My Wife i looked out the window and watched the grass grow i have zero interest
Watched the Opening yesterday. Nice, beautiful, but not the London Opening in 2012!
Great day for us today and Team NL: Ladies 3000m speedskating: gold, silver, bronze. Men 1500m shorttrack: silver. For a brief moment, we were on top of the leaderboard (now overtaken by Germany, I think).
Menno
My Wife i looked out the window and watched the grass grow i have zero interest
I’ll never understand why NL are so good at speed skating but all the medals in the 3k isn’t a surprise.
I’m watching it and will no doubt see my brother on TV again as he coaches the Canadian bobsleigh team.
That's because it is not London and not 2012 ...he he.
The synchronised drones were quite something though.
Synchronised drones something else......& hoping Elise Christie gets a result this time...
Nope, my tv has a built in Claire Balding built in Off switch.
Yeah, enjoying it a great deal too, not enough hours in the day to keep up with it all, but love it.
Nothing but admiration for all competitors. Sad for Jamie Nicholls not qualifying for the Slope Style final. Cannot wait to see Dave Ryding perform as well.
I’m just sad it’s only every four years.
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Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Mite watch the girls ice skating
Watching as much as I can.
Day one and already an all Dutch podium, 4 medals in total 😎.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Errrrr, No!
I’ve been watching it on and off for the last few days. In true a Olympic style, in these few days I have become an expert in Slope style, Curling, Skiathlon etc and feel qualified enough to shout at the telly and critique the athlete’s performance.
Are they doing the biathlon this year?
I'm watching it when I can, currently a few hours a day on average. Men's luge was fantastic, and hats off (or maybe not 'cos it's bloody cold out there...) to Andrew Musgrave in the skiathlon.
Yeah right! I haven't seen proper ice on the canals in 10 yrs, I think. Ice skate rings are the secret of the success. And the Dutch Speedskating Association has a good program for young talents etc.
And with the 5000m Speedskating men, things are looking even better: another gold medal. During the time that Sven Kramer on the track, there was hardly any traffic on the streets according to Dutch traffic control. My oldest started the 2018 sailing season today with a training on the water, but first, they had to watch Kramer winning gold on TV.
Menno
Last edited by thieuster; 11th February 2018 at 18:26.
For those missing the reference, here it is: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.33d4dd493416
Absolutely love the Winter Olympics, Sven was a beast in the skating today - just on another planet. And the final jump from the 17 yr old Red was incredible.
Eleven Cities Tour; A a one-day-without-a-pause, 200 km speedskating race. The last one was on Jan 4, 1997...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht
Despite the fact that it's 21 yrs ago, the Elfsteden Committee is constantly inundated with requests for a membership card. Only members can participate.
Menno
^ A Dutch lecturer told me all about it, she was quite old but said she had previously participated.
She's one of the 16K lucky ones. 16K sounds a lot, but I think that there's a waiting list as long as the membership list. In the old days, between 1963 and 1985, membership dwindled and grandparents handed their membership to their grandsons and daughters. One of my colleagues obtained his grandfather's membership card with starting number 36. The low numbers are very sought-after because you can start in the first 'tier' (1 - 200). That makes it much easier to find your way en-route. Nowadays, the membership cards have to be returned to the committee when you decide to quit membership.
Menno
Really not interested in either of the Olympic Games. I think more and more of the events are no longer relevant, or too snobbish or unfair.
Yes you can win gold on a bicycle, snowboard or skates, but not for motorsport.
You can win about 40 medals for swimming forwards, backwards, sideways at 50/100/200m etc but only one for javelin.
And you can win for javelin, or archery, or shooting, but not darts.
True, but not such a shortage of long strips of water prone to freezing or long track ice rinks specifically required for speed skating.
To.me its about as interesting as i am sure it is to the majority of people in Asia, the Middle East, South America, Africa, Australia and South America. A rather exclusive Middle class sport for middle class people, much like every other winter Olympic sport.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
That's a new one for me :)
I'll be busy with my livestream at work from 13:30 CET, 1500m Ladies speedskating.
Middleclass my arse, skating can be done by everyone in Holland, an old jeans, pair of skates and a woolly jumper are all you need. Skates can be rented as well. Fun for everybody.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
I’m watching it a bit - I generally have zero interest in watching sport but tend to watch the Olympics - before I get bored they switch to a different event!
I have come to the conclusion it’s only open to the posh end of the market for UK Olympians (how many kids have parents who can afford enough ski holidays to spot their child’s potential early enough?) - and indeed I may have been a fantastic world class ski-jumper or brilliant on the Luge but how do you find out growing up in North London?! - having watched the moguls I wonder how the competitors will manage the stairs in the 40’s with all that knee action! - but generally it’s a fun thing to watch
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It's not all skiing and not all posh/expensive.
Generally you are either interested in doing (winter) sports or not.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
There's been F all skiing so far (unless you count the Moguls)... too windy! I can see this being an (the first?) Olympics where a number of prestige titles go undecided at this rate!
The person that complains it's 'posh' because only the rich can afford skiing holidays needs to look at the demographics of summer Olympians too... A huge bias to those from public/private schools, even amongst sports like athletics.
Many of the top skiiers (not British ones, although Dave Rydding's not exactly Bullingdon Club, is he?) just happen to have been born in the mountains - Their winter sports lessons are skiing, so it's hardly elitist if you're lucky enough to have been born in the mountains.
M
Last edited by snowman; 12th February 2018 at 14:16.
Yes!!
And another gold and bronze
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Superb display on the ice from the Dutch team.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Two silver and one gold added to the total
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Re Elise Christie:
“It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand" Brian Stimpson, Clockwise
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
All very middle to upper class but still a great event (except the wind during Slope Style!)
RIAC
Started well but it's been all downhill ....
Great performance from Russian curling team
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Loving the half pipe snowboarding - Chloe Kim taking the gold at the age of 17 was amazing.
Shaun White with an amazing run in the Superpipe.
I’m watching via the highlights programme.
Sliding around on the white stuff isn’t as easy as they make it look so I have to admire the courage, determination and skill on display from the competitors.