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Post by Bamafan on Feb 8, 2014 5:32:09 GMT
As we did in 2012 for the summer Olympics, I thought it would be cool to start a 2014 thread for the Olympics in Russia!  I watched the opening ceremony, and thought it was pretty cool (especially all the stuff flying from the ceiling). :wink: Some parts were a bit odd, but NO ONE can out-weird the French. :je Yall's thoughts? -Taylor i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif |
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Post by Richard on Feb 8, 2014 8:24:35 GMT
Hello Taylor!  There are some excellent photographs and a couple of videos at Mail Online. There was an embarrassing moment during the opening ceremony when one of the Olympic rings malfunctioned and failed to appear!  Richard  |
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Joe
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Supporting Hayley since 2003!
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Post by Joe on Feb 8, 2014 16:44:40 GMT
Hello Taylor, I'll try not to talk about some of the events very much, and reveal spoilers,  ue to the 9 hour time gap between me and Sochi, and the TV broadcast gap. There will be some days when I'll not want to spoil any results for myself, so I may refrain from Facebook and indeed this thread some days. I also watched the Opening Ceremony last night! NBC did fairly well in its broadcast. Only cutting out 15 minutes of the ceremony...PM me for the list. And presenters Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera talked more than I would have liked. The snowflake malfunction was fixed as the five rings appeared later. The visual projections were breathtaking! The part of Peter The Great, and the actors walking on the "ship"...wow! The huge sets, which were delivered into the Fisht stadium via a procession of overhead cables, were stunning. Most of the live events start at 3 am EST on the MSNBC channel, and later on NBC Sports. I couldn't get a full Olympic week off of work as is my custom. Many of you know that I madly collect the Topps 2014 US Olympic and Paralympic Team and Hopefuls trading cards. With 100 athletes featured, the set includes autographs, fabric swatches, patches, venue and past Winter Olympics. I was was unable to find any Team USA clothing at my local Macy's dept store. In summer 2012 they had a large selection of official Ralph Lauren gear for the London games. So, support your country's athletes! Admire their hard work and dedication to sport. Embrace the Olympic spirit! |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Feb 8, 2014 23:24:48 GMT
Yes, I too will be watching much of the Winter Olympics, though it will as always take me a few days to get fully into it. But I'm excited already because next week is the 30th anniversary of Torvill & Dean's Gold Medal winning performance of Bolero, for Ice Dance in Sarajevo. I've just enjoyed a one hour probramme about it on the BBC and it brought back all the memories of seeing all those sixes come up, three sixes for technical merit then nine sixes from all nine judges for artistic impression, the first time that had ever happened at the Olympics. It was very exciting! Complete performance, and marks at the end: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUsXLQ9NItg with American commentators. Cheers, Dave |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2014 4:04:05 GMT
Caught some of the figure skating, I've actually noticed at least 2 songs that Hayley has sung during their routines. I remember hearing Dream a Little Dream and Ave Maria and there may have been another. I certainly would not have recognized Ave Maria (void of vocals) had I never heard Hayley's recording
-Rory
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Post by Richard on Feb 9, 2014 14:51:53 GMT
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Feb 9, 2014 16:17:28 GMT
Yes, an extremely rare medal for the UK on snow (the only other one 11 years ago was later disqualified from it!).
But even more congratulations to American Jamie Anderson who won the gold!
Cheers, Dave
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Post by Bamafan on Feb 9, 2014 19:26:17 GMT
Also, congrats are in order for America's Sage Kotsenburg, who won the men's Slopestyle event, taking home the first medal of the Olympics. I have to admit, I really like this event! I'm glad they added it.  -Taylor i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif |
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Post by martindn on Feb 9, 2014 21:07:53 GMT
You guys from other climes will have to forgive us Brits for celebrating out rare medals in the Winter Olympics. Perhaps it is because we don't often get a winter over here (or a summer either for that matter).  Martin D |
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Post by Libby on Feb 10, 2014 21:49:58 GMT
Oh, yes, Rory, when I first heard the Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (2010 Olympic champions, no less) skating to Dream a Little Dream, I got kind of excited too. Though I find the "buzz buzz" from Louis Armstrong a little annoying. LOL This time, it's shaping up that the Americans Meryl Davis & Charlie White are going to get the gold this time. They got silver last time. But every year they've been getting stronger and stronger, even winning 2 World Championships over the Canadians since the Olympics. Not to mention that in last night's team free dance event, Meryl & Charlie were 6 points ahead of Tessa & Scott!! I think that's a great sign that the judges are liking them best this time. Tessa & Scott are excellent ice dancers, too (as Olympic champions should be), but Meryl & Charlie's program is just so much more interesting and complex than theirs. Also, I've been distracted by the fact that Tessa has had a completely different dress for every competition, and that I have no idea what the program is supposed to be about, other than skating to pleasant-sounding music. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but in order to captivate an audience and the judges, it helps if the music is recognizable, something people will remember and hopefully understand the story behind the music. Well, anyway, the ice dancing is likely the only skating event where an American will medal, let alone the gold. There's a slim chance for the ladies, and even slimmer chance for the men. The American pairs have virtually no chance, unless all the good ones messed up horrendously or withdrew. Actually the same thing would have to happen for the American men, I'm afraid. Even if everyone did their absolute best, I think the American men would still be well off the podium, I think. It's too bad, because Jeremy Abbott is a wonderful skater. His interpretation of Muse's Exogenesis symphony is exquisite; I'd be happy if that's all he ever skated to. Though his Bring Him Home program is right up there with it, too. The UK ice dance couple, Coomes & Buckland, are nice, but they're unfortunately nowhere near the level of the Americans, Canadians, French, Russians, Italian, etc. And that's all 3 of both the American & Canadian couples, too. The UK most likely only has 1 couple there. They go by how their teams have done internationally. If the UK team doesn't place in the top 10 at the World championships, that means the UK would only be sending 1 team. When the UK team of Sinead & John Kerr were competing, they usually placed in the top 10, so that means they used to send 2 teams. I loved the Kerrs! I've been watching the snowboarding in between everything else, and I'm glad to see the Americans do well, too. I think that's the only other sport I find very interesting, because they do those tricks when they're flying in the air. The speed skating is just skating around and around, bent over with your hand on your back. How exciting. LOL Oh, but the worst one is curling... which I heard was developed in Scotland (UK)? It's very popular in Canada. You guys from other climes will have to forgive us Brits for celebrating out rare medals in the Winter Olympics. Perhaps it is because we don't often get a winter over here (or a summer either for that matter). Martin D Oh Martin, there's nothing to forgive. We understand completely. I myself was excited yesterday to see a snowboarder from NZ, and was disappointed she messed up. If anything's unusual, it's probably rooting for someone from another country!  |
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Joe
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Post by Joe on Feb 10, 2014 23:18:49 GMT
For me, it's wonderful, with so many factors, that really any athlete can win.
Go world!
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Post by martindn on Feb 10, 2014 23:37:39 GMT
Was watching the Moguls tonight. Absolutely incredible what those guys do. The way they score it is an absolute mystery to me, but these guys do the same twists and somersaults in the air that divers do, on skis!! And against the clock too. As a one time skier I don't know what they do with their bindings to survive that, and I fear their legs might break before the bindings.
Martin D
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Post by Richard on Feb 11, 2014 8:38:22 GMT
Here's a video for Libby. This is Russian figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaia's debut performance at the Sochi Olympics, Saturday 9 February 2014: Richard |
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Post by Libby on Feb 11, 2014 22:33:24 GMT
Uhh, I don't know what that is from, but it's not from Sochi, and that isn't one of her current programs. It does appear to be a competition in Russia, but it can't be this season. If you notice, the ice does not say Sochi 2014. At the Iceburg, that's what it says all over the boards and on the ice. It's most likely a junior event from a previous season. She's only just eligible for the Olympics and Worlds by 26 days, which means she didn't turn 15 till last May or June? So her previous seasons were likely on the junior scene. In fact, I think she's won the Junior Worlds' before. But anyway, the uploader has their info completely wrong.  I do like her choice of music there. I'm starting to like her even more. |
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Post by Libby on Feb 11, 2014 23:05:38 GMT
Okay, there are a lot of confusing videos. I found a video of her short program from this season, probably from Cup of Russia in Moscow late last year. However, the title is again misleading; not only does it say Sochi, but it's calling her the Olympic champion already! That very well could happen, but the ladies' champion will not be determined till next week! The pairs have just barely done their short program today (which I still have yet to see).
I'll try to find her real Olympic debut, but it may prove to be difficult...
In the meantime, I've found the "real" video of the one above... from the 2011 Russian nationals!
To be fair, I saw a similar misleading vidoe of America's Gracie Gold's program from the US Nationals. I'm starting to think you're not going to find anything genuine from the actual Olympics, at least while it's going on. I'm starting to wonder if people are really trying to pretend their videos are from the Olympics to get more views, or if somehow youtube is re-directing people to another video of that competitor instead of taking down the videos?
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I watched the opening ceremony, and thought it was pretty cool (especially all the stuff flying from the ceiling). :wink: Some parts were a bit odd, but NO ONE can out-weird the French. :je Yall's thoughts?
