Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
Tonight, let’s talk all things olympics.
Best and worst opening and closing ceremonies!
Favorite Olympic events? Least favorite? Things that should be olympic events, but aren’t?
What about Olympic coverage? Do you love it? Hate it? Eyes glued? Never watch?
Best thing you’ve seen this year? How many years / decades since you’ve watched!
Why do you watch? Why did you stop watching?
Unrelated, or maybe semi-related, because they are both happening in the same timeframe – what about the Puppy Bowl last week? I used to love it, but now it seems filled with stupid chatter and so much product promotion that it’s hardly about the puppies anymore. Kind of like how I feel they have ruined the olympics for me, so commercialized, in both senses of the word. Anyone think the Puppy Bowl is still super cute? (My sister, for one.)
And here’s one for the pedants. Should it be Olympics all the time, or sometimes Olympics and sometimes olympics? Maybe I should just alternate between Capital and lower case, as I have here? Nah, consistency is key, so I would actually like to know. Is it Olympics if we are speaking generally, and olympic events if we are being more specific? And while we’re at it – Superbowl or Super Bowl? Superb Owl!
Also while we’re at it, feel free to carry on here about how much you love or hate football or sports or award shows or the olympics.
NotMax
Know jacksh*t about the Olympics.
But here’s an idea for a future Medium Cool:
If you had sufficient time and impetus, what book or story would you most like to write? Plot can be fiction or non-fiction.
Chief Oshkosh
Best opening ceremony for me was the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona, in which an archer shot an arrow with the Olympic flame to ignite the big event flame. From Google:
cmorenc
I am glad coverage concentrating on the actual competition events is available on USA – a HUGE frustration with coverage of winter Olympics past by both NBC and (when they had it) ABC was the following paradigm: show three or four competitors make a run in one of the skiing events, but then divert into a 10 minute segment on Swiss competitor Thomas showing his home life herding cows and helping run the family B&B. Sorry, wouldn’t care a whit about your home life Thomas, only your skills as a competitor! And instead of staying focused on the skiing event, would switch to another unrelated winter sport comp – repeat the paradigm.
cmorenc
My faorite events to watch have been the downhill and GS skiing events, both men’s and women’s – the athleticism and sheer nerve to go down steep, curvy, deliberately iced-down surfaces at 60-70mph with absolutely no bodily protection in event of a fall – is easily the most viscerally thrilling event of the winter Olympics. Not that I don’t enjoy the odd-cult sport of curling once every 4 years too.
WaterGirl
@cmorenc: That’s a better description of why I stopped watching!
WaterGirl
@cmorenc: Those are too intense for me – I can’t watch until after the even is over and I know no one got hurt.
I also had to stop watching basketball because I would get so wound up about free throws.
J. Arthur Crank
@cmorenc: The ski jump is no walk in the park either, at least from my perspective. They are approaching jumps of 300 meters, and I don’t see how you don’t wet your pants when doing that.
Barbara
Biathlon, Curling and Figure Skating.
Biathlon, especially the pursuit and relays, is a wild combination of skiing flat out and then slowing down to shoot targets. The lead changes all the time and there are frequently close finishes.
Curling is a lot of strategy and every shot matters.
Figure skating — I’ve been following since childhood. I follow it all season and it’s why I subscribe to Peacock.
Announcers are mostly okay but the craziness around the ice dancing results and Ilia Malinin prompted me to turn it off.
Old School
@J. Arthur Crank: There was a ski jumper (one that flips and turns rather than one that goes strictly for distance) today that landed hard. He was carried off, but was giving the thumbs up as he was leaving.
”The agony of defeat” was what came to mind.
RevRick
@Barbara: I 100% agree with your choices. The first two are based in the real world of war (the Russo-Finnish war) and housecleaning. The latter is the embodiment of grace.
A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)
@Chief Oshkosh: That will never be topped.
I’ve just lost interest in them of late. I think Beijing was the last one I actually watched.
Gin & Tonic
I love the Alpine skiing events, at least in part because it’s something I engage in myself and I know how insanely difficult a world-class downhill can be. I can watch Novak Djokovic hit a tennis ball and think “how hard can that be?” But I watch Lindsay Vonn on a downhill course and I know how hard that is.
WaterGirl
@Barbara:
I missed that. Can you say more?
Suzanne
I used to really follow figure skating and now much less so. Just too busy to follow anything. But it’s still fun to watch.
I love the ski jumping and the halfpipe snowboarding. That shit is bonkers. The downhill skiing would be fun if they all skied at the same time. As it is…. meh.
WaterGirl
What was the crazy and fun movie that was about the Olympic team from some country where everyone is jammed into this long skinny thing? Does anyone have even the faintest idea of what I am referring to?
Barbara
@WaterGirl: Just the media frenzy over the “unexpected” results. I’ve followed forever and honestly, nothing is truly unexpected.
Trivia Man
The 2 scandals are both entertaining
Boop Gate in curling has the best memes
Schlong gate in Jumping is funny to watch as they try to maintain decorum. Bonus: cool science!
eclare
The GOAT
youtu.be/SRPzdTyBufo?si=jbWYfjQEJBYDFm95
Trivia Man
@WaterGirl: Cool Runnings, mon?
Barbara
@WaterGirl: The Jamaican bobsled team? Nearly every bobsled team benefits from having a world class sprinter pushing at the start and Jamaica has a lot of great track stars.
Trivia Man
I have watched almost nothing yet , i plan to watch the newest event Skimo.
JCJ
Speed skating (long track) is my favorite in the winter. I like cross country skiing as the competitors really put it all out there. When they fall in a heap after crossing the finish line it just shows how much effort is involved.
A couple of the gold medal basketball games have been great. Steph Curry doing Steph things against France in Paris was amazing. The USA – Spain match in London in 2012 was top notch
cmorenc
@Gin & Tonic: My enjoyment of downhill ski events is also enhanced by my own experience as an avid advanced-level skier (but not at expert level, i leave the truly consequential XX terrain to others). I am about to go for my 18th ski day this season tomorrow, and though I might max out at 30-35mph on a blue cruiser relatively empty of other skiiers, can’t help but fantasize about being a ski racer. My 8 yr old grandson is a budding ski racer in the Buddy Werner program on the local ski area in Grand Junction, Colorado and got to watch his race last Sunday – he could smoke me if I tried to run his race course. I agree it greatly enhances your appreciation of any winter olympic event if you also do that sport, albeit at a humbler level.
NeenerNeener
I have a fondness for the opening ceremonies of the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002. I seem to remember a lot of First Nations participation. And then there was Robbie Robertson….
I’ve also been following ice skating since I was a child, even though I’m not coordinated enough to walk and chew gum at the same time myself. I feel sorry for Illia Malinin; “Quad God” is a tough reputation to live up to and the announcer’s expectations for his performance were insane. It looked like almost all the guys in that last event got the yips and were falling right and left. Very few clean programs in that event.
Curling does nothing for me, but the tricks in snow boarding leave me in awe.
eclare
@cmorenc:
See I am the exact opposite. I need my anxiety meds to watch downhill ski, so I don’t. But I love the plot of each curling throw!
eclare
@WaterGirl:
OK you can’t watch basketball?
Math Guy
We don’t subscribe to any sports channels so we only get to see the daily coverage on CNBC and highlights on NBC. It seems that CNBC is covering nearly all of the curling matches and . . . I love it! The tension, the drama, the precision, the subtlety of the game beat ice hockey any day of the week!
Seriously, I have become a curling fan for life.
Could do without Snoop Dog, however.
eclare
@Trivia Man:
Ha! So true.
NotMax
What, no salt or cinder truck racing?
:)
Just look at that parking lot
1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Boxing finals night had U.S. winning 5 gold medal,1 silver medal & 1 bronze medal. The team featured Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks, Leon Spinks, Leo Randolph & Howard Davis Jr.
3 of those golds were won against the Cuban team, which at the time was a boxing powerhouse(great word- don’t get to use it much). Cuba won 3 gold medals that night.
I remember watching at a friend’s house, whose parents were out of town. We were a bit jacked up, rooting loudly for the U.S. fighters. Nothing got broke that couldn’t be glued together. That was a fun night.
eclare
@Suzanne:
The half pipe is insane!
NeenerNeener
I used to work with Cathy Turner, who brought her gold medals in to work to show us right before the 2008 summer Olympics.
Almost Retired
I still love the over-produced Lionel Richie rendition of “All Night Long “ with all the athletes dancing in the field at the Closing Ceremony in 1984. Very exuberant.
Living in an Olympic Host City was an absolute blast (if you are very young). 1984 was one of my two gap years between college and law school. I spent it bartending and surfing and living in an apartment with too many roommates in order to be able to afford a place a half block off the beach.
My employer took on a couple of temporary employees from Ireland in an attempt to handle the expected onslaught of extra business. It never materialized. The tourists never offset the loss of the locals, who mostly hibernated for the duration of the games. I felt badly for one of the Irish employees who was staying in a sketchy part of then-less-gentrified downtown Los Angeles and invited her to couchsurf. I ended up with five Irish couchsurfers (thank God JD Vance was still a boy at the time). Don’t remember how that happened. Irish people just kept showing up. I stopped drinking for the rest of the year after they left.
I also learned a lot about the tipping cultures of the world. The staff fell over themselves to get Japanese tourists in their stations. By contrast, the servers demanded to be seated with no more than one table of Australians at a time (yes I understand that Australian servers are better paid etc). We referred to a shitty tip as “I got G’Day mated.”
Met people from all over the world all over town. Tourists from every continent said – in their own language – some version of “Wait. THIS is Hollywood Boulevard? What the fuck!?!”
This next go around will be different. Trump will probably kill tourism. And this time I’m not interested in taking in couch surfers and wondering if I could rent out my house. But I’m really looking forward to it and hope the third Los Angeles Olympics are not on the something Trump touches dies list.
eclare
@Just look at that parking lot:
Wow! That must have been crazy!
WaterGirl
@Trivia Man:
Literal LOL. thank you!
WaterGirl
@Barbara: Yes! Thank you.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@WaterGirl: “hey, Sanka, we dead?”
WaterGirl
@eclare: Not in person, anymore, no!
Trivia Man
@Just look at that parking lot: as a side note, I’ve always wondered how Ali-Stevenson would have turned out.
Just look at that parking lot
Have to mention the late Jim McKay because…well because he’s Jim McKay!!!
SpaceUnit
I’d like to propose skate-jumping as an event. Kind of like ski jumping but the ramp is all ice and the competitors wear skates.
Oh, and they have wings on their arms.
Barbara
@Math Guy: NBC Sports had a show called Curling Night in America, which is when I became a fan. I tried to deduce the rules from watching, but the real work is in the strategy and execution.
NeenerNeener
@WaterGirl: The French judge rated the French ice dancing team much higher than the rest of the judges did, so they beat the American team that have been world champions for the last three years.
In the mens singles Ilia Malinin was well ahead of the rest of the field after the short program, and then melted down in the long program and went from first to eighth. Almost all the skaters that day had trouble with their routines, but he was supposed to do 6 or 7 “quad” jumps and fell out of most of them so because he started with such a high degree of difficulty he dropped like a rock in the standings.
Trivia Man
@SpaceUnit: instead of going longer on the jumping hills, make the SUITS bigger and baggier and make them navigate turns. Like wingsuits on skis!
Sure Lurkalot
I know precious little about winter sports but this year I have tuned into curling, ice dancing and figure skating, speed skating, downhill skiing, halfpipe and cross country with snippets of lots of other events. I did like the event where 4 snowboarders race a course.
So many sports in winter games are scary as shit…I mean really people, how’d you do fill-in-the-blank the first time? My dad wouldn’t let me ride on a motorcycle, much less letting me speed down a tube of ice head first on what looks like a cafeteria tray.
I have to say, I do like it when underdogs win. I can sympathize with Ilia losing so dramatically given all the hype but that kid from Kazakhstan was wonderful and what a thrill it must of been for him to win a gold medal when he probably just wanted to score a personal best.
The 2012 London opening ceremony celebrating the NHS…being so proud of your country’s health care system that you feature it in a world wide spectacle like that was really something.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I agree. As a decent skier, I have some idea of how stunningly skilled the top skiers really are. I’ve skied some of the runs that races are run on. Ten minutes to get down it with a couple of stops on the way. They do it in two. Plus, the scenery is beautiful.
Old School
@WaterGirl:
The French ice dancing team beat the U.S. ice dancing team. The French judge gave the U.S. team what many people thought was too low of a score.
Ilia Malinin was the favorite in men’s figure skating, but fell and lowered the difficulty of other jumps. That was him beating himself mentally.
ETA: As NeenerNeener said.
SpaceUnit
@Trivia Man:
And there should be snowmen placed all over the landing area.
Barbara
@Old School: Ilia is a dead ringer for my son, who is the same age. I wanted to give him a hug.
eclare
@Almost Retired:
What a story!
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener: @Old School:
Thanks so much for that info. Ouch. I’m surprised that sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Nerves of steel, I guess.
piratedan
the winter olympic event I’d like to see is an equivalent to the 100yard dash on ice w/o skates….
the ice dancing controversy, as I understand it, was that the French couple (who danced exquisitely) defeated the American couple when the French judge rated the French couple as 8 points better than the US squad. All of the other judges had the US couple marginally ahead until her scoring tipped the balance.
every year I am saddened by the jingoistic bent of the coverage, and to a degree, there’s nothing wrong with informing US viewers about US athletes, I do wish that they did a better job of allowing dedicated event feeds to be seen at any time (I have Peacock and I will freely admit, it’s not easy to navigate). I would enjoy more coverage of those athletes that are competing from countries that are sparsely represented (say Iran, Puerto Rico, Brazil etc).
For me the most underrated sport is still Biathlon, to do cross country skiing and then to slow yourself down for target shooting is one weird but fascinating combination.
Gloria DryGarden
@SpaceUnit: no. If all you have is a toe pick and your front inside blade, maybe 4” long, you really want to control your set up and take off for your jumps.
At one time, I was learning the first half jump that comes before the axel, called a waltz jump, and fellow skaters at the ice public sessions would come up and say, it looks like you’ve really got that. Now I’d like to help you make it bigger. My reply, no, no thank you, please no! When I didn’t feel I could land it, my body would know, and I couldn’t even kick through to leave the ice. Absolutely terrifying. Like every new skating trick, until I had got it.
The men were jumping .42-.7 m high on their triple and quad jumps. That seems high enough.
But you go try it and let us know, ok?
eclare
@Sure Lurkalot:
I applaud your comment. Misha must have been thrilled just to get on the podium. He and Ilia are young, this will be a battle to watch.
ETA curling is awesome!
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Yes, buts all these “show the athletes as people” that gave us the Puppy Bowl. The guy watching the superbowl thought “why can’t we pitch rescue dogs the way these guys pitch athletes?” And thus came about the Puppy bowl
Kazakhstan won its first gold medal in figure skating after all the stars predicted to win melted down. Also I think Brazil won its first medal ever in the Winter Olympics for South America. So there’s that.
Just look at that parking lot
@Barbara: I’ve been listening to an old podcast that covers the Canadian curling scandal in 2016. The scandal involved a new type of broom that could curl the stone all kind of crazy ways. The title is call Broomgate: A Curling Scandal. Runs for 6 parts. I found it on Spotify. Lots of curling info. & a deep look at the Canadian curling culture.
prostratedragon
Getting into curling this year for the first time. Enjoying figuring out what the strategies, and even the object of the game are. Kind of worries me. I have enjoyed the more relaxed USA network presentation. Also enjoy the Alpine skiing — those people are crazy, but I wish I could do at least the baby version — and speed skating.
Craig
Curling. Ski Jump.
Being old the clip of Vinko Bogataj as The Agony of Defeat clip on Wild World of Sports is burned into my brain
trollhattan
Opening ceremony favorites have to be Barcelona and Lillehammer. Goofy and charming.
London was pretty darn good, too. Very tongue in cheek.
trollhattan
@Old School:
He done blowed up. Epically. Feel sorry for him because at 25 the next Olympics may be too far off to be able to compete. (Imagine being washed up @ 25.)
In love with each and every US women’s curlingperson. They’re fierce and adorable.
dc
@cmorenc:
Where is this, USA channel? Is it a streming service? I’ve been using my VPN and pretending like I’m from Canada so I have access to the CBC.
eclare
@trollhattan:
I think Ilia is only 21. Plenty of time. But his head, wow, that must be a mess.
trollhattan
@eclare:
Yes, meant to say he’s 25 by next games.
By then somebody will be doing a 2X backflip. :-)
Barbara
@piratedan: Not quite. 4/9 judges ranked the French team higher but several (especially French but also Spanish) judges scored them markedly higher. The Spanish reaction was interesting because the Americans used Spanish step patterns and a bullfighting theme in their program, which made me go Hmmm, maybe he thought it wasn’t done well.
Gloria DryGarden
@Sure Lurkalot: I’m really enjoying these Olympics! So grateful to be able to watch!
I agree, that it was incredible to see Mikhail Shaidorov win that men’s skating gold, his face, and also the guy who won bronze and didn’t expect to medal, Sato. The top 5 or 10 skaters were on fire, with their excellence, their prowess, their precision and artistry. I’m sad about Ilia Malinin falling so many times, after winning everything for three straight years. And it opened up the podium for three more truly excellent beautiful skaters, who mostly skated with near perfection. The 4th place guy from Korea also had a beautiful program, skating with excellence to Piazzola, sung in my exact spanish dialect. (Bonus happiness)
I’ve watched every YouTube and Facebook reel about Ilia losing, and what happened, and his incredible sportsmanlike behavior, his dignity, the top skaters from the past weighing in on how this does sometimes happen. Ilia himself said he was flooded with thoughts about what a big deal it was, just as he started.
The one thing that clarifies it a little, is a report on the actual ice. It turns out the speed skating was done on the same ice, with adjustments made. It sounds like though they tried to make the ice correctly for each sport, they each take a different thickness and hardness/ softness. There were wipe outs in the speed skating, too. Figure Skaters were saying it wasn’t soft enough. And perhaps it wasn’t hard enough for the speed skates.
I have skated on the ice when it’s too hard, and it was difficult to get an edge, and feel safe; there was less control. It makes a difference, even to a beginner. Imagine those high speed technical jumps and spins when the ground beneath you isn’t what you are used to.
They really needed separate, dedicated sheets of ice for the separate sports. I don’t know how long it takes to shift that ice temperature up or down the right amount.
Chief Oshkosh
@trollhattan: Yep, Lillehammer is my second-favorite after Barcelona. I don’t remember the goofiness, but I do remember thinking that parts of the Lillehammer opener were eerily beautiful. Memory of a memory, I guess.
ExPatExDem
My feelings on the Olympics have always been two fold.
I enjoy the feats of athleticism, and I hate the stupid jingoism.
Gloria DryGarden
@NeenerNeener: I’ve rewatched Ilia’s free skate a few times, and seen that routine in practice, too. He only fell twice, but badly, and then he singled one and doubled another. So that’s 4 jumps with deductions, or a lot of lost points. And then he was putting less energy into it, just a hair less oomf and passion, one he got discouraged, it’s like his balloon deflated. It was painful to see.
But golly my admiration for how they all get right back up and continue on, turn back up the power and hold onto it. Kind of like the gymnasts who fall off the balance beam.
trollhattan
@Chief Oshkosh:
In Barca the dang giant puppets caught be totally by surprise and I was HOOKED. Archer igniting the cauldron was Thing Never To Be Topped. Not possible.
Lillehammer was deeply Norwegian in the best possible way, and the hillside forests patterned with the ancient iconography were more impressive and touching than any zillion-person show-off stadium venue. All these decades later Norway has only five and a half million people.
NeenerNeener
@Gloria DryGarden: Also, the falls and shorter rotation jumps messed up his timing with his music, too, according to the commentators (common taters?).
He does have a gold medal from the team event, so it’s not a total loss.
Gloria DryGarden
@piratedan: the biathlon makes practical sense to me. You go out hunting in winter, gotta feed the family, you use your skis, you stop and bag dinner once you’ve spotted something. Or you shoot and aim, try for it anyway.
I’m sad about the ice dancers, Chock and Bates. There’s been a lot of back and forth about the scoring, and that’s going to go on for awhile. It may be some invisible technical thing like moments on a flat instead of an edge, stuff that’s hard to spot. But the French team were experienced skaters, and old friends, and their program was profoundly beautiful, too.
Not high in the standings, but did everyone see that American, Naumov, who lost his parents in that plane crash full of skaters and coaches and parents? That must have taken courage. He’s young, he might still rise.
I’m also struck by the third place ice dance pair from Canada, Piper and Poivre. She’s a survivor of ovarian cancer, and lost her mom to it. That’s so moving. And here she is skating in top form, in a Van Gogh dress of the starry Night painting. A dress that I want for myself…
I tried watching the curling. I don’t get it, yet, is it a sport?
Barbara
@Gloria DryGarden: Naumov is 24 I think. So glad he made the team.
cmorenc
@piratedan:
There actually is such an event: competitive downhill ice skating racint, aka “Red Bull Crashed Ice” alhough, to my knowedge, has not yet been adopted as a Winter Olympic sport.
Here you are, a youtube video of “Crashed Ice” downhill ice skating racing, featuring 4 simultaneousl competitors going down a curvy downhill track with intermittent jumps.
SpaceUnit
That stunt where the archer ignited the Olympic cauldron was never repeated because the arrow came down and killed a small child. It was a four year-old girl in pigtails and a Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt, dancing and singing and licking a lollipop. You’re all monsters.
Just look at that parking lot
Between 1984-1996 summer Olympics , American sprinter Carl Lewis won 9 gold medals. I remember watching in ‘96 in Atlanta when he won his 4th straight gold in the long jump. Wonder how the hell he could keep winning for that long.
Carl was known to be a bit arrogant & egotistical, but he sure back it up.
Eddie Murphy did an over-the-top impersonation of Carl Lewis on SNL. “ I’m Carl Lewis!!! I’m faster than God.”
Heres a link to one of them.
youtu.be/b3hmeFIHtRY?si=dSLlQD8xwTt1jCAO
Spikester
Sidney Crosby and Macklin Celebrini are teammates on this year’s Canadian men’s hockey team. Crosby famously scored the game-winning goal in overtime of the 2010 Olympic final, when Celebrini was three years old.
Melancholy Jaques
@Just look at that parking lot:
Teofilo Stevenson!
Would you say that was the last great Olympics for boxing?
Gloria DryGarden
Re the Superb Owl, that’s Super Tazon, this year, thanks to bad bunny and his cultural (educational) show. The history and culture of Puerto Rico, in 15 minutes. Wow.
(Faintly reminiscent of Bobby Mcferrin doing the wizard of oz in 7 or 8 minutes.)
It took me a few YouTubes to break down Bad Bunny’s show and explain all the references, but the happiness it made for Latino Americans..
Gloria DryGarden
@Barbara: I’m glad, too. There’s redemption..
Gloria DryGarden
@NeenerNeener: that’s a good point. His music was forgiving, but for sure he was thrown off. I think it took the wind out of his sails.
I didn’t see him in the team event, the replays disappeared too soon, but I trust he skated his same program, and beautifully, so we all got to see it.
Now I need a shirt with gold sparkly tree of life branching, but with an amethyst heart.. I really liked his costume.
Did you see that French with the lipstick red sleeves and gloves? It was hard to watch, somehow. Not understated enough to be elegant, for me.
Just look at that parking lot
@Melancholy Jaques: It the one I remember. Not sure the last time I saw Olympic boxing matches. I doubt their on prime time anymore.
Another Scott
@SpaceUnit: Made me look… ;-)
Antonio Rebollo:
(Emphasis added.)
That’s better than winning a gold medal. It was a magical moment.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gloria DryGarden
@Sure Lurkalot: what’s the name of the race with 4 snowboarders racing each other? I’ll try to catch that.
@Omnes Omnibus: it’s great to get perspective from a skilled skier. Holy cow.
Do you ski in Wisconsin? They took me skiing in Illinois once. Never again. surely you go somewhere with better snow, and more height..
If I’m going to be on ice, I want skates, and sharp edges, man.
piratedan
@Barbara: ty for the correction and update Barbara.
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: that Scott Hamilton video is wonderful. He was always so consistent, I never wondered if he’d land his jumps. When he got a little older, as a pro, his jumps got a bit less sharp.
At 25, Ilia Malinin might still have it, but so will some others, and he might be slowing down, or not. Skaters have more longevity than gymnasts.
Trivia Man
@prostratedragon: I am struck by how close the finishes are. Up to something like 100kph, two minutes of race… and the winner is by 0.02 seconds and third is another 0.04 behind that. How can they be that precisely identical with so many tiny variables all through the course?
eta – I am looking for the specific finish results I was thinking of but this is almost as close. Men’s Giant Slalom – 1st is 2:25 2 is 2:25.58 and 3rd is 2:26.17. Seems impossible to do that close if you were trying to be identical!
Sure Lurkalot
@Gloria DryGarden:
Snowboard cross. There’s a 44 year old guy in his 5th Olympics, Nick Baumgartner, who gold medaled at 40 in the 2022 games. He seems like a real mensch, supportive of all the youngsters in the sport.
Jacel
@Gloria DryGarden: I was just reading that, because the NFL doesn’t pay for anything in the halftime show other than a fixed amount, Bad Bunny had put $50 million of his own money into that performance. You could see every dollar of that on the field, mainly as an investment in people.
cmorenc
@dc:
USA network is a subsidiary of NBC. They carry lots of sports events, including many English Premier League Soccer matches and the Olympics – but when not sports, they tend to fill air time with reruns of old regular TV series.
I think they do streaming but you may need an account with an autorized cable or streaming carrier to get it, analogous to the requisites for getting ESPN. Best Bet would be to get a free trial from YouTubeTV and cancel within the grace period.
ArchTeryx
@cmorenc: Curling is rather unique in that it requires both athleticism and brains. I’ve done it myself, though strictly at an amateur (very amateur) level. It’s a lot harder than it looks and takes a lot of practice and a skilled eye to skipper a team.
Watching one Winter Olympics where the men’s team actually managed to get a bronze medal was a major deal. I had a friend that knew the team that won it!
Librettist
Do they have to be ice snow events? Indoor track & field, cue sports, darts, digital gaming…
The Olympic vibe is definitely different from World Cup events or commercial events like the X Games. Whether all sports benefit from Olympic exposure, idk.
You can’t use “Super Bowl” unless you’re licensed by the NFL. “The Big Game” is what gets used instead. Roger Goodell will cut a MF’er.
Barbara
@dc: You might try Peacock, which streams nearly every sport on an NBC affiliate. Peacock is considerably less expensive than Hulu but does not include access to any other network like ESPN.
If you really like curling you can get a TV broadcast of curling championships through worldcurling.org. You can pay per game, per championship, or annually. They don’t televise Olympic matches but they offer most everything else.
Trivia Man
@Librettist: go back to the roots! poetry, architecture, literature, painting!
Librettist
@cmorenc:
You can subscribe to Peacock for the month. They have the various live feeds, full events on demand, the studio wrap-up shows, etc.
Sister Golden Bear
@Gin & Tonic: @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve skied some of the Olympic runs at Lake Tahoe and I’m in awe of the skill (and courage) it takes to ski at that level.
Also too, fun video about the science behind curling. tl;dr there’s weird physics involved that still aren’t fully understood despite a century of research.
Jacel
In this opening ceremony, I was struck by a performance of the Olympic Hymn by singer Cecilia Bartoli, pianist Lang Lang, with chorus and orchestra. So was my wife, who remembered singing it with a chorus of students at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. I looked up the Wikipedia page about that piece, which was composed to a Greek text by Spyirdon Samaras for performance at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. After many decades of different music being used at subsequent Olympics, including an original work by Richard Strauss, the IOC in 1958 decided to use the 1896 composition at all subsequent Games. So my wife was involved in the first performance that began an ongoing streak, though she did not know that significance at the time.
Sister Golden Bear
@dc: FWIW, NBC Sports on YouTube has a lot of coverage. It’s usually 5-10 minute segments, so not like watching it live, but definitely good for catching highlights.
Gloria DryGarden
@Sure Lurkalot: 44! Wtg! I will look it up.
It’s nice there are sports where you can still compete even when older. Because some of this stuff, you need to still be young. The ice dancers at the top are in their thirties. But they don’t jump, and don’t go quite as fast as the other disciplines.
prostratedragon
@Jacel: That’s an interesting story — there at the start.
I missed the introduction of the performers this time, but guessed that Lang Lang might be the pianist. Slapping my forehead for not guessing the excellent singer was Cecilia Bartoli.
Gloria DryGarden
@trollhattan: no, please god, unless you’re saying Simone biles and her fellow gymnasts are going to take up ice skating..
I did meet a gymnastics trained lady who was picking up skating. She was fearless, learning the tricks really quickly!
Gloria DryGarden
@Sister Golden Bear: thanks, I missed some skating replay sessions, I’ll look for them there.
AM in NC
I really liked the Paris Olympics opening because it got out of the stadium so you could see Paris, and was insane. Just totally unlike any other opening ceremonies.
I adore both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The things these human beings do are just incredible, and inspiring.
This year really have enjoyed biathlon, x-country skiing, long-track speed skating, alpine skiing, curling, snowboard cross, and the sliding events (luge, skeleton). I tend to like the non-judged events because I can’t with the scoring fuckery that sometimes occurs in the judged competitions. Not that I don’t appreciate what those athletes do, I just have trouble with competitions that judge on style, not quantifiable criteria.
Gemina13
My favorite opening ceremonies were Barcelona ’92 and Lillehammer ’94, and I will tip a little to Lillehammer for the gorgeous pageantry honoring their Indigenous folk and mythology. As for closing ceremonies – Lillehammer, hands down. I was in tears by the end.
My mother had me watching figure skating at age 6 (she watched the Winter Games and rooted for Dorothy Hamill), and by the Sarajevo Games I was able to tell a lutz from a loop. But I also loved watching skiing (especially the downhill races, and seeing Pim Zurbriggen sail through the giant slalom event at Calgary made me think about taking up the sport until my brother told me how expensive it was. Yikes) and speed skating. Yes, I cheered on Dan Jansen from Calgary to Albertville to Lillehammer. To this day, I can’t hear “Karn Evil 9” (the song played by CBS on their night-time recap after the speed skating event Jansen won) without remembering it.
But I haven’t watched the Olympics since 2002 because the nonstop jingoism, lazy commentary, “human interest” stories, and butchered coverage of actual sports wore me out. I’d rather watch YouTube clips than sit through American sportscasting. And I want to see more competitors than just the ones from North America. It seems Peacock has fairly decent coverage? I may give them a try.
prostratedragon
@Sure Lurkalot:
“much less letting me speed down a tube of ice head first on what looks like a cafeteria tray.”
Don’t we all make up stories about why it’s called “skeleton?”
Jacel
My favorite Olympics ceremonies were at the Calgary winter games. There was so much First Nations content in the opening and closing ceremonies, with their music integrated in interesting ways. I learned decades later that the music director was Robert Buckley, who around the same time composed the music for the wonderful “Reboot” cartoon show. So one musician was responsible without my knowing it at the time for two of my favorite things ever.
Gloria DryGarden
@trollhattan: at the end of the Olympic skating events, there will be an exhibition skate, and Malinin will skate then. A lot of times, teams and skaters prepare fun non competitive pieces, where they can just do beautiful skating. It’s usually a great show.
I noticed a digital clock at the ice arena, showing 22:34. If that was a clock, and not a score display, golly some of those guys were skating at 1030 pm. That’s pretty late, to hang on and be at your best.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jacel: is that ceremony available on YouTube? I’ll go look.
Jacel
@Gloria DryGarden: In my message I included links to the Calgary “opening” and “closing” ceremonies that go to the whole recordings at the IOC site.
rikyrah
@Chief Oshkosh: I remember that.
One of the best visuals for an opening ceremony was 1984 and all those people playing Gershwin on baby grand pianos
prostratedragon
A Norwegian xcountry skier, Johannes Klaebo, just became the first to win 8 gold medals in the Winter Olympics (or any? I think Phelps might have only 7.)
Steve Finlay
Favourite opening ceremony: kd lang singing Hallelujah in 2010.
Favourite sport: curling. It has a perfect balance of strategy, skill, and chance. I also love the fact that so much of it is backwards. The stones, which are perfectly round, have noses and corners. The house, which is perfectly round, has corners. If the rocks are flying down the ice bashing other rocks like a high speed demolition derby, that is boring, safe, conservative play. If they are slowly tiptoeing in to exactly the right spots, that is risky and aggressive play. And if you are tied 3/4 of the way through the game and you go ahead by one point, YOU are the team that’s in trouble, because you just gave your opponent the hammer.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jacel: sorry I missed that, weird lighting. Thanks.
OlFroth
I just find the Olympics to be exceedingly dull. That typed, if you enjoy it, rock on!
Just look at that parking lot
Jim McKay.
Paul in KY
@Suzanne: I like the downhill best of the alpine due to the insanity of the lines they are taking.
Paul in KY
@Just look at that parking lot: Great night that was!
Paul in KY
@Trivia Man: How about just wearing same thing cross county skiers wear? No aerodynamics.
Paul in KY
@Barbara: Just repping for their continent, IMO. Probably know the French team much better too.
Paul in KY
@Chief Oshkosh: Lillehammer was my favourite Winter games.
Paul in KY
@Just look at that parking lot: The greatest long jumper I’ve ever seen and I’ve been watching them since 1976.
Paul in KY
@Melancholy Jaques: 88 was pretty good for boxing (even if Roy Jones got screwed out of the Gold).
Paul in KY
@Gloria DryGarden: I liked Scott cause he kept all the costuming down to a minimum. And he was a badass mofo clutch skater.
hw3
How has no one brought up one ♂ of the phallus related scandals of this year’s Winter Olympics?
‘Penisgate’ at the Olympics: why inject acid into your penis, and what are the health risks?
theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/06/penisgate-winter-olympics-ski-jumpers-acid-penis-health-risks-expl…
♂ Penisgate 2: Italian Olympic coverage takes Leonardo da Vinci’s genitals away
Gloria DryGarden
IliaIlia Malinin describes what happened during his free skate
short and sweet.
“The expectations of the whole world press into your head like noise “
Just look at that parking lot
Jim McKay
Just look at that parking lot
Jim McKay…going. once…going twice…gone…no love to be found for Jim Mckay.