<p>Back to an Olympic-related topic, although not 2010 and not winter, the FIG has finally determined that at least one of the Chinese gymnasts back in 2000 was underage:</p>
<p>The IOC has to decide what to do next. If China is stripped of its team medal, the US will get bronze. How cool would that be for a retired gymnast to get a bronze medal in the mail 10 years later?</p>
<p>percussiondad - you threw us a line with the cross country - can’t leave us hanging! what happened?</p>
<p>anyone see the Men’s Gold medal curling match? Sold out. Those Canadian’s needed to work a bit to beat “The Pants”. It was a happy win for Canada and Norway outplayed anyones expectations.</p>
<p>Greta I agree with you that the Canadian Women’s behaviour was not at an Olympic level and not one that I feel proud of and I have voiced my opinion to the proper authorities. When a microphone is shoved in the face of athletes within minutes of a race and asking them how they feel about winning or losing is no different and most athelete from all countries handled that with grace. The hockey players are no different than any other athlete in the emotions a loss will create, the disappointment is no worse for them than it it is for the downhill skier or speed skater that alomost made it.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t a gold medal have resulted in monetary rewards for the US players too? I assume the possibility of some endorsement contracts flew out the window as the Canadian puck flew into the goal. Maybe some of the players were watching that second home in the Caribbean drift away in those stares.</p>
<p>I don’t know how I feel about the visually impaired guy not getting to ski. My first thought is how terrible, but if he was the weakest member of the team (don’t know if that’s true), then it would have been patronizing to have given him a place before the others.</p>
<p>How about next one in Sochi, Russia? With all the snow available in various parts of Russia, probably the most snowy country in a world, I do not understand why Sochi? They do not have snow in Sochi, I am very surprized by their choice.</p>
<p>btw, the Times also had a long article about the legally blind Canadian xcountry skier, Brian McKeever. His brother was his guide in the qualifier for the Paralympics. He has less than 10% vision, all peripheral. His sideburns are shaped like hockey sticks.</p>
<p>I don’t think that meets the definition of cynical. I wouldn’t suggest that money is the main motivator, but they’re not naive about it. It is realistic. Hockey players in the US are paid better than years ago, but they must feel a little undervalued when compared to some other sports. It would be silly of them not to think about what a win could mean for their financial security. Everybody wants their face on the Wheaties box, don’t they? A gold for the truly amateur athletes can be a life changer financially. Many of their families have taken on a huge amount of debt in order to be there. A medal can be the difference between bankruptcy and security. If they’re not thinking about, their agents are.</p>
Five skiers on the team; four slots in the relay. The four fastest skiers were chosen. In an interview, he recognized this (but was still disappointed, of course).</p>
<p>Was anyone paying attention way back when when the games were awarded to Sochi? Was this discussed? I guess if there are snowy mountains within an hour or so, it could work.</p>
<p>Not exactly, but close. More like what D and I have seen in Claremont - ski to sea in one day kind of deal. From what I’ve read so far, the mountains near Sochi do get a fair amount of snow and are called the “Russian Switzerland”. The biggest question is how badly will the environment suffer because of the massive construction (there are no existing facilities that can accomodate Olympic-sized crowds).</p>
<p>^^This is why I am in favor of the idea of having the Olympics in the same place every 4 years, or possibly rotating among just a few places. What a waste to build massive facilities to just use them once. </p>
<p>I know some of the facilities get used by the locals after the fact, but much of the infrastructure and transportation for crowds is never used again. Plus each venue has to learn how to present the Olympics once, then never uses that knowledge again.</p>
<p>I was pleased there were no fights and very few penalties in the game. They were too busy chasing that puck! :)</p>
<p>Great game.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that psychologically, silver winners are not as happy as bronze winners. Bronze medalists are just happy to be on the podium. Silver medalists think about how they could have had gold, “if only.”</p>