[sunnykerr]

The Official Olympics Thread
English, Welsh and Scottish flags banned at Olympics.

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[sunnykerr]

From the last thread:

Originally Posted by quaist (View Post) I'm not that much of a sports buff, so I don't really watch much of it. Incidentally though, I saw a bit of the ice hockey game Canada vs. Austria today. Of course, Canada won

Well, Christina... duh

Sorry. That's a bratty response.

But, it's hockey. And, obviously, we're not the only ones who are good at it (far from it).

But those poor players. I wouldn't want to be them if they don't bring the gold home.

Originally Posted by canflam (View Post) Do you make exceptions for the Olympics? Need help thinking of a new thread title.

Christina I think the question was address to you.

As for the title, once again, I just went with one.

It's from Wayne Gretzky. I liked that it could be applied broadly, since none of us seem to be that into sports.

Also, the last thread had the Olympic motto as the title, which was my first idea.

I didn't want a repeat, so I looked for something else.

[quaist]

Thanks for the new thread, love the title!

And your response doesn't come across as bratty, I didn't delude myself at all that our chances at winning were practically zero

As for me making exceptions... Well, I guess the hockey match was an exception indeed.

And today I watched ski jumping (within our family, that's kind of obligatory) and thus the 'downfall' of one of Austrias biggest hopes towards a medal. Bleh.

[sunnykerr]

Yeah, the Canadian news has been, I find, really harsh on our athletes who have been giving "disappointing" performances.

This is a really high level to be at anyway and, lest we forget, it's still just a singular event. For the most part, anyway.

At any rate, a different sort of brouhaha has been apparently happening over the IOC's refusal to allow anything remotely pseudo-political to happen at the Olympics.

For instance, many involved in skiing sports and the new slopestyle have apparently been shocked to be prevented from wearing "I ski for Sarah" signs in honour of Sarah Burke, who died in training two years ago, and who was apparently very instrumental in getting the slopestyle to be integrated in the Olympics for the first time at Sochi.

Late skier Sarah Burke to be honoured on Flag Day The late freestyle skier Sarah Burke will be honoured Saturday as part of this year’s National Flag of Canada Day. The 29-year-old died in January 2012 after a training accident in Utah. In a statement issued Saturday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he is “deeply honoured to present this symbol of our country to Gordon Burke and Jan Phelan, parents of Sarah Burke, who are accompanied by widower Rory Bushfield.” “Sarah was a gifted athlete, a trailblazer…She was a great Canadian whose efforts have had a remarkable impact on the world of sport, and whose story has touched the nation,” he added. Each year on Feb. 15, the flag flying on top of the Peace Tower in Ottawa is given to a Canadian “who has exemplified the values of our country holds most dear,” the statement from Harper said. A government source told CTV News on Saturday that Burke’s family is currently on its way to Sochi, and the flag will be presented to the family sometime in March. No details were given, however, as to whether or not the ceremony will be a public event. Before her death, Burke fought hard to have all women’s freestyle skiing events included in the X Games and the Winter Olympics. Mike Douglas, a friend and mentor to Burke, said that while she “made her name as a skier … her legacy is really built on her qualities as a human being.” “She was one of those great Canadians that put others before herself and silently sort of fought for what was right and good things to believe in,” Douglas told CTV News Channel on Saturday. Burke was considered a leading contender for gold at the Sochi Games, having won four gold medals at the Winter X Games and a gold medal at the 2005 halfpipe world championship. Canadian Dara Howell, gold medalist in the slopestyle event, dedicated her medal to the late skiing star earlier this week. Teammate Kim Lamarre won bronze in the event. National Flag of Canada day on Feb. 15 began in 1996 and marks the day in 1965 when the Canadian flag was officially raised across the country for the first time.

[sunnykerr]

'No wrongdoing' in Schumacher fall The French prosecutor investigating Michael Schumacher's skiing accident says he has found no evidence of wrongdoing and has closed the probe. Patrick Quincy said that the markers and information given at the Meribel resort where the accident happened conformed to French laws. The 45-year-old German Formula 1 legend has been in intensive care since the incident on 29 December. He was skiing off-piste when he fell and hit his head on a rock. Investigators found that the rock which caused him to fall was 10.4m (34 feet) away from the rock on which he hit his head. Both the rocks were more than 4m from the edge of the piste. The seven-time world racing champion remains in hospital in Grenoble. His spokeswoman said on 30 January that the medical team were reducing his sedation to prepare to gradually bring him out of a coma. Schumacher retired from racing in 2012 after a 19-year career. He won two titles with Benetton, in 1994 and 1995, before switching to Ferrari in 1996 and going on to win five straight titles from 2000.

I don't think anyone ever doubted it was just a dumb accident, but I suppose it's officially settled now.

[quaist]

I'd think so too.

As we're currently not hearing anything about his medical condition though, I suppose no news is rather bad news in his case.

[canflam]

Here is some news on him. Apparently their were rumors that he died, but those are false.

The Gold Medal Women's Ice Hockey game is scheduled at 9:00 A.M. on Thursday. It's the Americans vs. Canadians.

[sunnykerr]

Well, he was in a coma for a "very long" time.

Not that I know anything about these things, but a month seems like a very long time to me.

Maybe that means he has to be taken out of it very, very slowly.

But, you're right, no news doesn't sound like good news at all, in this instance.

[quaist]

Good God, I hadn't even heard of these rumors.

And I certainly don't want to assert any conspiracy theories, but all this sounds like some people wanted to provoke an official response by starting this rumor.

For why else would anybody claim Schumacher's dead?

[canflam]

I think the rumors started on Twitter in December & they were also posted on Facebook.

[sunnykerr]

I'd sooner hack it up to the shoddy state of modern-day journalism than to malicious intent.

Add to that social media being taken a little too literally as news sources sometimes, and you have a recipe for disaster.

My guess is someone probably wondered "aloud" (or in print) whether the prolongued coma was a good sign. Someone else probably thought he could have died and we wouldn't hear about it right away (which, to be fair, I certainly hope we wouldn't find out right away).

Heck, someone taking care of him might have let slip something about doctors being worried about something to do with his status.

And then it's a telephone game from there and, before you know it, he's dead.

Except he's not. And no one bothers to check for the longest time. They just pass the rumour around.

[canflam]

I freaking missed the end to the women's hockey gold metal game earlier, but great come back by the Canadian ladies to get another gold medal. I'll try to see the replay of it. Finland plays Sweden tomorrow at 4:00 A.M. Pacific & America vs. Canada begins at 9:00 A.M. Pacific.

[sunnykerr]

I try to keep up with the results. but I'm at work all day, so basically there's no way I could watch any of it live, even if I had the inclination.

[canflam]

I understand. The Canadian men won today by a goal over Team America & Sweden won vs. Finland 2-1 in their game to advance vs. Canada on Sunday for a gold medal. That game airs very early. A 4:00 A.M. Pacific start time. Impressive win the Sweden. They have had some big time injuries on their roster such as Henrik Zetterburg's who only played in 1 game these Olympics & Henrik Sedin's. He didn't even get to play at all.

Came across this interesting story.

Jimmy Kimmel pranks media again with Sochi Olympics Wolf video


Besides making average people walking down Hollywood Boulevard look like idiots, Jimmy Kimmel's other favorite is the news media. And on Thursday night's show he showed once again how he duped news and sports media outlets into running a story about a possible wolf wandering the halls of the Olympic village in Sochi, Russia.

Using the Twitter account of U.S. Olympic Luger Kate Hansen, Kimmel's team sent out a link to a YouTube video of what appeared to be a very large wolf wandering the halls of Hansen's room. All the tweet said was, ''Wolf in my hall?!?''

Well it wasn't her hall at all, but a replica of the Olympic village constructed on the set of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live.'' the wolf was timberwolf mix named rugby, hired in Southern California. And the story and video got covered extensively, including local newscasts, NBC's ''Today'' show and CNN.

To prove that the video was a fake, Kimmel showed the full video, which included the segment previously tweeted, but ended with Kimmel skiing down the hall calling out for his wolf named Garfield.

this isn't the first time Kimmel has pranked the media. Last fall, he released a video supposedly showing a girl catching herself on fire after attempting to twerk like Miley Cyrus. Just like the wolf video, media outlets picked up and ran with the story without trying to find out if it was true. (It wasn't)

While Kimmel's repeated media pranks don't seem to have much fallout her in the States, Hansen told Kimmel that video caused quite a commotion in Sochi, where the media have previously on the number of stray dogs wandering the streets of the town as the Games began.

''Honestly, there was a little more backlash than I thought there would be,'' Hansen said via Skype from Russia.

She continued ''Security started freaking out because technically it was a breach in athletic safety. It kind of went a little crazy over here.''

Now, the question remains if all the news outlets who reported on the video will correct the error.

Hansen ranked 10th in the women's singles luge competition. No gold for her, but at least she had some fun along the way.

[quaist]

People were so willing to believe in that stray Russian wolf