill was absolutely unreal. Was Hindenburgesque.Even the women who managed to finish the course looked dangerously out of control on tight turns on that packed-ice slope. Couldn't take my eyes off of it. There was the Paerson crash that you mentioned....one of the world's best skiers, flying 200 feet in the air after launching from basically a sitting position. She was left flailing her arms like a cartoon. Another woman wiped out spectacularly and was sliding down the mountain on her back, starting to slow down, until she went over a bump and started rapidly somersaulting like she crashed anew. Still another wiped out within the first 10 feet of the course..just kind of tipping over and was unable to get back up. Seeing that display rekindled my Olympic dreams...hell, I could do that. Even among Olympians just finishing seemed like a feat. Was telling when the very last woman, who'd witnessed all the carnage before her, took the slope slow and steady like an intermediate skier caught in the moguls on a double black. Can't recall ever seeing someone so intimidated by a slope that they willingly gave up on their Olympic dream to avoid serious injury.

That being said, I loved it. This is what I want my Olympic competition to be. I'm tried of events like luge where I can't tell what makes a good competitor stand out from a lesser one. Even most of the skiing events, it's very difficult to tell what the winner does better than the person who finished in 7th place but only .43 second behind. But this course was so physically and mentally demanding that you could see who was taking risks and staying in control, who was courting disaster and who was intimidated.

[kairparavel]

Yeah, that's the press for you. They're like frantic bulldogs. Suffice it to say, I was happy in more ways than one when the Canadians got their first home gold, haha.

Trust me, I was SO glad when Bilodeau won the gold. As much as NBC played the no Canadian gold on home soil clip, the Canadian media was exponentially worse. I feel so bad for Jenn Heil and the ridiculous amount of pressure she was under. She carried the entire history of the Canadian Olympic team on her shoulders on day frickin' one of the events. And I never got a chance to see the interviews, but the first Canadian interviewers apparently were more interested in talking about her 'losing gold' rather than winning silvers. Bastards.

But the monkey's off our back so we can get back to normal: under-performing, talking about the snow, the lack of snow, too much snow, rain, crappy snow, rain, epically failing electric ice resurfacing for the speed skating, poor organization and time keeping in the cross-country and biathlon, the luge tragedy hopefully not to become the bobsled and skeleton debacles or worse, Whistler going into foreclosure, protesters, ballooning budget, and I think a smiting from God himself.