About Christie and other athletes in general who 'fail': those people spent the best part of their life (thus far) and the best years trying to pursue a dream, a goal. It costs them an incredible amount of time, effort, money (not all are Usain Bolt, money-wise) and sacrifices to get to the top. In general: 10,000 hrs. training for a Gold Medal. And oh! Every heard about the 'whereabouts-system'? When doping inspectors turn up and check your urine sample? The turn up during training, when the (young) athlete is at school, during the off-weekends... It's like stalking. And it's the athlete's free will to comply with that system, despite the fact that the athlete is under a microscope, so to speak. All that for a medal.
And when -like Christie- things turn out wrong, not only once, but more times, it's extremely frustrating. Her disappointment must be so enormous! I personally hate it when journalists or people on social media act as keyboard-top athlete/super coaches and know exactly how it should be done, or how the race should have been won. I always hear their frustration or anger in their questions. "Couldn't you..., shouldn't you... Would it not have been better..." Or asking a coach if he's about to replace a team member before the athlete and the coach had a chance to talk and debrief.
I know, I am biased with a talented sailor-with-Olympic-ambitions at home. And it brakes my heart when he skips a friend's party on Saturday evening because he needs to go out in his boat on Sunday. But it is his choice. And yes, I am the taxi to the gym, because I know that he's totally worn out when he returns. Again, his free will. Even so when he goes to the supermarket and reads the labels just to be sure that there's nothing in it that can be illegal. Again, his choice. But when he watches (Dutch) TV-journalists asking ridiculous questions, and suggestive questions about losing a game, he tells me: "That's about the only thing between me and my goal to win a medal on the Olympics!" 10+ft waves, 25+ knots wind: no problem. Sailing in water just above 0 Celsius? No problem. But the pressure and comments on TV and social media make him nervous.
Consider this, when you're behind your desk commenting about an athlete who didn't live up to your expectations. Don't condemn young people for not living up to your standard. (BTW, ask yourself: when was the last time you did some serious physical exercises yourself. Or was it going to the shop for a lottery ticket?).
Menno
Last edited by thieuster; 20th February 2018 at 19:15.
That’s what we do, commenting. It’s not addressed to her, it’s a discussion that we have. Next we won’t be able to criticise politicians (the time and dedication it takes to get elected) or watch designs (do you know how hard a designer has to work to make it in one of the manufactures?)
You mentioned social media and that is different as it is addressed to the athletes directly or indirectly. And you’re right, it can be hurtful. I still think that they need to learn to deal with it as it’s not going to go away.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
The Guardian seems to concur with much of our views https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...uck-bad-racing
Curling?
Much prefer watching this to 'pub' sports, dancing or 'trick' ways invented to fall down a mountain.
Did anyone catch the men's Snowboard Big Air over night.
The second heat was incredible with virtually all athletes landing massive jumps back to back.
Compared to the rest of the park sports I was blown away.
Also nice to see a Brit qualify for the final.
Yes. Absolutely awesome is the only way I could describe it. Puts to shame the "Hungarian skier" on the half pipe.
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Well, the UK has thrown Canada out of the curling competition, first time in history Canada goes out without a medal.
More medal chances for the UK I'd say.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Kramer (and the 2 others) underperforms again
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Yep, he'll be mad. Now a spring in one of the skates was lost at the start, making the blade slower in returning to the normal (closed) position, or so they say........
Fact is that the other countries train a lot for this discipline and regard it as a real chance for a gold medal, the Netherlands however think they can shove some talent together and still win the competition.
They can't.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
It was telling at the start, Norway was almost immediately in line behind the first leader when the Dutch were still on 3 different lines.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
GB 8th in women’s bobsleigh, best result ever by GB women!
Great result, shame about 3rd run as they could have got 6th. Eagerly awaiting for men now to see if the Beeb raises seriously the funding issue.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I had a chat with my brother yesterday afternoon re the funding. Apparently a couple of the BBSA had decided to design and build their own sled and poured all the funding into that. They didn’t then have enough left to fund all the athletes so decided to cut funding to the girls.
The idiot parties have now left the building and team GB will be buying Latvian built sleds along with almost everybody else so future funding should go where it’s supposed to go.
The Dutch went through a similar process a number of years ago and were noticeable by their absence at this Olympics.
Gratuitous picture of celebrating Canadians (and one Brit!)
Thanks for that. Hope things work out for Mica. She may need a stronger, faster brake(wo)man because they need better starts to move up in the rankings. McNeil’s reading of the track is very good indeed and she could fight it with the best.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Her second run was probably the best drive of the competition with the exception of Kaillie Humphries’ last run to secure bronze.
Looking forward to the four man on Saturday and Sunday.
Men's curling....'keep your hand in your pocket pal'
Crikey, I thought it was all going to kick off for a minute. Who says curling isn't exciting (albeit occasionally)!
Daily Menno. I daily push myself óver my personal physical limits; snot from the nose, eyes watering, sweating profusely, to muscles ´screaming´ pain. Today I tried to go down a descend. Well, I did get down. Gravity saw to that
It hurts yet will go out again tomorrow for some 4 hours of pushing only myself and my thresholds.
Next race there will be some 500 entrants. Statistically about 300 will get to the finish and will be ever so happy to be one. Despite daily hárd and painful excersize, just gétting to finish will be a win over myself.
Anyway, I would not dréam of cheap critics on those athletes like on the Dutch speed skaters even after your so spot on post. I am in awe of all the hard work and dedication just competing on that level means.
You're not the person I referred to, certainly not when I read about your exercise scheme!
OT, but very important to us: as from Friday on, it's prohibited to use a boat or any other vessel in the North of the Netherlands: Friesland. Next week, it's going to be cold at night (forecasts predict -15C during the nights. The ban on boats has to do with the urge to be able to organise an outdoor speedskating championship. Some of us (not me) are dreaming about ultra long distance speedskating venues (100 - 200 km, depends on the ice structure). I am sure that some of the athletes who are now on the Olympic Oval will get back asap when it becomes clear that they can touch universal stardom(...) when winning one of the 'Grote Tochten' (Big Tours).
Menno
Where is the ban effective Menno? Is it only inland waters, or do they also expect shallow sea water to freeze despite tides?
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
https://www.fryslan.frl/home/nieuws_...251.html#close
It's in the PDF down, left. No map, unfortunately. For now only the larger waterways for essential transport are kept open: petrol etc is transported from the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam to the north east (Friesland, Groningen) by inshore tanker ships.
When I check the list (and I know my way around there after nearly 50 yrs of sailing in the region), you can safely say that 70 - 80% of the lakes and canals are 'being prepared' for the Big Tours. I will open a separate thread on that later this evening.
Menno
Lyndsey Vonn takes a Bronze after a great race and is heading for most successful female ski racer of all time- nice
As an aside,is there a more gorgeous woman on the planet?
Woehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
Totally unexpected shorttrack gold for Suzanne Schulting!
What a race!, quality stuff.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
The emotions of the whole team was great to see.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I have not seen another athlete being so incredibly happy! And on Dutch TV, the commentator needed oxygen! Like a Brazilian football commentator when the national team scores the winning goal in the final minute.
Suzanne Schulting is very, very happy and the first thing she told on Dutch TV was that her success was not only herself, alone. She stated that the whole team has helped her up to this point.
Menno
Christie could take a leaf out of Fontana’s book when it comes to staying on her skates and not faulting in a rather heated contest
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Heads up........Women's curling semi-final in 10 mins
Kjeld Nuis: 1000m gold! Now he has two: the 1500m and the 1000m. first time since 84 that one speedskater won both distances at the Olympics.
Menno
Damn. We just never got into it from the start. Hopefully we can salvage the bronze.
0.04 sec faster than the Norwegian guy. What is that? A half skating iron?