2010 Winter Olympics Thread

[Yachtzee]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

He does that every day for 4 years?

4 years? Try every day since he got into the sport. Winter Olympians put in the hours, days, months, and years of training that any other athlete does. They just don't have the money that professional athletes get, so they usually have to work a couple jobs just to support themselves. I know the skiers in the Alpine events compete every winter in a series of races that are covered extensively in Europe, but go largely unnoticed in the US. They have to train year round just to keep up their fitness in order to compete during the season. Some of the top athletes are lucky enough to have endorsement deals that help them out financially, but most have to supplement their income with other jobs.

[fugowitribe]

Don't forget that the Olympics are not the only thing theses guys and girls compete in. They have World/National championships in most of these events every year.
They compete less than most sports, but the work that goes into their performance is every bit or more grueling than higher profile atheletes.

[HeatherC1212]

I AM SO HAPPY TONIGHT FOR MY FRIENDS!!!!! They skated their very best and got a personal best score too! YAY!!!!!!!

[George Anderson]

Originally Posted by fugowitribe

Don't forget that the Olympics are not the only thing theses guys and girls compete in. They have World/National championships in most of these events every year.
They compete less than most sports, but the work that goes into their performance is every bit or more grueling than higher profile atheletes.

Ok, that makes sense.

I just couldn't imagine training 2-3 times a day for your entire life just for one 2 week event even though it is something as incredibly awesome as the Olympics. If I were to focus that much of my time to something,it would be for a sport that paid big bucks like baseball or basketball.

FWIW My 6 year old daughter has taken up ice skating and she participated in her first show Saturday night. It really is interesting to see the older figure skaters up close and personal because you get a good perspective on how tough it is to do the things they do.

[11larkin11]

Wheres GAC at, we have to root on the hometown boy Louie in the Mens halfpipe Wednesday night!

[improbus]

Does anyone know if they are going to show the Men's Downhill? It's the only event that I want to see and instead I'm watching 15k Cross Country. They better show it.

[Hoosier Red]

They're probably going to show it on tape delay in prime time.

[improbus]

Originally Posted by Hoosier Red

They're probably going to show it on tape delay in prime time.

They better....

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by improbus

They better....

Gonna storm NBC if they don't?

[Hoosier Red]

I know it lost them a ton of money, but I really liked the way NBC carried the games in 2002 and 2006 with CNBC MSNBC BRAVO and USA carrying all the events live(or close to live) and NBC airing figure skating and medals at night.

[improbus]

DOWNHILL!!! The thing that I love about the Winter Games is the Speed. People should never throw their bodies at 90+ mph over snow/ice, but for some reason, they do.

[Patrick Bateman]

Originally Posted by Red in Chicago

That's the only thing that remotely interests me about the winter olympics. Otherwise, it's a total snooze-fest for me.

That's cool. Have you ever tried it?

It's my winter sport of coice lol.

[Roy Tucker]

Its officially winter and its the Olympics. Piles of snow outside and about as winter as it can get. But a fire in the fireplace.

I stayed up till midnight to watch pairs ice skating with wife and daughter. I would never do that under normal circumstances.

[HeatherC1212]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

Its officially winter and its the Olympics. Piles of snow outside and about as winter as it can get. But a fire in the fireplace.

I stayed up till midnight to watch pairs ice skating with wife and daughter. I would never do that under normal circumstances.

That's fantastic! What did you think of the competition? I'm curious as an avid skating fan what you, a casual viewer, thought about everything.

My friends skated great again last night and got another personal best score! I am SO PROUD of them for doing so well in their first big competition. Their second to last lift (the one handed one) got the highest element score of ALL the pairs which is a really big deal for them. I wish more pairs had skated clean (bummed for the German team who I adore but didn't have their best performance last night) but overall it was a pretty good competition.

[RedsBaron]

Originally Posted by improbus

DOWNHILL!!! The thing that I love about the Winter Games is the Speed. People should never throw their bodies at 90+ mph over snow/ice, but for some reason, they do.

I haven't watched much of the games but I did see the men's downhill skiing last night. I have skied before, which helped leave me in absolute awe of the skill and speed of the competitors. Simply amazing.