This is the thread to comment on the opening/closing ceremonies as well as any sports. Please keep politics to a minimum, preferably zero (if a giant ice sculpture of Mao shows up commenting on that would be OK)
As a (very not Olympic level) XC skier I like those events, particularly Nordic Combined and Biathlon. Speed Skating is good too. Of course it will be wall to wall ice skating which I tolerate. Except for Ski Jumping (which is only partially judged), I like the judged events less. I don’t hate Hockey but can take it or leave it.
What sports interest you? Are Skeleton participants actually sane?
Good to see an Olympic thread, because I have a question even before the opening ceremony. I’m just watching curling out of boredom, it never was a sport that interested me very much, but I like to watch when nothing else is on. I’m watching the Switzerland-UK game, and I noticed that they have mixed teams. Is this new? I remember seeing men’s and women’s curling, not mixed. Is this a new discipline?
Almost all of the commentators and on-air staff (and production staff) for NBC will be working out of the NBC Sports facility in Stamford, Connecticut. Because of the pandemic, they are sending very few people to Beijing. In fact, in previous Olympics, NBC Nightly News and the Today show would relocate to the host city but they’re not doing that. In short, in some respects this is going to be a lot like the Tokyo Games last year.
The BBC prefaced its coverage by discussing the human right abuses of Uyghur muslims, showing the Hong Kong protests and reminding us that the well-being Peng Shuai is still not certain.
I’m struck by the music being used here. There is no attempt whatsoever to utilise Chinese music. The music so far as been classical European stuff or cheesy dramatic sounding soundtrack style music. I think most hosts would fill an opening ceremony with music from their own country, or get a well-known home-grown artist to compose something new. Plus some live performances.
Perhaps when they light the flame we will hear something.
It was a bad opening ceremony. Thematically vague and generally underwhelming. Even with making allowances for covid, Tokyo pulled off something that was at least more interesting.
The gate actually opens for them to begin during the beeping countdown(think Mario Kart race starts). It beeps a couple more times at least after they start skiing, then does the high pitch beep that indicates “go”.
I see no mark they have to reach by the final beep.
As I understand it, the beeping is just advisory. The clock is started by moving a small lever in front of the skier’s shins, and it’s stopped by breaking a beam at the finish line. If you watch the skiers, they throw their body forward out of the start gate first, and then their feet; and at the end they extend one foot (or their had) to stop the clock. Every fraction of a second might matter.
The race organizers do want things to run on a schedule; one skier down the course each minute or two. The beeping helps the racers keep to the schedule.
I didn’t watch all of the opening ceremony, but did catch a good chunk of it. It was OK.
However, I actually really liked the “snowflake” cauldron lighting. I also was surprised that they full-blown put a Uyghur citizen to light the final torch/cauldron. While I liked the ending, the whole dove-heart-peace message was very forced and fake.
Anyway, beautiful images. But let’s be honest, the 2008 opening ceremony can never be touched. It was incredible.
