Vancouver will welcome some 2,500 athletes to the 2010 Winter Olympics at Friday's opening ceremony. BBC Sport - Vancouver 2010 - Winter Olympics 2010 set to begin in Vancouver How many medals do you expect your country to receive? I hope for seven. Two gold, three silver and two bronze. Main interests: Ice hockey, ski jumping, snowboarding....
AUSTRALIA will be lucky to win a single medal.....We may have to wait for someone to fall over again in short-track speed skating....we even have a new terminology to describe this type of win...."Doing a Bradbury" If we can win more medals than New Zealand, we will have accomplished our mission! Go OZZIE!
I watched the opening ceremonies, and noticed that China (the Chicom one) marched in with a large contingent, and Hong Kong entered a ONE (1) athlete team. What's up with that? I thought that Hong Kong was part of China, The People's Republic of in particular now.... And I think that the USA will walk away with several medals....
it's so nice to see the olympics come here to Canada. The opening ceremony was quite amazing! showing our heritage and the beauty of our land. Quite patriotic. I like how they opened with our aboritional peoples welcoming the olympics to Vancouver. Very nicely presented. Finally the world can see what Canada is really all about. Let the games begin!!!! Although, It's sad to hear about the sudden death of Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili. It was nice that the ceremony was dedicated in his memory. R.I.P. oh yea, one last thing...... :mapleleaf::mapleleaf: GO CANADA GO !!! :mapleleaf::mapleleaf: lympics: But keeping with the spirit of the olympics...Good Luck to all the athletes and countries around the world!
Agreed on the Luge accident Ray. You couldn't open a paper without them showing him beeing killed, quite unneccesary if you ask me. I lost my brother in law three weeks ago in a car crash in a tunnel. I had to keep the wife away from the telly for a week. On a more cheerful note, Ole Einar Bjørndalen could outdo Bjørn Dæhlie and be the greatest Olympian. He is such a likably guy, and I hope he does well. Best of luck to all countries, and let us hope that the games will not be another doping shambles.
so sorry to hear that jaeger, my heart goes out to you and your wife, that is very sad too hear. hopefully all goes well as you say, and echo! good luck, and be safe in giving it your best...ray..
the worst thing is! they have been saying the course was unsafe for quite some time, which makes it hard to understand why it was deemed neccessary for such a course design that increased speed to such a point, and bend/bends became unsafe to take at speeds of 90mph? it became an issue and concern! to many..
It would appear from this article that the officials did look into and investigate the fellow’s death, and found that it was "human error". They did modify the corner on which he met his end however. Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old slider from the republic of Georgia, died Friday after he crashed in the final curve. He was traveling at nearly 90 mph when he slammed into an unpadded steel support pole. Officials also have modified the final curve where he crashed, erecting a wooden wall over the steel beams. (emphasis mine) Concerns about the lightning-fast course had been raised for months. There were worries that the $100 million-plus venue was too technically difficult, and a lack of significant practice time by everyone but the host nation's sliders would result in a rash of accidents. The International Luge Federation and Vancouver Olympic officials said Friday night their investigation showed that the crash was the result of human error and there was "no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track." See: Luge officials delay training - Yahoo! News--
The luge track at the Whistler run has been modified slightly to lower the speeds of the racers. The men are starting lower down (the women's original line), and the women even further down the track. Here is a link to the newest story I have seen on this, the action has reduced the men's speed to less than 90 mph. Goto: Olympic sliding resumes on fast track - Yahoo! News--
IF we cannot trust these professional athletes to overcome adverse track conditions, we should shift the Olympic movement back to an amateur contest, (as De Corban envisaged) and make competitors sign an "at your own risk" disclaimer, just as you do when you bungee jump. We wanted professionalism, and all we got were more bastard lawyers screaming COMPENSATION and licking their chops at the commissions. Lawyers ruin everything.... I'm going to start a "Kill All the Legal Eagles" website....
My parents have family friends who live in Vancouver, and also own a house in Whistler. Those friends are currently staying down here with my parents, have rented out both homes for the duration of the Olympics, and are making a boatload of money off of it...and they're renting for cheap compared to some people!
Interesting day in Olympics Hockey: USA-Switzerland 2-0 Russia-Canada 3-7 Finland-Czech Republic 2-0 Sweden-Slovakia 3-4
An absolute embarrassing performance by the Russian hockey team against Canada. I was not a happy drunk last night! This is the weakest Russian winter olympic team in history!
Very interesting Kai. The Slovakia-Sweden score was a shocker to me. Of slightly less surprise was the wide margin of victory in the Canada-Russia game. I figured it to be an offensive explosion and much closer than it was. The possibility of a Canada-US gold medal match is exciting.
Ok, now are the brackets set as US v Finland, and Canada v Slovokia? Neither would seem to have a "walk" into the gold medal round if I'm remembering the setup correctly.
And then tonight Canada beats the US in the Women's Gold Medal Hockey Game : The Cheap Seats One of the touching moments for me post the game was the applause, etc that the fans gave to the Finnish team, and especially to the U.S. team. The Canadian men's team was watching and hopefully they are inspired for their next 2 games!
Hello Macrusk, and Congrats to Canada´s Women Hockey Team for taking gold! The Finns managed to win the bronze after a struggle, but I must say I enjoyed the 2-1 goal for Finland by Karvinen when she went through the whole Swedish line-up and then tricked the goalie! Excellent performance.
Wonderful Olympics to watch this year. Watching Finland and Slovakia decide the Bronze medal for Men's Hockey as I type. Really looking forward to tomorrow's Gold Medal game between US and Canada. It's going to be a barn burner! Special congrats to Canada Men's Curling team on their Gold. Kevin Martin deserved that and a rightfully proud nation too!