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The Sicilian
Two things,

Is Norway struggling to reach gold this Olympics?

Why is Great Britain embarrassingly a no-show in the medal count? Is curling the only thing they can compete in?

See that, call them out and it brings out the best in the athlete. Norway has since added 4 golds and Britain gets its first gold in 30 years.

Tonight we will get our second gold ............at least I hope

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Addicted

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kleermaker

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Addicted
Well, Doxa - the most striking results from this Olympic event is in fact what we don't see in the medal charts. Former great winter sports nations, like Russia and Suomi Finland - both have been known to win quite a few gold medals over the years - don't have any gold medals so far. The fact that doping controls have been intensified before and during these winter games might have something to do with that. What do you think?

Anyway - the nations you mention haven't particularly marked themselves as great winter sports nations, have they? So you're wasting your ammo, Doxa. Shoot away - but you really don't have a case.

I'm just happy we seem to have the cleanest (when it somes to doping) games ever. The best athletes win (forget from which nations they are!), not the ones with the dodgiest doctors, the lowest ethical standards and the most stupid team leaders.

AND CONGRATS to Great Britain with their first Olympic Gold in 30 years! Amy Williams, skelleton. What a run!

The richest countries win the most medals, especially in the summer Olympics. And China, because for them it's a matter of big importance, because they are becoming a worldpower (if they aren't already, being the world's factory industry) and love the 'prestige'. It's a matter of money, guys. For example, Holland is always high on the list with its only 16 million people. Check the ranking and you see it yourself. No people/country is better in sports than the other. It's money (and facilities) that matters. Well, isn't that fair??

Economy matters, of course. But tradition and climate is also important. For instance, Norway's probably the richest nation in the world - but we really suck at the Olympic summer games. We don't have very long summers. 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad skiing conditions, as some people might say.

I said money and facilities. And of course number of people.

Btw: nice kids. Didn't I read 'Norway' on your little son's t-shirt

Gold Nr. 2 for Simon Ammann

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


(Gold Nr. 4 for Switzerland: about 7'779'200 inhabitants.. but also "some" mountains, I guess a very important aspect if the subject here that these are the winter games.)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-21 00:08 by mariannerl.

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mariannerl
Gold Nr. 2 for Simon Ammann

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

actualy it's gold number 4!!! ;-)

Yes for him Nr. 4

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The Sicilian

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The Sicilian
Two things,

Is Norway struggling to reach gold this Olympics?

Why is Great Britain embarrassingly a no-show in the medal count? Is curling the only thing they can compete in?

See that, call them out and it brings out the best in the athlete. Norway has since added 4 golds and Britain gets its first gold in 30 years.

You Are a master motivator.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

Switzerland (7.779.200 habitants) won Norway (4.825.000 habitants) in over-time 5-4. But it was a great hockey game by Norwegians. They really played well.

- Doxa

I watched some NBC coverage for the first time today. A US skater came in third in 1000m speed skating, and the camera and commentators followed only him. It was treated as if he won. The two South Koreans who claimed Gold and Silver were hardly mentioned.

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Doxa
Switzerland (7.779.200 habitants) won Norway (4.825.000 habitants) in over-time 5-4. But it was a great hockey game by Norwegians. They really played well.

- Doxa

Yes it was a great game.

BTW here in Switzerland in a newspaper yesterday mentioned that this could be the "the Svindal games". I hope for him, he is great.

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mariannerl

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Doxa
Switzerland (7.779.200 habitants) won Norway (4.825.000 habitants) in over-time 5-4. But it was a great hockey game by Norwegians. They really played well.

- Doxa

Yes it was a great game.

BTW here in Switzerland in a newspaper yesterday mentioned that this could be the "the Svindal games". I hope for him, he is great.

Well, as far as Finland goes these games already are "the Ammann games"... We Finns know how to appriciate hill jumping; for some reason there is a huge interest on it, even though we are not doing very well at the moment. Ammann is incredible (but so is Svindal and not to forget the halfpipe guy.). The success of Ammann seems to be a hard case especially for Austrian team who try to find some technical reasons to sabotage his success (but the Austrians will have their gold medal in team competion). But that's olympic spirits!

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-21 12:21 by Doxa.

Holland have the second gold with ice skating.

1. Mark Tuitert 1:45.57
2. Shani Davis 1:46.10
3. Havard Bokko 1:46.13

I never thought this would happend, Shani is a great skater on that distand

As far as the traditional cross-field skiing goes, I am impressed of the strong contribution of Sweden (population 9,340,682). Last night the men's race was a great representation of the tactical excellence of Swedes. The result: a gold and a bronze. Hats off!

In contrast, Finland (population 5,356,000) is doing worse than ever. Really awful performances. But it is funny to watch, and I'm dying to hear all the explanations from our coaches, sports leaders, etc. As far as I'm concerned I hope they stop to taking part to such a form of sports, because they have screwed up big time in the past and there is so much bad publicity (for a good reason) that there is no more sponsors available, and the support from goverment has been reduced alraedy to minimum. There is no hope. Just stop the suffering altogether, and have Norway who still seem to get kicks out of it, have all the fun, etc. I think any young talented potential Finn athlete nowadays will have sense enough to avoid such a shit, and pick up more exciting, updated form of sports. But that is bad decision for the international cross-skiing over-all, because, after all, there are not many countries in the world that raelly have a go for such a sports.

- Doxa

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NICOS
Tonight we will get our second gold ............at least I hope

Yes........1500 m skating Mark Tuitert

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Why is there such bad publicity re Finnish cross country skiing?
It is admittedly an outdated sport. A bit creaky.
Who is that Doogie Houser guy jumping all the way to Gold?

Huge day in Olympic hockey today. Rivalry sunday. Russia VS Czech Republic,USA VS Canada and Sweden VS Finland.....And I should be able to watch them all live instead of tape delay. My day is set.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

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sweetcharmedlife
Huge day in Olympic hockey today. Rivalry sunday. Russia VS Czech Republic,USA VS Canada and Sweden VS Finland.....And I should be able to watch them all live instead of tape delay. My day is set.

Exactly! A dream night of international ice hockey. Even though the results doesn't really signify very much (no one will be played out yet), the tension between all those teams is traditionally huge... there is never half-hearted games. The last of those games, Finland-Sweden, will start not until 7 am in our time, so it will be a long night for me...

Let's play hockey!!!

- Doxa

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Doxa
Let's play hockey!!!

- Doxa

In Germany, there is Hockey (which means field hockey, outdoor) and Ice Hockey.
Do you Northerners, just like the Americans, call the winter sports Hockey and the summer sports Field Hockey (or a similar expression)?

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JJHMick

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Doxa
Let's play hockey!!!

- Doxa

In Germany, there is Hockey (which means field hockey, outdoor) and Ice Hockey.
Do you Northerners, just like the Americans, call the winter sports Hockey and the summer sports Field Hockey (or a similar expression)?

Funny though, we Finns call field hockey "maahockey" ("maa"= ground or field) and ice hockey as "jääkiekko" ("jää"=ice; "kiekko"= puck, disc). Seemingly, because "field hockey" has remained such an exotic game for us, it is never translated properly to Finnish language. So when talking about "hockey" in Finnish it connotates solely to the field hockey.

With Swedes and Norwegians the situation is a bit different beacuse they use the word "hockey" in desrcribing both games. Let them tell it by themselves.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-21 20:15 by Doxa.

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Palace Revolution 2000
Why is there such bad publicity re Finnish cross country skiing?

Thanks to the doping scandal in 2001 (when 6 Finns cross-field skiers were caught using illegal stuff in our own goddamn world championships: now that was a emberrassing...). The whole form of sports lost all its credibility. Even though some people like Addicted here at IORR thinks that we Finns are natural cheaters who think that doping is okay it is not the case. The sponsors left the building and the government cut down supporting the national team. The whole organization running the nordic sports has fallen down to pieces because no one wants to be in touch with these bullshitters and cheaters.

And the drama over the doping is still going on: some people in high places still denying the systematical use of doping in the 90's. Next episode is to be seen in a court house. STT (teh main Finnish news agency) was once (1998) charged for "spreading unverified claims of doping use in skiing" and they paid a huge sum of money to the "persons who suffered" (there were a lot of them, including some politicians). Now the case is re-opened, and we will see what happens... It is within these new police hearings Mika Myllylä - one of the best skiers in the 90's - has admitted using EPO in his career.

The result is that there is no sympathical atmosphere at all toward cross-field skiing. It just smells shit. People here are almost amused of how bad "we" are managing in Vancouver. In a way it is sad because Finnish are natural cross-field skiers as anyone. For example, I learned almost same time to ski as to walk... But I happily would let cross-skiing to be solely a nice, healthy hobby, and nothing more serious. (Personally I don't think there is such a thing as a clean or doping-free cross-field skier who can win medals, but that's my personal belief, and it is a topic that is banned to discuss in this forum.)

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-21 21:04 by Doxa.

I'll say this, considering Britain struggled for 30 years to win a winter olympics gold medal the sure did it with style.

Amy Williams is the hottest babe on the gold podium.

High marks to the women's curling teams. Most countries have at least one beauty on their roster amoungst the bull dogs.

Question is which ladies curling team has the most hotties?

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The Sicilian
I'll say this, considering Britain struggled for 30 years to win a winter olympics gold medal the sure did it with style.

Amy Williams is the hottest babe on the gold podium.

High marks to the women's curling teams. Most countries have at least one beauty on their roster amoungst the bull dogs.

Question is which ladies curling team has the most hotties?

Well of course a Brit won the Skeleton. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

While our best boys and girls are performing on ski in the Vancouver Olympics I am hooked into what they call midlife crisis performance by running ski myself. Have done two races in one week, each 40 km i.e. what they call ski marathon. Great fun, but my body wonder why I had to wait 40 years after schood days to pick up on serious ski work. The reason is the lack of a Stones tour I say... By the way, lots of great fun in the Vancouver olympics!

Bjornulf

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bv
While our best boys and girls are performing on ski in the Vancouver Olympics I am hooked into what they call midlife crisis performance by running ski myself. Have done two races in one week, each 40 km i.e. what they call ski marathon. Great fun, but my body wonder why I had to wait 40 years after schood days to pick up on serious ski work. The reason is the lack of a Stones tour I say... By the way, lots of great fun in the Vancouver olympics!

I am enjoying these olympics more than the others. I just wish the women skiers would not celebrate as though they won the gold after each run only to have the next skier blow away their time. (Lindsey Vonn comes in the Super G comes to mind)

Great day for Croatia, we won silver medal today in alpine skiing - super combination!

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Bitches Brew
Great day for Croatia, we won silver medal today in alpine skiing - super combination!

YES.. Ivica Kostelic!!! Always a very good man (as his sister Janica was, brillant, 4 gold 2 silver the best olympic alpine ski lady of all time)!! Bronze for our Silvan Zurbriggen.. And at least BODE got his gold.

Oh ... GOLD for Mike Schmid Ski Cross

Bode Miller takes Gold. That's a full set! Gold, Bronze & Silver WITH TWO EVENTS TO GO!! add those two silvers from Turin '02...Congratulations Bode; much joy in the north country mountains waaay NE USA

Another GOLD for Holland Ireen Wust 1500 m skating YEAH

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I like the hockey----- NO FIGHTING.