I don't really follow the sport, but wtf happened to Shaun White's hair. He looks all clean cut now. Or is that not recent and I'm way behind the times?
Freestyle snowboarding and skiing is so amazing to watch. Both the men and women being it equally, and the combination of speed, skill and risk is just plain nuts. Especially freestyle jumping. The fucking spin like looping cargo plane propellers and land in their feet virtually every time. Crazy-awesome.
I would love to be him in the interview after that: "Just so you guys all know, I always take that corner like that." ...and then stage-dive onto a pile of groupies. That was insane. I'm sure luck played its part, but to regain composure sliding at 75 mph like that on not-so-smooth ice, that...just...WOW. I love the Winter Olympics. You basically have to laugh at death to compete.
Thats really impressive, lucky as hell obviously too. It almost looks like the sled forces itself back underneath him.
Between Kaetlyn Osmond and Gracie Gold, Canada and the US are doing pretty well in the "attractive barely legal figure skaters" department.
There are actual sports going on. I'm a huge winter Olympic fan and the time difference works for me. Charles Hamelin for the goooold! Long live short track. Best. Sport. Ever. Don't watch this if you have a heart condition. The count for Canada is 2 gold, 2 silver and a brilliant bronze. Day 3 isn't done. 4 men in top 6 moving on in freestyle skiing moguls. Sadly, I'm too tired to make it to the medal rounds. I hope to wake up to great news. Oh Canada!!
In case you didn't see the full ride, here is the video. I love these things, these casual stories that are quite incredible and are barely noticed. You know the ones that, if you put it in a movie, people would complain about the lack of realism. The ride, fall and recovery are just remarkable. He was face down and somehow ended up back on the sled. Surely there was mostly luck invovled, but the casual way he finished the run is amazing. "Oh shiiiiiiiit! This is going to hurt sooo ba- oh. Hey. Okay, let's see, turn 12 coming up here. Doo doot doo." But, also the fact that India can't compete in these games, because of violations. (I mean, isn't the IOC one of the most notoriously corrupt groups? How bad do you have to screw up to violate their standards?) And, this dude is there as an independent. You can't make this stuff up. Also, does Ashley literally bite her tongue here before saying "bullshit" ?
Sure seems that way. Why hesitate though when the most accurate word is there at hand anyway? I watched the slow-mo of the "errors" they deducted her points for and remain unconvinced they existed.
I have so many questions. What place did the Luge guy wind up in? India can't compete? You can go to the Olympics as an independent??
I mean, in her defense, she did have a hell of a routine, but its easily the most corrupted judging of all Olympic sports (and has been proven) so Wagner definitely got screwed, though little Russian chick was great. No way Putin is going to let her lose while he's sitting there watching. Not to mention her family is probably at gunpoint to put the proper pressure on her.
I can totally picture one of Putin's henchmen holding her parents at gunpoint just out of view of the cameras but still visible from the ice while she's skating. Or maybe they have her cell phone on a table while a man stands over it with a hammer. Its hard to tell what teenage girls value more, their cell phone or their parents. I imagine the Russians would call these things incentives. They are giving the girl the proper incentives to do well.
I imagine it's like the scene at the end of Ronin where they just have a sniper trained on the girl. Also, apparently some idiot columnist thinks #sochiproblems is a bigger embarrassment to the US than the continued shithole that is Russia. #misplacedidiocy
I prefer to think of like Eastern Promises and her dad is having a naked fight to the death in the locker room.
In all honestly, I doubt it. The little Russkaya did a fantastic job and deserved what she won. While the Russians have been caught rigging figure skating judgments before, I think this is less conspiracy and more just a screw-job. Wagner's toe wobbled a little on a relatively easy landing (and when I say "a little" I still barely saw it on the slow-motion close up). Asada fell. Yeah it was a much harder move, but she still fell. And she still placed above Wagner - in a word, "bullshit". If I was going to start pointing fingers at bribing judges I'd be leaning towards Japan - but I'm not, because I think it was just a shitty call, not the result of corruption or malice. I don't really care about the nationalities, I should add, just the performances. Justine Dufour-Lapointe clearly won the women's moguls fair and square - it really sucks for Hannah Kearney to be that close to gold and have one misstep at the beginning of the final run of her Olympic career knock her down to bronze, but that's just old-fashioned bad luck.