Official 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games thread!

[Planogirl]

I'm all about speed skating and after reading this I'm glad. You win or you don't which is refreshing.

Go Holland!

 

[Planogirl]

I'm cheering for the red, blue and white too. Only....my version of it has a different kind of stripes (mostly diagonal) and only 7 stars. And let's not forget the unofficial sporting emblem either.

I wonder if any Aussie will make the podium at all??








Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!
o-i! o-i! o-i!

That's cute. Good luck to the Aussies.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I agree. Technically, she was absolutely, 100% amazing. But, IMO, she lacked fluidity. To me, the best skaters make even the hardest elements look natural. As I was watching her, it seemed like her program was "this spin goes here, and now I have to throw my arm out this way, and now it's time for that jump, etc." There was no emotion to it, and a major part of this sport is the artistic aspect. I know one of the commentators even mentioned that she has said herself that she sees no reason for feeling until the technical aspects are down.

It's interesting to read the differences between commentators from various countries.

The commentators on the Australian networks were very complimentary of Lipinskaya. They are even comparing her lightness on the ice to Tara Lipinski.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's cute. Good luck to the Aussies.

LOL!


Someone has to hold on to 0-Gold, 0-Silver, 0-Bronza position. Happy to fill that void.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm all about speed skating and after reading this I'm glad. You win or you don't which is refreshing.

Go Holland!

Orange is the new Black.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

It's interesting to read the differences between commentators from various countries. The commentators on the Australian networks were very complimentary of Lipinskaya. They are even comparing her lightness on the ice to Tara Lipinski.

What's more interesting is Tara Lipinski is one of the commentators for the US! They did make that comment about what she said, however they were also very complimentary of her. I don't think any of them questioned her placement.

 

[Planogirl]

LOL!


Someone has to hold on to 0-Gold, 0-Silver, 0-Bronza position. Happy to fill that void.

There will be others.

Besides you never know. I need to look up what sports the Aussies take part in. I haven't noticed them yet.

 

[PrincessInOz]

There will be others.

Besides you never know. I need to look up what sports the Aussies take part in. I haven't noticed them yet.

Neither have I.




(Brittney Cox finished a rather credible 5th in the moguls behind the sister act; Torah Bright finished 7th in the snowboard slopestyle).

 

[PrincessInOz]

What's more interesting is Tara Lipinski is one of the commentators for the US! They did make that comment about what she said, however they were also very complimentary of her. I don't think any of them questioned her placement.

Ours didn't either. The only comment they made was in regards to the Japanese skater and couldn't believe that she was placed higher than Wagner. But then one of them remembered that the Japanese skater needed to place higher than 4th in the women's section in order to qualify for the finals.

 

[JaneBanks]

Here is a quote from another site, talking about why regular (meaning all year, not just Olympics) followers of skating aren't big fans of Julia.

Someone wanted to know why only "Every 4 year fans" were going crazy over Julia -

That’s because the figure skating fandom is very lukewarm about her.


Yeah, it’s kinda insane. She gives absolutely no emotion in her face during her skating except towards the end when she acts all triumphant and it’s a total dissonance because she’s skating to the Holocaust. Like if Julia breaks you down to tears, then I’d hate to see how you’d react to a Michelle Kwan or Chen Lu program.

Everyone is also freaking out over her spins and all I can think of is how crooked her back is, how she doesn’t point her toes, and how uncontrolled the spin is with all the traveling. Give me an Alissa Czisny layback any day.

People also applaud her jumps but she gets no height and has one of the worst double axels in the skating world and it’s like ???

Like Julia is good, but she is nowhere near close to the pinnacle of figure skating people are making her out to be.

That might explain the negativity.

I'm excited to see Yu-Na Kim. She's one who can win Gold.

I have read a lot of people complaining about the over scoring of Julia as well, but apparently, that has been going on all season gearing up to the Olympics.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Here is a quote from another site, talking about why regular (meaning all year, not just Olympics) followers of skating aren't big fans of Julia. Someone wanted to know why only "Every 4 year fans" were going crazy over Julia - That might explain the negativity. I'm excited to see Yuna Kim. She's most likely going to win Gold.

I can't quote the quote within, but please tell me the person didn't start a sentence with "Like Julia is good..."

She obviously getting the reaction she is at these Olympics because she's the hometown girl. For me, I thought Julia skated a nice program (both short & long). And I do think she skated better than Wagner in the short, don't feel the same way about her long program compared to Gold. That said, I don't think she's even comparable to Michelle Kwan, who in my opinion, had it all. And I always felt that even though Tara Lapinsky was technically stronger, Michelle was the better skater.

 

[castleview]

I also thought the Russian's combination wasn't very good. She was tilted in an awkward way.

I'd have put them in this order:

Italy
Japan
Russia
USA

I think she was the only to do a triple lutz in combination which is the hardest jump.

It's interesting to read the differences between commentators from various countries.

The commentators on the Australian networks were very complimentary of Lipinskaya. They are even comparing her lightness on the ice to Tara Lipinski.

IMHO, this girl is better than Lapinski was at this age. Tara's skating really didn't get pretty until after the Olympics.

 

[jrmasm]

I think she was the only to do a triple lutz in combination which is the hardest jump.



IMHO, this girl is better than Lapinski was at this age. Tara's skating really didn't get pretty until after the Olympics.

That was my opinion based on who I enjoyed watching the most. Not based on scoring which I know nothing about.

 

[Jafar30]

I could care less about figure skating or ice dancing. But I do love watching everything else.

I'm watching the women's snowboarding. The slope style. Plus iI'll bet they would be the most fun to hang with

 

[Shutterbug]

I just had a feeling something would happen and Bode would not be on the podium.

 

[LisaR]

I just had a feeling something would happen and Bodie would not be on the podium.

Yeah, it didn't surprise me.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I could care less about figure skating or ice dancing. But I do love watching everything else.

I'm watching the women's snowboarding. The slope style. Plus iI'll bet they would be the most fun to hang with

You take the women; I'll hang out with the guys.

 

[Shutterbug]

Just saw Sarka's crash in the Slope Style. Amazing how she was able to finish off going to down the hill afterwards.

 

[LisaR]

Just saw Sarka's crash in the Slope Style. Amazing how she was able to finish off going to down the hill afterwards.

She looked like she may have lost consciousness for a bit. I was surprised they let her continue down on her own. I hope it is standard procedure to get checked out by a doctor after a fall like that.

 

[Shutterbug]

She looked like she may have lost consciousness for a bit. I was surprised they let her continue down on her own. I hope it is standard procedure to get checked out by a doctor after a fall like that.

Yeah the way she was bouncing around and arms were just flying around made it look like she lost consciousness. I would think they would check her out for a concussion.