The Olympic Winter Games In Sochi

[mykonian]

I doubt it's intended as such. I think it's somewhat common, and beyond that, one of the events is figure skating. That's a sport the Russians have been/should be looking forward to. If they thought it was a slap in the face, they'd have avoided giving it to figure skating.

[mykonian]

amazing race by her.

[mykonian]

ús sven

I hope it won't become a 1-2-3 and there's a little danger of that with the ones the Dutch bring. Hoping for Swings or Lee to bring a little extra. It would only confirm that the longer distances in long track aren't really intresting for other nations and it'd be a bad signal for the sport. Hamsterdammers indeed

[mykonian]

Long-track just isn't an exciting sport and that makes me sad.

5 and 10k men maybe not, too few contenders and it takes too long. Same for the women on the 3 and 5k. The miles for both are much better, the top being broader. Further, the mile is the meeting point between both types of long track skaters. It's too long to be done by the sprinters and the true stayers have to work too hard to get up to the required speed. Consequentely, it's perhaps also the toughest distance. 500 and 1000 are at least short, are close, have quite a few contenders. It's simply more exciting for other nations and easier to jump disciplines for.

So maybe you'll enjoy the men or women's mile and you don't have to be sad anymore

[mykonian]

1, 2 and 3 again! This time on the 500m long track, we never had a olympic champion on that distance ever. Completely unexpected, everything went right for the Dutch.

[mykonian]

thank you. The NOS drops out when everybody tries to watch the skating from work.

[mykonian]

The investment Poland made in the last couple of years paid off, first olympic skating gold for them, and such a deserved one. Brodka was amazing. Can't wait for the team pursuit, which they focussed on. Should be amazing as well.

[mykonian]

I wish people would stop caring about the medal standings per country. It's simply a bit boring, the way to make the olympics interesting for accountants. The story of individual medals is awesome, I want to hear about the heroism of the medal winners and how happy they are that after years of investment everything came together for them. But why in godsname would I want to know how many medals my country has? Statistics aren't that fun. It's cheap nationalism. I like to cheer for my nations sporters and share in their emotion however it goes. That's what makes sports great. Not adding the number medals together and putting them in a table of sorts.

[mykonian]

I don't see the need for an overall "winner". It doesn't give a good story.

[mykonian]

You foreigners can say whatever you want, the 10k was epic.

[mykonian]

did kramer style?

He lost on quality. Bergsma had a beautiful race, was a joy to watch him ride. Kramer tried and couldn't make it. Bergsma won with 12:44:45 which is the fastest ever on lowland skating stadium, stunning time. He wasn't an unknown, he's been the prime challenger for Kramer now for quite some time, he's from a marathon-skating team that split their attention to long track skating a couple years ago. Yesterday, their coach mentioned on TV that he didn't think Kramer could make 12:47 from what they knew of him, and in todays race, it was clear that Bergsma had gone on a schedule that would bring him to 12:46, but he could go even faster than intended, which was amazing. And indeed, Kramer tried to match that time, but couldn't keep up the pace at the end, ending with 12:49. Had he gone on a schedule he could keep, Bergsma's coach would probably have been correct: 12:47 was the best time Kramer could have offered here.

[mykonian]

People you should relentlessly send pms to when Canada looses includes, but is not limited to, Lady Lamdadelta, Shadoweh

uh oh.