I saw them this morning on the wrap-up, and they totally looked like they were out of central casting for some retro Will Farrell movie.
Do they stop a third of the way through the race and rest, calling it a stage? Then no, short track racing is far superior to NASCAR.
And the relay short track just fucking rocks! Though I wonder if Madison slings work on ice. Because that would be awesome.
Yeah, that is a spectacular event.
I dunno. Do they trade paint? Rubbin’ is racin’…
Hmmm, biathlon is on NBC as I type this and before was 5k speed skating. I look forward to stuff you only see every 4 years. Figure skating sometimes gets too much coverage for me.
Brian
riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Baron Greenback being invested in curling once every four years
I agree. One of my favorite things about the Olympics is the chance to see sports that are only covered once every four years.
On the subject of biathlon, does anyone know why left-handed biathletes are so rare? I watched the men’s and women’s sprints and only saw one.
Three days in, Canada has done better than it did in the entire 1988 Winter Games it hosted in Calgary. Or for that matter ANY Winter Games held prior to 1994.
Of course, of the 7 medals Canada has, six are in events that weren’t even in the Olympics in 1988. The impact of new sports has, by itself, turned Canada from an also-ran to a dominant force; last time out Canada won nine medals just in freestyle skiiing, meaning the 2014 Canadian freestyle team was better than the entire Canadian Winter Olympic team in any games up to 1994.
It may be an equipment thing. I am under the impression that left-handed archers are also rare - in fact, aren’t there stories about normally left-handed people teaching themselves to shoot arrows right-handed because of this?
Firearms are often designed with the right-handed shooter in mind. I suspect a lot of shooters just learn that way, even if they are left-handed.
Shooting has more to do with eye dominance than it does with hand dominance. Lots of left-handed people are right-eye dominant.
Dutch speed skater Irene Wust just became the first sporter to get one or more gold medals on four consecutive Olympic Winter Games. Respect.
I’m right-handed but left-eye dominant; that’s why I paid attention to whether any competitors were shooting left-handed (or more accurately, left-eyed). So what percentage of the population is left-eye dominant? I only saw one guy shoot that way; it’s got to be more common than that.
I was originally thinking that there just weren’t left-handed biathlon rifles available, but then I did see one, so it can be done. I suppose it’s possible that the places where a person might try biathlon don’t have left-handed rifles to use, and so a leftie would be discouraged from taking up the sport before they get to a level of buying their own rifle. Seems rather short-sighted though.
I hate the Hamiltons!
Watching them on Curling Night…In Americur, they seemed like they were the ones. When they were on they were on! But they went down like punks. In the last game, they gave up like 4 in the 7th end to a team that had never won.
And then of course, they get to be in four person team curling as well, so not only does someone else not get to go, we have to see them again.
At least they give hope to us that not every Olympian needs to be zero percent body fat 20 somethings that can rock skin tight suits.
Speaking of NASCAR olympics, I’m eagerly awaiting the four person downhill snowboard races. Now that’s racin’!
Speaking of racin’, I was amused/bewildered over the weekend to hear Leigh Diffey calling the luge competition for NBC, since I know him primarily as an announcer of auto racing. Looking it up, I see that he also called luge, skeleton, and bobsled in 2014 as well. So I guess Winter Olympic coverage is also one of his things. Still, it was kind of a shock: “What’s Leigh Diffey doing here? This isn’t IndyCar!”
I wouldn’t go that far, but international curling has been rather heartbreaking for American fans the last several years.
For two weeks they have a dozen sports to cover; they have to bring in commentators off the bench, as it were.
[controversial opinion alert]
If it can’t be objectively measured (i.e., time, distance) get it out of the olympic medal category… make it an exhibition, but don’t give medals. I know this means no figure skating, gymnastics, half-pipe, but let’s be honest, you watch a run/routine, and then wait to see what the judges score. Take moguls for example: time is 20% of the score, but “how good you look while making turns” is weighted 60%. Why isn’t body posture judged in the luge, or form in the 200-meter butterfly? And don’t get me started on any event that requires music… artistic expression, gimme a break…
[/controversial post alert]
Mass Start is supposed to be more like NASCAR than short track. Starts Feb 24.
Oh, I’m with you. Nothing judged should be an Olympic sport. Too much bias. Only things measurable, timed etc, should be there. Distance, speed, max weight, that sort of thing.
I’d even add - no team sports. No hockey, baseball, basketball, curling, water polo. That’s not the exhibition of human ability, it’s a group effort. I’d make exceptions for bobsled, relay races, or doubles tennis, maybe.
Yes, I know, in my world the Olympics will last three days and no one will watch. But is that a bad thing? The Olympics are competing with my NHRA and Westminster Dog Show! And the Daytona 500.
I agree with you, completely.