Winter Olympics - Sochi

First topic message reminder :

It's getting close.   Time to start a dedicated thread, methinks.

Official site:

http://www.sochi2014.com/en


Auntie Beeb

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/2014/



Eurosport

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/olympics/

Good effort by the men's curling team to get to the final. All the best to them, and the women in their quest for bronze.

Can't believe our "world class" women's Curling team is currently losing to part timers.

You sir, know very little about curling.

GB were third favs going into this, after Canada and Sweden. Did they choke against Denmark? Yes. Probably cost them the gold medal. But they came back, perhaps not the colour they wanted, but a medal nonetheless. Youngest team ever to do so.

Now come on Dave Murdoch!

Dave. wrote: But they came back, perhaps not the colour they wanted, but a medal nonetheless. Youngest team ever to do so. Now come on Dave Murdoch!

Good effort by Eve & team - huge weight of expectation, and I suspect they are annoyed not to do better, but they have won an olympic medal; well done them! All the best to the men; hope they can make it gold but that's some opposition!

Dave. wrote:You sir, know very little about curling.

GB were third favs going into this, after Canada and Sweden. Did they choke against Denmark? Yes. Probably cost them the gold medal. But they came back, perhaps not the colour they wanted, but a medal nonetheless. Youngest team ever to do so.

Now come on Dave Murdoch!

I don't know what you're getting worked up about. Our curling team was losing to part timers. The Swiss women have proper jobs. The GB girls are paid to do nothing but curling.

I put world class in quotation marks to emphasise they shouldn't have been in such a tight game with women who aren't fully funded.

Aye Bleu I'd agree with that. Margins are tight at the top. Good win against the fourth ranked Swiss today, feel for Mirjam Ott mind. But for that slip against Denmark, who knows?

For Dave and Co it'll be tough (Canada is Canada, loads of world class teams there) but I'll think they'll do it!

Canada win the ladies curling gold. Jennifer Jones could make a very good case for best curler of the Olympics, male or female!

Just thinking whether it would be feasible for Britain to co-host the Winter Olympics? The idea being the indoor events such as curling, ice hockey, speed skating and figure skating and another country hosts the outdoor events. Something like Glasgow and Norway or London and the French Alps.

I'm not going to bother with numpties who obviously know nothing about the sport beyond watching a couple of minutes every 4 years and then using it to have a go at athletes who have just gotten an Olympic medal...

Thought today would be a quieter day but found myself absorbed by the curling (great job by Eve, some fantastic shots under utmost pressure) and then the ski-race thingy (sorry, I don't know the technical term). Charge, charge, bash, then JUUUMMMMPPPP. Spectacular.

Also enjoyed the Nordic combined relay, great race for a long time. Norway's issues on the cross-country seem to have deserted them.

Sportform, I don't think Britain has the slopes or even the mountains for the alpine events TBH (I don't know so much about cross country) - you need a long and steep run for the downhill, and I'm not sure there's anywhere in Britain which would do the job, you'd have to trace it pretty much from scratch I guess. It would be great, but I don't see it; Britain is neither a big winter sports nation, nor is it the kind of country who would get the games on a "spread the sports more globally" kind of basis.

Slalom (ladies) tomorrow! Did I mention I love the slalom?

Mike Selig wrote:I'm not going to bother with numpties who obviously know nothing about the sport beyond watching a couple of minutes every 4 years and then using it to have a go at athletes who have just gotten an Olympic medal...

Thought today would be a quieter day but found myself absorbed by the curling (great job by Eve, some fantastic shots under utmost pressure) and then the ski-race thingy (sorry, I don't know the technical term). Charge, charge, bash, then JUUUMMMMPPPP. Spectacular.

Also enjoyed the Nordic combined relay, great race for a long time. Norway's issues on the cross-country seem to have deserted them.

Sportform, I don't think Britain has the slopes or even the mountains for the alpine events TBH (I don't know so much about cross country) - you need a long and steep run for the downhill, and I'm not sure there's anywhere in Britain which would do the job, you'd have to trace it pretty much from scratch I guess. It would be great, but I don't see it; Britain is neither a big winter sports nation, nor is it the kind of country who would get the games on a "spread the sports more globally" kind of basis.

Slalom (ladies) tomorrow! Did I mention I love the slalom?

Oh, I had no idea there was so many curling "experts" among us. Tell me, where is your dedicated curling thread? You know, the one that the expert fans post in all year and not just during the Olympics?

Oh spit - an "unnamed German biathlete" has apparently tested positive, together with an Italian bob sleigh brakeman - very bad news, waiting for the B sample results! Missed the biathlon today (dodging hailstorms while trying to get a decent walk in; need some more exercise after Olympic couch potato week), so well done to the Ukraine ladies for taking gold; Russia got silver and Norway bronze. Several falls, especially early on and one medical retirement (Brunet - hope she's OK), so not a good day for some of the competitors.

I find it hard to believe that Elise Christie has been penalised a third time, especially as there seems to be no need for officials to explain their actions and no avenue for appeals; I wonder what nationality the ref was? Saw some awful decisions in the 2012 games (Judo springs to mind) and there have been some odd ones here too.

It's now being reported that Evi S-S is the German biathlete who tested positive, and that she has been sent home - does explain why she wasn't picked for the relay today. Very bad day for the sport; I can't see the news going down well in the German press, especially as their biathlon team had such an undistinguished games!

The Future of the NHL at the Olympics

Very good final biathlon race - men's 4 x 7.5Km relay. Very nice race from the Russians, who at last got their gold medal - happy for them. Good effort from the German team, especially Arnd Peiffer whose third leg really got them into the mix, taking a good load of time off OEB. Good final leg from Simon Schempp, who held it together, and produced a superb standing shoot to take the silver. Austria got a well deserved bronze, while Svendsen had a very uncharacteristic melt down in the stand which saw him on the penalty loop and into 4th place. Disappointing day for France, but a good final race!

BBC2 gave decent coverage of the men's relay but I would have liked a little more at the business end of the race.  They left the live coverage at the 2nd handover where the Boe brothers had Norway in first and I thought victory was all but assured. When they returned for the final shoot, I seen EHS have a shooting melt down and do a tour of the penalty loop.  I thought the problem for Norway would have been the Boe's but I would never have expected OEB and EHS to cost the team victory.

Good to see the Germans on the podium after what has been a pretty disasterous games by their high standards.  I wonder what will happen for the German back room team once this performance is assessed? Will many heads roll? From looking at the 50k start lists the Germans have listed Lesser and Pfeiffer, not sure if they will start though.

I am glad for the Russians that they finally got gold, it was a very confident performance by Shuplin to bring it home for them. I was a bit worried when I seen Volkov and Malyshko on the team as they have been very poor but they they stepped up today.  The made the right call to drop Garanichev, he is not good under pressure in the relays.

Glad to see Ukriane win the womens relay they were the stongest team. I was surprised to see Russia hold of Norway on the last loop, I thought Berger would turn on the power in the last few K but she didn't seem to have it. It would have been interesting to see how Belarus would have performed if they didn't have the penalty loop on the first leg, possibly on the podium.

Well done to Bjoergen on another gold today, she is a true champion. I expected more from Johaug but I wonder did the TDS take a bit much out of her? Delighted to see Steira on the poduim, if any athlete desereved a medal it was surely her, she has had so many near misses. A good performance by the French girls and Laura Ogre from Spain.

Did anyone watch the Slalom? What kind of course did Kostellic set? There was so many DNF's.  Good to see Conor Lyne for Ireland complete the course for 40th position overall and congrats to the first winter Olympian from East Timor for also finishing.

Looking forward to the 50k tomorrow.  Who will win? I have no idea, Cologna, Legkov, one of the Swedes or maybe a Norwegian.  It would be a real shock if Northug leaves the games without a medal.

Clean sweep of the medals for Russia in the men's 50 Km free cross country - understandably they looked very happy at the flower ceremony, which was all I managed to catch of the race! Bronze to Chernousov, silver to Vylegzhanin, and gold to Legkov - what a dominating performance. Sundby in the awful 4th, which surprised me as I thought the TDS had affected him. Northug was out of the top 10 (18th?) which was a bit of a surprise - he hasn't seemed at his best all games. Interesting to see German biathletes taking part - Arnd Peiffer finished 40th with Erik Lesser just behind in 42nd; Andrew Musgrave was 53rd. Like to see highlights, to see what the gaps looked like. Now for the winter sports withdrawal symptoms!

Looks like just a matter of time before Canada add a second goal here. Good effort by Sweden but they are clinging on to the game a little.

Mike Selig wrote:Sportform, I don't think Britain has the slopes or even the mountains for the alpine events TBH (I don't know so much about cross country) - you need a long and steep run for the downhill, and I'm not sure there's anywhere in Britain which would do the job, you'd have to trace it pretty much from scratch I guess. It would be great, but I don't see it; Britain is neither a big winter sports nation, nor is it the kind of country who would get the games on a "spread the sports more globally" kind of basis.

Not sure you read my post entirely. I wasn't suggesting Britain host the Winter Olympics solely. The point was as a co-host where Britain hosted the indoor sports such as ice hockey, curling, figure skating, speed skating. I never suggested the Alpine events would be in Britain.

A good games for Britain. Four medals including one gold but should Britain be aiming for better? The Netherlands for example won 8 golds. Surely Britain could aim to do much better in sports like speed skating and figure skating?

To be fair but for a bit of ropey official decisions we could have had one or more medals in the speed skating. Add in a couple of really unfortunate injuries and this olympics could have been a lot more successful. I'm guessing we dont put anywhere near the amount of money into speed skating that the dutch do as they have been the powerhouse of those events for a lot of years. Very good Olympics for Britain and plenty to build upon. I think the improvements we have made in four years has been impressive. I'd be intrigued to see how many top ten finishes we have compared to four years ago.

I'd just like to say this has been my favourite winter olympics ever. Great coverage by the BBC. The new competitions have been great additions. The drama has been fantastic and there has just been a lot of fun. A big thank you to all involved. Great stuff.

Sochi 2014: Tournament in review

spencerclarke wrote:I'm guessing we dont put anywhere near the amount of money into speed skating that the dutch do as they have been the powerhouse of those events for a lot of years.

Building a rink would be a start.

Help - no winter games to watch!!

Sad day indeed bleau. Oh well shouldn't be too long til the winter sports are back on our tvs