I wouldn’t consider myself a huge fan of the Olympics, but I do enjoy tuning in from time to time. I caught a little of the sledding (the luge and skeleton) competition the other night. It’s actually pretty exciting to see these guys heading down that icy track at what seems like 100 miles per hour. The best thing about the winter Olympics to me is that most of the events involve speed and a certain element of danger.
However, there is one exception that immediately comes to mind: curling. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Basically, one guy gently pushes a 42 pound rock across the ice. Then, while using brooms, two of his “teammates” frantically brush the path ahead of the rock to guide it to its target. They look like they're trying to start a fire! The game itself is kind of like shuffleboard on ice. The first time I saw this event, I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Who came up with this stuff??
The only thing crazier than curling is the biathlon. This sport combines cross country skiing and shooting a gun. Who came up with this idea? Maybe they should have made it a triathlon and added ice fishing to the mix.
As far as the skiing, I’ve always liked the ski jumping. These guys have to have balls of steel to ski off of that ramp and soar high into the mountain air. And for the skiers to have the confidence to know that they can land smoothly is amazing to me. That’s what I call believing in yourself! One little twist of an ankle and it could mean game over in more ways than one. I still remember that old Wide World of Sports intro where the guy has the crash landing. For years, he was the poster boy for “the agony of defeat.”
And then there’s figure skating. The precision and athletic ability of the skaters is quite impressive. Although adequately strong, the women skaters tend to be cute and petite. Of course there’s always an exception. Enter Tonya Harding. I’m sure everyone knows the story. Shunned from the skating world, Tonya has recently traded her ice skates in for boxing gloves (yes, I’m serious!). Wouldn’t it be funny if Tonya and Mike Tyson hooked up for a pairs skating competition. Tonya could crack their opponent’s knee caps while Mike chews on their ears like one of Michael Vick’s pitbulls! What a team they would make!
At last count, the United States was slightly trailing Germany for the over all medal count. But there’s still plenty of time to make it up. Go USA!!
KW
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Men's free skate final was tonight and having followed competitive figure skating for many years, this competition was one of the most exciting I've ever seen. My favorite to win, Evan Lysacek, brought home gold and skated the program of his life. Even the flambuoyant Johnny Weir acquitted himself extremely well but finished in 5th place. The Russian Evgeny Plushenko, who won in Torino 4 years ago, thought the top spot was his for the taking as he wanted to be the first man to win back-to-back gold medals since that hadn't been done since Dick Button did it in 1948 and 1952. Alas it was not to be and Plushenko seemed truly pissed off during the medals ceremony (not very sportsmanlike). Lysacek, skated brilliantly with passion, skill and nearly flawless. I'm so pumped up I can't think about sleep anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteMedal count so far, 18 for us, everybody else behind.
GO TEAM USA !!
Ginny