# Wow, the Olympics are a lot \*nicer\* now. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 14, 2014, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310 "2014-02-14T06:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/21 "2014-02-15T14:01:44Z")
Actually, we just had a good one yesterday: Gold medal winner Dario Cologna of Switzerland and 86th place Dachhiri Sherpa of Nepal (who’d predicted himself in last place) waited at the finish line (Cologna for 30+ minutes) to greet Roberto Carcelen of Peru who had fractured a rib during training but competed anyway. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/22 "2014-02-15T18:17:54Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > - An FBI agent responding competently and courageously to a terrorist bombing and being rewarded with a tidal wave completely unfounded, bogus, groundless, baseless, dishonest, wrongful, off-base, false, false, false accusations for absolutely no goddam reason, costing him his career and ultimately his life, and not a single person ever being punished for this horrifying injustice…pardon, “controversy”. Is this part about Richard Jewell? He wasn’t an FBI agent. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/23 "2014-02-15T20:30:10Z")
Ah, I sort of miss smirking at the old East German Women’s Swimming teams. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/24 "2014-02-15T21:40:07Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Is this part about Richard Jewell? He wasn’t an FBI agent. Right, he was a security guard. What happened to him was horrible, though. If anyone wants a memory refresh, [Grantland recently made a 20-minute documentary about it.](http://grantland.com/features/30-for-30-shorts-judging-jewell/) Should I ever get attacked or suffer a severe injury, I hope nobody takes time out of their day to critique whatever comes out of my mouth while I scream and writhe in pain. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/25 "2014-02-16T02:28:13Z")
Koxinga - I knew about that, I just thought the list was running a bit long. Plus the IOC actually did the right thing in not giving in and allowing the Games to go on. rest - I’m an account clerk, and before that I did error correction for a phone company and (briefly) quality control for some IT firm. One of my most common tasks is finding discrepancies so I or someone else can fix them. So if, say, someone who was fine just a couple days ago suddenly has a $2,000 balance, I notice that, and I gotta do some digging to find out why this happened…NSF check, deposit didn’t go in, double charge, whatever. When someone responds to an attack with “Why me, why anyone?” I’m sorry, but that is freaking weird, and at minimum we should be a little cautious in anointing her some pure martyr and shutting off our brains. Yes, it’s possible for both sides to be jerks; go read up on the 1994 baseball strike or the tobacco company lawsuits sometime. Yes, it’s possible to be a valid victim and better than the other guy but still fairly unpleasant. We even have a term for it, Black and Gray Morality. Here, I’ll give another example, the 9/11 widows. Ted Rall did a pretty scathing indictment of them, IMO undeservedly, because all he pointed out was how completely out of place their reaction was. “They’re eerily calm. They laugh and joke out loud.” No grieving, no anger, no stunned shock. _Freaking weird._ Oh, and then there was the little matter of getting an inordinate amount of benefit money, to the point where even the donors themselves were protesting. “We had no idea they’d become millionaires.” Yes, they suffered a real, terrible loss. I _know_ that. That did _not_ mean that I had to completely blind myself to the kind of windfalls they got later, and it sure as hell didn’t exempt them from any kind of scrutiny forever and ever. …wait, wasn’t the point of this how nice the Olympics are now? They really are. Can we enjoy them and forget about the past? Heck, you’re all willing to, I can manage it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/26 "2014-02-16T04:24:20Z")
The idea of somehow, or for some reason, the US and Russia are colluding in ice dance is ridiculous, none of the judges is identified and the high and low scores are thrown out. There has been some talk about how the Russians are heating the luge/skeleton run after the Russians finish their runs so the ice is slushy for the rest of the competitors. And this is coming from the Germans, not the US or Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/27 "2014-02-16T04:49:40Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Ah, I sort of miss smirking at the old East German Women’s Swimming teams. Remember this?: [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PV\_\_CSo1mC4/UA9FVrNk9wI/AAAAAAAAFFY/TrJGENIjLYo/s1600/NL%2BSports%2Blr.jpg](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PV__CSo1mC4/UA9FVrNk9wI/AAAAAAAAFFY/TrJGENIjLYo/s1600/NL%2BSports%2Blr.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/28 "2014-02-16T07:29:56Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > When someone responds to an attack with “Why me, why anyone?” I’m sorry, but that is freaking weird. . . As I have already pointed out, she didn’t say this. She said, “Why?” Do you find it weird that she would say this after someone tried to break her kneecap? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/29 "2014-02-16T07:35:31Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > My favorite moment of London '12 was when Grenada’s Kirani James, immediately after winning Gold in the 400 meters (his country’s first-ever Olympic medal of any hue), reacted by going to swap name tags with one of the defeated finalists, double-amputee Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. > > It’s probably too late to make a movie about it, alas. Probably waiting for the results of the murder trial. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/30 "2014-02-16T08:36:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Remember this?: [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PV\_\_CSo1mC4/UA9FVrNk9wI/AAAAAAAAFFY/TrJGENIjLYo/s1600/NL%2BSports%2Blr.jpg](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PV__CSo1mC4/UA9FVrNk9wI/AAAAAAAAFFY/TrJGENIjLYo/s1600/NL%2BSports%2Blr.jpg) I do indeed. Let’s expose East Germany’s Kornelia Ender. From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > It was later proven that the East German team doctors had systematically administered steroids to their athletes (albeit without the athletes’ knowledge). As an athlete who had exhibited symptoms of steroid use in 1976 (deep voice, overdeveloped body), strong suspicion was cast on the validity of Ender’s accomplishments. Kornelia, you cheated, knowingly or not. You were on performance-enhancing drugs. Give those medals back. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/31 "2014-02-16T12:47:04Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > My biggest impressions from London were Michael Phelps tearing the swimming pool a new drain valve and America finally dominating the medal count top-to-bottom and freeing us to talk about other things. Michelle Kwan looked like she was going to muscle out a more deserving younger competitor but eventually bowed out gracefully, and that was the last time figure skating threatened to become a national embarrassment. You missed a [controversy in London](http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1278593-shin-a-lam-fencing-controversy-exposes-embarrassing-olympic-flaws). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/32 "2014-02-16T14:53:47Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > Koxinga - I knew about that, I just thought the list was running a bit long. Plus the IOC actually did the right thing in not giving in and allowing the Games to go on. > > rest - I’m an account clerk, and before that I did error correction for a phone company and (briefly) quality control for some IT firm. One of my most common tasks is finding discrepancies so I or someone else can fix them. So if, say, someone who was fine just a couple days ago suddenly has a $2,000 balance, I notice that, and I gotta do some digging to find out why this happened…NSF check, deposit didn’t go in, double charge, whatever. That doesn’t make you any kind of expert in judging human reactions. Kerrigan wasn’t a saint, but she was the victim and you’re judging her arbitrarily based on something you heard wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/33 "2014-02-16T16:22:11Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > When someone responds to an attack with “Why me, why anyone?” I’m sorry, but that is freaking weird… I don’t understand what’s weird about that. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/34 "2014-02-16T16:35:59Z")
How about the Mary Decker / Zola Budd nonsense? The “Ugly American” accusation is undeserved 99.9999% of the time, but I think that particular moment deserves it. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/35 "2014-02-16T17:42:17Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The idea of somehow, or for some reason, the US and Russia are colluding in ice dance is ridiculous, none of the judges is identified and the high and low scores are thrown out. Not identifying which judges gave which scores makes collusion easier, not harder, as it becomes impossible to identify who gave what scores (except for the ISU), especially since 2010 when the list of judges’ scores shuffled them from one skater to the next (before then, the “first judge” was always the same for each skater’s marks, as was the “second judge” and so on, even though they didn’t identify which judge was first, which was second, etc.). Also, if there are two judges involved, one of their lowered scores will still be counted. It is still possible for a judge to “sign” his/her scores so that if he/she makes a deal with somebody, then the scores can be identified as proof that the judge gave the agreed-upon results. The second score (“execution”, I think it’s called) is a set of five categories, and each judge gives a 0-10 score in each category, in quarter-point increments. A judge can tell someone, “You can identify my scores for skater X as the category scores will end in .25, .25, .00, .50, and .50 in that order.” “But where would the person offering the bribe see the individual judges’ scores to confirm this?” Well, for Sochi, [here](http://www.isuresults.com/results/owg2014/index.htm) (click on where it says “Judges Scores (PDF)”). > [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > How about the Mary Decker / Zola Budd nonsense? The “Ugly American” accusation is undeserved 99.9999% of the time, but I think that particular moment deserves it. “Ugly American”? They made contact. What was Decker-Slaney supposed to do? ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/36 "2014-02-16T18:02:31Z")
About Mary Decker / Zola Budd - I thought the historical verdict was that Zola Budd did not initiate contact and was blameless in the “event” - this is a good [article](http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/08/13/espn-s-the-runner-mary-decker-zola-budd-and-the-thud-heard-round-the-world.html). Regardless, Mary Decker’s playing to the cameras throughout the whole affair was just embarrassing, and the media was no better. It’s one of my earliest TV memories and even at that age I was rolling my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/37 "2014-03-12T12:04:08Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > After winning the silver medal in the Olympics she took part in a parade at Disney World. During the parade she was overheard saying, “This is dumb. I hate it. This is the corniest thing I have ever done.” She was unaware of an open mic nearby, and the resulting publicity tarnished her image as the “nice one.” Interestingly, this came up in the retrospective they did during the Games wrap up. Mary Carillo did an interview segment, she got Nancy Kerrigan to speak about things (Kerrigan has been reluctant to go any where near the story for years because of her treatment by the press and wanting to put it all behind her). She explained the situation. Kerrigan explained that her parents brought her up to be very reserved and humble, that celebrating her victories and taking credit was “bragging”, so she wasn’t allowed to wear her medals and show exuberance. She would say “Yea, I won”, then go home and finally in her room quietly dance around and celebrate. So when she was doing the Disney tour with Mickey, they were having her wear her silver medal. When she said “This is so corny,” she was not speaking about being with Mickey at Disney, she was speaking about wearing her medal. She was uncomfortable being put on spectacle as if she were bragging. Kerrigan didn’t have any problem with Mickey or even being in the parade, she just didn’t want to wear her medal in public. But what would normally have been unheard comments from her to the person in her immediate vicinity was picked up by open mics from the press so eager for more drama, and they ran with it. So Kerrigan is a “Whiney Ice Princess” because, when someone bashed her in the knee with a metal bar and nearly crippled her, she didn’t have the grace to cry sweet tears quietly, but wailed and bawled. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/38 "2014-03-12T16:43:56Z")
Wasn’t there a controversy in Beijing when at least one of the female Chinese gymnasts were thought to be underage? ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/39 "2014-03-12T19:01:55Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Interestingly, this came up in the retrospective they did during the Games wrap up. Mary Carillo did an interview segment, she got Nancy Kerrigan to speak about things (Kerrigan has been reluctant to go any where near the story for years because of her treatment by the press and wanting to put it all behind her). She explained the situation. > > Kerrigan explained that her parents brought her up to be very reserved and humble, that celebrating her victories and taking credit was “bragging”, so she wasn’t allowed to wear her medals and show exuberance. She would say “Yea, I won”, then go home and finally in her room quietly dance around and celebrate. So when she was doing the Disney tour with Mickey, they were having her wear her silver medal. When she said “This is so corny,” she was not speaking about being with Mickey at Disney, she was speaking about wearing her medal. She was uncomfortable being put on spectacle as if she were bragging. Kerrigan didn’t have any problem with Mickey or even being in the parade, she just didn’t want to wear her medal in public. But what would normally have been unheard comments from her to the person in her immediate vicinity was picked up by open mics from the press so eager for more drama, and they ran with it. > > So Kerrigan is a “Whiney Ice Princess” because, when someone bashed her in the knee with a metal bar and nearly crippled her, she didn’t have the grace to cry sweet tears quietly, but wailed and bawled. Nothing against Nancy Kerrigan, and I never did see the issue with saying “this is so corny,” but that account really does not ring true to me. A Disney parade is, well, corny. Wearing a medal? Immodest, perhaps, not “done,” sure, but hardly “corny.” Sound like a little revisionist history here to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310/40 "2014-03-13T01:57:21Z")
My reaction to the “this is corny” incident was the opposite of many people’s. I had thought of Kerrigan as talented but bland - as a skating machine with no personality. The incident revealed her (to me, anyway) as someone with her own tastes and beliefs. It humanized her in my eyes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-the-olympics-are-a-lot-nicer-now/681310.md?page=1)