Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang
- Thread starter rich p
- Start date
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winjim
Straddle the line, discord and rhyme
To be fair, I do this at work. Long periods of ignorance punctuated by the occasional fortnight of in depth knowledge about whichever rare disease we're dealing with at the time.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
I watched a bit of the womens' snowboarding, and really enjoyed it. Yes, the commentators were absolutely dire, but the skill and enthusiasm of the participants was really refreshing. Most sportspeople at the top of their game are grim-faced robots. The snowboarders looked like they were having fun. Isn't that what sport should be about?
OK, OK, they were good looking as well.
OK, OK, they were good looking as well.
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
To the uninitiated like myself, it sometimes seems that they've just invented half a dozen new ways to slide down slippy stuff on a variety of different shaped tea trays. Although there must (surely?) be a high degree of skill involved, the microscopic time differences between the top 75% of the fields suggests that the influence of gravity is far and away the biggest determinator of finishing times. Strap some skis to a grand piano and shove it down the luge run and it has an outside chance of a medal.
Tin Pot
Guru
Uninitiated, naive or dare I say ignorant?
My favourite is the biathlon. Skiing and shooting. Unbelievable combination of fitness, control and skill imo.
The Biathlon, women’s 10km pursuit did not disappoint yesterday. Check it out!
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
Lots of sports are decided by fractions of a second, that is the nature of competition at the very top level.
To suggest that anyone could give it a go is as silly as saying anyone could drive an F1 car or ride a grand national winner
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
We saw sims ski jumping yesterday. Completely incomprehensible.
Cross country skiing is just about the only winter sport that really makes sense when you're watching. Not coincidentally it's also the only one I've ever wanted to try, and although I was unbelievably crap it was as fun as I imagined.
(Georgia Mann on Radio 3 has just described the snow boarding commentary as "Shakespearian". I presume they're not using iambic pentameter?(
Cross country skiing is just about the only winter sport that really makes sense when you're watching. Not coincidentally it's also the only one I've ever wanted to try, and although I was unbelievably crap it was as fun as I imagined.
(Georgia Mann on Radio 3 has just described the snow boarding commentary as "Shakespearian". I presume they're not using iambic pentameter?(
Joey Shabadoo
My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
The training for the biathlon is intense
Tin Pot
Guru
Pursuit is somewhere in the middle here
Winter Olympics, BBC One Day 3: Women's Luge first run and Men's Moguls finals part 1: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09s09pk via @bbciplayer
Although the rules are slightly complicated it’s hardly neuroscience:
You race cross country. You shoot. For each target you miss you do a penalty lap.
It makes for some drama particularly in this race, as first second and third place are all contested hotly at various points in the race.
Winter Olympics, BBC One Day 3: Women's Luge first run and Men's Moguls finals part 1: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09s09pk via @bbciplayer
Although the rules are slightly complicated it’s hardly neuroscience:
You race cross country. You shoot. For each target you miss you do a penalty lap.
It makes for some drama particularly in this race, as first second and third place are all contested hotly at various points in the race.
Phew! Crap line for the final though.
Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
Yep. I'm ignorant (in the field of minority slippy-slidey sports at least). You can say that if you like. But I'm happy to stick with just the men's and women's downhill, the slaloms (even though the camera angles make it almost impossible to see the route of the course) and super-G .... oh, and the curling.
As to the biathlon, it is of course possible to be highly impressed by this army training routine without being remotely entertained by it. Another gripe I have is that I also have qualms about the Russians being allowed to enter team events. How can anyone think of them as anything but "Russia" - when it is supposed to be Russia that is being punished? Apart from that, the stated rationale about letting individual clean Russian athletes compete as stateless independent contestants so that they get a taste of the true spirit of the Olympics seems OK to me. I won't be watching their ice hockey teams though.
My all-time Winter Olympic hero is Eddie the Eagle ... someone I was fortunate enough to meet recently, and who was treated shamefully by our snobbish national organisers for making us a laughing stock, when in fact he was the only British guy to dare to take on the ski jumps and showed amazing determination to get involved and give it a go. I once stood at the top of the Olympic ski jump in Oslo, and no amount of money could convince me to ever jump off it.
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
I think it was the IOC that imposed the strict qualification rules, not the British Olympic Team.
The argument being made on safety grounds, which is probably not unreasonable given the inherent dangers.
But I agree that you have to be a very impressive athlete just to attempt it.
