|
Post by jhar26 on Feb 22, 2014 3:39:30 GMT -5
Don't like most jury sports anyway. Of course for some it would be difficutl without a jury, such as figure skating.... It's difficult WITH a jury as well when you consider the uproar after the womens event with Sotnikova winning the gold instead of Kim Yuna. Pretty much everyone considered Kim better, but Sotnikova got Putin's vote.
|
|
|
Post by arjan on Feb 22, 2014 4:11:37 GMT -5
Don't know about 'everyone'. I liked Sotnikova's perfmance better, and it seemed so did the Dutch commentator...
|
|
|
Post by jhar26 on Feb 22, 2014 4:58:48 GMT -5
Don't know about 'everyone'. I liked Sotnikova's perfmance better, and it seemed so did the Dutch commentator... I have no idea because I didn't see it. I only go by what I've read. I guess it's sorta the same situation as in the past with Witt and that black American girl (can't remember her name right now) when many said that the American was better because of the jumps. But I thought that Witt winning it was ok because she was better artistically for me. But this is as you said a problem we will always have with jury sports.
|
|
|
Post by arjan on Feb 22, 2014 5:16:42 GMT -5
Of course it's always difficult to tell. I don't know anything about the jumps and how difficult they are or which is more difficult than another. According to the commentator the height of the jumps of Sotnikova was the decider. I also liked it more as a whole to watch.
There's of course also something as an self fulfilling prophecy... if one thinks the russian will win because of political influences or bribes and she does win, it's easy to say these influences were the reason...
|
|
|
Post by jhar26 on Feb 22, 2014 6:02:18 GMT -5
True, although there have been occasions in the past that were suspicious to say the least. Comaneci not winning the allround gymnastics gold in Moscow and boxer Roy Jones literally beating up his Korean opponent but not getting the gold in Seoul are some obvious examples of politics interfering with the end result in my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by jhar26 on Feb 23, 2014 12:25:58 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by erik on Feb 23, 2014 13:37:30 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Netherlands in 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics:
Their speed skating team had a great deal to do with that. They did dominate the events in this sport, and swept the podium in several of the individual ones. And who can blame them, really? They're not a nation with snow-capped mountains for skiing, so why not make speed skating a sporting priority?
|
|
|
Post by arjan on Feb 23, 2014 13:56:09 GMT -5
Yes Our goal was score at least one more medal than 4 years ago... we succeeded in that (in Vancouver it was 8 medals seven in speed skating and 1 gold on snowboard) All except one medals were scored in long track speedskating, one bronze medal in short track. I think our goal for Korea 2018 will be to get more medals in other sports, short track and also snowboard... and possibly we'll also be competing in figure skating and skiing but I doubt those will be good enough for medals.
|
|
|
Post by jhar26 on Feb 23, 2014 14:13:42 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26 re. Netherlands in 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics: Their speed skating team had a great deal to do with that. They did dominate the events in this sport, and swept the podium in several of the individual ones. And who can blame them, really? They're not a nation with snow-capped mountains for skiing, so why not make speed skating a sporting priority? True, but when you look at the globe Holland is little more than the top of a matchstick. It's amazing that they totally dominate the rest of the world even if it's only in one sport. Besides, they always do very well in the summer Olympics as well. And they always do well in soccer which is the most popular sport in the world. In short, considering the size of the population the Netherlands could overall be contenders for the best sports nation on the planet. It's easy to get lots of medals for countries the size of the US, Russia, China or Germany. But to find that much talent when you have a much smaller pond to fish from is incredible in my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by erik on Feb 23, 2014 14:58:52 GMT -5
Quote by jhar26:
And it's a "low country"; to my understanding, a lot of the Netherlands would be submerged if it weren't for the placement of the dikes and seawalls. So they developed as their winter discipline the speed-skating events, which they dominated like no other Olympic participant in any of the other events this year. They know they're not a big country to start with, so they take that particular discipline seriously in ways that, to be honest, even us Americans take for granted.
|
|
|
Post by Andrew on Mar 9, 2014 15:18:39 GMT -5
I watched none of it. I don't usually watch much anyway, preferring the summer olympics show-off stuff like diving and gymnastics. But the IOC has proven itself to be one crappy institution and even watching it makes me feel like a traitor to my own soul. So I'm done with the whole thing.
|
|