2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Thread

[Grizalltheway]

[93henfan]

Gold.

Hells yeah! Geoff Bodine's efforts with sled building have finally paid off after all these years!!

Great news for a team that won no medals of any color for over four decades.

There are probably more of you, like me, who grew up very interested in watching bobsledding but was always disappointed that we sucked at it. NO MORE. FUCK YEAH.

[BlueHen86]

Gold.

Hells yeah! Geoff Bodine's efforts with sled building have finally paid off after all these years!!

Great news for a team that won no medals of any color for over four decades.

There are probably more of you, like me, who grew up very interested in watching bobsledding but was always disappointed that we sucked at it. NO MORE. FUCK YEAH.

[Fresno St. Alum]

If we beat Canada in the Hockey Gold medal game Canada will consider USA as the country that won the olympics.

[93henfan]

If we beat Canada in the Hockey Gold medal game Canada will consider USA as the country that won the olympics.

Pretty much. The Canada team is going to be sky high starting the game tomorrow. We really need to get an early goal and take away the energy.

[93henfan]

Canada wins the gold medal count. They have 12 to Germany's 10 and there are only three events left, of which two are the final games in men's curling and men's ice hockey, which Germany has already been eliminated from.

[Mountaineer]

Canada wins the gold medal count. They have 12 to Germany's 10 and there are only three events left, of which two are the final games in men's curling and men's ice hockey, which Germany has already been eliminated from.

Looks like Canada is going to get gold number thirteen in curling. That ties them with the Soviets and Norway for most golds won at a winter olympics.

Closing the gold medal gap to 13/10 tomorrow, winning the hockey gold, and denying them the most golds record would be a sweet way to end these games.

[93henfan]

OK, I just saw the funniest thing I've ever seen in the olympics in the men's snowboard parallel slalom bronze medal race. They stagger the gate opening for each racer based on their times in previous runs. Apparently Stanislav Detkov didn't get the memo. When they let the other guy go, he lunged forward, crashed the gate (which wasn't released yet) with his shin, fell on his face, then did a sitting backflip over the gate (like a scuba diver) to get started. It's not on YouTube... yet.

[EPJr]

USA delivers first gold in four-man bobsled since 1948


Driving the bobsled nicknamed Night Train, USA-1 pilot Steven Holcomb crossed the border and delivered a long-awaited gift: a U.S. Olympic gold in four-man bobsled Saturday for the first time since 1948.
USA-1's performance — with Holcomb driving near perfect and Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz pushing the sled at the start — was poetry in high-speed motion.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics ... htm?csp=hf

[Mountaineer]

Here's another great set of pictures of The Night Train and crew.

[93henfan]

Steve Holcomb: Living proof that America's obesity epidemic will not stop us from olympic domination! I was beaming with pride watching him shoehorn into the sled after starting each run. It brought a tear to the eye of every man with a beer gut.

[UNHWildCats]

Hadn't realized this before now. I think we all knew Team USA set its medal count record, but the 37 medals by Team USA is a new winter Olympic record. Apologies if this was already mentioned.

[93henfan]

Hadn't realized this before now. I think we all knew Team USA set its medal count record, but the 37 medals by Team USA is a new winter Olympic record. Apologies if this was already mentioned.

Yep, USA with the most medals ever in a Winter Olympics. This is only the second time the USA has won the total count, the other being 1932 Lake Placid.

Also, Canada is tied at 13 for the most gold ever in a Winter Olympics (USSR 1976 and Norway 2002 being the others) and a chance to be the first ever with 14 gold if they win in hockey today.

As impressive as these numbers are, it cannot be ignored that the number of Winter Olympic events has nearly doubled since 1988.

Here is a very good passage from an article just published by the CSM:

Yes, the US and Canada won a record number of medals, but there were a total of 86 events – 258 medals – to be won. By contrast, in 1928, there were 14, and Norway won 15 medals, six gold – an average of 1.07 medals and 0.43 golds per event.

To do that, the US would have needed to win 92 medals, Canada 37 golds.

Of course, back then there were only 25 nations competing, and Norway had invented most of the sports in the Winter Olympics. In Vancouver, there are 82 nations, and many of the newer event are tailored to appeal to a different part of the world.

The Norwegians, for example, didn’t have to deal with the Koreans in short track, the Chinese in aerials, or the Americans in halfpipe snowboarding.

It means that medal count domination has taken on a different hue since 1992, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) began its effort to expand the Winter Olympics, both in terms of events and national participation.

In 1988, the Winter Olympics had 46 events, compared with the 86 today.

That makes historical comparisons – and superlatives – problematic. The US and Canadian winning percentages, however, are roughly equal with the winning percentages since 1992.

[BlueHen86]

Hadn't realized this before now. I think we all knew Team USA set its medal count record, but the 37 medals by Team USA is a new winter Olympic record. Apologies if this was already mentioned.

Yep, USA with the most medals ever in a Winter Olympics. This is only the second time the USA has won the total count, the other being 1932 Lake Placid.

Also, Canada is tied at 13 for the most gold ever in a Winter Olympics (USSR 1976 and Norway 2002 being the others) and a chance to be the first ever with 14 gold if they win in hockey today.

As impressive as these numbers are, it cannot be ignored that the number of Winter Olympic events has nearly doubled since 1988.

Here is a very good passage from an article just published by the CSM:

Yes, the US and Canada won a record number of medals, but there were a total of 86 events – 258 medals – to be won. By contrast, in 1928, there were 14, and Norway won 15 medals, six gold – an average of 1.07 medals and 0.43 golds per event.

To do that, the US would have needed to win 92 medals, Canada 37 golds.

Of course, back then there were only 25 nations competing, and Norway had invented most of the sports in the Winter Olympics. In Vancouver, there are 82 nations, and many of the newer event are tailored to appeal to a different part of the world.

The Norwegians, for example, didn’t have to deal with the Koreans in short track, the Chinese in aerials, or the Americans in halfpipe snowboarding.

It means that medal count domination has taken on a different hue since 1992, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) began its effort to expand the Winter Olympics, both in terms of events and national participation.

In 1988, the Winter Olympics had 46 events, compared with the 86 today.

That makes historical comparisons – and superlatives – problematic. The US and Canadian winning percentages, however, are roughly equal with the winning percentages since 1992.

That is a good point. It has been a great Olympics though. We won more medals than anybody else and we won medals in events that we have not medaled in before. We also won gold in the four man bobsled and might get one in men's ice hockey (even if we don't, silver is also good).

[mebison]

If the US wins the hockey game, I would pay money to see the US men came wandering back onto the ice with big fat stogies, Molson, and a super-size bottle of champagne.

[93henfan]

That is a good point. It has been a great Olympics though. We won more medals than anybody else and we won medals in events that we have not medaled in before. We also won gold in the four man bobsled and might get one in men's ice hockey (even if we don't, silver is also good).

Yeah, a gold in bobsled and men's hockey would make this one heckuva feel-good olympics. Today's hockey game is going to be a (pardon the cliche) war. We're playing a nation today. A win would be second only to the Miracle on Ice in terms of USA winter olympic highlights.

[T-Dog]

Wow. What a goal!

Man if America wins in OT/shootout, Canada will be devastated.

[bobbythekidd]

Wow. What a goal!

Man if America wins in OT/shootout, Canada will be devastated.

[DJH]

C' mon boys. Break their hearts.

[93henfan]

fuck

[bobbythekidd]

damn

[Mountaineer]

Brutal way to lose on a soft goal like that. Still the US went toe to toe with the Canucks and had a chance to win the game. Miller was awesome all tournament.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Wow. What a goal!

Man if America wins in OT/shootout, Canada will be devastated.

That was the only thing I cared about in this Olympics... US beating Canada at their own sport in their own country. Came so fucking close...

[Mountaineer]

Final Medal Count. US comes up short in golds in 2008 and 2010. We need to work on that.

[DukeJack]

Why HIM? Losing that hurts bad enough but HIM?