Winter Olympics 2018

[pErvinalia]

Oh and fucken figure skating is STILL on!

[Hermit]

Oh and fucken figure skating is STILL on!

Couldn't find the emoticon?

If you do a really thorough search you'll probably find a switch somewhere that turns the TV off.

[JimC]

Plus the cultural differences. A love poem is very different to many people.

They are games, Scot. Games do not need to be objectively measurable. Why this insistence on tape measure and clock? Have you never been a child, playing games where rules were made up, then changed, throughout its course, and yet someone finished up being declared the winner by common consent? For crying out loud, poetry, chess and theatre contests are not meant to replace the 100 metre foot race. They never were even in the antiquities. They (except for chess) were just part of the Olympic games.

Chess and Bridge both applied for entry into the 2020 Olympics. I have no idea if they were approved or not. I suppose not,

Thank fuck for that.

I know you want to see punching nazis as the new olympic sport. Points given for artistic creativity, as well as bone damage...

[Gord]

Curling.

https://citizen.co.za/news/news-world/1 ... us-russia/

http://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/ ... -drug-test

Russian curler stripped of Olympic medal, country pays fee

...Within hours of curler Alexander Krushelnitsky being stripped of a bronze medal for a doping violation, the Russian Olympic Committee said it had paid a $15 million fee that was part of the criteria to have its team reinstated at the Pyeongchang Games.

Russia’s team was officially banned from the games because of widespread doping at the Sochi Olympics four years ago, but 168 Russians were allowed by the IOC to compete as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” under the Olympic flag.

The IOC is due to decide Saturday whether to formally reinstate the Russian team for the closing ceremony the following day.

With the doping case against Krushelnitsky shaping as a potential impediment, the Russians moved to settle the matter quickly....

The Russkies are already in trouble for doping, and now one of their curlers has tested positive for ...wait, meldonium???

[a link to a story from 2016] - http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/35758901

Maria Sharapova: What is meldonium & will its use be widespread?

...According to Dr Tom Bassindale, a lecturer in forensic science at Sheffield Hallam University, it was developed in Latvia and approved in the early 2000s to treat diabetes and various heart-related diseases.

Dr Bassindale says it has the ability to adjust the body's use of energy, stimulating glucose metabolism and also helping to clear fatty build-up in the arteries....

...The ability to increase oxygen movement to muscles means meldonium could have a positive effect on stamina and endurance....

..."When deciding whether to ban a drug, Wada looks at three things. Will it enhance performance? Is it detrimental to the health of an athlete? Is it against the 'spirit of sport'?

"To be banned, a drug must 'fail' two of these three tests. Presumably, in this case, they have also decided the drug is against the 'spirit of sport'."...

But why would a curler be doping with meldonium??? The efforts in curling are brief events, and the time interval between such actions allows for plent of time to recover. Maybe if he had been exerting himself before the games, he might need a boost in order to be at peak performance when the games occurred.

On the other hang, he might have been doping during training, if he had been pushing himself for some reason.

But there are plenty of people wondering why a curler would feel the need to take meldonium.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olym ... 18151.html

The reaction to Alexander Krushelnitsky’s suspected positive drugs test for Meldonium within the 2018 Winter Olympics community has been one of bemusement after many of the Russian’s curling opponents asked why would someone dope in a sport that requires low intensity and endurance levels.

http://www.euronews.com/2018/02/19/bewi ... -meldonium

...”I think most people will laugh and ask, ‘what could you possibly need doping for?', as I am thinking,“ said Madeleine Dupont, a curler for Denmark. “I‘m not even sure what use doping would be for in curling. There is probably something with strength, I‘m not sure, it’s not down my alley.”...

Meldonium can remain in the system for months after termination of use, however:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/11/spor ... index.html

..."Anyone who had been suspended for an ADRV (Anti-Doping Rule Violation) was not invited," IOC medical and scientific director Richard Budgett told reporters in Pyeongchang on Sunday.

"As you know, meldonium was a special issue. It was accepted that, because of the way it was metabolized it could stay in the system for many, many months, even nine months after it had been taken, because its [sic] stored in red blood cells, released and then stored again...

"So if the case was consistent with usage before meldonium was prohibited, that would not be considered an ADRV."...

[pErvinalia]

Plus the cultural differences. A love poem is very different to many people.

They are games, Scot. Games do not need to be objectively measurable. Why this insistence on tape measure and clock? Have you never been a child, playing games where rules were made up, then changed, throughout its course, and yet someone finished up being declared the winner by common consent? For crying out loud, poetry, chess and theatre contests are not meant to replace the 100 metre foot race. They never were even in the antiquities. They (except for chess) were just part of the Olympic games.

Chess and Bridge both applied for entry into the 2020 Olympics. I have no idea if they were approved or not. I suppose not,

Thank fuck for that.

I know you want to see punching nazis as the new olympic sport. Points given for artistic creativity, as well as bone damage...

[Brian Peacock]

Plus the cultural differences. A love poem is very different to many people.

They are games, Scot. Games do not need to be objectively measurable. Why this insistence on tape measure and clock? Have you never been a child, playing games where rules were made up, then changed, throughout its course, and yet someone finished up being declared the winner by common consent? For crying out loud, poetry, chess and theatre contests are not meant to replace the 100 metre foot race. They never were even in the antiquities. They (except for chess) were just part of the Olympic games.

Chess and Bridge both applied for entry into the 2020 Olympics. I have no idea if they were approved or not. I suppose not,

Thank fuck for that.

I know you want to see punching nazis as the new olympic sport. Points given for artistic creativity, as well as bone damage...

Nazi slapping on ice?

[pErvinalia]

Pushing Nazis down the big ski jump. The stacks would be spectacular!

[Brian Peacock]

I see a Russian curler has been done for performance enhancing drugs. What did he need to take to enhance his curling? Something to keep him awake perhaps?

[Forty Two]

Well, the original Olympic games are not much like the ones we have today. Athletes aren't competing nude, for example. They had horse racing and chariot racing in the ancient Olympics. They'd have footraces in full armor and helmets. The javelin event was done on horseback at full gallop and the javelin was thrown at a mounted shield. Boxers only wore leather straps over their hands, and fought in the open, not in a ring. All sorts of differences.

So true, but is that supposed to be a good reason for not having chess, theatre or poetry as part of the program?

No, it's making the point that "they did it in in the original Olympics" is not a particularly "good" reason for putting one thing or another in the Olympics now.

Again, I've not advocated one way or the other for any game or sport or contest to be included or exclude. I don't much care. I'm probably just used to seeing it be a sporting contest, and I prefer the ones with the measurements and a winner that is not based on subjective judgment. That is NOT to say that it's inappropriate to have subjective judgment sports or games in the Olympics. It's my preference. Other people like the figure skating or trick snowboarding stuff. Good on 'em. If you want theater and poetry readings, that's your preference. I've not said you're "wrong" and the only "reason" to not put them in there is because the organizers of the games don't think they would be a net gain for the events as a whole.

And, "commercial interests trump" is just a way of saying that the organization must be run in a way that allows it to continue and thrive, and that the people vote with their dollars as to what they want in the Olympic games. If there is a significant population that agreed with you, then it would, by definition, make commercial sense to do it. But, if there isn't that population causing it to make sense to do it, then on what basis would one suggest putting it in there? That a few erudites think some less vulgar should be in the Olympics, and if the masses don't like it, tough?

Another good reason for not having chess, theatre or poetry as part of the program?

It's the only "reason." I mean, if staring contests put more asses in the seats than ski-jumping, that would be a good reason for staring contests to be in there.

Rhetorical questions, I must admit. I already provided my answer to both here: "The choice of contests in modern times reflects a cretinisation, a descent to the lowest common denominator, especially since broadcasting the games has become big business for the media and advertisers alike..."

Translation: the choice of contests in modern times reflects what the masses want to see.

[Gord]

I see a Russian curler has been done for performance enhancing drugs. What did he need to take to enhance his curling? Something to keep him awake perhaps?

What'm I, invisible?





...oh no, I AM INVISIBLE!!!

/me runs away screaming

[Sean Hayden]

Russian Curler Is Suspected Of Doping At Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

Nothing's stranger than reality.

[Brian Peacock]

Ice golf dressage.

[JimC]

The elephant in the room is the fact that so many contestants at this olympics are on ice!

[Brian Peacock]

Downhill badminton?

[Strontium Dog]

I'm amazed Britain does so badly at the Winter Olympics. An entire tournament based around doing stuff in terrible freezing weather, we should be cleaning up really.