It’s like the one reasonable winter sport that could have evolved from an actual activity. Well, except for the canal ice skating in Amsterdam.
Winter Olympics
- Thread starter vhcat70
- Start date
As far as female athletes go, the Canuck chick curling team is fairly do-able, especially the 2nd curler from the left AND NO I AINT NECESSARILY SAYING THEYRE HOT IM JUST SAYING THAT ON A GOOD NIGHT MOST OF THEM WOULD WORK.
4/3, 1, 3/2, 2/3
4/3, 1, 3/2, 2/3
Our men's curling team is garbage. The captain of the team has cost them a couple of games with his poor throws. Pretty much eliminated from moving on.
Those Canadien curlers are closer to hot than not and the Gold Standard for curlers from Canada is Cheryl Bernard...
There's hotter curlers posted in this thread.Those Canadien curlers are closer to hot than not and the Gold Standard for curlers from Canada is Cheryl Bernard...
As far as female athletes go, the Canuck chick curling team is fairly do-able, especially the 2nd curler from the left AND NO I AINT NECESSARILY SAYING THEYRE HOT IM JUST SAYING THAT ON A GOOD NIGHT MOST OF THEM WOULD WORK.
4/3, 1, 3/2, 2/3
2,1,4,3
/threadDammit JKBA you know the rules. Here, YWIA.
And yes, she is pure smoke.
So by my calculations, Norway now has won a medal for every 200,000 citizens, while the USA has won a medal for every 34,000,000 citizens. That makes them 170 times more successful at winter Olympic sports.
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This must be why nobody from Norway wants to come here.
What is the deal with these Scandinavian countries being so good? Are they just use to snowy conditions more than we are and better environments to perfect their skills in? Do they have to put on a pair of skis to just go to the grocery store? Do they tell their kids that when they were their age they had to cross country ski uphill both ways to school and back?
We have some of the best facilities and athletes in the world, but are struggling big time on pretty much anything not trick related. I hope we have some events coming up where we can rack up some medals.
We have some of the best facilities and athletes in the world, but are struggling big time on pretty much anything not trick related. I hope we have some events coming up where we can rack up some medals.
As a guy who grew up in Northern Ontario, I can say that winters, even in the northern states, aren’t winters in nearly the sense that I was exposed to and not close to what Northern European countries have. Winter back home was mid October to mid April. That’s a lot of extra time to train in real winter conditions.
Can't we just send everyone up to Alaska to train? Should be pretty good conditions up there. It is on the same lines of latitude as the Scandinavian countries. I would imagine the conditions should be fairly identical.
These are rich people sports in the US. They’re just regular people sports in the countries that are good at them. Jontavious isn’t picking up a lift ticket on a Wednesday afternoon or we’d be winning urrthing.
There are roughly as many people of Norwegian descent in Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and elsewhere in the US as in Norway. And the U.S. has plenty of snow and ski runs.
The U.S. Olympians are just choking big time.
You are probably correct, but Americans have other sports that are popular. Norway is mostly Nordic sports concentrated. The US is choking big time too though.
Bobsled teams were embarrassing last night.
From looking at most of the Norwegian women, I can see why the Norwegian men prefer to stay there.
So one of the medalists in Curling (how in the hell is that a "sport", I don't see Darts or Bowling in the Summer Olympics yet) has been banned for "doping". Really! A Curler needs to dope for performance enhancement?
Dammit JKBA you know the rules. Here, YWIA.
And yes, she is pure smoke.
Man we need to adopt her.
I think it is the attitude in the US of "Do the commercial first, then win the medal..." When it comes time to actually perform, the hunger and focus and joy of winning is replaced by the pressure of justifying the huge endorsement contracts. As for the argument that countries like Norway are more culturally attuned to winter, that's true enough. But this is Big Business, and no one spends the money, has the facilities or gives athletes the advantages of the US. From an AP story I saw about the US debacle (so far): "The U.S. runs an extensive winter training program with millions of dollars spent every year to train top athletes just for this occasion. The U.S. Olympic Committee took in more than $300 million in 2016 alone, with a big chunk of that used to train elite athletes."
I think maybe our US Olympic Committee should spend $5 on Rocky IV and learn something.
They should also make sure none of it's athletes are being systematically raped by Olympic trainers.
I always find these sorts of things intriguing. Same as abandoned theme parks. So much money just flushed.(Long post)
I was curious how much it actually cost South Korea to host the Winter Olympics and found out it was $13 billion. That is 2nd most ever for a Winter Olympics behind the $54 billion Russia spent for it in Sochi. It was estimated at $7 billion when they were trying to become the host city, but ended up nearly double that. They spent over $100 million just on the stadium that hosts the opening and closing ceremonies and likely will tear it down after 4 uses from what I read.
Hosting the Olympics is getting so costly that many cities are dropping out of the chance to host it. Some go into major debt over hosting them. Many of the facilities are demolished or left abandoned afterwards. Here are a few pictures of some of them.
Sarajevo bobsled track
Sarajevo ski jump
Beijing beach volleyball facility
Athens canoe and kayak facility
Athens softball stadium
Rio aquatic stadium
Rio golf course
Just a few examples I found with plenty more out there. Doesn't include the buildings that were demolished afterwards as well. It sure doesn't seem like these host cities think this stuff out very well in advance. At least Sarajevo had the excuse of war that probably contributed to their facilities being neglected.
Everything that is built should have a repurpose for it afterwards. Like Atlanta moving the Braves to the new stadium. They could probably turn other facilities into pro sports facilities or maybe let major colleges nearby use them. The aquatic places could be turned into water parks. They could make housing (apartments/condos) out of the buildings used for the athletes and tourists to stay in during the Olympics.
They must all be banking on the economies of the cities taking off during and after the Olympics. South Korea hasn't sold as many tickets as they had expected and they just aren't a country I see with a large amount of tourists visiting. Being next to North Korea probably doesn't make them as attractive of a vacation destination. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future they only have a few different countries host the Olympics and just keep reusing facilities.
IMO, Olympics should only be held in locales that already have facilities in place to handle all, or at least a majority, of events. This would limit the Winter Olympics to places like SLC, Vancouver, northern Europe, etc. Summer would have much more to choose from since a lot of cities have stadiums and arenas and are not far from aquatic spots where the water events could be held.
The idea of building up a site from scratch just to host the Olympics seems silly to me.
He was probably doping to keep up with his hot girlfriend's sexual appetites and not for the curling.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia...ities-explore-sabotage-possibility-1519017210
Curling looks like a cold climate version of softball - a sport that's more fun if you're drinking.
We are not having a great Olympics so far. Lots of choking and early upsets. We couldn't even place on athlete in the final 20 or 30 of the Biathalon.
I actually looked at joining a local Curling club just for a side-hobby, as it kind of looks like a drinking game anyways. Sure enough, in looking at photos of the club online:
I actually looked at joining a local Curling club just for a side-hobby, as it kind of looks like a drinking game anyways. Sure enough, in looking at photos of the club online:
I curled a few dozen times as a teenager/young adult back home. It's hard as shit. Getting that rock to do what you want it to, all while controlling the speed and distance along with having to maneuver around other rocks on the sheet, is damn near impossible. For that reason, I'd say most recreational players see it as an occasion to hang out with buddies, put down some beers, and have fun doing something different.
Thanks for the info on equipment. Most of the Winter Olympic sports do seem to involve some type of "gear".
So many close races! I read where the electronic timing used today is highly accurate, but it wasn't always that way. One company, "Omega/Swiss Timing Systems", has handled timing at the Olympics since 1932. They have gone from handheld stopwatches to now tons of equipment and cables. Lots of controversies arose during the stopwatch days. Multiple human timers were used and the results averaged. The speed of sound had to be factored in when the starting pistol was hundreds of feet up a mountain in relation to the timers at various positions in the finish area.
The timing today is accurate to at least 4 decimal places, but sports federations have agreed to only go to hundredths of a second and then calling it a "tie".
That's exactly what I'm looking for haha. I don't have the time for some crazy hobby that's going to take up a ton of time. If it's different, and a casual game like darts or something, I'm all in. Especially having a few brews and maybe doing some norwegian style toasts or some shit.
