winter olympics

[slowbie]

With that being said, I thought short track was supposed to be an Individual event. It seems to me that those S. Koreans were working together, which I get to a point. But they were REALLY going out of their way to screw Ohno over.

Ohno got damn lucky those two wrecked.

I think the olympics are different. If I'm a speed skater, at any other event I am trying to place the best that I can. However, the olympics bring an underlying sense of national pride, so I'm going to do what I can to get my country as many medals as it can.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I think the olympics are different. If I'm a speed skater, at any other event I am trying to place the best that I can. However, the olympics bring an underlying sense of national pride, so I'm going to do what I can to get my country as many medals as it can.

I disagree. For me the Olympics should be primarily about individual achievement. The nationalism thing will arise naturally, but it is more of a scourge than a benefit of the Olympic games. You should do your best for your own personal pride and screw everyone else.

 

[BBKing]

I disagree. For me the Olympics should be primarily about individual achievement. The nationalism thing will arise naturally, but it is more of a scourge than a benefit of the Olympic games. You should do your best for your own personal pride and screw everyone else.

I agree with this.

Does an Olympic athlete train so their COUNTRY can win a gold?

No, they train so THEY can win a gold.

 

[slowbie]

First of all, I should clarify that I think that there is a point when nationalism ends and you just go for the gold. Before that, though, many people in so-called individual sports will work together, nationalism or not. Maybe I just have more national pride than the average person (<-this is the part where I troll you to make you upset), but if I can work with one of my countrymen to prevent someone from another country from beating either one of us and just make it come down to a last lap race between the two of us, I will do that. In fact, I have done that in the past as a long distance track/cross country runner. In one of my track seasons my teammate and I would take turns drafting off of each other for the first three laps and then duke it out in the last lap.

In the end, the South Koreans did try to beat each other and in my opinion that is what ultimately caused them to wipe out.

Also, you will hear a lot of athletes talking about winning gold at the olympics, they very frequently mention that it's so great to win gold for their country. There are other events that are equally competitive (albeit less televised) that they can compete in.

 

[mmb]

I agree with this.

Does an Olympic athlete train so their COUNTRY can win a gold?

No, they train so THEY can win a gold.

Dale Begg-Smith proved that. Canada team tries to force him to quit his businesses and he jumps ship, as he rightly should have.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

First of all, I should clarify that I think that there is a point when nationalism ends and you just go for the gold. Before that, though, many people in so-called individual sports will work together, nationalism or not. Maybe I just have more national pride than the average person (<-this is the part where I troll you to make you upset), but if I can work with one of my countrymen to prevent someone from another country from beating either one of us and just make it come down to a last lap race between the two of us, I will do that. .

This does not upset me at all, and I totally understand that sentiment. For me though, I would always be supporting the most dedicated athlete that in some cases even had to overcome the barriers put up by their own nation over someone like, for instance Body Miller in the last winter games who partied all night and was so full of arrogance. I want the guy I LIKE to win!

The S#ccer World cup (Still can't type the "S" word in full) is coming later this year. Now, that is a different thing all together. S#ccer is a team sport and they are all representing their nations as a team. There are no individuals, so you are left to freely support your own team through national pride alone. There is nothing wrong with that. You are born into a team although you can still have a soft spot for other teams. However, that soft spot is almost always formed by political influences.

 

[BBKing]

Dale Begg-Smith proved that. Canada team tries to force him to quit his businesses and he jumps ship, as he rightly should have.

Excatly right. Great point.

I was surprised cause it seemed like a lot of people there were cheering for him. I didnt excatly expect that.

 

[Homercidal]

This does not upset me at all, and I totally understand that sentiment. For me though, I would always be supporting the most dedicated athlete that in some cases even had to overcome the barriers put up by their own nation over someone like, for instance Body Miller in the last winter games who partied all night and was so full of arrogance. I want the guy I LIKE to win!

The S#ccer World cup (Still can't type the "S" word in full) is coming later this year. Now, that is a different thing all together. S#ccer is a team sport and they are all representing their nations as a team. There are no individuals, so you are left to freely support your own team through national pride alone. There is nothing wrong with that. You are born into a team although you can still have a soft spot for other teams. However, that soft spot is almost always formed by political influences.

Wait. Are you saying that the difference between competing for your country, and competing for your own pride is the number of participants?

So a single person can compete for himself, while a team has to compete for their country?

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Wait. Are you saying that the difference between competing for your country, and competing for your own pride is the number of participants?

So a single person can compete for himself, while a team has to compete for their country?

Basically, yes. Team sports are different from individual sports. If you are a downhill skier, you are on your own. Your achievements are your own, and the gold medal is yours alone. If you are a member of a team, then that is self explanatory. You are representing yourself as a member of a team. If you are a good team member, then the well being and succes of the team is more important than your own ambition. When this is the case, then yes. You will be up for team USA and want your country to win the gold as if the team were an individual competitor.

 

[mmb]

Basically, yes. Team sports are different from individual sports. If you are a downhill skier, you are on your own. Your achievements are your own, and the gold medal is yours alone. If you are a member of a team, then that is self explanatory. You are representing yourself as a member of a team. If you are a good team member, then the well being and succes of the team is more important than your own ambition. When this is the case, then yes. You will be up for team USA and want your country to win the gold as if the team were an individual competitor.

You train as a team, you live as a team, you travel as a team, you eat as a team...

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Maybe I should explain why I think this way. When I was a kid I was, for a while, the great white hope of my swimming coach. He was a finalist in the Tokyo Olympics, and had misguided visions that I too could be an Olympian. His name was Dave Haller, and he later became the coach of the British Olympic team. I became a dropout because I did not have the individualist mentality that was necessary to succeed. I wanted friends that might be my equal. To be a true competitor I should have wanted friends that I could squash like a bug. .....That is how a one on one sport works if you are a winner.

Forget all the bullcrap you hear from the contestants about all their friends in the biz. They want to crush them and humiliate them. This is what makes a winner.

If you are a team member, then you want to crush your opponents and raise your own team. However, you still want to be the MVP of that team because that is how good sportmen are. Arrogant bastards. The best sportsmen though, know how and when to turn off the arrogance and spend time in the real world.

 

[motobrewer]

lol, i think you have a pretty skewed view

 

[mmb]

I swam USA team swimming for 4 years during and after high school and the fastest splits I ever swam were during relay comps because of the whole team aspect of it. Even during individual events, your teammates pushed you and you pushed them. Practice, shore training, etc

Sounds like your experience was a bit too much Lord of the Flies...

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Or maybe you guys were not serious competitors. I know I was not.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I swam USA team swimming for 4 years during and after high school and the fastest splits I ever swam were during relay comps because of the whole team aspect of it. Even during individual events, your teammates pushed you and you pushed them. Practice, shore training, etc

Sounds like your experience was a bit too much Lord of the Flies...

I swam relays too, and i agree. That was kinda my point though. Team and individual events are a mile apart.

 

[friarjohn]

ok so why didnt they install snow machine on the slope in canada? dont they use them at most of the major ski resorts?

 

[twig]

They have snow-making equipment, but it only works when it's below freezing, or possibly a couple of degrees above. Vancouver just had the warmest stretch of weather in 114 years of records, so even making snow hasn't been possible.

 

[JohnnyO]

Every four years, I get to secretly enjoy curling. How is this still an Olympic sport and baseball isn't? This is like watching the elderly play shuffleboard (on ice).

 

[cowperc]

Every four years, I get to secretly enjoy curling. How is this still an Olympic sport and baseball isn't? This is like watching the elderly play shuffleboard (on ice).

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO had a GREAT feature on curling last night...canadian curlers are celebrities one level under hockey players -- america's olympic curling team is something like a bartender, two waiters and an unemployed dude lol

 

[brewagentjay]

Curling is teh bomb and I don't hide it......I record just so I can watch it on weekends with some beer.

 

[brewagentjay]

:rockin: Curling round 2 in 5 minutes.............

 

[BBKing]

Every four years, I get to secretly enjoy curling. How is this still an Olympic sport and baseball isn't? This is like watching the elderly play shuffleboard (on ice).

Um, baseball is an olympic sport.

I sat and watched Italy vs. Japan during the 96 Olympics in Atlanta

 

[Homercidal]

Basically, yes. Team sports are different from individual sports. If you are a downhill skier, you are on your own. Your achievements are your own, and the gold medal is yours alone. If you are a member of a team, then that is self explanatory. You are representing yourself as a member of a team. If you are a good team member, then the well being and succes of the team is more important than your own ambition. When this is the case, then yes. You will be up for team USA and want your country to win the gold as if the team were an individual competitor.

I understand your point in this post, but it only says that an individual is concerned with his own self winning, whereas on a team, each individual is concerned with the team winning. This is not the same as competing for one's nation. Has nothing to do with "representing one's country". It just means they want to win. Every competitor has that in them. If not, they will most likely not be anywhere near the olympics.

 

[cowperc]

Um, baseball is an olympic sport.

I sat and watched Italy vs. Japan during the 96 Olympics in Atlanta

not any more. it was eliminated after the 2008 games.

 

[friarjohn]

The womens curling team is hot!!!!!!!

 

[ChshreCat]

Living close to the Canadian border, I grew up with Canadian TV as well as the US channels, so I got to watch curling all the time. It's something I've always wanted to try but never got the chance.

 

[Dalarast]

Living close to the Canadian border, I grew up with Canadian TV as well as the US channels, so I got to watch curling all the time. It's something I've always wanted to try but never got the chance.

It's never to late to try man. Just go fill up a brew pot with some water and find a frozen lake and bring a broom... make sure you video tape it for us and it might help the event if you drink a few extra brews to insure the laugh errr celebrity value

 

[cowperc]

THIS JUST IN: Shaun White is pretty talented :rockin:

 

[Homercidal]

THIS JUST IN: Shaun White is pretty talented :rockin:

Damm! Did you see the AIR he got on his rounds? Not to mention the other tricks he pulled out of his bag. Are there any other Olympic sports that have a "victory lap"?

 

[cowperc]

Damm! Did you see the AIR he got on his rounds? Not to mention the other tricks he pulled out of his bag. Are there any other Olympic sports that have a "victory lap"?

i could be wrong, but i think they all get two runs to try and secure the best score -- he was the last to go (and had already secured the best score with his first run, so there was no need for the second) but he threw down anyway...hence the "victory lap."