Official 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games thread!

[Deb in IA]

HUGE development in the men's figure skating . . .

highlight below if you want to read:

Evgeni Plushenko OUT after an injury during warmups.

 

[JanaDee]

Deb, I just read about that. Pretty shocking...

 

[JanaDee]

He also announced his retirement from the sport. He is done.

 

[Deb in IA]

I thought he was always planning to retire after this.

He had already semi-retired, and didn't skate for 2 1/2 years, and only came back because this was his homeland Olympics.

 

[JanaDee]

I thought he was always planning to retire after this.

He had already semi-retired, and didn't skate for 2 1/2 years, and only came back because this was his homeland Olympics.

Could be. I don't keep up with skating.

 

[maxaroni]

Watching Olympic coverage this evening. Due to the snowstorm I was home today and saw the mens skating short program live. I presume that both sets of announcers are watching as it unfolds. It's Tara lipinki and Johnny weir during the day. Scott Hamilton and Sandra bezic prime time. Love Scott Hamilton so prefer prime time coverage

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Really? Freestyle skiing in your underwear and shouting out to Wu Tang Clan!

 

[Jennasis]

The ice was full of drama tonight! I'm actually achy after watching it. Yevgeny pulling out...having had back surgery myself I empathize with him. He did the right thing. But the fall by the American....OUCH! What amazing strength, courage, and determination he showed getting back up and finishing (how he did it...I have no idea).

What a night!

 

[Jennasis]

woops..

 

[NaLisa]

The ice was full of drama tonight! I'm actually achy after watching it. Yevgeny pulling out...having had back surgery myself I empathize with him. He did the right thing. But the fall by the American....OUCH! What amazing strength, courage, and determination he showed getting back up and finishing (how he did it...I have no idea).

What a night!

The crowd was AMAZING for Jeremy Abbott. It literally brought tears to my eyes to see the Russian audience, so fresh off the disappointment of Plushenko pulling out, roar for Abbott throughout the rest of his program. I'm so glad he got to have that special moment and feel appreciated after such a crushing fall.

 

[PrincessInOz]

US slope style ski team cleans house today.

Well done!

The ice was full of drama tonight! I'm actually achy after watching it. Yevgeny pulling out...having had back surgery myself I empathize with him. He did the right thing. But the fall by the American....OUCH! What amazing strength, courage, and determination he showed getting back up and finishing (how he did it...I have no idea).

What a night!

What a night indeed.

That was amazing courage Jeremy Abbott showed. Good for him and the Russian crowd for getting right behind him.
I hope he's okay for skating the long program.

 

[soccerdad72]

Watching skeleton right now -- I swear, it looks like the one German guy had the same pair of indoor soccer shoes my son has, just with tacks on the bottom of them.

 

[Deb in IA]

Watching Olympic coverage this evening. Due to the snowstorm I was home today and saw the mens skating short program live. I presume that both sets of announcers are watching as it unfolds. It's Tara lipinki and Johnny weir during the day. Scott Hamilton and Sandra bezic prime time. Love Scott Hamilton so prefer prime time coverage

I like Scotty's commentary too. He really knows the performances and can explain what is coming and how the skaters did.

The ice was full of drama tonight! I'm actually achy after watching it. Yevgeny pulling out...having had back surgery myself I empathize with him. He did the right thing. But the fall by the American....OUCH! What amazing strength, courage, and determination he showed getting back up and finishing (how he did it...I have no idea).

What a night!

Pushenko is apparently getting flak from his fellow Russians for giving up and quitting.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/plushenko-thin-ice-olympic-dropout-22511657

The crowd was AMAZING for Jeremy Abbott. It literally brought tears to my eyes to see the Russian audience, so fresh off the disappointment of Plushenko pulling out, roar for Abbott throughout the rest of his program. I'm so glad he got to have that special moment and feel appreciated after such a crushing fall.

I feel so sorry for him. So talented, but he tends to choke and has a history of not being able to skate a clean program in the big events. But I was really glad he was able to pick himself up and finish strong.


Really looking forward to Jason Brown's long program. His "Riverdance" brought the crowd at the US Nationals to their feet even before he finished!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzlcVKFVWVI

 

[declansdad]

Not sure about the judging in the men's free skate. Oh well, the colour is good.

 

[BKMETV]

It's like a train wreck...no body stepped up to win this thing.

 

[Jennasis]

I really don't give a rat's fart what people think of Plushenko quitting. I don't even particularly like him...I've always found him to be arrogant. But in this case, he gets a pass from me. The fact that he was still on the ice at all is pretty miraculous.

 

[joviroxx]

There is talk that Plushenko never intended to skate the men's comp and it was all done from drama. Not sure, but interesting.

I tend to watch the skating on line. They have 2 commentators that are British. Not my favorites but they are interesting and Ive learned a lot from them. They look at the scores and explain which element got downgraded, which one they got credit for, which were level 4 vs other levels. Very interesting.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Good morning. Well done Lydia Lassila for the bronze in the Ladies Freestyle Aerials. You ruptured your ACL in Torino, came back to win the gold at Vancouver; and now a bronze at Sochi.

Great job!

 

[SkaGoat]

US Speed skating team blaming their suits, the ice, and elevation for their poor performance.....

Can't you just say the other guys are faster than we expected??

http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/...hi-olympics-us-speedskating-changing-uniforms

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

US Speed skating team blaming their suits, the ice, and elevation for their poor performance.....

Can't you just say the other guys are faster than we expected??

http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/...hi-olympics-us-speedskating-changing-uniforms

We're just getting out skated. The ice is the same for everyone. So no blaming the ice. The elevation is the same for everyone. So no blaming that. They could have strapped swamp boat engines to their backs and they still wouldn't have beaten the Dutch skaters in the distance events. So no blaming the suits for that. So we're down to what happened in the sprint events. And as for those and the suits, they were so happy with them when they got em, they decided not to use them in competition so as not to reveal them. I think we just got out worked and out skated.