Gold for the U.S. in men’s curling. Amazing. Shuster hit a brilliant double takeout in the 8th to score 5.
AN AMAZING WIN FOR THE USA IN CURLING!!!
Five game win streak to take the gold for the Shuster rink. That included two wins over Canada and a win over Sweden, as well as wins over Switzerland and Great Britain (the other playoff teams, which we didn’t meet in the playoffs). Great game tonight: the double takeout in the 8th for 5 was just amazing. After that, it was just a matter of keeping our noses clean. 
Not sure what exactly you are talking about here… 
Five in a row against some of the best teams in the world. Think the U.S. Olympic team would ask a curler to carry the flag at the closing ceremonies?
I caught the last few ends of the women’s semi-final between Korea and Japan and it was a great game. Japan stole one in the 10th to force an extra end. Korea needed a clutch draw to win. I’ll have to see if I can watch the final at my club tonight.
My vote for US flag bearer would be Kikkan Randall – 1st US gold in XC skiing. Jessica Diggins is younger and is more likely to be in future Olympics.
Though I wouldn’t be upset if a curler got it.
Brian
The semifinal of the men’s snowboarding PSG (parallel giant slalom) featured a race between Lee Sangho of South Korea and a guy who’s name I can’t remember. It appeared during the ‘live’ run that Lee managed to catch up and win the race right at the end.
Then they showed the finish line camera and it was clear that Lee had not crossed the line first. They cut the slow mo finish line replay instantly for the broadcast, even before both their bodies crossed the line.
Then they cut to the shot where both competitors stand and get pictures taken while the results are made official and posted. You can hear the announcer on the PA and see both men look over to watch the replay on a monitor. The guy who “lost” says “I won” and then looks incredulously at Lee. He said something else and then they cut the shot as Lee, having been declared the winner, walked off for his next race.
It was clear in the replay tho that Lee had not won.
I can’t find video of it just yet, but I’m sure eventually it will surface.
Wouldn’t be the first time officiating was accused of favoring a home South Korean contestant. Shades of the 2002 World Cup and also the 1988 Seoul boxing match.
The 1988 boxing scandal is what came to my mind, Velocity. And yeah, the race meant that Lee went on to compete for the bronze (which he won).
Here’s the video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SFXopPPWiZs
It does look like Lee is slightly behind, although unfortunately the camera angle isn’t perfectly down the finish line. I think those are the finish sensors you can see just before the red finish line. They look like they wouldn’t register until some part of the racer passes directly in front of them, so maybe Lee’s hand happened to be just at the right height.
Yeah, I saw the stills taken from the video after my very sleep-deprived befuddled brain managed to equate psg to Parallel Giant Slalom. 
The red line is just a referent; it’s not the actual finish line, which is set by the electronic device used to determine the time/winner. I’m not sure what they use as a back-up in a case like this; what I read said that the winner simply has to get ANY part of his/her body across first, which means presumably they would have to have something akin to what they use at speedskating or track events to identify winners in a photo finish.
As for claims of bias in the officiating, well, so far as I know, most of these events are run by the actual international sport federation that governs the sport, so it’s not Koreans who are “judging” the result. YMMV.
My understanding was that the flag-carrier is already set: Jessica Diggins.
I do think that Shuster would deserve it, though. Man’s been through a lot of hell to get there!
I saw that. Also a great choice.
The previous World Cup and boxing scandals that unfairly favored Koreans were also international FIFA/Olympic officials, not Korean officials.
If that’s the criteria, it’s a fucking stupid one. Stick a tiny sensor on the front of each board and read the sensors as they cross the line; boom, done. It’s the godddamned 21st century, ffs; act like it.
Good point and totally correct. Somewhere online I even saw a list of the judges, prolly at the Olympics or NBC website. I humbly apologize for casting aspersions earlier; it was wrong of me.
I’m not sure hoe many events measure by board–I know the cross-country events measure by boot, not by tip of the ski.
From what I’ve seen in this case, there were two laser sensors above the finish line, tripping either of them sets the time. Legs crossing will obviously trip them, both of them reached their hands forward to attempt to trip them earlier. One of them misjudged where the sensors were, the other one did not.
Both knew where they were, one of them just missed.
Well that’s fine: put the sensor in the boot then, or right in the middle of the board, w/e as long as it’s consistent for all competitors. Reaching a hand out to break the beam is lame as fuck.
I heard an announcer say, “Any part of the body or equipment”. I know it was like that in skiing for a long time. You would see the skier lift the tip of the ski to try to break the beam.
I’m really pissed with the coverage. I DVR damn near everything I can, and its always repeated, but then cuts off the end of a whole bunch of new stuff!
I missed the conclusion of 4-man bob, the head-to-head stuff, bunch of others. Did get to see the USA capture gold in curling. That was some game!
Ugggh…okay, fine, commercials are a necessity, the network has to make its money somehow. There are way too few of them. No, that’s not a thing I thought I’d be saying either, but it’s totally true. Several hours of coverage a day on two networks, for sixteen days, and I swear to god I’ve seen the same eight commercials like several hundred times. Swear to Kanako, if I have to listen to “swan drive” again I am going to get freaking sick. Are there really like five different sponsors for this thing? That seems pretty bare-bones to me.
Okay, since I’m going to have to be the guy who makes a biggish deal out of ladies figure skating…well, first off, I have a newfound appreciation for it not only because there’s no more nauseating drama (in fact, I don’t even remember any story whatsoever, just good, clean competition), but because I don’t have to sit through constant interruptions. I think every skiing event I’ve seen has had had about six damn commercial breaks. With figure skating, NBC always shows the routine from start to finish, only cutting to commercial while waiting for the scores. Clean, sensible, intuitive, and just plain works. Figure skating was by far the event I enjoyed watching the most and it ended way too soon. (I would’ve preferred slightly less ice dancing in favor of the disciplines that actually require leg muscles, but that’s a minor quibble.)
All right, my question. What’s happening with the ladies’ outfits? Yeah, I actually did a search for this, and I found a couple of pretty interesting articles (this one and this one), but they didn’t have quite what I was looking for. What I’d like to know is how it’s put together from the bottom up. As far as I can tell, the standard outfit started out as a plain long-sleeved dress with a short, flowy skirt, and (probably?) a basic leotard underneath. Then it…I think…became a single piece, a leotard with the skirt attached, like some ballerina outfits. Other than some stylistic froofraws, that was it for a long time, and then the “pseudo-plunging neckline” became de rigeur. They can’t actually show that much flesh on account of it being undignified and whatnot, but they can put a lighter-colored or sheer material in the area. Then around the 90’s, the emphasis was on skintight and elaborate above the waist and asymmetrical skirts. I think this was the time when they ditched leotards in favor of cheerleader-style sports briefs, mainly because the top part of a leotard would show through the material.
Now, in light of the recent Papadakis-Cizeron short dance fiasco, I have to ask: why don’t they wear sports bras? Granted, these are professionally-designed costumes, but mishaps happen, and given how notoriously cracked the sports media gets about nip slips (especially since you-know-what), having just the one thin, sheer outer layer just seems like a bad risk. A properly-fitted tube-style bra would provide adequate coverage without seriously clashing with the rest of the outfit.
I notice, too, during the ladies final that Medvedeva and one of the Japanese skaters appeared to have a “double” skirt, a second inner layer that looks like it’s made out of a thicker or stiffer material, and thus stays down during jumps? I…don’t see the logic of this. First off, by rule the outfit has to qualify as “modest”, so there’s no reason to hide your upper thighs. Look, in any sport where you have to wear a short, flowy skirt, the layer beneath is going to be repeatedly visible. If you can’t accept this fact, figure skating is not your sport. It’s that simple. Same deal with competing in a unitard. If you’s so self-conscious about your legs that you have to COMPLETELY cover them, the judges have every right to hold it against you. I could kinda see excessive self-consciousness for a Japanese skater (although certainly not at the Olympic level) but a Russian?
Finally, does anyone know what the deal is with these random patches of flesh-colored material that make her look like she cut several huge irregular holes in her outfit? I can’t remember a time I saw that many in one event. Is it a rebellion thing? A get-away-with-as-much-as-you-possibly-can thing? I personally find them awkward, but for there to be that many there must be fans of it.
I am also concerned with the costuming of skaters. At this level of competition you would think they would have stylists. The oriental girls were more conservative,I think.
The one Japanese girl with her leotards pulled down over her skates just looked dumpy. I know they do that boot thing to make her legs look longer, it didn’t work.
That flesh colored material is called ‘illusion’ lace or net. It’s supposed to give the impression of skin. The skirts are just weird. Ballet tutus look better to me.
Oh, and the near disastrous costume malfunction was just stupid. There are so many ways to fix that crap so it won’t come undone, someone dropped the ball on that one ( or dropped the safety pin ). Yea, I am former dance Mom, I sewed a lot of costume backs together on recital nights.
According to FIS International Competition Rules (ICR), specifically ICR 611.2 (Timing Equipment), timing systems must be from an approved list (the term “homologated” is used; I learned a new word today! 
). There are two systems in use at the same time; the A system and the B system; one acts as backup to the other. Each has at least one, sometimes more photocells which are used for the official time. As backup to the photocell systems, a photofinish system with included times can be used, properly correlated to the official system before that system went bad. Further, ALL races are timed by hand as well. There are a LOT of redundancies.
Transponders are NOT allowed for official timing. They can be used for identification purposes ONLY.
The gory details can be found in these two extensive works (warning: PDF files!):
International Competition Rules Book IV: Joint Regulations for Alpine Skiing
Notice that both books are out of date. It is possible that the rules have changed, but based upon what I’ve seen from watching alpine skiing, I don’t think so.