The Olympics

Parent Cafe
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<p>I feel the same way having watched years of my D’s horse shows. Of course, as soon as I got really comfortable with her level and the horse she was jumping, she fell off after a jump and broke two bones in her back.</p>

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<p>Stephane Lambiel! We loved him last night, too (2nd only to loving Evan, of course). The only thing I don’t like about Stephane is that his costumes have been just… strange in the past. But he looked great last night, and the William Tell Overature was an inspired choice for his music.</p>

<p><a href=“http://img.eoi-global.com/20061106_244472.JPG[/url]”>http://img.eoi-global.com/20061106_244472.JPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/images/worlds/worlds%202005%20lambiel%20fs.jpg[/url]”>http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/images/worlds/worlds%202005%20lambiel%20fs.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Regarding the cross country skiers, there really isn’t a fitter group of athletes in the world. However, much like in cycling, doping is rampant in the sport. The Finns, Austrians, and Russians have all been busted in recent years, and I found myself wondering about those two Russian guys today. I have had the good luck to be working only half time in a year with lots of snow in our area, so I have been cross country skiing almost every day this winter. My abs don’t look like theirs (yet!), but I am closer than I was a couple of months ago.</p>

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<p>^^^As to doping, I’m going to guess that rather than steroids, the cross country skiiers are using EPO enhancers or are getting busted for EPO enhancer masking agents? I don’t know much about cc skiing, but I guess if there’s a way to cheat, regardless of the sport, some will try it.</p>

<p>Sad.</p>

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<p>My DD walked through the room a little while ago and saw Apollo Ono win his heat. She said “Hey! Isn’t that the guy from Dancing With the Stars? What is he doing there?!”</p>

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<p>I agree, moms, once you’ve watched years of gymnastics or a tackle sport :EEK: you can watch anything</p>

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<p>Anyone watch the speed skating relay? Kind of comical looking with the big shove they give each other when they change people.</p>

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<p>I am really anxious to watch Brian McKeever from Canada in the 50K cross country on the 28th. I don’t know if you have heard of him but is legally blind and will also be competing in the paralympics. He has only 10% vision but has qualified as a member of our Canadian team. They say has doesn’t stand a chance at the medals but I think it is fantastic that he will be there. He is the first athlete to compete in both Olympic and Paralympic games.</p>

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<p>swimcatsmom, I wasn’t familiar with the speed skating relays and the first time I saw it, I commented out loud, “that guy just pushed the other one out of the way!” I was expecting the benches to clear.</p>

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<p>I don’t like that relay. Too many people, too many changes of racers. Lots of potential for something to go wrong.</p>

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<p>Now that the French are back in, the finals will be chaos with so many people on the track.</p>

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<p>Ok, I’m watching the snowboarding half pipe. That is an amazing sport. Talk about heart in your throat! Sean White is something else. I’d never seen him compete before. All the others went before him and I was impressed. When he did his first run, I think my eyes bugged out at how high he went. I hope his second run is as good or better than his first.</p>

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<p>Next up - the Dancing With the Stars guy.</p>

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<p>Same with me and the half-pipe. White’s so far above everyone else.</p>

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<p>The doping scandals I am aware of for the nordic skiers have involved blood transfusions (Austrians at Salt Lake City, they sloppily left their transfusion evidence in their rooms for the cleaning staff to find…), HES (a plasma volume expander, Finns in 2001), and darbepeotin (Russians at Salt Lake City, gold & silver medalists stripped of their medals due to positive tests). EPO is rumored to be commonly used as well. :(</p>

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<p>Shaun is amazing! I guess owning you very own half pipe works. </p>

<p>I can’t decide if I like the pink/black plaid work shirt look.</p>

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<p>Which snowboarder kept losing his pants?</p>

<p>I thought Shaun White was going to be so-so, or just like all the others, but Nooo. He was amazing! Oh man!</p>

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<p>^^^^Ditto.</p>

<p>I think the shirts look like something you’d wear to a hoedown.</p>

<p>My daughter says it’s smart because it makes them stand out against the white snow and thus is a plus as far as judging goes.</p>

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<p>I think it was one of the Japanese snowboarders - it looked like he wanted them sagging and pulled them down.</p>

<p>Shaun White was amazing - so cool that he did the final run even though he already had the gold, then blew it out of the water. Kind of amused me when the commentator apologized for the bad language - I hadn’t even picked up on it so had to rewind it to see what he was talking about.</p>

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<p>I like the lumberjack look. You LOOK like you’re not trying hard, but when you and your posse have on matching shirts, well, it’s obvious you had to try to make that happen. That was great of him to give it his all on that last run in order to please the crowd.</p>

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<p>Pants on the ground
Pants on the ground
Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground</p>

<p>Want that gold around your neck
Goggles on the face
Pants hit the ground
Call yourself a cool cat
Lookin’ like a fool
Skatin’ on the pipe with your pants on the ground</p>