Figure skating et al at the Olympics

[UncertainSloth]

aye, the look on her face was priceless - completely gobsmacked....

[Macdoc]

Olympic moment for sure. That she was the very first to compete in both and then wins gold in her off side skill might open the floodgates to the wild ones in snow boarding ....



video of it here

The Czech is the first athlete to compete in both skiing and snowboarding at the Olympics, and she stunned Veith when beating the Austrian by one hundredth of a second.

https://www.eurosport.com/alpine-skiing ... tory.shtml

Good cover from the beeb ..even a rare typo

"I thought there must be some mistake, I thought they'd switch the times for someone else's!" Ledecka said, her mouth agape as her time flashed up on the big screen.

She didn't even own the skis on which she raced - her equipment borrowed from giant slalom gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin.

But it was perhaps Vonn who summed it up best, saying: "I wish I had as much athleticism as she has to hop from sport to sport and win everything.

"Unfortunately I'm only good at ski racing and she still beat me!"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/43095089

[Macdoc]

Speed skating heats looking like a roller derby!

[newolder]

Aha... The pin in the centre of the curling sheet is used to plug in a distance measurer ("pegs" in bowling) when then end is close.

[Scot Dutchy]

[quote="Macdoc";p="2615405"]Speed skating heats looking like a roller derby![/quote]

Speed skating or short track. The two are not the same.

[Macdoc]

Speedskating,,

The Mail doesn't seem to see a big difference

Elise Christie crashes out once again in 1,500m short track speed skating semi-final at Winter Olympics as Team GB athlete is taken to hospital

That was a nasty crash.



Nice Gold for Canada in Men's not sure which length

Canada’s Samuel Girard wins gold medal in 1,000 metre speedskating

c

[Scot Dutchy]

The BBC has problems as well. Mixing up the two sports.

Short track is a pure tactical sport.

[Shrunk]

Commentator during the skeleton competition: "That rattling you hear is the helmet against the ice." The sled was moving at 120 km/h at the time. Insane.

[Shrunk]

[quote="Scot Dutchy";p="2615430"]The BBC has problems as well. Mixing up the two sports.

Short track is a pure tactical sport.[/quote]

The thing I can't understand with short track is why the competitors jump up and down and start waving their flag as soon as they've crossed the line and think they've won. They end up looking silly after the race is reviewed and they are disqualified, which seems to happen at least half the time. It should be like figure skating: You finish your routine, then wait anxiously on the sidelines for the judges' decision.

[UncertainSloth]

this winter olympics has caused me to become increasingly interested in curling

[newolder]

^ Yep. It's the best thing since iced dread. Icicle tension at its Damoclesian best.

[Macdoc]

Yikes what a finish in the final bi-athlon 15 km. 0.0 time difference - gold vs silver - in an amazing race with the two leaders far out in front. Couple of cm difference in the photo on a stretch by both. The French skier won.

[Shrunk]

[quote="UncertainSloth";p="2615589"]this winter olympics has caused me to become increasingly interested in curling[/quote]

It's like chess with an added element of physical execution. You can make every shot perfectly, but if you call the wrong shots you'll lose.

[Shrunk]

That said, curling almost died as a spectator sport in the late 80's, when the combination of push brooms and the increased quality of play meant that, at the highest levels, once a team got a lead they would just spend the last 5 or 6 ends peeling off rocks and blanking. It was deadly dull, so the rule that guard stones could not be removed for the first four shots was introduced. Without that, I doubt curling would be in the Olympics.

[Macdoc]

I like the mixed as well plus there is new broom surfaces too I understand.

[UncertainSloth]

[quote="Shrunk";p="2615622"][quote="UncertainSloth";p="2615589"]this winter olympics has caused me to become increasingly interested in curling[/quote]

It's like chess with an added element of physical execution. You can make every shot perfectly, but if you call the wrong shots you'll lose.[/quote]

this is what i have learnt this year, which has made it more enjoyable...chess was exactly the analogy in my mind, too...

[Macdoc]

Scientists are still arguing why stones curl.

Why Rocks Curl -- ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 024015.htm
Oct 13, 2004 - Two University of Northern British Columbia physicists have explained the centuries-old question of why a curling stone curls, or moves laterally, in a counter-intuitive direction. ... "If you turn a glass over, spin it and slide it down a table it curls in the opposite way compared ...

The mechanism that puts the curl in the curling stone revealed - Phys.org
https://phys.org › Physics › General Physics
May 13, 2013 - Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden can now reveal the mechanism behind the curved path of a curling stone. The discovery by the researchers, who usually study friction and wear in industrial and technical applications, ...

[I'm With Stupid]

So one of the Russian athletes has possibly failed a drugs test.......in curling.

What possible performance-enhancing drug could you have in curling? Exactly one and a half pints of beer to steady the nerves like in pool?

[newolder]

Curling, eh? Who'd a thunk it'd be so newsworthy?

Meldonium is used to treat ischaemia: a lack of blood flow to parts of the body, particularly in cases of angina or heart failure. It is manufactured in Latvia and only distributed in Baltic countries and Russia.8 Jun 2016

(Google search result)

Perhaps the guy feels the cold more than others?

[aban57]

Also, you really have to be very stupid to take drugs at that time, being russian. With all that happened with Russia lately, they had to be sure they would be checked, probably more than others.