Author Topic: The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Thread --> Spoilers/Results inside! (Read 15285 times)

SomethingWild · « **on:** February 07, 2014, 07:17:05 PM »

The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games, or the 22nd Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event being held in Sochi, Russia. Officially scheduled for 7 February through 23 February 2014, opening rounds in figure skating, skiing, and snowboard competitions were held on the eve of the Opening Ceremony, 6 February 2014. The Sochi Olympics will be the first Olympics in the Russian Federation since the breakup of the USSR in 1991.

98 events in 15 winter sport disciplines will be held throughout the Games. A number of new competitions will be held during the Games, including biathlon mixed relay, women's ski jumping, mixed-team figure skating, mixed-team luge, half-pipe skiing, ski and snowboard slopestyle, and snowboard parallel slalom. The events will be held around two clusters of new venues; an Olympic Park was constructed in Sochi's Imeretinsky Valley on the coast of the Black Sea, with Fisht Olympic Stadium and the Games' indoor venues located within walking distance, and snow events will be held in the resort settlement of Krasnaya Polyana.

Links:

Official site: http://www.sochi2014.com/en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sochi2014
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+sochi2014/posts

Let's discuss the games, our favorites, anticipated matches and the controversy! Game on!

JFC · « **Reply #1 on:** February 08, 2014, 04:40:14 AM »

Glad to see that Vancouver won't be alone in the "Opening Ceremony malfunctions" category.

Seriously though, the ballet interpretation of "War and Peace" was neat.

EDIT:
- http://bleacherreport.com/olympics
- http://www.buzzfeed.com/olympics

Stryfe · « **Reply #2 on:** February 08, 2014, 11:28:00 AM »

Loved it when Fedor built Russia.

The opening ceremony was all in all... pretty damn epic.

SomethingWild · « **Reply #3 on:** February 08, 2014, 03:25:30 PM »

We came, we skated, we won.

JFC · « **Reply #4 on:** February 08, 2014, 06:20:52 PM »

Not sure, but I think that this may be the first Olympics where Canada scored a medal on the first day. The fact that the guy (snowboarder Mark McMorris) did it while having a broken rib just impresses me more.

Quote

'Feels like a gold medal to me': Mark McMorris wins Canada's first medal in Sochi
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press | Published Saturday, February 8, 2014 2:11AM EST | Last Updated Saturday, February 8, 2014 11:11AM EST

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia -- Mark McMorris wasn't going to let a broken rib derail his Olympic plan.

The Canadian snowboarder needed acupuncture, massage therapy and plenty of rehab exercises to get back in form after crashing at the X Games late last month. He knew he would have to fight through the pain and impress the judges to reach the podium in slopestyle's Olympic debut.

He did just that Saturday, nailing his second run to win bronze and give Canada its first medal of the Sochi Games.

"I would have loved to be in the gold-medal position but with what I've been through in the last two weeks, just standing on the podium in general feels like a gold medal to me," said McMorris, a former X Games champion who was touted as a gold-medal contender in the lead-up to Sochi.

American Sage Kotsenburg won gold with a score of 93.50. He was just ahead of Norway's Staale Sandbech, who took silver with a 91.75.

McMorris, who scored 88.75, had to work with a team of specialists and therapists just to get to the starting gate. Once he had medical clearance and knew he wouldn't damage the injury any further, McMorris was determined to succeed.

"It didn't matter how much pain it was going to take," said coach Adam Burwell. "All he knew was he wasn't going to hurt himself anymore. He just needed to ride through it and he did it."

FULL ARTICLE LINK - http://www.ctvnews.ca/sochi/feels-like-a-gold-medal-to-me-mark-mcmorris-wins-canada-s-first-medal-in-sochi-1.1676857

SomethingWild · « **Reply #5 on:** February 08, 2014, 06:27:11 PM »

^Slopestyle was a pretty epic event. Nice addition for sure. Kotsenburg's run was pretty sick, deserving win for sure.

I felt bad for that last guy who thought he'd won, but ended up ranking 5th

Btw, Vanessa Mae outta nowhere in the opening ceremony

Taking a break from her violin to do some pro skiing. What a talent.

JFC · « **Reply #6 on:** February 08, 2014, 08:39:15 PM »

WOO! Canada just scored it's first gold and silver! And better yet, we got them both in the same event. And even BETTER than that, it was a pair of sisters that won them!

They've also got a third sister that competed in the event, she finished in 12th spot.
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/freestyle-skiing-ladies-moguls-final-3

Quote from: SomethingWild on February 08, 2014, 06:27:11 PM

Btw, Vanessa Mae outta nowhere in the opening ceremony Taking a break from her violin to do some pro skiing. What a talent.

Holy shit, you weren't kidding.

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-vanessa-mae-vanakorn

EDIT:
4'11" Skater Kirsten Moore-Towers Poses with 6'9" Hockey Player Zdeno Chara

Olympic Snowboarder Alexey Sobolev Writes Phone Number on Helmet; Phone Crashes

EDIT 2: Looks like they're still not out of the woods in terms of the "Sochi Problems" that people have been seeing/hearing about over the last couple of weeks.

U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team Member, Johnny Quinn got trapped in a Sochi bathroom and had to break through the door

https://twitter.com/Joerobinow/status/432168527768739840/photo/1

On the plus side, at least they're using doors that are of such shit quality, that he was able to break through it.

On the down side, everyone that sees that tweet/photo will now know that they're using doors that are of such shit quality, that people can just break through them (meaning that they're not really secure/going to be good at protecting you).

SomethingWild · « **Reply #7 on:** February 09, 2014, 02:30:49 PM »

Sarka Pancochova took a nasty fall on the slopestyle which broke her helmet

She seems fine though, luckily.

And the Netherlands just won another gold thanks to Irene Wust on the 3000m speedskating

Biggest surprise was the Russian girl who took bronze. She was so happy, haha, was very nice to see.

+u+u · « **Reply #8 on:** February 09, 2014, 02:48:26 PM »

Happy for Enni Rukajärvi and silver

JFC · « **Reply #9 on:** February 09, 2014, 07:29:58 PM »

Canada took silver today in the inaugural "Team Figure Skating" event.

Also, our women's hockey team blasted the Swiss 5-0 yesterday (would've like to watched the live broadcast of the game, but the damn thing started at like, 6:30-7:00AM for me, and on Saturdays getting up that early is almost impossible for me

). Tomorrow our girls face the Finns.

Quote from: SomethingWild on February 09, 2014, 02:30:49 PM

And the Netherlands just won another gold thanks to Irene Wust on the 3000m speedskating

One of the Canadian broadcasters was talking about that about an hour ago or so, and he mentioned that out of all the medals that the Netherlands have EVER won at the Winter Olympics, only 2 of them were NOT in speed skating. So I guess that must mean that speed skating might be sort of popular there.

Oh, and check this out.
http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/rich-couple-buys-their-way-into-olympics/2tqtrcan5

SomethingWild · « **Reply #10 on:** February 09, 2014, 07:52:50 PM »

Quote from: JFC on February 09, 2014, 07:29:58 PM

One of the Canadian broadcasters was talking about that about an hour ago or so, and he mentioned that out of all the medals that the Netherlands have EVER won at the Winter Olympics, only 2 of them were NOT in speed skating. So I guess that must mean that speed skating might be sort of popular there.

Haha, didn't know that. According to wiki it's "86 medals at the Winter Olympic Games, of which 82 have come from speed skating."

Well, we don't have any hills or mountains whatsoever so that cancels out a lot of sports... and we barely get snow here either, just ice.

kuro808 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 09, 2014, 09:36:37 PM »

Japan vs. Sweden Women's Ice Hockey

I have to give them credit that this Japan team have toughness, taking contact and fighting for the puck

JFC · « **Reply #12 on:** February 09, 2014, 11:06:41 PM »

Well, during the London Olympics we had McKayla Maroney, the pissed off gymnast . Now, thanks to American figure skater Ashley Wagner, we have a Winter Olympics version.

CLICK HERE: USA Figure Skater Ashley Wagner Is Pretty Mad About Her Score

SomethingWild · « **Reply #13 on:** February 10, 2014, 05:31:23 PM »

Quote from: SomethingWild on February 08, 2014, 03:25:30 PM

We came, we skated, we won.

Oops, we did it again!

Quote from: JFC on February 08, 2014, 08:39:15 PM

And even BETTER than that, it was a pair of sisters that won them!

The Mulder bros both managed to get a spot on the podium as well!

And we're beating all these winter countries in the medal ranking for the time being

JFC · « **Reply #14 on:** February 10, 2014, 08:25:16 PM »

Canada had a fairly eventful day today. Our women's hockey team shutout Finland (sorry Masa and shi), our curling teams had mixed results. Highlight for us today was in short-track speed skating, where our guy Charles Hamelin won gold in the 1500m.

If he's lucky this'll be the first of several medals that he'll be getting.
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/short-track-men-s-1500-m-finals

Quote from: SomethingWild on February 10, 2014, 05:31:23 PM

And we're beating all these winter countries in the medal ranking for the time being

http://uppix.com/f-Naamloos52f8febb001565af.jpg

I'm happy with wherever we end up in the standings

...

...

as long as we're beating the Americans.

EDIT: Woo! 1-2 finish in the men's moguls!

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/freestyle-skiing-men-s-moguls-final-3

EDIT 2: Holy shit, I know that I've teasted Americans before about how (in my opinion) limited their Olympic coverage is compared to what we Canadians get, but I never thought it would go THIS far.

Quote

U.S. viewers complain about NBC Oly coverage
Updated: February 10, 2014 3:25 PM | By Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press, thecanadianpress.com

TORONTO - Bashing Olympics coverage in the United States seems to have become a sport in itself for fans seeking live coverage south of the border, with a groundswell of NBC-targeted rage emerging in the Winter Games' opening weekend.

FULL ARTICLE LINK - http://sports.ca.msn.com/winter-olympics/news/us-viewers-complain-about-nbc-oly-coverage-6

Like really? Is it so bad that people out there are really buying Canadian IP addresses to be able to access our streaming links?

EDIT 3: Awwwwwwwww shit.

The U.S. Bobsledder Who Broke Through His Bathroom Door Got Stuck In An Elevator Today

JFC · « **Reply #15 on:** February 11, 2014, 05:34:04 PM »

New day, new post.

So apparently, according to members of the U.S. Figure Skating team, there's a special keychain that athletes were given that gives them free Coke/Powerade.
https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/430937284301848576/photo/1

Team Canada felt a need to 1-up that.

Team Canada Has Beer Fridge That Only Opens with Canadian Passport

Not exactly new, seeing as how we actually shipped at least one of these over to random European locations last year.

SomethingWild · « **Reply #16 on:** February 11, 2014, 06:21:19 PM »

Quote from: JFC on February 10, 2014, 08:25:16 PM

Holy shit, I know that I've teasted Americans before about how (in my opinion) limited their Olympic coverage is compared to what we Canadians get, but I never thought it would go THIS far.

Interesting point, because I'm a bit annoyed with the coverage we are getting as well.
They mostly show the less exciting sports (figure skating and biathlon) and almost no halfpipe snowboarding and no ice hockey whatsoever.
Luckily I can get BBC which seems to air a decent amount of ice hockey, so I hope I can catch the important matches later on.

New of the day for me was Sang Hwa Lee winning the 500m speed skating. She has undefeated status all season, which is amazing.
The best part was that she got really emotional. From what I hear she has super star status in South Korea and is under constant pressure.
I'd link a pic, but they're not out yet it seems. Massive props to Lee, what an amazing woman.

JFC · « **Reply #17 on:** February 12, 2014, 09:16:09 PM »

Well, here's something you don't see everyday in competition, let alone the Olympics.

- http://www.sochi2014.com/en/alpine-skiing-ladies-downhill

SomethingWild · « **Reply #18 on:** February 13, 2014, 05:48:04 PM »

^Kinda random how they don't use .000 for Downhill, but do use them for speed skating. Aw well, good for them!

Massive congrats to Hong Zhang for PWING the 1000m speed skating today. Her bright smile is like the sunshine.

I am also embarrassed by van Beek's bad sportsmanship. She ruined Sang Hwa Lee's run, who was a prime candidate for a medal

JFC · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2014, 07:35:18 PM »

Canada's medal-winning pace has dropped off over the last couple of days.

Sure, technically we're still in 3rd place for the medal count (according to the way that the IOC organizes the count), but now/as of this post there are 4 countries that have higher medal totals overall.

EDIT:
Despite a couple of missteps, congrats to Japan's Hanyu Yuzuru for winning Japan's first gold medal of the Sochi games AND for being the first Asian man to become men's Olympic Figure Skating champ.

- http://www.sochi2014.com/en/figure-skating-men-free-skating

Unfortunately for Canada's Patrick Chan, he had a few missteps himself, and thus was not able to break through and become the first Canadian man to win the singles figure skating gold. Granted, a silver is definitely nothing to be ashamed of. It's just that it probably wouldn't sting as much for him if they had both at least been able to skate cleanly instead of having a couple of errors in their long programs.