2014 Winter Olympics: Sochi, Russia

[Megalodumb]

Welcome to the discussion of the XXII Olympic Winter Games!


February 7th - 23rd, 2014
Sochi, Russia.

Come in & show your national pride, from whichever corner of the globe you may be from! Discuss your favorite event/team/athlete. This thread is for all things that make up the global competition & brotherhood of the Olympic games.

Opening Ceremony: Friday, February 7th, 2014

 

[Lucky]

Barely over a month to go until the start of the XXII Olympic winter games! Come in & show your national pride, from whichever corner of the globe you may be from.

Let the games (almost) begin!

I've had John Carlson as my avatar the last couple of days, in honor of his being named to the U.S. Olympic hockey team. Canada will be favored, but the US is closer to it in talent than it's ever been.

 

[JenniferS]

Barely over a month to go until the start of the XXII Olympic winter games! Come in & show your national pride, from whichever corner of the globe you may be from.

Let the games (almost) begin!

There's no way Canada is going to match its medal haul from Vancouver 2010.
Heck, I just read an article that predicts our Men's Hockey team will come in 7th! What the what?

http://read.thestar.com/?origref=ht...ympic-hockey-team-projected-to-finish-seventh

 

[jw24]

Well, to quote D2: The Mighty Ducks: USA all the way! Being a hockey fan, that is obviously the sport I'll follow more closely. Some interesting and questionable picks for Team USA. (Like Howard over Bishop?! Seriously?!) I actually think the Russians are favored because they'll have the home ice advantage and remember, the European ice hockey rinks are much wider compared to the NHL rinks. I can only hope for a better performance from Team USA in this tournament (This year's world juniors ended in disaster for the US. Won the first three but lost to Canada in the last pool play game and then lost to Russia in the knockout stage! )

Anyway, will I follow other sports? Yes! I'll definitely watch speed skating (Both long and short track), bobsled, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

 

[Lucky]

There's no way Canada is going to match its medal haul from Vancouver 2010.
Heck, I just read an article that predicts our Men's Hockey team will come in 7th! What the what?

http://read.thestar.com/?origref=https://www.google.ca/#!/article/52c5d5f9ec069136a400001f-sochi-2014-canadian-men-s-olympic-hockey-team-projected-to-finish-seventh

Yeah, based on a nonsensical statistical model.

 

[Megalodumb]

Heck, I just read an article that predicts our Men's Hockey team will come in 7th! What the what?

Whoever wrote that article was probably prying for attention. No way, no how, will Canada drop that far.

 

[JenniferS]

Whoever wrote that article was probably prying for attention. No way, no how, will Canada drop that far.

Fingers crossed.

I have irreplaceable memories of our last victory.
Goooooooo Canada.

 

[Megalodumb]

http://www.olympic.org/sochi-2014-winter-Olympics
Has a countdown clock on right-hand side of the page leading to the opening ceremony.

33 days, 9 hours, & 5 minutes.

 

[PUSH]

I wish the Olympics would start earlier, so I don't have class all the time when they're on, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess. (Wow, major run-on sentence there!)

Anywho, I prefer the summer games to the winter games, but I do enjoy the speed skating in the winter games. I'll watch other events here and there, like alpine skiing, hockey, etc.

Go Lithuania! Whoops, I mean, Go USA!

 

[Megalodumb]

I wish the Olympics would start earlier

I wish they happened annually.
(But I'm sure the athletes wouldn't appreciate me saying that. It's exhausting enough for them having to train for every 4 years.)

 

[PUSH]

I wish they happened annually.
(But I'm sure the athletes wouldn't appreciate me saying that. It's exhausting enough for them having to train for every 4 years.)

I'm glad they alternated the summer and winter games. If they would have done both every 4 years (or continued too, I think they did that at one point), that would be a time-consuming year, and it would be a long wait.

 

[MinnieM123]

I love the Olympic winter games, especially the figure skating. Although I'm rooting for the USA teams in all the winter sports, I have so much respect for athletes all over the world; their dedication and hard work is truly an inspiration, regardless of what country they represent.

All the athletic competitions are fun to watch (especially when sitting on my comfy sofa with my treats like Cheetos and hot chocolate with marshmallows)!

 

[PhilharMagician]

Love the Olympic games. Took my daughter up to Lake Placid a few weeks ago for World Cup bobsled and skeleton. It is truly amazing seeing how fast they actually go. Over the summer we went up there and watched some of the up and coming ski jumpers and trick jumpers jumping into the practice pool. Really cool living within a few hours of a Olympic site.

 

[JenniferS]

I'm glad they alternated the summer and winter games. If they would have done both every 4 years (or continued too, I think they did that at one point), that would be a time-consuming year, and it would be a long wait.

1992 was the last year that both the Summer and Winter Olympic games were held in the same year - in Albertville, France.

Personally, I preferred it that way. It just seemed so much more exciting knowing that it would be another four years before this spectacle unfolded again.

The games also coincided with leap years, so it was easy to recall which year was a leap year. (Since then, I've had a son born in 1996, so I can calculate forward or back from there.)
Summer Olympics continue to be held in leap years. Winter Olympics, of course, are two years before or after.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

looks to the left<<<, looks to the right>>> Okay I admit it. I like curling.

 

[Pocahontas]

USA!

Not really feeling the Olympics this year. There's been a lot of controversy... I'm more of a summer Olympics kind of girl, anyway.

 

[Megalodumb]

looks to the left<<<, looks to the right>>> Okay I admit it. I like curling.

Nothing to be ashamed of. It's up there with my favorite events too.

 

[JenniferS]

looks to the left<<<, looks to the right>>> Okay I admit it. I like curling.

I'm not a huge fan generally, but everyone I know curls.

Given that Canada is defending Gold (Men's) and Silver (Women's), I suspect I'll be a supporter for a week or two.

 

[Zweiland]

looks to the left<<<, looks to the right>>> Okay I admit it. I like curling.

My opinion of curling? Someone was too cheap to hire a Zamboni, so they made up an event to trick people into resurfacing the ice for them.

 

[Megalodumb]

If I had to pick one favorite event for the winter Olympics (not an easy task, as I have many), I would have to go with either bobsledding or snowboarding halfpipe.