Winter Olympics

Sheddie · administrator

Winter Olympics

murrayman650 · ATP level

yes, and you mean antone deniraz

Sheddie · administrator

Fantastic winning our first medal yesterday with Shelley Rudman's phenomenal performance. Hopefully a silver will inspire the rest of Team GB to more medal-winning performances.

Has anyone else been watching these Olympics ?

Chemmy Alcott's performance in the downhill was really brilliant, such a shame that she didn't get a deserved top 10 position. In 2010 she should be seriously challenging for medals.

Has anyone been watching the ice skating ? The Russian who won gold in the figure skating was outstanding especially his short programme. The men's short programme was the most entertaining so far, so much variety among the skaters. The problem a lot of them have had is that the standard set by the Russian guy is so high, they've had to attempt harder and harder jumps, resulting in so many falls, I don't think I've ever seen so many elite skaters falls in competition.

Medal hopes today are really good with Shelley's boyfriend Kristian Bromley going in the men's skeleton bobsleigh - he's among the favourites.

The curling teams look really impressive so far, crucial matches today against Canada and Sweden.

Sheddie · administrator

Latest news from today is that Britain's Zoe Gillings is out of the snowboard cross in the quarter-finals.

Sinead and John Kerr are in action in ice dancing tonight - they're outside chances of a medal.

Sally · Grand Slam Champion

I`ve been watching bits in between doing my assignment, mostly alpine skiing the other day. I didn`t see Shelley but I`ve been reading about it.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

I've been reading about it and watching the figure skating when I can but not having access to a TV has been a bit of a problem! Also, the live streaming BBC thing seems to think I'm not in the UK so won't let me watch that way either. I missed much of the men's skating yesterday and didn't get to see the Russian guy but it was a real shame that everyone I did see fell over. I'm hoping to see the dance this evening but if not will definitely watch Sunday and Monday, fingers crossed for a medal!!

murrayman650 · ATP level

was anyone watching the snowboard cross today.

what a idiot

Sheddie · administrator

murrayman650 wrote:

was anyone watching the snowboard cross today.
what a idiot

I didn't see the snowboard cross but I heard that the American was way ahead before attempting a trick at the final jump and fell over and was overtaken by one of the Canadians. What a daft thing to do, she must be really gutted now.

First run of the bobsleigh should be happening around now, no coverage on BBC until the 2nd run at 5.30 but BBC online may have live streaming. Chemmy Alcott's also going for the downhill in the combined this afternoon.

Have you got broadband Bethan ? It says on the BBC website that the streaming only works for broadband users.

Do you have to go to the common room or something, to watch TV ?

Did you see the pairs figure skating with the controversy around the Chinese pair. Personally, although what happened didn't controvene the rules, I felt that they shouldn't have got a medal because the fall ruined their performance and although the other competitors in 3rd and 4th positions weren't as technically good on the jumps, at least they stayed upright throughout the performance.

What do you think ?

Josh · Challenger level

two brits in men's skeleton currently 3rd and 4th with just a few more competitors to go down the first run. We were sitting 1st and 2nd for a while!!!

Sheddie · administrator

Both Brits set track records, there's very fast times being posted due to the cold conditions. There have been 4 track records so far.

Looks like we might get hopefully at least 1 medal maybe even 2 if both have amazing last runs.

I'm not sure if the Swiss guy Gregor Staehli has gone yet for run 1, he's supposed to be a big threat.

Edit: I've just checked Staehli is lying 5th I think

-- Edited by Peter at 17:02, 2006-02-17

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Do you have to go to the common room or something, to watch TV ? Did you see the pairs figure skating with the controversy around the Chinese pair. Personally, although what happened didn't controvene the rules, I felt that they shouldn't have got a medal because the fall ruined their performance and although the other competitors in 3rd and 4th positions weren't as technically good on the jumps, at least they stayed upright throughout the performance. What do you think ?

I have got broadband, when i try to watch the live streaming it says it's redirecting me to a page to change my settings to 'high quality' or something but the new page just says that only UK users can access it

As for TV, technically we have a TV in the JCR but it doesn't have any signal! My friend has a TV and she watches the skating so I'm getting to watch it with her. I did see the Chinese Controversy and I actually thought that they should get a medal, they didn't break the rules and the Skating after the fall was super, also most of the other pairs had a wobble or a fall even though it wasn't so spectacular so why should they get preferential treatment? I do however think that they perhaps shouldn't have gone for such a hard jump but done an easier one better, I think the same for all the men's performances yesterday I think that's a downside of the new marking system that they have to do the harder things to gain the points they can't just do something really really well.

Drew · Feb 18, 2006

Peter wrote:

Both Brits set track records, there's very fast times being posted due to the cold conditions. There have been 4 track records so far. Looks like we might get hopefully at least 1 medal maybe even 2 if both have amazing last runs. I'm not sure if the Swiss guy Gregor Staehli has gone yet for run 1, he's supposed to be a big threat. Edit: I've just checked Staehli is lying 5th I think-- Edited by Peter at 17:02, 2006-02-17

Both finished out of the medals

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/winter_sports/4725486.stm

Sheddie · administrator

Unless Alain Baxter pulls off a miracle in the slalom today, it looks like GB's just going to be coming home with 1 silver. Such a shame about the men's curling team, they must be gutted after losing both the semi and the bronze playoff on the final stone

Sheddie · administrator

Baxter finished 16th

Big disappointments have been the men's bobsleigh duo, the women's bobsleigh team who got silver at the world championships last year and the curling teams. I also hoped that our skiers would have done better aswell, Chemmy Alcott's performance wasn't much better than in Salt Lake City - I was hoping for a top 10 performance from her.

It's been quite hilarious listening to the BBC's attempts to put a positive glow on everything: eg: when one of our competitors in the biathlon finished something like 80th, the BBC described it as a "gutsy performance of which she can be proud" and I'll never forget the excitment among the BBC commentators when I switched on for the men's downhill and Britain's Finley Mickel was in 1st place, my own excitment died considerably when I heard that he'd been the 2nd to go and there was still about 40 athletes yet to ski !!!