JoeLassister Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 OMFG !!!! did you see how the luge guy ######ed him up ?? Scary video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quebecois Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Pretty tragic way to begin the games. Awful. But the games go on. Sounds like they are even running the luge today... Anyone going out to Vancouver for the games? I'm heading out tomorrow to stay with some family, got tickets to a few events. Should be a great time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habsfan84 Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Pretty tragic way to begin the games. Awful. I'm surprised that the TV stations were showing that incident even after they knew that the young Georgian had died. I think they should respect the fallen Olympian a bit more and his family. Nice to see the Canadian crowd give the Georgians a standing ovation during the opening ceremonies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsniper Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 But the games go on. Sounds like they are even running the luge today... They raised the wall all the way up to cover the supports and have changed the men's starting position to where the women start. They're looking into creating new starting positions for the women and doubles. Thats probably the stupidest luge track in existence though. They're still reaching speeds around 120 kph (they usually only go around 90). Looking forward to watching Jenn Heil and Charlie Hamelin tonight. Hopefully one of them can end the gold drought so I can stop hearing about it every 5 seconds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted February 13, 2010 Author Share Posted February 13, 2010 They raised the wall all the way up to cover the supports and have changed the men's starting position to where the women start. They're looking into creating new starting positions for the women and doubles. Thats probably the stupidest luge track in existence though. They're still reaching speeds around 120 kph (they usually only go around 90). Looking forward to watching Jenn Heil and Charlie Hamelin tonight. Hopefully one of them can end the gold drought so I can stop hearing about it every 5 seconds. I don't know man cuz : Quote from Udo Gurgel, the man who created this track + 5 other tracks in the world. «Cette piste est rapide, mais le virage 16 est une très, très longue courbe dans laquelle il ne peut normalement pas se passer grand-chose, car la vitesse se réduit fortement. À l'arrivée, la vitesse est de 120 km/h, une vitesse que tout lugeur doit normalement pouvoir contrôler», a ajouté M. Gurgel. Translation : " This track is fast, but the bend 16 is one very, very long curve in which he cannot normally take place much, because the speed is strongly reduced. On arrival, the speed is 120 kph, a speed which every tobogganist must normally be able to control". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsniper Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 The engineer behind the track that killed someone is defending it. I'm supposed to be surprised? It sucks they're putting all the blame on the driver and can't admit they made it too technically difficult. The longest drop in the world makes no difference when they all struggle with it. I don't want to spend all of the Olympics debating that though so thats the last I'll say. And Netherlands got a gold in speed skating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenadian Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I'm assuming the IOC (the luge sanctioning body) must have approved the design, there are design criteria that have to be met. They're also on the hook for this tragedy...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsniper Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 I'm assuming the IOC (the luge sanctioning body) must have approved the design, there are design criteria that have to be met. They're also on the hook for this tragedy...... The IOC informed Sochi and other venues not to make any tracks resembling the one in Whistler before the Olympics started. I think technically speaking it was allowed to pass approval but the IOC was uncomfortable enough with it to make sure no other tracks like it were made. Just something I happened to hear yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Er, even at a 'mere' 120 kph, the luge is a guy going down an ice hill with nothing but a helmet and spiky shoes. This is one of those sports that's inherently dangerous and if you aren't at the top of your game, disaster is just around the corner. I'm not saying anything one way or the other regarding the track and it's qualifications or the athlete in question, but commenting generally on the sport. People die in auto racing occasionally as well, and that has significantly more safety measures. If this fellow lost his concentration for a split second... ...well, that's all it takes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsniper Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Aha, I found it in writing. Article was written February 6th. Early in the planning for the 2014 Sochi Games, the Russian hosts were told flatly by the sport's governing bodies: those speeds at the Whistler Sliding Centre? Don't even dream of trying to match them. Holcomb has since claimed that the course was designed backward, with tighter turns near the bottom where sleds max-out the speed. And American luger Tony Benshoof told NBC: "When I first got on this track, I thought that somebody was going to kill themselves." http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/news...62.html?cid=rss Ok, now I'm done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Man, crazy finish in the 1500m short track final. The Koreans had all three medals locked up heading into the final turn and two of them knocked each other out, allowing the Americans to take Silver and Bronze. Good final in the women's moguls, too. Was actually kind of rooting for Hiel, just so she could get that monkey off of Canada's back. Of course, I wasn't too disappointed that an American was the one to beat her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsniper Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Man, crazy finish in the 1500m short track final. The Koreans had all three medals locked up heading into the final turn and two of them knocked each other out, allowing the Americans to take Silver and Bronze. I was hoping someone else saw that. It was hilarious. One got greedy and his teammate paid the price. Some of the falls in the moguls final were pretty spectacular too. There was one where the skier just hit the jump and all of a sudden started flailing around. Wasn't too sure what the trick was even supposed to look like. Too bad for Hamelin who didn't qualify for the final. The 1500 isn't his race but he was still a favourite. Oh well. Big congrats to Heil for getting Canada on the board even if it wasn't gold. Guess I have to hear that crap for another day. Oh and the Canadian women beat Slovakia 18-0 in hockey today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Oh and the Canadian women beat Slovakia 18-0 in hockey today. They needed a mercy rule like in softball, haha. Easily could have been so much worse, too. The Slovak goalie made a number of good looking saves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted February 14, 2010 Author Share Posted February 14, 2010 They needed a mercy rule like in softball, haha. Easily could have been so much worse, too. The Slovak goalie made a number of good looking saves. Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0 in some Olympic qualification game. Canada has been kind with them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Second day of events and I'm already sick of hearing about Canada not winning a gold on home soil. Give it a rest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 The streak is over, a gold for Canada! Finally, we don't have to hear about it every 2 seconds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 BILODEAU BILODEAU BILODEAU !!!! Props to Marquis and Rousseau for their 4th-5th rank... :que: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Yay! No more hearing about Canada not winning gold! Props to the US nordic combined team. Finished 2nd, 4th, and 6th while earning our first ever medal in that event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habsy Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 All three of our medalists are able to be interviewed in French. Now that's cool!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sakiqc Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 BILODEAU BILODEAU BILODEAU !!!! Props to Marquis and Rousseau for their 4th-5th rank... :que: Wow.. stunning performances by our 3 quebecers! Would have been unbelievable to have them 1-2-3 ! Very impressive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafikz Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 The only Algerian in Vancouver is scheduled for today (cross country skiing) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 It's times like this that I hate living in the US. Big game on Sunday, obviously, between the US and Canada. Is NBC showing it? No. Is USA showing it? No. They freaking relegated it to MSNBC which has no HD in my area. NBC has a legit excuse, as for most people figure skating is the big event in the Winter Olympics. But USA is showing freaking Pirates of Caribbean twice instead of carrying the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athlétique.Canadien Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 (edited) The long track speedskating track looks like monster truck ran over it. VANOC is saying a 1/2 hour delay The shape the ice is in...well, this isn't NHL hockey. Speedskating requires a near perfect sheet of ice. Some of the sunken holes in the ice are 1 inch deep. Speedskating? Edited February 16, 2010 by Athlétique.Canadien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 More griping about NBC: stop with the damn tape delay crap! The time difference between Vancouver and the east coast is a measly 3 hours. Just show everything live! But no, they're just now showing the men's alpine, which I already saw the results of hours ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 The long track speedskating track looks like monster truck ran over it. VANOC is saying a 1/2 hour delay The shape the ice is in...well, this isn't NHL hockey. Speedskating requires a near perfect sheet of ice. Some of the sunken holes in the ice are 1 inch deep. Speedskating? And the delay continues, lesson learned: Environmentally friendly zambonis are a nice thing to have, but they don't work - literally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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