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#sochiproblems aside, who is ready for some winter olympics?

just got my first look at the mens downhill slope. that sucker is NASTY. 3,300 ft verticle drop in 2 minutes. longest and steepest course in olympic history, 3 massive jumps... and the entire thing is one slick sheet of ice.

found some free time at work to watch the sprint stage of biathlon. Bjoerndalen still winning gold medals at the age of 40.

who are some of the latvian olympians i should pay attention to this year lamar?

fatlever wrote:who are some of the latvian olympians i should pay attention to this year lamar?

We have the winner of the five (!!!) last Skeleton World Cups (that means having the most points at the end of the season; after all the competitions around the world) in Martins Dukurs. Him ending up second in Vancouver 2010 was somewhat of a disappointment. So the pressure is on, it's championship or bust. His brother, Tomass Dukurs, is a contender for finishing in the top3.

Our next best contender for a medal probably is bobsledder's Oskars Melbardis's 4-bob. They also won the World Cup last year (in a race that combines both points from four-men competitions and two-men).

And then there's our national hockey team. It being the most popular sport in Latvia, they will probably receive the most attention. NHL and KHL being on Olympic break all of the strong teams have their best players so we don't have the chances we do during World Championships. Every point we get will be celebrated.

I don't know how well do you know NHL but our captain is Sandis Ozolinsh who had previously retired from playing for the national team. At the age of 41 he's still going at it.

props to Andrejs Rastorgujevs though. he finished 17th today in biathlon. he's kind of the dark horse for a medal, but nevertheless 17th is a solid place to finish. there will be more disciplines, so file this under "to be continued".

but, yes, all in all, we've always been good at all the sled sports. bobsleigh, skeleton, luge. that's were we usually hope for a medal. and also everyone is passionate about hockey.

LamarMatic7 wrote:found some free time at work to watch the sprint stage of biathlon. Bjoerndalen still winning gold medals at the age of 40.

i just saw that about an hour ago. he really doesnt like to wipe the snot off his chin. haha.

i dont know anything about hockey lamar. the die hard hockey guys i work with are always amazed at how little i know about current players, considering how hardcore i am about most other sports.

i have no interest in the x-games type sports in the olympics.

Luge was always one of my favourites as a kid, just seems insane.

Anytime an Aussie wins a medal its a major event. I remember reading about our first ever bobsled team, they practiced in shopping centre carparks on wheels.

Steve Bradbury's speed skating win has to go down as one of our greatest Olympics memories ever, "pulling a Bradbury" is now a well known saying over here.

fatlever wrote:i have no interest in the x-games type sports in the olympics.

somehow, it's the same for me. I'm used to watching the classic winter sports (the ones that involve skiing, sleds) and it's hard to get into all the snowboarding, tricks-in-the-air stuff.

fatlever wrote:

LamarMatic7 wrote:found some free time at work to watch the sprint stage of biathlon. Bjoerndalen still winning gold medals at the age of 40.

i just saw that about an hour ago. he really doesnt like to wipe the snot off his chin. haha.

haha, it's sort of his trademark.

Olympic thread, nice!

No surprise about the downhill track, Russian like everything bolshoy. Slopestyle one was the same thing, big big jumps.

Congrats on the three medals (slopestyle golds and mogul bronze)!

Yeah I used to watch the classic ski events as a kid, like ski jumping, on the other hand now I find them a bit boring, part of it is we are gradually losing contenders in cross country skiing, nordic combined etc. Instead biathlon if a big hit here now (as well as in Germany, where it is one of the top sports). I never really got into alpine skiing, it is nice to see few riders go, there is some suspense in downhill etc, but the event last too logn and it gets repetitive. Sled sports never got much attention here, as far as I remember we didn't fare well, I think maybe bobsleigh team cracked top 10 in some heats and that's it. I Know about Latvians being good it, it surprised me at first as I though the expensive materials are the key for the greatest speed and usually the rich nations do well in it, especially Germans. Maybe it is german influence cultural thing?

Biathlon sprint was great. OEB is amazing. And we got bronze and two men in top 8 is nice foundation for the pursuit. It is actually the first olympic medal for our biathletes, we had some medals from world championships before never the olympics. I notice Rastorgujevs this year, he is good in the skiing part.

As far as Czech chances this year we have defending Olympic champion in women's speed skating long distances (both 3 and 5 km), biathlon is unpredictable but we have shots in both men's and women's competition and mostly mixed relay and then there are contenders in each women snowboard disciplines (snowboardcross, parallel slaloms, slopystyle/halfpipe) - the slopystyle one ended 5th including a fall in resulting in cracked helmet, scary thing. The acrobatics part of these sports is eye catching but as in every sports relying on judges it is hard to measure. But so far slopestyle is your best sport in Sochi, fat!

Hockey will get most spotlight here as ususal, I think we will face Latvia as well. Current coach is widely despised and assembled questionable roster, it is gonna be awkward tournament for us.

We have some more sportsmen possible of good results with some luck (top 10 or better rather than medals) - former world champion in women's slalom (alpine skiing), few freestyle skiers (9th place in women's moguls, agin former world cup winner in skicross), aging olympic medalist 8 years back in cross country, maybe we have an outside shots in cross country team sprint and possibly even the other long track speed skater.

I found funny there is luge relay, if I am gettign it right, they have to hit a ring above them in the finish to give signal to the next one to start?

Just added first silver. 0-1-1 so far. Russian skater's bronze looks very ... questionable.

So, why isn't Basketball, a winter sport, in the Winter Olympics? That would solve everyone's concern about the guys on the international team playing all summer in Olympic years, would give everyone else a two week break in Winter Olympic years. Would be fun imo.

doc.end wrote:I Know about Latvians being good it, it surprised me at first as I though the expensive materials are the key for the greatest speed and usually the rich nations do well in it, especially Germans. Maybe it is german influence cultural thing?

Yes. It is quite the phenomenon. Yet we continue to compete with rich countries year in and year out. When being asked about it, people give different answers but it supposedly is a combination of:

a) Great traditions. Our bobsledders turn into the next coaches and know how to train the next generation;
b) The guys mostly come from the country-side and are some tough mofos;
c) Our guys supposedly are just way more hungry. The Russians, per example, have enormous salaries yet lack the motivation our guys do who, by the way, are very low-paid. They do it out of passion and if they aren't among the best in the world, which means a somewhat proper financial backing from the country for the next four-year period, they can have trouble making ends meet as professional athletes.

It really is rather amazing.

doc.end wrote:Biathlon sprint was great. OEB is amazing. And we got bronze and two men in top 8 is nice foundation for the pursuit. It is actually the first olympic medal for our biathletes, we had some medals from world championships before never the olympics. I notice Rastorgujevs this year, he is good in the skiing part.

Yeah, I saw that. It was a rather unexpected medal, wasn't it? Congrats for that! The most important part was that your guy narrowly beat the Russian for a spot in the top3.

Rastorgujevs has been good. And you are right, good skiier, average shooter. Thank god he's come along. There was a small period of time where biathlon was almost dead in Latvia. After having a very good relay team, we suddenly had no solid biathletes.

doc.end wrote:Hockey will get most spotlight here as ususal, I think we will face Latvia as well. Current coach is widely despised and assembled questionable roster, it is gonna be awkward tournament for us.

Yes, we're in the same group. Don't you get me excited for a possible upset

doc.end wrote:I found funny there is luge relay, if I am gettign it right, they have to hit a ring above them in the finish to give signal to the next one to start?

haha, yes. it's a new discipline. despite how wacky it sounds, it's good for us since we've always had plenty of athletes in luge, yet they're not exactly on the same level as bobsledders or the Dukurs brothers in skeleton. so a relay competition where you need to have both men, women and doubles is in our favor.

the weirdest luge competition still are the men doubles though. who the hell thought of that concept!? the guy on the bottom is in a way too awkward position even to seemingly somehow affect the outcome as he doesn't do the majority of work at the start and he can't really steer as his eye-sight is blocked.

we do have the Vancouver silver medalists in mens doubles who I forgot to mention.

LamarMatic7 wrote:Yeah, I saw that. It was a rather unexpected medal, wasn't it? Congrats for that! The most important part was that your guy narrowly beat the Russian for a spot in the top3.


Rastorgujevs has been good. And you are right, good skiier, average shooter. Thank god he's come along. There was a small period of time where biathlon was almost dead in Latvia. After having a very good relay team, we suddenly had no solid biathletes.

Yes, we're in the same group. Don't you get me excited for a possible upset

haha, yes. it's a new discipline. despite how wacky it sounds, it's good for us since we've always had plenty of athletes in luge, yet they're not exactly on the same level as bobsledders or the Dukurs brothers in skeleton. so a relay competition where you need to have both men, women and doubles is in our favor.

the weirdest luge competition still are the men doubles though. who the hell thought of that concept!? the guy on the bottom is in a way too awkward position even to seemingly somehow affect the outcome as he doesn't do the majority of work at the start and he can't really steer as his eye-sight is blocked.

we do have the Vancouver silver medalists in mens doubles who I forgot to mention.

Yeah, the dissapointed face of Russian spectators were priceless. Then I found out today Vyleghazinin got narrowly 4th in skiathlon (and allegedly despite Russians protest). Too bad they couldn't countinue to collect just 4th places Their bronze speed skater score personal best on a bit slower track in Sochi so in case of Russian athletes benefit of the doubt goes towards something is fishy feeling. They just silver in women's biathlon sprint, that oen i probably ok (although there was a doping case of her teammate this year already).

Well, it the skiing tends to be the more important part, you can't win with just shooting a mediocre skiing, so he got it right and should be dong good once in a while when other things fall his way.

Well, that game seems like my stance on Bobcats tanking vs winning - I can't see myself rooting against during game, not really welcoming a loss (but not really minding it that much either in case of Cats) - but on the other hand more pressure on coach is good and if there should be upset on our expense, I would quite welcome to be in your favor. At the end the group phase is more or less just another qualification to figure out seeds. I will root for individual players for sure and I will surely root for anyone against Russians.

I am absolutely clueless about how steering and brakes work in sled sports. The really I hope I'll watch as the ringing sound like crazy and fun. We qualified a female luger just because of this competition - I think the relocation of quota prioritized nations which could then compete in the relay by getting quota in women, men or doubles. Yes, the doubles ... maybe it is the way it evolved from the times where more than one child/person were sliding on one luge?

props to another 40-year-old legend, Armin Zoggeler, for still going at it. Bronze in luge.

doc.end wrote:

LamarMatic7 wrote:Yeah, I saw that. It was a rather unexpected medal, wasn't it? Congrats for that! The most important part was that your guy narrowly beat the Russian for a spot in the top3.


Rastorgujevs has been good. And you are right, good skiier, average shooter. Thank god he's come along. There was a small period of time where biathlon was almost dead in Latvia. After having a very good relay team, we suddenly had no solid biathletes.

Yes, we're in the same group. Don't you get me excited for a possible upset

haha, yes. it's a new discipline. despite how wacky it sounds, it's good for us since we've always had plenty of athletes in luge, yet they're not exactly on the same level as bobsledders or the Dukurs brothers in skeleton. so a relay competition where you need to have both men, women and doubles is in our favor.

the weirdest luge competition still are the men doubles though. who the hell thought of that concept!? the guy on the bottom is in a way too awkward position even to seemingly somehow affect the outcome as he doesn't do the majority of work at the start and he can't really steer as his eye-sight is blocked.

we do have the Vancouver silver medalists in mens doubles who I forgot to mention.

Yeah, the dissapointed face of Russian spectators were priceless. Then I found out today Vyleghazinin got narrowly 4th in skiathlon (and allegedly despite Russians protest). Too bad they couldn't countinue to collect just 4th places Their bronze speed skater score personal best on a bit slower track in Sochi so in case of Russian athletes benefit of the doubt goes towards something is fishy feeling. They just silver in women's biathlon sprint, that oen i probably ok (although there was a doping case of her teammate this year already).

Well, it the skiing tends to be the more important part, you can't win with just shooting a mediocre skiing, so he got it right and should be dong good once in a while when other things fall his way.

Well, that game seems like my stance on Bobcats tanking vs winning - I can't see myself rooting against during game, not really welcoming a loss (but not really minding it that much either in case of Cats) - but on the other hand more pressure on coach is good and if there should be upset on our expense, I would quite welcome to be in your favor. At the end the group phase is more or less just another qualification to figure out seeds. I will root for individual players for sure and I will surely root for anyone against Russians.

I am absolutely clueless about how steering and brakes work in sled sports. The really I hope I'll watch as the ringing sound like crazy and fun. We qualified a female luger just because of this competition - I think the relocation of quota prioritized nations which could then compete in the relay by getting quota in women, men or doubles. Yes, the doubles ... maybe it is the way it evolved from the times where more than one child/person were sliding on one luge?

haha, I'm pleased that you're also religiously rooting against the Russians.

LamarMatic7 wrote:props to another 40-year-old legend, Armin Zoggeler, for still going at it. Bronze in luge.

Props to Noriaki Kasai (41, ski jumping), he has been participating in Olympics since 1992 (it is his 7th time in Sochi). And he actually still is good enough to be 8th tonight.

the winter olympics are awful....I never know whats going on and every time I turn it to NBC figure staking is on