Winter Olympics

[declansdad]

Yeah, that's the impression I got. During someones skate, I really don't remember who or even what event of the team competition, one of the commentators basically said if you attempted a quad and fell you would still get the same number of points as you would if you had landed a clean triple. It used to be there was more emphasis put on a clean program....technical difficulty was still important but you were better off doing smaller tricks you could land cleanly than attempting things you were shaky on. It's not that way anymore so now you see some people attempting monster tricks and falling on their backsides all the time because it doesn't hurt their score to try them.

I think I like the old way better.

I think that may been a way to take some of the subjectivity out of the judging.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

On the figure skating- my husband and I were talking about the scoring too. You could fall, even multiple times, but still have a better score due to the other items in the scoring. It was confusing, especially at first (and still is somewhat confusing). It does seem as though the ladies are skating better on average than the guys (at least when it comes to falling).

Doesn't matter though what country someone is representing my husband and I both cringe and can't help feeling bad for those who fall and that goes for multiple sports; and for luge it's when they bump the sides.

 

[Turn the Page]

I think that may been a way to take some of the subjectivity out of the judging.

How? Only half of the score is on technicality. The other half is on interpretation of the music, execution, etc. That's all subjective.

 

[jrmasm]

Yeah, that wind didn't seem fair to everyone - you'd like to see a competition where most of the athletes have a chance to do their best and seeing one competitor after another either crash or just bail from their jumps didn't make for a fun competition.

And I still don't understand figure skating.

And I don't understand why it has to be on every time I turn on the tv.

 

[Turn the Page]

Haven't seen a of the Olympics. Loved the skating last night. And the 17 year old snow boarder. The skier who got all tangled up, broke his pole and came out with a gold.

I have been struck by how 'international' the competitors are. You have to actually know/hear what country they are representing. For instance, the Shibutani kids don't look like traditinal Americans. Then there are some from US on other teams. I love it. Shows you how the world is becoming a smaller place.

And how can the one figure skating coach coach so many different countries?

What? Pray tell, what does a traditional American look like? If you mean Native American then they are generally considered to be of Asian descent so the Shibutani kids DO look like traditional Americans.

 

[soccerdad72]

And I don't understand why it has to be on every time I turn on the tv.

Amen - plus an hour or so of "pre-game" ice skating talk on top of the competition. We recorded one of the telecasts over the weekend and I didn't realize that "Olympic Ice" was just a ice skating recap show - we kept on fast forwarding waiting for actual Olympic competition and couldn't find any.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I would venture to say that the U.S. is the most diverse country out there, and the Olympic teams show it.
Which makes me wonder about the so called America is not diverse or tolerant enough 'haters'.

But, anyhow, it is true that it must be too easy for athletes to find a way to compete under another flag, if perhaps they might not be good enough to make the U.S. team.
One I saw really stood out to me... a pair, neither of which seemed to have direct ties to the country they were competing for... The guy was an all-american from New Jersey???

 

[declansdad]

How? Only half of the score is on technicality. The other half is on interpretation of the music, execution, etc. That's all subjective.

Just a guess on my part but I would say under their old system it was all subjective. This system does seem to reward the skaters that attempt more technical programs vs those who play it safe.

 

[Turn the Page]

And I don't understand why it has to be on every time I turn on the tv.

You know, DH and I had Olympic coverage on in the background for a good chunk of the day yesterday. When the prime time coverage finally started they spend half of it chatting about the Figure Skating team competition and who had the best chance at a medal and blah blah blah and when they finally made it to actual event coverage we had already seen half of it because it had aired earlier in the day.

I do enjoy the coverage streaming nbc's website though. It seems like we can watch individual events more easily that way so we can pick out the things we are more interested in.

 

[Wishing on a star]

When I have the time, I have focused on seeing the competitions/skaters as the competition is actually broadcast in the evenings.
The pairs skating was on late last night!

 

[Turn the Page]

I would venture to say that the U.S. is the most diverse country out there, and the Olympic teams show it.
Which makes me wonder about the so called America is not diverse or tolerant enough 'haters'.

But, anyhow, it is true that it must be too easy for athletes to find a way to compete under another flag, if perhaps they might not be good enough to make the U.S. team.
One I saw really stood out to me... a pair, neither of which seemed to have direct ties to the country they were competing for... The guy was an all-american from New Jersey???

I think they have to be citizens of the country they are competing under. I know a lot of athletes train in the US but will compete under their native countries banner. Or there is a male ice dancer (or pairs skater I forget) on the Japanese team who grew up in Michigan but I guess his Dad was Japanese and he had dual citizenship or something like that.

One other story I heard about was a skier whose parents were both Americans but for whatever reason his parents were traveling in Malaysia and he was born there so he had dual citizenship and is in the Olympics on the Malaysian ski team. I imagine it is somewhat easier to make the Malaysian ski team than the US ski team.

 

[soccerdad72]

But, anyhow, it is true that it must be too easy for athletes to find a way to compete under another flag, if perhaps they might not be good enough to make the U.S. team.
One I saw really stood out to me... a pair, neither of which seemed to have direct ties to the country they were competing for... The guy was an all-american from New Jersey???

That seems to be a little more common with the Summer Olympics or with smaller, non-winter sports countries, but yeah, it seems that anyone with some sort of bloodline in a certain nationality is able to compete for that country. Again, it's often in a sport where that country doesn't have a lot of representation (e.g. an American kid with Norwegian nationality isn't making it onto their cross country team ).

 

[cabanafrau]

Hope the weather cooperates for more of the mountain venues so competitions can be run for athletes to show their talents full out.

Watched lots of curling at our house over the weekend between online & CBC coverage on TV.

 

[soccerdad72]

Speaking of nationalities in the Olympics, I just saw this cool story...

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/olympics-...r-thought-033803068--abc-news-topstories.html

 

[Wishing on a star]

I was just going to post this....
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/olympi...erent-born-happens-often-think-060840509.html

 

[Action City]

Speaking of nationalities in the Olympics, I just saw this cool story...

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/olympics-...r-thought-033803068--abc-news-topstories.html

If you're feeling good about humanity today, don't read the comments on the article.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Thanks for the heads-up....
But, really, isn't that kind of to be expected...

 

[soccerdad72]

If you're feeling good about humanity today, don't read the comments on the article.

I'm afraid to look (and can kind of guess at what would be said).

 

[clutter]

How? Only half of the score is on technicality. The other half is on interpretation of the music, execution, etc. That's all subjective.

My thoughts is that the falls by the Russian guy (name escapes me) impacted the interpretation and musicality. It just doesn't make sense that a gorgeous, almost perfectly executed program like Adam Rippon's would score less than his.

That said, I'm really preferring NBC Sports Network for coverage. Loved seeing the snowboarders last night instead of all of the ice skaters. (and I love that I can hop back and forth between the channels and rewind to see what I've missed on the other!)

 

[Action City]

My thoughts is that the falls by the Russian guy (name escapes me) impacted the interpretation and musicality. It just doesn't make sense that a gorgeous, almost perfectly executed program like Adam Rippon's would score less than his.

That said, I'm really preferring NBC Sports Network for coverage. Loved seeing the snowboarders last night instead of all of the ice skaters. (and I love that I can hop back and forth between the channels and rewind to see what I've missed on the other!)

Rippon's program wasn't as difficult, that is why he scored lower.